BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1006
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 20, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
1006 (Levine) - As Amended April 21, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY:
This bill allows the defendant or the prosecutor to submit
evidence that the defendant suffers from a diagnosable mental
illness that was a substantial factor that contributed to the
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defendant's criminal conduct, when a defendant has pled guilty
or no contest to, or has been convicted of, an offense that will
result in a sentence to state prison or county jail. The court
may use that evidence to order the defendant to serve part of
his or her sentence in a residential mental health treatment
facility, order the defendant placed in a mental health program
in the state prison or county jail, or order the detention
facility to prepare a post release mental health treatment plan.
Allows the defendant, prosecutor, or the Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) or county jail authority,
as applicable, to at any time, petition the court for permission
to remove the defendant from a mental health program within the
state prison or county jail authority.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)Potential ongoing annual costs in excess of $1.5 million (GF)
to the trial courts for the additional evidentiary hearings
that may be requested. Even if a small percentage of the
40,000-plus felons committed to state prison or the
25,000-plus felons and misdemeanants committed to county jail
are impacted, the numbers are significant. Also, the
assumption is the prosecutor will probably object to a number
of requests.
2)CDCR costs will be several million dollars (GF). This bill
could result in a significant increase in inmates designated
for mental health programs. This bill would also result in
the need for additional legal staff for CDCR to petition the
removal of inmates from the mental health program. In
addition, it should be noted that any inmate with a mental
health condition in CDCR is part of a current class action
lawsuit that is a significant cost driver in the CDCR budget.
3)Significant nonreimbursable state mandated costs in the
millions to counties to provide additional mental health
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services to current inmates in county jails.
4)Moderate costs to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in those
cases where the DOJ represents the State of California.
COMMENTS:
1.Purpose. According to the author, "Jails and prisons have
become California's de facto mental health facilities, with
those who are mentally ill being far more likely to be
incarcerated than to be in a psychiatric hospital.
Incarcerating those with mental illness does not make sense
from an outcomes or a fiscal stand point. Studies have found
that individuals who participate in mental health courts
reoffend one third of the time than those who do not and that
participant's show significant improvement in quality of
life."
2)Background. In 2009, the Division of Correctional Health
Care Services for the CDCR estimated that 23 percent of
California's prison inmates have a serious mental illness.
According to the Berkeley Center for Criminal Justice, an
estimated "40 to 70 percent of youth in the California
juvenile justice system have some mental health disorder or
illness," with 15 to 25 percent considered severely mentally
ill. Based on these numbers, youth in California's juvenile
justice system are two to four times more likely to be in need
of mental health care than California youth generally. The
Bureau of Justice Statistics reported in 2006 that 74 percent
of mentally ill state prisoners and 76 percent of mentally ill
local jail inmates also met the criteria for substance
dependence or abuse indicating a larger issue with
co-occurring disorders among mentally ill offenders
CDCR data shows higher rates of recidivism in inmates
identified with mental health issues when compared to those
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without. Upon release, inmates exhibiting mental health
problems are assigned one of two mental health services
designations: Enhanced Outpatient Program (EOP) or
Correctional Clinical Case Management System (CCCMS). Inmates
with severe mental illness expected to experience difficulty
transitioning out of corrections are designated as EOP and
receive treatment at a level similar to day treatment services
in the community, while inmates receiving CCCMS services are
housed within the general population and participate on an
outpatient basis. In the 2012 CDCR Outcome Evaluation Report,
76.7 percent of first-release inmates with an EOP designation
recidivated after three years, compared to lower rates found
in CCCMS designees (70.6 percent) and those without a
designation (62 percent).
3)Argument in Support: According to David Mills (Chairman) and
Michael Romano(Director), of the Stanford Law School Three
Strikes and Justice Advocacy Project, "The Mental Health
Justice Act (AB 1006) is the embodiment of the first reform
proposed in our report. The bill is critically important
because it will-for the first time-empower Superior Court
Judges discretionary authority to order psychiatric treatment
for criminal offenders who commit crimes as a result of mental
illness. The bill does not require courts to do anything and
protects public safety by forbidding judges from departing
from traditional sentencing if doing so would endanger the
public. Involving the courts in the identification and
treatment of mentally ill offenders is a crucial step in
addressing the massive problem of mental ill offenders in the
justice system. We believe the measure will also save tax
dollars and reduce recidivism by providing earlier
interruption in the cycle of mental illness and incarceration.
"According to a recent report from the national Sheriff's
Association and Treatment Advocacy Center, ten times as many
mentally ill people are in prison and jail in the United
States than there are in mental health treatment facilities.
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In California, 45% of the state's prison population is
estimated to be mentally ill. In the last fifteen years the
number of mentally ill people in prison has almost doubled.
Analysis Prepared by:Pedro R. Reyes / APPR. / (916)
319-2081