State audit: CONREP participants reoffend less often but placement delays and oversight gaps persist

Grant Parks, the California State Auditor, told the Joint Legislative Audit Committee that his office’s October 2024 audit found CONREP participants convicted of new crimes far less frequently than similarly situated people unconditionally released by the courts.

The audit, Parks said, reviewed CONREP placements from the program’s start in 2003 through April 2024. “Two of the 56 SVPs that were placed in the community under CONREP were convicted of a new offense,” Parks said. “None of the remaining 54 participating SVPs were convicted of new offenses during their time in CONREP.”

Why it matters: The audit presented a mixed picture for public safety. Parks and committee members emphasized that lower conviction rates do not eliminate concerns about program failures, revocations and long delays that keep patients in state hospitals after a court has ordered community placement.

Key audit findings

- Placement and waits: The audit found the state took, on average, about 17 months between a court’s order that an individual participate in CONREP and the court’s approval of the actual housing location. For a separate set of 20 people awaiting placement the average wait was about 20 months; one person had waited about 4½ years. Parks told the panel that “in our view that’s a long time to keep an SVP in the more restrictive environment of state hospitals when a court has already authorized them to be placed in the community.”

- Revocations and convictions: Courts revoked participation and returned 18 of the 56 CONREP participants (roughly 32%) to state hospitals for failures to comply with program terms; some of those later petitioned again and were placed back. Parks said courts more commonly used generic language in revocation orders such as “noncompliance with program rules,” which limited the audit’s ability to analyze specific violations.

- Comparison group: Of 125 people the courts unconditionally released without CONREP participation, 24 were later convicted of new crimes (55 new offenses in total), including 42 felonies; Parks said this rate of convictions was higher than among CONREP participants.

- Costs and housing search: Parks reported that Liberty Healthcare charges up to $2,800 per month for each person awaiting pre-placement services. The audit cited fiscal year 2022–23 housing-search costs of about $485,000 and costs to hold housing under consideration of about $415,000.

- Local participation and committee guidance: State law changed in 2023 to require local housing committees to be consulted on placements. The audit found DSH convened 15 committee meetings in 10 counties from January 2023 to April 2024 but that minutes often lacked detail and local officials did not always understand their roles. Parks said DSH “hadn’t provided clear guidance to local officials on how they could best help.”

- Oversight of Liberty Healthcare: Parks told the committee that most treatment plans for community participants were current at the time of audit, but he identified problems in DSH’s ability to hold Liberty accountable for correcting deficiencies—particularly around electronic document availability and documentation standards. Parks said DSH implemented four of five recommendations; the department declined to implement the auditor’s recommendation to explore state-run transitional housing.

What the auditor did and did not measure

Parks said the audit compared conviction and revocation rates between CONREP participants and an unconditionally released group and reviewed court records, DSH and Liberty documents, and interviews with local committee members in selected counties. He said the audit did not evaluate judicial decision-making—how judges decide specific placement locations.

Evidence and context

The audit report cites program start dates (1996 law allowing civil commitment; community CONREP operations beginning in 2003), the 2023 change requiring local housing committee consultation, and court rulings that changed how certain placement deadlines are measured.

Looking ahead

Parks recommended clearer local guidance, better documentation practices and stronger DSH oversight of Liberty. At the hearing, Parks and committee members pressed for actionable steps to shorten housing wait times and improve accountability without overstating outcomes. The audit’s data and recommendations will inform upcoming legislative and administrative follow-up.