People with mental illnesses who are in conservatorships are being held in Los Angeles County jails even after their criminal charges are dropped, according to a report released Tuesday by Disability Rights California.
Similarly, they are staying months in county psychiatric hospitals after doctors have agreed that it’s safe for them to leave, the report said.
The issue is partly one of capacity. Facilities where they could be sent after being released from jail or hospitals are often full and have months-long waiting lists.
But Disability Rights California, a nonprofit that advocates for people with disabilities, criticized L.A. County for transferring them only to locked facilities, when they could be safely treated in unlocked community settings such as group homes or supportive housing.
In recent years, the county Board of Supervisors has approved almost $400 million for more locked facilities but failed to adequately fund less restrictive community housing, the report said.
The report examined a subset of jail inmates in conservatorships — those whose care is overseen by the L.A. County Office of the Public Guardian because no friends or family can take on the task. The people in the report, who also include those in locked healthcare facilities such as psychiatric hospitals, have been assessed by doctors or jail staff as not dangerous and able to leave.
A person is placed in a conservatorship when a judge determines that they cannot care for themselves and names a third party to be responsible for them.
Many conservatees with mental illnesses stayed in the jails for months after their charges were dropped, according to the report.
Some were put in conservatorships after they were found incompetent to stand trial and still weren’t well enough to stand trial after two years of treatment.
In December, the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, which runs the jails, adopted a policy that ended its practice of holding people in conservatorships after their…