AB 2604, as introduced, Thurmond. Inmates: mental health treatment.
Existing law prohibits a person from being tried, adjudged to punishment, or having his or her probation, mandatory supervision, postrelease community supervision, or parole revoked while that person is mentally incompetent. Existing law establishes a process by which a defendant’s mental competency is evaluated and by which the defendant receives treatment, including, if applicable, antipsychotic medication, with the goal of returning the defendant to competency. Existing law credits time spent by a defendant in a state hospital or other facility as a result of commitment during the process toward the term of any imprisonment for which the defendant is sentenced.
This bill would authorize a defendant who pled guilty or nolo contendere to, or was convicted of, a felony or misdemeanor and who currently is, or at any prior time was, eligible for public mental health services due to a serious mental illness or who is, or at any prior time was, eligible for Social Security Insurance due to a diagnosed mental illness, to petition the court for a sentence that includes mental health treatment. The bill would authorize the court, if the defendant establishes by a preponderance of the evidence that he or she meets one of those eligibility criteria, to include one or more specified mental health treatment provisions in the defendant’s sentence, including, among others, a requirement that the defendant serve all or a part of his or her sentence in a residential mental health treatment facility. The bill would provide that the defendant has the right to counsel for these proceedings.
By granting defendants the right to counsel in these proceedings and imposing additional duties upon county jail authorities, this bill would create a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
This act shall be known and may be cited as the
2Mental Health Justice Act.
Chapter 4.9 (commencing with Section 1175) is added
4to Title 7 of Part 2 of the Penal Code, to read:
5
(a) A defendant who pled guilty or nolo contendere to,
9or was convicted of, a felony or misdemeanor and who currently
10is, or at any prior time was, eligible for public mental health
11services due to serious mental illness or who currently is, or at any
12prior time was, eligible for Social Security Insurance due to a
13diagnosed mental illness may petition the court for a sentence that
14includes mental health treatment. The petition shall be filed after
15the defendant’s plea or conviction, but before his or her sentencing.
16(b) The defendant shall bear the burden of establishing by a
17preponderance of the evidence that he or she meets the criteria in
18subdivision (a).
19(c) If the court
determines that the defendant met his or her
20burden, as described in subdivision (b), and that it is in the public
21interest, the court may order that his or her sentence include one
22or more of the following:
P3 1(1) If the defendant’s current plea or conviction was not for a
2serious felony described in subdivision (c) of Section 1192.7, or
3a violent felony described in subdivision (c) of Section 667.5, a
4requirement that the defendant serve, if the defendant agrees, all
5or a part of his or her sentence in a residential mental health
6treatment facility instead of in the state prison or a county jail,
7unless that placement would pose an unreasonable risk of danger
8to public safety.
9(2) Regardless of the offense to which the defendant pled guilty
10or nolo contendere or for which the defendant was convicted, a
11requirement that the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
12or county jail
authority, as applicable, place the defendant in a
13mental health program within the state prison or county jail system,
14respectively, at a level of care determined to be appropriate by the
15department’s mental health staff or county mental health staff,
16within 30 days of the defendant’s sentencing.
17(3) Regardless of the offense the defendant pled guilty or nolo
18contendere to, or was convicted of, a requirement that the
19Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or the county jail
20authority, as applicable, prepare a postrelease mental health
21treatment plan six months prior to the defendant’s release from
22custody. The treatment plan shall specify the manner in which the
23defendant will receive mental health treatment services following
24release from custody, and shall address, if applicable and at the
25discretion of the court, medication management, housing, and
26substance abuse treatment.
27(d) At any time, upon a petition from the defendant or
28prosecutor, if it is in the public interest, the court may recall a
29sentence that includes a mental health treatment order issued under
30this section and either resentence the defendant to any other mental
31health treatment authorized under subdivision (c) or resentence
32the defendant in the same manner as if he or she had not previously
33been sentenced with application of this section, provided that the
34initial sentence, and the defendant receives credit for the time he
35or she served.
36(e) The defendant shall have the right to counsel for all
37proceedings under this section.
If the Commission on State Mandates determines that
39this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
40local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
P4 1pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division
24 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
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