CA- Three SVP commitments remain at ASH

9-2-2008 California:

Atascadero State Hospital has transferred all but three sexually violent predators to Coalinga through a shift in patient population that will soon result in the elimination of SVP commitments at ASH.

Coalinga State Hospital, which received its first patients and SVP transfers in September of 2005, was constructed and designed to house the state’s entire male SVP population.

“All of the transfers of SVPs was predicated on the ability to have staff at Coalinga State Hospital,” said ASH public information officer Craig Dacus.

California law defines SVPs as individuals who have been convicted of a sexually violent offense against two or more victims and have been diagnosed with a mental disorder that makes it likely for them to re-offend.

Mentally disordered offenders, those who are involuntarily hospitalized as a condition of their parole, are the primary commitment category that is now replacing SVPs in Atascadero, Dacus said.

The patient transfer, he said, has continued to run smoothly. Dacus added that it is unknown when the last SVP commitments will leave the facility. ..News Source.. by Ellen Holland