2007 Minnesota Statutes

241.69 MENTAL HEALTH UNIT; ESTABLISHMENT.
    Subdivision 1. Authority; rules. The commissioner of corrections shall, in accordance with
applicable rules and standards prescribed by the Department of Human Services, establish, staff,
equip, maintain, and operate at one of the adult correctional institutions under the commissioner's
control a mental health 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 person who is mentally ill, the
director of psychological services, or warden 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 mental health
professional available to the institution.
    Subd. 3. Transfer. If the licensed mental health professional finds the person to be a person
who is mentally ill and in need of short-term care, the licensed mental health professional may
recommend transfer by the commissioner of corrections to the mental health unit established
pursuant to subdivision 1.
    Subd. 4. Commitment. If the licensed mental health professional finds the person to be a
person who is 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
mental health unit, the director of psychological services of the institution or the mental health
professional shall initiate proceedings for judicial commitment as provided in section 253B.07.
Upon the recommendation of the licensed mental health professional and upon completion of the
hearing and consideration of the record, the court may commit the person to the mental health
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 a person who is mentally ill and in need of
treatment may be committed to the commissioner of corrections and placed in the mental health
unit established in subdivision 1.
    Subd. 5. Discharge. The director of psychological services of the mental health unit
established under this section may, subject to the provisions of chapter 253B, provisionally
discharge any inmate patient admitted as a person who is 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 director of psychological services of the facility certifies that a patient is no
longer in need of institutional care for mental illness the director of psychological services 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 mental health unit established under this
section should expire before the person recovers and is discharged therefrom, and, in the judgment
of the director of psychological services 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.
History: 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; 2001 c 210 s 10; 2002 c 221 s
11-14; 2007 c 54 art 6 s 11,12