Editor’s Note

Last month’s newsletter detailed some new laws that may affect mental health recipients and their agents or guardians. In this issue, Mark Heyrman, a veteran attorney with over 40 years of experience, writes about some more new laws, as well as proposed legislation to watch. He discussed these in detail during the Mental Health Law Section Council’s May 13 live web program, “Brush Up on Mental Health Law.”

This issue also includes the contribution of 2021 J.D. candidate Pat Graham, who is working under the supervision of Barbara Goeben of the Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commission, pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 711. He has summarized two appellate court decisions that were also discussed during the “Brush Up on Mental Health Law” program.

Finally, this issue includes an article discussing the effects of COVID-19 on the residents of a New Jersey facility housing individuals who have been indefinitely committed under that state’s Sexually Violent Predator statute. New Jersey and Illinois are two of 20 states that have civil commitment laws that apply to sex offenders who have completed their criminal sentences. The Illinois Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act is found at 725 ILCS 207/1 et seq. While the New Jersey statute differs somewhat from the Illinois statute, the Temporary Detention Facility in Rushville houses some 500 residents in a former prison now run by the Illinois Department of Human Services. The residents have been committed indefinitely or have pending commitment petitions. As in New Jersey, the Illinois program delivers cognitive behavioral therapy by mental health experts in a “congregate living facility.” Also, as in New Jersey, many of the residents of the Illinois program live at Rushville for decades. As of June 10, 2020, the Illinois Department of Public Health reports that 312 residents of Schuyler County, where Rushville is located, had been tested for COVID-19. There were 13 confirmed cases with no deaths reported.