Civil Commitment (H 5874)

In yet another response to the Woodmansee case, the General Assembly considered, but ultimately took no action on, legislation to funnel prisoners deemed unable to reenter society into mental health facilities after the completion of their prison terms.  Billed as a way to provide extra rehabilitation services and protect the community from sex offenders in need of psychiatric treatment, the bill in fact would have served as a way to impose a secondary sentence on individuals after they served their prison sentences.  The ACLU, along with several mental health agencies, testified before the House judiciary committee about the significant constitutional and social problems with this legislation.