Bill Text: MS SB2769 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Civil commitment; prohibit individuals being held in jail except in emergency circumstances.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2024-03-05 - Died In Committee [SB2769 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2024-SB2769-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2024 Regular Session
To: Judiciary, Division A
By: Senator(s) Simmons (13th)
Senate Bill 2769
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 41-21-67, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT INDIVIDUALS AWAITING CIVIL COMMITMENT PROCEEDINGS SHALL NOT BE HELD IN JAIL UNLESS THE COURT FINDS THAT THERE IS AN EMERGENCY BASIS FOR A TEMPORARY HOLD IN JAIL; TO PROVIDE THAT INDIVIDUALS HELD IN JAIL UNDER AN EMERGENCY BASIS SHALL ONLY BE HELD UP TO 72 HOURS AS LONG AS THE INDIVIDUAL IS UNDER SUPERVISION AND IS SUBJECT TO A MENTAL EXAMINATION WITHIN 24 HOURS; TO PROVIDE THAT NO INDIVIDUAL SHALL BE HELD IN JAIL FOR MORE THAN 72 HOURS; TO AMEND SECTION 41-21-68, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 41-21-67, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-21-67. (1) Whenever the
affidavit provided for in Section 41-21-65 is filed with the chancery clerk,
the clerk, upon direction of the chancellor of the court, shall issue a writ
directed to the sheriff of the proper county to take into custody the person
alleged to be in need of treatment and to take the person for pre-evaluation
screening and treatment by the appropriate community mental health center
established under Section 41-19-31. The community mental health center will be
designated as the first point of entry for pre-evaluation screening and
treatment. If the community mental health center is unavailable, any reputable
licensed physician, psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant, as
allowed in the discretion of the court, may conduct the pre-evaluation
screening and examination as set forth in Section 41-21-69. The order may provide
where the person shall be held before being taken for pre-evaluation screening
and treatment. However, when the affidavit fails to set forth factual
allegations and witnesses sufficient to support the need for treatment, the
chancellor shall refuse to direct issuance of the writ. Reapplication may be
made to the chancellor. If a pauper's affidavit is filed by an affiant who is
a guardian or conservator of a person in need of treatment, the court shall
determine if either the affiant or the person in need of treatment is a pauper
and if * * *
the affiant or the person in need of treatment is determined to be a pauper,
the county of the residence of the respondent shall bear the costs of
commitment, unless funds for those purposes are made available by the state.
In any county in which a Crisis Intervention Team has been established under the provisions of Sections 41-21-131 through 41-21-143, the clerk, upon the direction of the chancellor, may require that the person be referred to the Crisis Intervention Team for appropriate psychiatric or other medical services before the issuance of the writ.
(2) Upon issuance of the writ, the chancellor shall immediately appoint and summon two (2) reputable, licensed physicians or one (1) reputable, licensed physician and either one (1) psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant to conduct a physical and mental examination of the person at a place to be designated by the clerk or chancellor and to report their findings to the clerk or chancellor. However, any nurse practitioner or physician assistant conducting the examination shall be independent from, and not under the supervision of, the other physician conducting the examination. A nurse practitioner or psychiatric nurse practitioner conducting an examination under this chapter must be functioning within a collaborative or consultative relationship with a physician as required under Section 73-15-20(3). In all counties in which there is a county health officer, the county health officer, if available, may be one (1) of the physicians so appointed. If a licensed physician is not available to conduct the physical and mental examination within forty-eight (48) hours of the issuance of the writ, the court, in its discretion and upon good cause shown, may permit the examination to be conducted by the following: (a) two (2) nurse practitioners, one (1) of whom must be a psychiatric nurse practitioner; or (b) one (1) psychiatric nurse practitioner and one (1) psychologist or physician assistant. Neither of the physicians nor the psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant selected shall be related to that person in any way, nor have any direct or indirect interest in the estate of that person nor shall any full-time staff of residential treatment facilities operated directly by the State Department of Mental Health serve as examiner.
(3) The clerk shall ascertain whether the respondent is represented by an attorney, and if it is determined that the respondent does not have an attorney, the clerk shall immediately notify the chancellor of that fact. If the chancellor determines that the respondent for any reason does not have the services of an attorney, the chancellor shall immediately appoint an attorney for the respondent at the time the examiners are appointed.
(4) If the chancellor
determines that there is probable cause to believe that the respondent is
mentally ill and that there is no reasonable alternative to detention, the
chancellor may order that the respondent be retained as an emergency patient at
any licensed medical facility for evaluation by a physician, nurse practitioner
or physician assistant and that a peace officer transport the respondent to the
specified facility. If the community mental health center serving the county
has partnered with Crisis Intervention Teams under the provisions of Sections
41-21-131 through 41-21-143, the order may specify that the licensed medical
facility be a designated single point of entry within the county or within an
adjacent county served by the community mental health center. If the person
evaluating the respondent finds that the respondent is mentally ill and in need
of treatment, the chancellor may order that the respondent be retained at the
licensed medical facility or any other available suitable location as the court
may so designate pending an admission hearing. If necessary, the chancellor
may order a peace officer or other person to transport the respondent to that
facility or suitable location. Any respondent so retained may be given such
treatment as is indicated by standard medical practice. However, the respondent
shall not be held in a hospital operated directly by the State Department of
Mental Health, and shall not be held in jail unless the court finds that
there is * * * an emergency basis
for a temporary hold in jail. Individuals held in jail under an emergency basis
shall only be held up to seventy-two (72) hours as long as the individual is under
supervision and is subject to a mental examination within twenty-four (24) hours.
