reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
MA Gen L ch 123a § 16 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 123a - Care, Treatment and Rehabilitation of Sexually Dangerous Persons|Section 16 - Annual Reports Describing Treatments Offered

Section 16. The department of correction and the department of youth services shall annually prepare reports describing the treatment offered to each person who has been committed to the treatment center or the department of youth services as a sexually dangerous person and, without disclosing the identity of such persons, describe the treatment provided. The annual reports shall be submitted, on or before January 1, 2000 and every November 1 thereafter, to the clerk of the house of representatives and the clerk of the senate, who shall forward the same to the house and senate committees on ways and means and to the joint committee on criminal justice. The treatment center shall submit on or before December 12, 1999 its plan for the administration and management of the treatment center to the clerk of the house of representatives and the clerk of the senate, who shall forward the same to the house and senate committees on ways and means and to the joint committee on criminal justice. The treatment center shall promptly notify said committees of any modifications to said plan.
MA Gen L ch 123b § 2 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 123b - Mental Retardation|Section 2 - Regulations

Section 2. The department shall, in accordance with section two of chapter thirty A and subject to appropriation, adopt regulations consistent with this chapter which establish procedures and the highest practicable professional standards for the reception, examination, treatment, restraint, transfer and discharge of persons with an intellectual disability in departmental facilities. Said regulations shall be adaptable to changing conditions and to advances in methods of care and treatment and in programs and services for persons with an intellectual disability. Said regulations (1) shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, long and short-term residential care, educational services, and preschool clinical services, (2) shall define the levels of and other aspects of intellectual disability as deemed necessary by the department, and (3) shall provide for different procedures for particular facilities or programs.  The department shall, in accordance with section 2 of chapter 30A and subject to appropriation, adopt regulations consistent with this chapter which establish procedures and the highest practicable professional standards for community services for persons with developmental disabilities.
MA Gen L ch 123b § 4 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 123b - Mental Retardation|Section 4 - Periodic Review; Notice

Section 4. Each person within the care of the department shall be the subject of a periodic review under the supervision of the superintendent, which shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, (1) a thorough clinical examination, (2) an evaluation of the legal competency of the person and the necessity or advisability of having a guardian or conservator appointed or removed, (3) a consideration of all possible alternatives to continued residential care including, but not necessarily limited to, a determination of the person's relationship to the community and to his family, or his employment possibilities, and of available community resources, foster care and convalescent facilities, and (4) unless a guardian or conservator has been appointed, an evaluation of each person who is a resident of a facility in order to determine how much of his funds shall be designated as dependent funds and how much as independent funds, and the formulation and maintenance of a financial plan for the use of his dependent funds. Said periodic review shall take place at least upon admission, once during the first three months after admission, once during the second three months after admission and annually thereafter. Said person shall be given a physical examination by a physician licensed under the provisions of chapter one hundred and twelve at least once in every twelve-month period during which he is resident in said departmental facility. The superintendent shall give written notice to said person and his guardian, or, if there is no such guardian and the person with an intellectual disability does not knowingly object, his nearest relative prior to any such review which is made subsequent to admission. The social service department of the facility shall take part in the review and may utilize community resources. The results of each review shall become part of the official record of the person reviewed.  Following such review, if the person is still in need of care as a resident, the superintendent shall notify the person and his guardian, or, if there is no such guardian and the person with an intellectual disability does not knowingly object, his nearest relative.
MA Gen L ch 123b § 5 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 123b - Mental Retardation|Section 5 - Retention of Persons

Section 5. No person with an intellectual disability shall be retained at a facility except under the provisions of sections six and seven.
MA Gen L ch 123b § 6 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 123b - Mental Retardation|Section 6 - Voluntary Admissions; Consultation With Attorney; Discharge

