Sex offenders wrongly held, court rules

The state’s highest court ruled in Albany that convicted sex offenders were wrongly confined in psychiatric facilities after their prison sentences ended.

In its 7-0 ruling, the Court of Appeals sent the cases of 12 men who had been held without hearings as psychiatric patients back to a lower court to determine whether each posed a public danger.

They were among more than 100 inmates ordered committed to mental hospitals by Gov. George E. Pataki after the Legislature did not approve a law preventing them from returning to communities where they might repeat their crimes.