An Act To Decrease the Burden on Jails and Improve Treatment for People Living with Mental Illness by Fostering Jail Diversion
Maine Legislature, Session 122, LD 0927
Committee: Criminal Justice and Public Safety
Sponsors: FAIRCLOTH
Amends: 30-A MRSA §1559

Legislative Document 
No. 927 
H.P.646 
House of Representatives, February 22,2005 
An Act To Decrease the Burden on Jails and Improve Treatment for 
People Living with Mental Illness by Fostering Jail Diversion 
Reference to the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety suggested and ordered 
printed. 
Presented by Representative FAIRCLOTH of Bangor. 
Printed on recycled paper 
'711~ frJ.11ldC~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1. 30-A MRSA §1559, sub-§l, as amended by PL 2001, c. 
153, §1, is further amended to read: 
1. 
Administration of medication by sheriff or deputy. 
The 
sheriff of any county may administer to any prisoner in custody 
any oral or topical medication 
as prescribed by 
a 
licensed 
physician, nurse practitioner, physician assistant or dentist and 
approved by the facility health care provider or, if requested by 
a prisoner, any nonprescription medication in accordance with the 
directions 
on its container. 
The 
sheriff may 
delegate this 
authority to administer medication to the jail administrator or 
the jail administrator's designee or the facility health care 
provider. 
A jail may not be required to dispense medications in 
blister packs. 
A jail's medication formulary must have the same 
medications 
available 
as 
in other state institutions. 
When 
possible, 
the Department of Health and 
Human 
Services shall 
assist jails with the purchase of medications 
through joint 
purchasing agreements. 
Sec. 
2. 
Specialized 
units; 
report. 
The 
Department 
of 
Corrections, 
in 
cooperation 
with 
a 
statewide 
sheriffs' 
association and a 
statewide county commissioners' 
association, 
shall assist county jails that are consolidating or building new 
jails to develop specialized units with the capacity to provide 
acute psychiatric care, stabilization, assessment and treatment 
of 
inmates 
who 
have 
been 
determined 
to 
require 
immediate 
hospitalization because those inmates are a danger to themselves 
or others or are unable to care for themselves but no forensic 
hospital beds or other appropriate alternatives are immediately 
available. 
The Department of Corrections shall report to the 
Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services and the 
Joint Standing Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety no 
later than March 
30, 
2006 regarding the need for specialized 
units and the department's recommendations for developing those 
units. 
Sec. 3. Implementation of Public Law 2001, chapter 659: report. 
The Department of Health and Human Services shall report to the 
Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services and the 
Joint Standing Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety no 
later 
than 
March 
30, 
2006 
regarding 
the 
status 
of 
its 
implementation of Public Law 2001, chapter 659 including steps 
taken by the department to enforce Parts B, C and D of that law. 
Sec. 4. 
Community integration services funding: report. 
The 
Department of Health and Human Services shall report to the Joint 
Standing Committee on Health and Human Services and the Joint 
Standing Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety no later 
than 
March 
30, 
2006 
regarding 
efforts 
to 
provide 
ongoing 
• 
]2 
]6 
funding for community integration services for people with mental 
illness 
who 
receive 
those 
services 
and are 
incarcerated, 
to 
prevent interruption of those services. 
Sec. 5. Cost comparisons; reports. 
The Department of Health and 
Human Services shall, within existing resources, prepare a report 
comparing the cost of opening additional forensic beds at Bangor 
Mental Health Institute with the cost of providing additional 
community-based resources that would divert people with mental 
illness from jail and would help prevent inmates with mental 
illness from returning to jail. 
The Department of Health and 
Human Services shall provide the report to the Joint Standing 
Committee on Health and Human Services and the Joint Standing 
Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety no later than 
March 30, 2006. 
Sec. 6. 
Crisis stabilization units; report. 
The 
Department 
of 
Health and Human Services, 
in collaboration with a 
statewide 
mental health services association, shall report to the Joint 
Standing Committee on Health and Human Services and the Joint 
Standing Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety no later 
than March 30, 
2006 regarding what enhancements are needed in 
Maine's crisis stabilization units to accommodate Maine's jail 
inmates in order to provide them with needed crisis stabilization 
and to avoid or reduce hospital stays. 
Sec. 7. Inmate social security income; report. 
The Department of 
Corrections, 
in 
collaboration 
with 
a 
statewide 
sheriffs' 
association, 
shall report to the Joint Standing Committee on 
Health and Human Services and the Joint Standing Committee on 
Cr iminal Justice and Public Safety no later than March 30, 2006 
regarding the practice of collecting premiums 
from the United 
States Social Security Administration for reporting inmates who 
receive 
social 
security 
income 
and 
any 
resulting 
loss 
of 
disabili ty status for those inmates. 
The report must doc1.lment 
the jails engaged in this process, the income generated, how that 
income 
was 
spent 
and 
the 
impact 
on 
inmates 
and 
include 
recommendations 
regarding the process that 
do 
not result in 
financial harm to jails. 
SUMMARY 
This bill provides that a 
jail may not be 
required to 
dispense 
medications 
in 
blister 
packs 
and 
that 
a 
jail's 
medication formulary must have the same medications available as 
in other state institutions. 
It also provides that when possible 
the Department of Health and Human Services must assist jails 
with 
the 
purchase 
of 
medications 
through 
joint 
purchasing 
agreements. 
The bill requires the Department of Health and Human 
Services to study and to report back to the Joint Standing 
Committee on Health and Human Services and the Joint Standing 
Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety no later than 
March 30, 2006, the following: 
1. 
The need for specialized units with the capacity to 
provide acute psychiatric care, 
stabilization, 
assessment 
and 
treatment 
of 
inmates 
who 
have 
been 
determined 
to 
require 
immediate hospitalization because those inmates are a danger to 
themselves or others or have an inability to care for self but 
for 
whom 
no 
forens ic 
hospi tal 
beds 
or 
other 
appropriate 
alternatives are 
immediately available 
and the Department of 
Heal th and Human Services' 
recommendations for developing such 
units; 
2. 
Services' 
including 
D of that 
The 
status 
of 
the 
Department 
of 
Health 
and 
Human 
implementation 
of 
Public 
Law 
2001, 
chapter 
steps taken by the department to enforce Parts B, C and 
law; 
3. 
Efforts 
to 
provide 
ongoing 
funding 
for 
community 
integration services for people with mental illness who receive 
those services and are incarcerated to prevent interruption of 
those services; 
4. 
Prepare 
a 
report 
comparing 
the 
cost 
of 
opening 
addi tional forensic beds at Bangor Mental Health Institute with 
the cost of providing additional communi ty-based resources that 
would divert people with mental illness from jail and would help 
]0 
prevent inmates with mental illness from returning to jail; 
5. 
What 
enhancements 
are 
stabilization units to accommodate 
to provide them with needed crisis 
reduce hospital stays; and 
needed 
in 
Maine's 
crisis 
Maine's jail inmates in order 
stabilization and to avoid or 
6. 
The practice of collecting 
States Social Security Administration 
receive 
social 
security 
income 
and 
disability status for those inmates. 
premiums 
from 
the United 
for reporting inmates who 
any 
resulting 
loss 
of 
•