California appeals court affirms limits on jail detention for incompetent defendants
California's Court of Appeal upheld a trial-court ruling in Stiavetti v. Clendenin that prolonged jail detention of people found incompetent to stand trial violates due process, affirming a requirement that the state admit them for treatment within 28 days. The statewide waitlist for hospital or developmental-services placement exceeded 1,600 people at the time of the ruling.
The decision gave California's 28-day standard the weight of an appellate ruling rather than just a trial-court order, a distinction that mattered later when the state again faced admission pressure during the pandemic's Omicron wave.
Source: California Court Rejects the State's Prolonged Detention of People with Psychiatric and Intellectual Disabilities in County Jails — ACLU of Northern California
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