California Maintains Admissions Waitlist For Prisoners With Mental Illness – Despite 250 Open Forensic Beds

On August 20, 2015, a federal judge ordered the California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and the Department of State Hospitals (DSH) to explain why the state has a waiting list for inpatient treatment for prisoners with serious mental illness even though 250 beds at Atascadero State Hospital remain open. The report is due by October 30, 2015.

CDCR is under a consent decree in the class action lawsuit Coleman v. Schwarzenegger, that dictates minimum expectations for how mental health care for state prisoners must be provided. For this new report, the defendants (CDCR and DSH) shall report to . . .