(July 31, 2015) The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed suit yesterday against two California agencies for leaving people with mental illness and developmentally disabled defendants to languish in jail – and often deteriorate – when they are not competent to stand trial.
In Stiavetti et al. v. Ahlin et al, ACLU of Northern California and the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell contend this practice is unconstitutional (ACLU sues state hospital system for failing mentally ill and developmentally disabled criminal defendants,” ACLU, July 29).
“While these vulnerable defendants wait for transfer to treatment facilities, they’re stuck in a tragic limbo,” said ACLU of Northern California Senior Staff Attorney Michael Risher. “They’re not receiving any treatment that would enable them to stand trial, and defendants often end up serving much more jail time than they would have under normal circumstances.”
The Treatment Advocacy Center stands with the ACLU to condemn the practice of warehousing mentally ill defendants in jail rather than transferring them in a timely manner to facilities with the resources to provide the treatment they so desperately need.
The following resources from the Treatment Advocacy Center provide data and other information about the treatment of California inmates with severe mental illness and treatment options in the state:
- California-specific data on criminalization of mental illness, criminal diversion, mentally illness population
- “The Treatment of Persons with Mental Illness in Prisons and Jails: California” – from the first national survey of mental illness treatment practices in US prisons and jails
- “No Room in the Inn: Trends and Consequences of Closing Public Psychiatric Hospitals” – a state-by-state study of the change in public psychiatric hospital bed availability from 2005-2010
- Consequences of closing psychiatric hospitals: “Jails and prisons are increasingly populated by individuals with untreated mental illness with some facilities reporting that one-third or more of their inmates are severely mentally ill
- California ranking: In 2010, California had 14.2 public psychiatric beds for each 100,000 population, virtually the same number of hospital beds that were available in the US in 1850; the ACLU lawsuit contends that defendants are warehoused behind bars in the absence of treatment facilities
A copy of the lawsuit and the ACLU Northern California announcement are online at ACLUNC.
(Photo: Caitlin Regan/Flickr)
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