Gov. Code, § 856.2 · Chapter 5. Medical, Hospital and Public Health Activities
Gov. Code, § 856.2
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) Neither a public entity nor a public employee is liable for:
(1) An injury caused by an escaping or escaped person who has been confined for mental illness or addiction.
(2) An injury to, or the wrongful death of, an escaping or escaped person who has been confined for mental illness or addiction.
(b) Nothing in this section exonerates a public employee from liability:
(1) If he acted or failed to act because of actual fraud, corruption, or actual malice.
(2) For injuries inflicted as a result of his own negligent or wrongful act or omission on an escaping or escaped mental patient in recapturing him.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 1970, Ch. 1099.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV§ionNum=856.2.
- Text hash
- sha256 4d76745bd32d4cbecbaf97ca79b47b055f42bf37830eb2ef0f38c2b9096d87d2
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.