BILL NUMBER:S5763

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the correction law, in relation to
holding inmates that suffer from mental illness for emergency purposes

PURPOSE:  To permit mentally ill inmates to remain at the Central New
York Psychiatric Center for needed in-patient treatment at the
discretion of their clinical mental health providers.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends subdivision 9 of section 402 of the correction law to
permit in-patient psychiatric hospitalization at the Central New York
Psychiatric Center at the discretion of mental health providers upon
consent of the inmate.

Section 2 provides for an effective date.

JUSTIFICATION:  State prisoners in need of emergency in-patient mental
health treatment are sent to Central New York Psychiatric Center.
Involuntary in-patient treatment commonly occurs when an inmate has
made a serious suicide attempt or is exhibiting full-blown psychosis
or other symptoms of severe mental illness. Once the emergency for
which an inmate was admitted has resolved, he or she is sent back to
prison. Some inmates cycle back to Central New York Psychiatric Center
on an almost regular schedule; they stabilize in the hospital at which
              

point they are discharged, their mental state deteriorates again in
prison, and they are sent to Central New York Psychiatric Center for
emergency mental health treatment. At times the precipitating incident
for involuntary admission is a major disturbance, creating risk of
injury to staff and other inmates.

Inmates exhibiting dangerous or erratic behaviors due to their mental
illness present a management problem and a security risk to
correctional facilities. For some such inmates longer periods of
hospitalization may be the most effective way to treat them so that
they can maintain stability. In those cases, at the discretion of the
Central New York Psychiatric Center clinicians, it may be preferable
to keep an inmate in the psychiatric hospital under intensive
management for a longer period of time after the immediate crisis for
which he or she was admitted is over in order to provide more
comprehensive in-patient mental health treatment. This change in the
statute provides a mechanism for the mental health staff at Central
New York Psychiatric Center to exercise their clinical judgment and
keep an inmate who has been admitted for emergency mental health care
for a longer course of treatment when the inmate consents to such
treatment under existing mental hygiene law.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:  None, as the inmates will require intensive
mental health treatment wherever they are placed.

EFFECTIVE DATE:  Thirty days after the act becomes law.