Hawaii lawmakers weigh bills to divert people with mental illness from jail and speed fitness evaluations
Civil Beat described a package of 2020 bills: HB 1619 would let courts divert a case into a fitness evaluation when mental illness may be relevant and consider mental health court, while HB 1620 and SB 2033 would move some defendants to health custody for up to a week of treatment, with charges potentially dismissed afterward. A committee report cited in the article said nearly 150 people with misdemeanor or petty misdemeanor charges were jailed a combined 12,000 days before transfer to the Hawaii State Hospital in 2017 and 2018, costing about $2.18 million.
The state's behavioral health deputy director estimated about 250 people could use the programs. The Attorney General's office questioned treatment without a showing of danger, and the Office of the Public Defender warned that pretrial jail time could rise because fitness evaluations already take so long.
The measures were an attempt to shorten the jail-to-hospital pathway for minor charges; Civil Beat's 2025 reporting describes a 2020 law (Act 26) with a similar aim.
Source: Hawaii Lawmakers Work To Keep The Mentally Ill Out Of Jail — Honolulu Civil Beat, by Brittany Lyte
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