No individual shall be held in jail for more than seventy-two (72) hours.
(5) (a) Whenever a licensed psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant who is certified to complete examinations for the purpose of commitment or a licensed physician has reason to believe that a person poses an immediate substantial likelihood of physical harm to himself or others or is gravely disabled and unable to care for himself by virtue of mental illness, as defined in Section 41-21-61(e), then the physician, psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant may hold the person or may admit the person to and treat the person in a licensed medical facility, without a civil order or warrant for a period not to exceed seventy-two (72) hours. However, if the seventy-two-hour period begins or ends when the chancery clerk's office is closed, or within three (3) hours of closing, and the chancery clerk's office will be continuously closed for a time that exceeds seventy-two (72) hours, then the seventy-two-hour period is extended until the end of the next business day that the chancery clerk's office is open. The person may be held and treated as an emergency patient at any licensed medical facility, available regional mental health facility, or crisis intervention center. The physician or psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant who holds the person shall certify in writing the reasons for the need for holding.
If a person is being held and treated in a licensed medical facility, and that person decides to continue treatment by voluntarily signing consent for admission and treatment, the seventy-two-hour hold may be discontinued without filing an affidavit for commitment. Any respondent so held may be given such treatment as indicated by standard medical practice. Persons acting in good faith in connection with the detention and reporting of a person believed to be mentally ill shall incur no liability, civil or criminal, for those acts.
(b) Whenever an individual is held for purposes of receiving treatment as prescribed under paragraph (a) of this subsection, and it is communicated to the mental health professional holding the individual that the individual resides or has visitation rights with a minor child, and if the individual is considered to be a danger to the minor child, the mental health professional shall notify the Department of Child Protection Services prior to discharge if the threat of harm continues to exist, as is required under Section 43-21-353.
This paragraph (b) shall be known and may be cited as the "Andrew Lloyd Law."
SECTION 2. Section 41-21-68, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
41-21-68. (1) (a) Regional commissions established under Section 41-19-31 et seq. are authorized to establish regional holding facilities for the treatment and holding of any person eighteen (18) years of age or older being held for the purpose of civil commitment.
(b) Such facilities may only be used upon an emergency basis. Individuals held in regional holding facilities under an emergency shall only be held up to seventy-two (72) hours as long as the individual is under supervision and is subject to a mental examination within twenty-four (24) hours. No person shall be held in a regional holding facility more than seventy-two (72) hours.
(2) For the purpose of establishing regional holding facilities, each regional commission is authorized to create a holding facility fund and enter into holding facility cooperative agreements with counties both inside and outside the regional commission's designated region. Each county electing to use a regional holding facility may contribute to the regional commission's holding facility fund. The State of Mississippi may match the county's contribution by paying not more than Two Dollars ($2.00) into the holding facility fund for each One Dollar ($1.00) received from the counties, if sufficient funds are available.
(3) Crisis stabilization units operating and receiving state funds from the Department of Mental Health as of January 1, 2015, shall not be eligible for the holding facility state matching contributions provided for in this section. The matching funds provided for in this section shall only be allocated to holding facilities established under this section. Regional commissions requesting decertification of any such crisis stabilization unit to reestablish the unit as a regional holding facility under this section in order to be eligible for state matching contributions may do so only with the approval of the Department of Mental Health.
(4) Counties not contributing to a regional commission holding facility fund shall not be entitled to use of a holding facility. No patient shall be ordered by any court to a holding facility established under this section if the county in which the commitment action is pending has not entered into a cooperative agreement with a regional commission and has not made a contribution to a regional commission holding facility fund.
(5) Holding facilities established under this section shall at a minimum comply with the operational standards for holding facilities established by the Department of Mental Health. Holding facilities may also seek designation and certification as a crisis stabilization unit, single point of entry, and other type of treatment facility so that they may receive reimbursement from the Division of Medicaid for eligible patients.
(6) Holding facilities and committing courts shall not remove persons from the holding facility unless the removal is for clinical purposes. Persons taken to a holding facility established under this section and any treatment professionals called as witnesses shall not be required to appear at the court's location for commitment proceedings, except when extraordinary circumstances are found and determined as reflected by a written order of the chancellor. For the purpose of civil commitment hearings, persons being committed and treatment professionals may participate through videoconferencing. Holding facilities established under this section shall have the capacity and ability to provide videoconferencing between the person being held, the committing court, and treatment professionals. Any attorney for the person being held shall be present at the location of the person during videoconferenced hearings and shall have the ability to consult in private with the person.
(7) Holding facilities are authorized to provide any necessary treatment in person or through the use of videoconferencing between the person and the treatment professional.
(8) For purposes of public participation, jurisdiction and venue, the location of the commitment actions for persons being held at holding facilities established under this section shall be deemed to be the county of the committing court, even though the individual being committed and treatment professionals may be physically located in other jurisdictions when participating in any hearing through videoconference. The jurisdiction of the committing court and law enforcement officials transporting persons to holding facilities shall extend to other jurisdictions for the purpose of conducting hearings held by videoconferencing, and for the purpose of holding and transporting individuals to holding facilities established under this section.
(9) Persons being held or detained for the purpose of civil commitment shall not have a jail photograph or "mug shot" published, except as permitted under Section 41-21-97. Persons and businesses who publish those photographs shall immediately remove the photographs from publication, and destroy any and all copies of those photographs in their possession.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.
