The forensic Conditional Release Program (CONREP) is the California Department of State Hospitals' statewide system of community-based services for specified forensic patients. It was mandated as a state responsibility by the Governor's Mental Health Initiative of 1984 and began operations on January 1, 1986.
Details
CONREP patients are typically young males (77% are 18–44 years old) with severe
mental disorder
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
s (66%) who have committed violent felonies (85%). Common ways for offenders to be placed in CONREP include:
* Mentally Disordered Offenders can placed in CONREP by the Board of Prison Terms instead of the court.
* Offenders found "
not guilty by reason of insanity" can be placed in CONREP by filing a petition for restoration of sanity and winning at the hearing.
* Offenders found "not guilty by reason of insanity" or "
incompetent to stand trial
In United States and Canadian law, competence concerns the mental capacity of an individual to participate in legal proceedings or transactions, and the mental condition a person must have to be responsible for his or her decisions or acts. Comp ...
" because of a serious felony must spend six months in a state
mental hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental health hospitals, behavioral health hospitals, are hospitals or wards specializing in the treatment of severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, dissociati ...
before transfer to CONREP.
Prisoners can only be transferred to CONREP after being deemed no longer dangerous and released to outpatient status.
Difficulties
The CONREP programs have been under investigation by a variety of Federal and State agencies for abuse of its patients. Ranging from food and housing problems, to falsifying of legal documents. The average patient may be in the CONREP program for 20 years, or even for the rest of their lives. The program has recently been in the news for its treatment of convicted multiple
sex offender
A sex offender (sexual offender, sex abuser, or sexual abuser) is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and legal jurisdiction. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crime ...
s.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Elizabeth S. Thompson, Ph.D Tells her story of a patient in her care who was wrongfully incarcerated for 20 years and finally released
Mental health organizations in California
1986 establishments in California