In Massachusetts judges can order the hospitalization of mentally ill defendants under G.L. c. 123, Sec. 15(b).
The purpose of the compulsory hospitalization is to conduct an evaluation of the defendant’s competence to stand trial.
In recent years there has been a shortage of hospital beds available for these commitments.
So judges have simply ordered the defendants held (i.e., jailed) without the right to bail until a bed is available.
This can often take weeks.
Today the SJC issued a slip opinion holding that judges have no legal authority to detain defendants in this manner.
The key language of the opinion states,
General Laws c. 123, § 15, does not authorize pretrial detention of a criminal defendant in aid of a competency evaluation under § 15 (b). Nothing in the statutory text contemplates, expressly or implicitly, the detention of a defendant solely because the resources necessary to conduct the evaluation are unavailable. Nor does any other statute confer such authority. For example, G. L. c. 276, § 58, does not permit detention based on the unavailability of hospital beds or delays in conducting a competency evaluation….The judiciary’s inherent authority extends only to those powers necessary to allow judges to perform core functions necessary for the proper administration of justice. The power to detain defendants pretrial while they await hospitalization under § 15 (b) is not among those functions. Such detention does not advance adjudication but instead operates as a judicial response to the Commonwealth’s inability to implement the statutory commitment scheme. Addressing that problem requires a level of policy-making typically reserved for the Legislature. (Citations and quotations omitted.)
The full text of the opinion is attached below.