SB 1231, An Act Concerning a Defendant’s Competency to Stand Trial and Early Release into the Community

Under current law, pretrial detainees who are found to not be competent to stand trial may be committed by the Superior court for the maximum possible sentence as if convicted, or eighteen months, whichever is less. Once a patient is involuntarily committed, there are multiple ways for them to be discharged from inpatient treatment. This bill, however, prohibits patients from being discharged from the hospital if a person has been charged with certain crimes. As the Connecticut Legal Rights Project noted in their testimony, the Americans With Disabilities Amendments Act and the Rehabilitation Act require discharge from state hospital and the provision of community mental health services in most integrated settings, meaning that this aspect of the bill is likely violative of federal disability civil rights laws.