Bill Text: CA AB2262 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Prisoners: mental health treatment.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3)
Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - From committee without further action. [AB2262 Detail]
Download: California-2015-AB2262-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2262 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 28, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Levine
FEBRUARY 18, 2016
An act to add Chapter 16 (commencing with Section 1425) to Title
10 of Part 2 of the Penal Code, relating to prisoners.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2262, as amended, Levine. Prisoners: 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.
Existing law, as added by Proposition 184, adopted November
8, 1994, and amended by Proposition 36, adopted November 6, 2012,
commonly known as the Three Strikes Law, prohibits certain recidivist
offenders from being committed to any facility other than a state
prison.
This bill would authorize, if a defendant has pled guilty or nolo
contendere to, or been convicted of, an offense that will result in a
sentence to state prison or county jail, the defendant or the
prosecutor submit evidence that the defendant suffers from a
diagnosable mental condition that was a substantial factor that
contributed to the defendant's criminal conduct. The bill would
require that the evidence be submitted after the defendant's
conviction, but before his or her sentencing. The bill would require
the court to consider any evidence submitted as described above in
conjunction with the defendant's sentencing, and would authorize the
court to order the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or
county jail authority, as applicable, to place the defendant in a
residential mental health treatment facility. This placement would
not be available to a defendant who is subject to the Three Strikes
Law. The bill would also authorize the court to order the department
or jail authority to place the defendant in a mental health program
within the state prison or county jail, respectively. The bill would
provide that the defendant has the right to counsel for these
proceedings.
This bill would authorize a defendant who is or has been eligible
for public mental health services due to a serious mental illness or
who is eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits due
to a diagnosed mental illness to petition the court, after the
defendant's plea or conviction but prior to sentencing, for a
sentence that includes mental health treatment. The bill would
authorize a court, if it finds that the defendant has shown that he
or she meets the criteria by a preponderance of the evidence, to
order the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or the county
authority to provide specified mental health service, including
placement in a residential mental health treatment facility instead
of state prison or county jail, placement in a mental health program
within the state prison or county jail, or preparation of a
postrelease mental health treatment plan. The bill would authorize
the court, upon petition of the defendant or the prosecution, to
recall a sentence that includes a mental health order and resentence
the defendant to other mental health treatment or resentence the
defendant without mental health treatment. The bill would provide
that the defendant has the right to counsel for these proceedings.
By 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:
SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the Mental
Health Justice Act.
SEC. 2. The Legislature finds and declares the
following:
(a) Exposure to violence increases the risk of developing a mental
health condition such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Children in
underserved communities are more likely to be exposed to violence
than other children.
(b) Ten times as many people with mental illness are in prisons
and jails today than are in mental health treatment facilities.
(c) Correctional facilities spend two to three times more money on
adults with mental illnesses than they do on people who do not live
with a mental illness.
(d) Despite overall decreasing prison populations, California's
prisons are experiencing increasing demand for mental health
treatment services as prison inmates require mental health treatment
at higher rates. This number is anticipated to continue to increase
in the next five years and beyond.
(e) In California, the annual prison cost for an inmate in the
general population is $51,000, while the annual community housing and
outpatient treatment costs for a person with mental illness are 60
percent less at $20,412.
(f) Nearly half of all prisoners in California are mentally ill
and have received psychiatric treatment within the past year. This
number has almost doubled in the last 15 years, making jails and
prisons the de facto mental health system.
(g) Individuals with mental illnesses tend to stay longer in
prison or jail and, when released, are at a higher risk of returning
to prison or jail than those without these illnesses.
(h) Mental health court participants have a significantly lower
(47 percent) recidivism rate compared to similar defendants in
traditional court.
(i) Mental health courts allow for the consideration of a
defendant's mental health status during court proceedings and have
shown to save $7 in costs for every $1 spent.
(j) According to the United States Supreme Court, conditions in
California prisons exacerbate mental health issues significantly.
Offenders with mental illness are often subjected to higher rates of
physical and sexual trauma, forced restraints, solitary confinement,
and overmedication while incarcerated. Those who are kept in
isolation are at higher risk for psychiatric injury, self-harm, and
suicide.
(k) A defendant's mental illness should inform case processing and
the nature of any criminal charges, in alignment with public safety
and a defendant's constitutional rights.
(l) California must increase diversion programs to redirect
defendants with mental illness away from prisons and jails, which
exacerbate mental illnesses, impede treatment, and increase costs,
and toward proven mental health treatment services.
