2000 Minnesota Statutes

     241.69 Psychiatric unit; establishment. 

    Subdivision 1.    Authority; rules.  The commissioner 
 of corrections shall, in accordance with applicable rules and 
 standards prescribed by the departments of health and welfare, 
 establish, staff, equip, maintain and operate at one of the 
 adult correctional institutions under the commissioner's control 
 a psychiatric unit for the care and treatment of those inmates 
 of state correctional institutions who become mentally ill. 

    Subd. 2.    Examination.  When any person confined in an 
 adult correctional institution under the control of the 
 commissioner of corrections is alleged to be a mentally ill 
 person, the chief executive officer or other person in charge of 
 the institution shall cause the person to be examined by a 
 licensed physician especially qualified in the diagnosis of 
 mental illness, or, if none is available, by any licensed 
 physician or licensed psychologist available to the institution. 

    Subd. 3.    Transfer.  If the examining physician or 
 psychologist finds the person to be mentally ill and in need of 
 short term care, the examining physician may recommend transfer 
 by the commissioner of corrections to the psychiatric unit 
 established pursuant to subdivision 1. 

    Subd. 4.    Commitment.  If the examining physician or 
 psychologist finds the person to be mentally ill and in need of 
 long term care in a hospital, or if an inmate transferred 
 pursuant to subdivision 3 refuses to voluntarily participate in 
 the treatment program at the psychiatric unit, the chief 
 executive officer of the institution or other person in charge 
 shall initiate proceedings for judicial commitment as provided 
 in section 253B.07.  Upon the recommendation of the physician or 
 psychologist and upon completion of the hearing and 
 consideration of the record, the court may commit the person to 
 the psychiatric unit established in subdivision 1 or to another 
 hospital.  A person confined in a state correctional institution 
 for adults who has been adjudicated to be mentally ill and in 
 need of treatment may be committed to the commissioner of 
 corrections and placed in the psychiatric unit established in 
 subdivision 1.  

    Subd. 5.    Discharge.  The chief medical officer of 
 the psychiatric unit established under this section may, subject 
 to the provisions of chapter 253B, provisionally discharge any 
 inmate patient admitted as mentally ill without discharging the 
 commitment and order the inmate patient's release into the 
 general population of the institution from which admitted, 
 subject to return to the facility for further treatment. 

    When the chief medical officer of the facility certifies 
 that a patient is no longer in need of institutional care for 
 mental illness the chief medical officer shall discharge the 
 patient to the institution from which committed, and the 
 discharge shall also discharge the mental illness commitment. 

    A copy of the certification that the inmate is no longer in 
 need of care for mental illness shall be transmitted to the 
 commissioner of corrections.  The commissioner of corrections 
 shall give serious consideration to the aforementioned 
 certification for purposes of their supervision over the inmate 
 upon the inmate's release. 

    Subd. 6.    Transfer upon expiration of sentence.  If 
 the sentence of a person who has been adjudicated to be mentally 
 ill and committed to the psychiatric unit established under this 
 section should expire before the person recovers and is 
 discharged therefrom, and, in the judgment of the chief medical 
 officer of the unit, the person requires further hospitalization 
 for mental illness, the person shall be transferred by the 
 commissioner of corrections to a state hospital designated by 
 the commissioner of human services, there to be detained as in 
 the case of other mentally ill persons under judicial commitment.

    Subd. 7.    Costs.  The costs of the commitment 
 proceedings under this section shall be borne by the state. 

    Subd. 8.    Definitions.  For the purposes of this 
 section, the words defined in section 253B.02 have the meanings 
 given them in that section. 

    HIST: 1978 c 707 s 1; 1981 c 360 art 1 s 18; 1982 c 581 s 24; 
 1983 c 274 s 18; 1984 c 654 art 5 s 58; 1986 c 444; 1987 c 252 s 
 4; 1991 c 255 s 19