The Conditional Release Program (CONREP) is a partnership with the California Department of State Hospitals. It is a statewide system of community based services that treat patients with the following commitment types: Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity, Incompetent to Stand Trial, Mentally Disordered Offenders, and some parolees who have been released to outpatient status.
Most patients in the CONREP program enter upon discharge from a state hospital. Once psychiatric symptoms are stabilized and the patient is not considered to be a danger to themselves or others, the state hospital medical director can recommend eligible inpatients to the courts for outpatient CONREP treatment. CONREP staff regularly evaluate patients in the state hospital to determine if they are appropriate for discharge into outpatient treatment. Program participants must agree to follow a treatment plan designed by the outpatient BHS supervisor and approved by the committing court. Court-approved treatment plans include provisions for involuntary outpatient services. Non-compliant program participants may be returned to a state hospital.
Program participants receive an intensive regimen of treatment and supervision that includes individual and group contact with clinical staff, random drug screenings, home visits, substance abuse screenings, and psychological assessments.
The Department of State Hospitals has performance standards for these services which set minimum treatment and supervision levels for patients in the program. Participants are evaluated and assessed while they are in the state hospital, upon entry into the community, and throughout their CONREP program participation.
The primary goal of CONREP is to protect the public by reducing, if not preventing altogether, re-offenses of criminal behavior by individuals with a mental illness by providing an effective and standardized outpatient treatment system.