Hari Sreenivasan:

Citing the pending litigation, the Massachusetts Department of Correction, which operates MASAC, declined an interview with PBS NewsHour Weekend. But in court filing the state denied the suit's allegations, and "strongly reject[s], as both a factual matter and a legal matter, the suggestion that the commitment of section 35 patients to [its] facilities…is equivalent to 'incarceration' or 'imprisonment.'

The Hampden County sheriff's department is not specifically named as a defendant, but Bonnie Tenneriello says the lawsuit aims to end the use of jails for all section 35 commitments across the state.

She says that would simply put men and women in the state on equal ground. Remember, women who are "sectioned" are treated only in civil settings. That's because in 2016 the Massachusetts legislature explicitly changed the law.

And there's now pending legislation that would do the same for men.

In September, a joint committee of state legislators held a hearing on this issue