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Health and Human Services Agency and Sheriff’s Office recommending the Board adopt and authorize the Chair to sign Resolution 170-2015 designating the County jails as treatment facilities for the sole purpose of administering antipsychotic medication to persons found mentally incompetent and unable to provide informed consent.
FUNDING: The are no material costs associated with this Resolution; however, cost savings will be realized within the Mental Health Division due to fewer bed days in locked psychiatric facilities as well as reduced transportation costs.
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DEPARTMENT RECOMMENDATION:
Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) and the Sheriff’s Office recommending the Board of Supervisors (Board) adopt the attached Resolution to designate the County jails as treatment facilities for the sole purpose of administering antipsychotic medication to persons found mentally incompetent and unable to provide informed consent.
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND:
As a result of changes to the criminal justice system including AB109 and Proposition 47, counties throughout the State now have a higher incident of misdemeanor offenders in jail with mental illness. In some instances the offender refuses to take their medications which exacerbates their mental illness, sometimes to the point of the inmate becoming a danger to themselves or others in accordance with Welfare & Institutions Code 5150, resulting in the individual being found incompetent to stand trial and needing to be transported to a locked psychiatric facility.
Pursuant to California Penal Code (PC) Section 1369.1, upon the concurrence of the county board of supervisors, the county mental health director, and the county sheriff, the jail may be designated to provide medically approved medication to defendants found to be mentally incompetent and unable to provide informed consent due to a mental disorder. PC Section 1369.1 further states that the provisions of PC Sections 1370, 1370.01 and 1370.02 shall a...
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