Conservatorships: custody status.

Under existing law, a professional person in charge of an agency providing comprehensive evaluation or a facility providing intensive treatment for a gravely disabled person may recommend a conservatorship for that person without that person being an inpatient in a facility providing comprehensive evaluation or intensive treatment, if specified conditions are met. This bill would expand that authority to a professional person in charge of providing mental health treatment at a county jail or his or her designee. Existing law also authorizes initiation of conservatorship proceedings for, among others, a person who has been transferred from a county jail to a specified mental health facility for 72-hour evaluation and treatment, upon a recommendation to the conservatorship investigator of the appropriate county, as specified. Under existing law, the initiation of conservatorship proceedings or the existence of a conservatorship does not affect pending criminal proceedings for that person. This bill would additionally prohibit a conservatorship investigator from failing to schedule an investigation based upon the custody status of a person who is subject to a conservatorship investigation.