The Mentally Disordered Offender Act, Penal Code section 2960 et seq., provides for civil commitment for involuntary treatment of a defendant as a condition of parole, with the statute permitting one-year increments of commitment. In interpreting the MDO statute, the Supreme Court found that subdivision (e) permitting the district attorney to file for recommitment before the current one-year commitment has expired is mandatory rather than directory.

Despite an April 2003 letter from the hospital director recommending that appellant’s commitment that was set to expire October 2003 be extended one year, the district attorney took no action until January 2004, when a petition to extend the commitment was filed. Because appellant’s term of commitment had ended, there was nothing to extend and the court lost jurisdiction under the MDO Act. The Supreme Court opined that appellant might still be involuntarily committed under the LPS Act (Welf. & Inst. Code, sec. 5000 et seq.).