SEC. 2. SEC. 3. Chapter 16
(commencing with Section 1425) is added to Title 10 of Part 2 of the
Penal Code, to read:
CHAPTER 16. MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT
1425. (a) If a defendant has pled guilty or nolo contendere to,
or been convicted of, an offense that will result in a sentence to
state prison or county jail, the defendant or the prosecutor may
submit evidence that the defendant suffers from a diagnosable mental
illness that was a substantial factor that contributed to the
defendant's criminal conduct. The evidence shall be filed after the
defendant's plea or conviction, but before his or her sentencing.
(b) If evidence is submitted pursuant to subdivision (a), the
court shall consider that evidence in conjunction with the defendant'
s sentencing.
(c) Upon consideration of the evidence submitted pursuant to
subdivision (a), notwithstanding any other law, if the court
determines that it is in the best interests of public safety, the
court may order one or more of the following:
(1) (A) That the defendant serve, if the defendant agrees, all or
a part of his or her sentence in a residential mental health
treatment facility instead of in the state prison or county jail,
unless that placement would pose an unreasonable risk of danger to
public safety.
(B) This paragraph does not apply to a defendant subject to
Section 1170.12.
(2) The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or county
jail authority, as applicable, to place the defendant in a mental
health program within the state prison or county jail system,
respectively, at a level of care determined to be appropriate by the
department's mental health staff or county mental health staff,
within 30 days, of the defendant's placement in the state prison or
county jail.
(3) The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or the county
jail authority, as applicable, regardless of the type of crime
committed to prepare a postrelease mental health treatment plan six
months prior to the defendant's release to parole or postrelease
community supervision. The treatment plan shall specify the manner in
which the defendant will receive mental health treatment services
following that release, and shall address, if applicable and in the
discretion of the court, medication management, housing, and
substance abuse treatment.
(d) (1) The defendant or prosecutor may, at any time, petition the
court for approval to transfer the defendant from a residential
mental health treatment facility to a mental health program within
the state prison or county jail for the remainder of the defendant's
sentence.
(2) The defendant, prosecutor, Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation, or county jail authority, as applicable, may, at any
time, petition the court for permission to remove the defendant from
a mental health program within the state prison or county jail
system, respectively.
(3) The defendant, prosecutor, Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation, or county jail authority, as applicable, may, at any
time, petition the court for dismissal of the requirement that the
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or county jail
authority, respectively, prepare a postrelease mental health
treatment plan.
(e) The defendant shall have the right to counsel for all
proceedings under this section.
1425. (a) A defendant who has pleaded 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 serious mental illness or who currently is, or at any
prior time was, eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance
benefits due to a diagnosed mental illness may petition the court for
a sentence that includes mental health treatment. The petition shall
be filed after the defendant's plea or conviction, but before his or
her sentencing.
(b) The defendant shall bear the burden of establishing by a
preponderance of the evidence that he or she meets the criteria in
subdivision (a).
(c) If the court determines that the defendant has met his or her
burden, as described in subdivision (b), and that it is in the public
interest, the court may order that the defendant's sentence include
one or more of the following:
(1) (A) A requirement that the defendant serve, if the defendant
agrees, all or a part of his or her sentence in a residential mental
health treatment facility instead of in the state prison or a county
jail, if that placement would not pose an unreasonable risk of danger
to public safety and is in the interest of justice pursuant to
Section 1385.
(B) A defendant is not eligible for subparagraph (A) if his or her
current plea or conviction is for a violent felony, as defined in
subdivision (c) of Section 667.5, or if the defendant is required by
statute to serve his or her entire sentence only in state prison.
(2) Regardless of the offense to which the defendant pleaded
guilty or nolo contendere or for which the defendant was convicted, a
requirement that the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or
county jail authority, as applicable, place the defendant in a
mental health program within the state prison or county jail system
at a level of care determined to be appropriate by the department's
mental health staff or county mental health staff, within 30 days of
the defendant's sentencing.
(3) Regardless of the offense to which the defendant pleaded
guilty or nolo contendere or for which the defendant was convicted, a
requirement that the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or
the county jail authority, as applicable, prepare a postrelease
mental health treatment plan six months prior to the defendant's
release from custody. The treatment plan shall specify the manner in
which the defendant will receive mental health treatment services
following release from custody and shall address, if applicable and
at the discretion of the court, medication management, housing, and
substance abuse treatment.
(d) At any time, upon a petition from the defendant or prosecutor,
if it is in the public interest, the court may recall a sentence
that includes a mental health treatment order issued under this
section and either resentence the defendant to other mental health
treatment authorized under subdivision (c) or resentence the
defendant in the same manner as if he or she had not previously been
sentenced with application of this section. The defendant shall
receive credit for the time he or she served on the prior sentence.
(e) The defendant shall have the right to counsel for all
proceedings under this section.
SEC. 3. SEC. 4. If the Commission on
State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by
the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for
those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section
17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
