HB 53 would allow the state to keep people in psychiatric facilities against their will for up to two years. It gives prosecutors to request a two-year commitment to keep the public safe if the defendant has a history of violence and is a danger to themselves or others.
Committing someone to a psychiatric facility against their will is a massive curtailment of liberty that implicates their constitutional rights to due process under both the United States and Alaska Constitutions. Alaska law is consistent with those constitutional guarantees, providing that a person should be held in the least restrictive manner and treated in a mental health treatment facility that is “no more harsh, hazardous, or intrusive than necessary to achieve the treatment objectives of the patient.”
The bill allows people who are involuntarily committed for two years to petition for early release if they can give “clear and convincing” evidence to a judge that they no longer risk harming themselves or others.
The legislation will still lead to an increase in the incarceration of Alaskans with mental illnesses and contribute to the state's overburdened psychiatric care system.