Section 6. Pursuant to departmental regulations on admission procedures, the superintendent may receive and retain on a voluntary basis any person with an intellectual disability providing the person is in need of care and treatment and providing the admitting facility is suitable for such care and treatment. The application may be made (1) by a person who has attained the age of sixteen, (2) by a parent or guardian of a person on behalf of a person under the age of eighteen years, and (3) by the duly authorized guardian of a person on behalf of an adult person under his guardianship. Prior to accepting an application for a voluntary admission, the superintendent shall afford the person making the application the opportunity for consultation with an attorney, or with a person who is working under the supervision of an attorney, concerning the legal effect of a voluntary admission. The superintendent may discharge any person admitted under the provisions of this paragraph at any time he deems such discharge in the best interest of such person, provided, however, that if a parent or guardian made the application for admission, fourteen days' notice shall be given to such parent or guardian prior to such discharge.
MA Gen L ch 123b § 7 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 123b - Mental Retardation|Section 7 - Voluntary Admissions; Withdrawal; Notice; Examination

Section 7. Any person retained in a facility under the provisions of section six shall be free to leave such facility at any time, and any parent or guardian who requested the admission of such person may withdraw such person at any time, upon giving written notice to the superintendent. The superintendent may restrict the right to leave or withdraw to normal working hours and weekdays and, in his discretion, may require persons or the parents or guardians of persons to give three days written notice of their intention to leave or withdraw. Where persons or their parents or guardians are required to give three days notice of intention to leave or withdraw, an examination of such persons may be conducted to determine their clinical progress, their suitability for discharge and to investigate other aspects of their case including their legal competency and their family, home or community situation in the interest of discharging them from the facility.
MA Gen L ch 123b § 9 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 123b - Mental Retardation|Section 9 - Mailing Privileges; Visitation Rights; Legal and Civil Rights

Section 9. A person with an intellectual disability in the care of the department shall be provided with stationery and postage in reasonable amounts and shall have free and unrestricted mailing privileges.  A person with an intellectual disability shall have the right to be visited at all reasonable times by anyone unless he is ill or incapacitated and the superintendent determines that such a visit would be unreasonable. A statement of the reasons for any such denial of visiting rights shall be entered in the treatment record of said person.  In addition to the rights specified above and any other rights guaranteed by law, a person with an intellectual disability in the care of the department shall have the following legal and civil rights: to wear his own clothes, to keep and use his own personal possessions including toilet articles, to keep and be allowed to spend a reasonable sum of his own money for canteen expenses and small purchases, to have access to individual storage space for his private use, reasonable access to telephones to make and receive confidential calls, to refuse shock treatment, to refuse lobotomy, and any other rights specified in the regulations of the department; provided, however, that any of these rights may be denied for good cause by the superintendent or his designee and a statement of the reasons for any such denial entered in the treatment record of such person.
MA Gen L ch 123b § 10 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 123b - Mental Retardation|Section 10 - Legal Capacity of Persons Admitted or Committed

Section 10. No person shall be deemed to be incompetent to manage his affairs, to contract, to hold professional or occupational or vehicle operators licenses or to make a will solely by reason of his admission or commitment in any capacity to the treatment or care of the department or to any public or private facility, nor shall departmental regulations restrict such rights.
MA Gen L ch 123b § 11 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 123b - Mental Retardation|Section 11 - Guardian or Conservator; Appointment

Section 11. In addition to the periodic review under section four of this chapter, whenever the superintendent has reason to believe that a person who has been under the care of the department as a resident for more than six months, who is not under guardianship or conservatorship, is unable to care for his property, he shall promptly notify said person's nearest living relative and recommend that the necessary steps be taken for the appointment of a guardian or a conservator.
MA Gen L ch 123b § 13 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 123b - Mental Retardation|Section 13 - Administration of Estate of Deceased Resident

Section 13. If a resident of any facility dies leaving an estate which does not exceed fifteen thousand dollars in value, the superintendent shall notify the nearest living relative of such resident of such fact, and if, after the expiration of thirty days from the date of such notice, no petition for administration of said estate has been filed, the department may provide for the administration of said estate under the provisions of section sixteen of chapter one hundred and ninety-five.
MA Gen L ch 123b § 14 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 123b - Mental Retardation|Section 14 - Violent or Unnatural Death of Residents; Notice to District Attorney

Section 14. Upon the death of any person confined to an institution under the control of the department, the superintendent of such institution shall, if he is of the opinion that the death may have resulted from violence or unnatural causes, immediately notify the district attorney for the district in which the death occurred, giving him the name and address of the person who died and the cause of death.
MA Gen L ch 123b § 15 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 123b - Mental Retardation|Section 15 - Instruction and Education; Work Programs; Sale of Work Products

