California Sued for Failing to Protect Mentally Disabled Defendants

Families who say their mentally ill and developmentally disabled loved ones endured rape and other trauma while languishing in California jails sued the state on Wednesday, saying officials failed to move them to treatment centers as required by law.
The lawsuit filed on behalf of four families by the American Civil Liberties Union details brutal experiences of defendants who were declared incompetent to stand trial yet kept incarcerated in county jails, sometimes for months.
Michael Risher, a senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Northern California said,"The law is clear that when the state prosecutes a person who is unable to participate in the proceedings they have to suspend the proceedings and send that person for evaluation and treatment – and they have to do that promptly." He added,"Instead, we are warehousing hundreds of people in county jails."