(a) As used in this section, âdepartmentâ means the State Department of State Hospitals. (b) The Legislature finds and declares that the purpose of this section is to establish a program for the department to perform reevaluations primarily through telehealth evaluations for felony incompetent to stand trial (IST) individuals in jail who have been waiting for admission to the department. The goals of this program are: (1) To permit the department to conduct reevaluations of IST defendants committed to the department and awaiting admission to department facilities. (2) To reduce the growing list of IST defendants awaiting placement to a department facility for competency restoration treatment. (3) To help address the significant impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the IST waitlist through identification of individuals on the waitlist who have restored to competency in jail, are nonrestorable, are malingering, may be divertible, or have stabilized and are appropriate for outpatient treatment. (4) To reduce the timeframe for a competency evaluation for IST defendants in jail and reduce unnecessary costly hospitalizations. (5) To offer expert forensic mental health consultation to assist in identifying ISTs who may be appropriate for community placement. This supports the principles of deinstitutionalization for individuals who can best be supported in the least restrictive setting in the community. (6) To offer expert medication consultation and technical assistance to local sheriffs to support effective use of psychotropic medications and stabilization of IST defendants awaiting placement to a department facility. (7) To require courts and local county jails to provide to the department all relevant medical, behavioral, and court records of IST defendants committed to the department for evaluation purposes. (8) To require local county jails to provide the department access to IST defendants in county jails and for local county jails to ensure the department the ability to provide reevaluations for IST defendants remotely. (9) To require local county jails to allow the department access to necessary IST defendantsâ information, including records and collateral information. (c) The department, or its designee, have the authority and sole discretion to consider and conduct reevaluations for IST defendants committed to and awaiting admission to the department. A reevaluation shall involve a review by a department clinician or contracted clinician of an IST defendantâs relevant medical and mental health records, including prior mental health evaluations and an evaluation of the IST defendant by that department clinician or contracted clinician. When conducting the reevaluation, the department or its designee may request defendantâs counsel to provide any information bearing on the defendantâs capacity to rationally cooperate in their defense that is absent from the records accessible to the court. Defense counsel may provide a written statement of their reasoning for questioning the defendantâs mental competence and the time of their most recent contact with the defendant. Any communication between the defendantâs counsel and the evaluator is confidential pursuant to Section 954 of the Evidence Code. If not already provided, the court shall provide the department with all IST defendant records pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 1370 of the Penal Code, including any updated medical and behavioral health records requested by the department. At the sole discretion of the department, the department clinician or contracted clinician may conduct in person, or video telehealth, evaluations of IST defendants at the local jail for those IST patients awaiting admission to the department. The local jail shall provide the department confidential access to the IST defendant for reevaluation, including establishing and maintaining remote access capabilities at the jail for the department to remotely access the
‹ Prev All California sections Next ›
Lexace provides legal information, not legal advice, and no attorney–client relationship is created. Statute text is provided for general information and may not reflect the most recent amendments; verify against the official state code.