Section 15. (a) In cooperation with other state departments and agencies, the department shall cause to be given to persons under its care instruction and education as may be appropriate for such persons to undertake, especially persons who are unable to engage in programs for resident-trainees.  (b) In cooperation with other state departments and agencies the department shall cause to be established at each facility programs for persons under its care who would be assisted by performing work in or about such facility. The department shall pay or credit such trainee for work performed by him under said program in accordance with payment schedules established by the department in its regulations and approved by the commissioner of administration.  (c) The department may permit the sale of the work products of any person under its care on such conditions as it shall determine. The department shall also determine the price for which said goods may be sold, and the portion, if any, of the proceeds of each sale which shall be returned to the commonwealth to reimburse it for its costs in connection therewith. The balance of the proceeds of any such sale shall be held in trust in accordance with the provisions of paragraph (a) of section twelve.
MA Gen L ch 123b § 16 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 123b - Mental Retardation|Section 16 - Charges for Care of Persons in Facilities

Section 16. The department may make charges for the care of any person in its facilities. To the extent that any person in its facilities is eligible for third party payment of charges for care, the department shall make said charges for care at rates established by the executive office of health and human services or a governmental unit designated by the executive office. To the extent that third party payment is not available, or is not sufficient to pay said charges, the charges may be recovered from said person, or from any person with a legal obligation to support the person, or from the parent of an adult with a disability or disabilities; provided, however, that said person shall be entitled to retain one thousand dollars in cash or personal property; and provided, further, that the department shall make adjustments to the charges based upon said person's individual circumstances; and provided, further, that all charges recovered from the parent of an adult child with a disability or disabilities, shall be recovered in accordance with procedures developed as set forth in section one hundred and forty-two of chapter one hundred and fifty of the acts of nineteen hundred and ninety. If a superintendent of a facility for persons with an intellectual disability holds the funds of a resident in a dependent funds account, the amount recoverable from the resident which would be paid from the dependent funds shall be deferred until the death of the resident, at which time the accumulated deferred payment shall be owed to the department by the estate of the resident; provided, however that this shall not prevent the department from recovering charges without deferral from any of the resident's funds which are held outside of a dependent funds account.  The department shall not recover charges from a resident of a facility for persons with an intellectual disability until the status of the dependent and independent funds of said resident has been reviewed by the department pursuant to section four of this chapter.  The department also shall establish, by regulation, a system of charges for care in programs funded by or under a contract with the department which is consistent with the provisions of this section.
MA Gen L ch 123b § 17 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVII - Public Welfare|Chapter 123b - Mental Retardation|Section 17 - Records; Inspection

Section 17. The department shall keep records of the admission, treatment and periodic review of all persons admitted to facilities under its supervision. Such records shall be private and not open to public inspection except (1) upon proper judicial order whether or not in connection with pending judicial proceedings, (2) that the commissioner shall allow the attorney of a patient or resident to inspect records of said patient if requested to do so by the patient, resident or attorney, and (3) that the commissioner may permit inspection or disclosure when in the best interest of the patient or resident as provided in the rules and regulations of the department. This section shall govern the patient records of the department notwithstanding any other provision of law.
MA Gen L ch 124 § 2 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVIII - Prisons, Imprisonment, Paroles and Pardons|Chapter 124 - Powers and Duties of the Department of Correction|Section 2 - Deputy Commissioners; Duties

Section 2. Subject to the supervision and control of the commissioner, the deputy commissioner for institutional services shall be responsible for planning and directing the efficient administration of each correctional institution of the commonwealth by the officers and employees of the institution.  Subject to the supervision and control of the commissioner, the deputy commissioner for classification and treatment shall be responsible for planning and directing the rehabilitation services of all the correctional institutions of the commonwealth, including the classification, medical, educational, industrial, vocational and recreational programs of each such institution.  Subject to the supervision and control of the commissioner, the deputy commissioner for personnel and training shall be responsible for planning and directing departmental procedures for the appointment, assignment, transfer, training, supervision, discipline and compensation of officers and employees of the department and the correctional institutions of the commonwealth.  Subject to the supervision and control of the commissioner, the deputy commissioner for community services shall be responsible for planning and directing community programs and services provided to committed offenders.  Each of the said deputy commissioners shall perform such other duties as may be assigned to him from time to time by the commissioner.
MA Gen L ch 124 § 5 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVIII - Prisons, Imprisonment, Paroles and Pardons|Chapter 124 - Powers and Duties of the Department of Correction|Section 5 - Reports to Governor

