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Gov. George Pataki's order to hold 12 sex criminals in psychiatric hospitals even though they have completed their prison sentences was ruled illegal Tuesday by a Manhattan judge.
State Supreme Court Justice Jacqueline Silbermann held that the 12 men were being illegally detained and ordered their release after they are examined by two psychiatrists she has appointed. Saying that he was "deeply troubled" by the ruling, Pataki said the state would appeal.
The men, whose crimes include the rape and sodomy of children, were being held under the state's involuntary commitment law which regularly deals with the non-criminal mentally ill. But civil rights proponents say it was a violation of the men's rights to hold them for something that they "might do".
Pataki has been unsuccessful in his years-long attempt for legislation that would legalize civil confinement.
Prior to their release from prison, the state had obtained orders from two psychiatrists saying that each inmate needed to be hospitalized. Assistant Attorney General Edward J. Curtis who represented the state in the matter, said that the men were then examined by a third psychiatrist at the hospital when they are admitted.
But a lawyer for the Mental Hygiene Legal Services said that doesn't comply with state law. She pointed out that the law spells out what must be done to move inmates from prisons to mental hospitals upon completion of their sentences and that the state didn't not follow the law.
The law provides that the examining psychiatrists must be appointed by the court, not handpicked by the state, the judge said. Upon a finding that the patient needs to be hospitalized, the state has to return to court, notify the patient's attorney and ask for a court hearing. The state failed to do so, violating the men's due process rights.
Silbermann said that the men had to be examined within five days of her appointment of the psychiatrists and unless there is a finding that the men are mentally ill or are dangers to themselves or to society, that they will have to be released.
"Today's ruling creates special, new judge-made rights and protections for rapists, predators and pedophiles who are about to be released from prison into our communities", Pataki said. "The court is granting convicted sexual predators more rights than law-abiding New Yorkers".
"Clearly the Mental Hygiene Law provides requires for involuntary civil commitment that the patient be mentally ill and in need of immediate inpatient treatment", the judge wrote in her nine-page decision. "Absent such a finding, a dangerous propensity is, in itself, insufficient to permit involuntary commitment".
She said that Pataki had "ordered state correction and mental authorities to begin evaluating every sexually violent predator in state prisons before their release to determine if they should be civilly confined".
11-16-05
© 2005 North
Country Gazette
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