In re Bye

[12 Cal3d Page 99] In a habeas corpus proceeding, the People appeal from an order directing the Narcotic Addict Evaluation Authority (NAEA) to discharge petitioner Charles Ray Bye from custody, and return him to outpatient status (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 3151)1 as an individual theretofore duly committed under the civil addict program (§ 3000 et seq.).2 The issue presented is whether due process principles enunciated by the United States Supreme Court in Morrissey v. Brewer (1972) 408 U.S. 471 [33 L.Ed.2d 484, 92 S.Ct. 2593] and its progeny dictate that before NAEA may, pursuant to a finding of a violation of a condition of outpatient status [12 Cal3d Page 100] (§ 3152), revoke such status of an individual committed to the program it must first afford him: (1) a prerevocation hearing near the site of the alleged violation and (2) a formal revocation hearing at the California Rehabilitation Center (CRC) in Norco, California. We hold that an outpatient's interest in his conditional liberty status is not unlike that possessed by a parolee and that he is entitled to certain procedural due process safeguards to protect that status from arbitrary revocation. We conclude, however, that the entire panoply of procedures outlined in Morrissey as applicable to parole revocations is neither constitutionally mandated nor practically desirable in revocations by NAEA.3