California prison mental health panel gets interim director

An interim director has been appointed to help guide the work of a council that advises California agencies on mental health treatment for residents at risk of incarceration.

Nathan Stanley was named to the post Thursday after the members of the Council on Mentally Ill Offenders told The Associated Press they couldn’t meet the council’s legal obligations without staff help.

Most of the 12 volunteer members work fulltime professional jobs.

Stanley doubles as associate director of field operations for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He will do both jobs while officials search for a permanent executive director.

The panel is supposed to make recommendations to the prison system, state agencies and law enforcement on cost-effective ways to keep the mentally ill from committing crimes.