State hospitals: involuntary treatment.

Existing law requires, prior to the termination of parole or release from prison, as specified, of a parolee or prisoner with a severe mental disorder that is not in remission or cannot be kept in remission without treatment, that a written evaluation on remission be submitted to the district attorney of the county in which the parolee is receiving outpatient treatment, or for those in prison or in a state mental hospital, the district attorney of the county of commitment. This bill would specify that, in the case of a person who is in a prison or in a state mental hospital, the written evaluation on remission be submitted to the district attorney of the county of commitment to prison. Existing law requires a county to submit a statement of all mental health treatment costs and a separate statement of all nontreatment costs to the State Department of State Hospitals and the Controller, respectively, when a trial or hearing is held for specified inmates of state hospitals, including trials for persons charged with escape from a state hospital and trials for persons who commit a crime while confined in a state hospital. This bill would make these provisions applicable to hearings for an order seeking involuntary treatment with psychotropic medication, or any other medication for which an order is required, of a person confined in a state hospital. Existing law authorizes a district attorney to file a petition for continued involuntary treatment for one year of a prisoner who refused to agree to treatment as part of parole, if the prisoner's severe mental disorder is not in remission or cannot be kept in remission without treatment and the prisoner represents a substantial danger of physical harm to others. This bill would require the nontreatment costs associated with any hearing for the involuntary medication of a person committed under this provision to be paid by the county of commitment, as defined.