Section 5. The commissioner shall, at least once in six months, report in writing to the governor the condition of the correctional institutions of the commonwealth, and shall so report to the governor when, in his judgment, the conditions of administration, financial management or discipline in any of said institutions require executive action.
MA Gen L ch 124 § 6 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVIII - Prisons, Imprisonment, Paroles and Pardons|Chapter 124 - Powers and Duties of the Department of Correction|Section 6 - Annual Reports to General Court

Section 6. He shall make an annual report setting forth fully and in detail the actual condition on November thirtieth of each correctional institution of the commonwealth, and on December thirty-first of each jail and house of correction, the number of inmates in each, such statistics from the reports required by section eight as will show the results of criminal prosecutions, and such statistics from the reports required by section nine, and by section one hundred of chapter two hundred and seventy-six, as he considers proper. The report shall state the industries which have been carried on in the institutions named in section fifty-one of chapter one hundred and twenty-seven during the year, the number of prisoners employed in each, the greatest and smallest number thereof at any one time, the kind and quantity of goods manufactured, the amount thereof sold to such institutions and elsewhere, and the prices received therefor. The report shall include the reports made to him by the officers of the correctional institutions of the commonwealth, of the other penal institutions, and of the parole board.
MA Gen L ch 124 § 8 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVIII - Prisons, Imprisonment, Paroles and Pardons|Chapter 124 - Powers and Duties of the Department of Correction|Section 8 - Reports of Criminal Cases by Clerks of Courts

Section 8. Clerks of courts shall annually, on or before January fifteenth, make reports to the commissioner of all criminal cases commenced in the superior court in the several counties during the year ending on December thirty-first, and of all criminal cases entered therein on appeal during such time. Clerks of district courts shall annually, at the same time and for the same period, make like reports of criminal cases in which such courts have exercised jurisdiction, and shall state whether such jurisdiction was final or otherwise. Blank forms for such reports shall be prepared and furnished by the commissioner. Whoever refuses or neglects to make the report required of him by this section shall forfeit two hundred dollars.
MA Gen L ch 124 § 9 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVIII - Prisons, Imprisonment, Paroles and Pardons|Chapter 124 - Powers and Duties of the Department of Correction|Section 9 - Monthly Reports of Arrests

Section 9. The police commissioner of Boston, city marshals or chiefs of police and every officer making an arrest in a town not having a city marshal or chief of police shall make monthly reports to the commissioner of the number of persons of each sex arrested in their several towns. Such reports shall be classified according to offences. An officer who refuses or neglects to make such report shall be punished by a fine of fifty dollars.
MA Gen L ch 124 § 10 (2021)
2021 Massachusetts General Laws|Part I - Administration of the Government|Title XVIII - Prisons, Imprisonment, Paroles and Pardons|Chapter 124 - Powers and Duties of the Department of Correction|Section 10 - Corporate Status of Department for Purpose of Grants, Gifts or Bequests; Site Selection for New Facilities; Title to Property

Section 10. The department shall be a corporation for the purpose of taking, holding and administering in trust for the commonwealth any grant, gift or bequest made either to the commonwealth or to it for the use of persons under its control in any correctional facility of the department or for expenditure upon any work which the department is authorized to undertake. The department may accept, receive and use money, goods or services given for the general purposes of the department by the federal government or from any other source, public or private, and may comply with such conditions and enter into such agreements upon such covenants, terms and conditions as the department deems necessary or desirable, provided the agreement is not in conflict with state law.  The department, subject to the approval of the governor, shall select the site of any new state correctional facility and any land to be taken or purchased by the commonwealth for the purposes of any new or existing state correctional facility. If any land or property is taken or purchased by the department, title shall be taken in the name of the commonwealth.