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.