Kqeds Forum

California's conditional release program, known as CONREP, is supposed to enable patients leaving state psychiatric hospitals to transition to an independent life and avoid violent relapses. But a new investigation by The Marshall Project and the Los Angeles Times found that CONREP can put former patients in a decades-long legal limbo during which the state dictates where they live, whether they can work and whom they can see -- even requiring permission for activities like creative writing or joining a book group. Those in CONREP are disproportionately people of color. We'll talk to Marshall Project staff writer Christie Thompson about what she uncovered.