Two things were happening simultaneously Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
At Sacramento City Hall, Mayor Kevin McCarty held a special meeting with Christopher Carlisle and his wife Anne Marie Carlisle about the plight of his 32-year-old daughter Califia, who suffers from schizophrenia and has been living on the street for a decade. Sitting patiently on Chris Carlisle’s lap with a little pink bow in her hair was toddler Laura Carlisle, born to Califia in a parking lot two years ago, later adopted by Christopher and Anne Marie.
Califia Carlisle’s story, chronicled in The Sacramento Bee, was the focal point of Tuesday night’s City Council meeting about behavioral health. City officials advocated for improved communication between local agencies so that people like her could receive proper services instead of being cycled through the justice system — instead of being returned to the streets.
At the same time six miles away, Califia Carlisle was being arrested by Sacramento Police on drug possession and domestic violence-related charges. Bystanders called the police Tuesday afternoon after allegedly witnessing Califia assault her boyfriend, although both denied any domestic violence took place, according to the police report. She was released from jail Thursday because the District Attorney did not file charges.
Justin Hartung, 39, carries clothing and other belongings as his girlfriend, Califia Carlisle, counts money collected from drivers on Howe Avenue near Folsom Boulevard in Sacramento in July. RENÉE C. BYER rbyer@sacbee.com
None of the people looking to help Califia — Chris, Anne Marie, Deputy City Attorney Jordan Lowery, Fire Captain Brian Morr — or the journalists covering her story were aware of her arrest until the following afternoon.
For Chris and Anne Marie Carlisle, this is “another failure of the system happening in real time.”
“She keeps on cycling through the system,” Chris Carlisle said.
Missed opportunity for mandated treatment
Last month The Sacramento Bee published a series chronicling Christopher Carlisle’s efforts to save his daughter, once a promising young college student, from a desperate and dangerous life on the streets. He has attempted for a decade to get her treatment, but schizophrenia and drug use have kept her from consenting to life-saving services. Columnist Tom Philp argued that her situation demonstrated the inefficacy of California’s mental health and CARE Court system, which cannot force participants into treatment.
One of the few coherent sentiments Califia Carlisle expressed to Bee journalists: “I never want to be strip-searched again.”
Instead, as her life was being used as a devastating example of the failures of local and state behavioral health policy, Califia Carlisle was being booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail, where she was held for two nights. Lowery believes she was strip-searched as a part of the process.
Lowery and Morr met the Carlisles outside of city chambers Tuesday, after the family had addressed the council regarding Califia. The two city officials were seeking additional information about her so that they could coordinate outreach efforts to, hopefully, urge her to voluntarily accept services.
Sacramento Fire Capt. Brian Morr offers to help find Califia Carlisle after listening to Anne Marie Carlisle, far left, and Christopher Carlisle, right, after a City Council behavioral health workshop on Tuesday. Morr, who read about Califia and her boyfriend, Justin, in a series by The Sacramento Bee, said he believes he may be able to help them. RENÉE C. BYER rbyer@sacbee.com
When they learned the next day that she was arrested, Lowery immediately sought contact with Califia’s public defender in an attempt to parlay her case to diversion court, where low level criminal cases can be dropped in exchange for the defendant completing a rehabilitation program.
Califia was released two hours ahead of her scheduled arraignment on Thursday because the Sacramento District Attorney’s Office did not file charges. Because the case never reached a courtroom, Califia could not be mandated services.
While criminal court is not the ideal way to connect people with treatment, it might have been something. Lowery tried to find out if Califia received an assessment from a jail psychologist or any treatment services, but the county didn’t hand over any information.
Now Califia Carlisle has another arrest on her record, but is no closer to receiving life-saving treatment.
“I’d rather not see her in jail. I’d rather see her connected through the fire department or the county HEART team, any social program she would qualify for,” Lowery said. “The criminal side is so inhumane. This is not a hit on the DA, and the PD did their job, but it’s so invasive and dehumanizing. And at the end, there are no services for her.”
The Carlisles’ fight for Califia
This outcome was not a surprise for the Carlisles, who have seen this play out before. Califia has previously been detained for drug possession but was also released before her arraignment, precluding the possibility of diversion court.
Still, they were disappointed to see failure play out again.
“Did they perform a 5150 assessment? I know she was brought in on a domestic violence charge, but this is someone who was described in the newspaper as schizophrenic — is that something they even look at?” Christopher Carlisle said. “Are they looking to see if this person is okay or just housing her for 18 hours and throwing her out?”
After exhausting their legal options to place Califia under a conservatorship, Christopher and Anne Marie Carlisle are setting their sights higher. They are calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom, who spearheaded CARE Court, to hold a special legislative session focused on reforming the law as quickly as possible.
“If they wait until next year, legislative changes wouldn’t take effect until 2028,” Anne Marie Carlisle said. “That’s almost a year and a half from now — people will have died between now and then.”
Laura Carlisle is led back to her seat after her adoptive parents, Anne Marie Carlisle and Christopher Carlisle, spoke at a Sacramento City Council behavioral health workshop on Tuesday. The Carlisles adopted Laura in March and attended the workshop to speak on behalf of Christopher’s daughter, Califia Carlisle, who is homeless and has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. RENÉE C. BYER rbyer@sacbee.com
But there’s one more glimmer of hope for the Carlisles to save their daughter, one that doesn’t involve a political battle: the Sacramento Fire Department’s Alternate Response Team, specifically its Street Overdose Response Team.
In addition to responding to real-time emergencies, the Street Overdose Response Team seeks to establish relationships with people on the street using drugs. In 2025 the team was responsible for getting 108 people into treatment, Morr said. Most of the people helped are still in treatment and have not called again for emergency services.
The Carlisles will be meeting with the Alternate Response Team on Wednesday to provide more information about Califia so that the team can strategize how to find her and how to offer help.
The Sacramento Bee
Jennah Pendleton covers the city of Sacramento for The Sacramento Bee. She previously reported on local schools. Before joining The Bee, she wrote about education and culture in the San Francisco Bay Area. She grew up in Orange County and is a graduate of the University of Oregon.