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2004 SESSION

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048141756
SENATE BILL NO. 556 Offered January 14, 2004 Prefiled January 14, 2004 A BILL to amend and reenact § 37.1-70.10 of the Code of Virginia, relating to placement of committed persons. ---------- Patron-- Marsh ---------- Referred to Committee on Education and Health ----------

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 37.1-70.10 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 37.1-70.10. Placement of committed persons; notice to community of siting of facility.

A. Any person committed pursuant to this article shall be placed in the custody of the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services for control, care and treatment until such time as the person's mental abnormality or personality disorder has so changed that the person will not present an undue risk to public safety. The Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services shall provide such control, care and treatment at a facility operated by it, or may contract with private or public entities, within or without the Commonwealth, and with other states to provide comparable control, care or treatment. At all times, persons committed for control, care and treatment by the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services pursuant to this article shall be kept in a secure facility. Persons committed under this article shall be segregated by sight and sound at all times from prisoners in the custody of a correctional facility. The Commissioner may make treatment and management decisions regarding committed persons in his custody without obtaining prior approval of or review by the committing court.

B. Prior to the placement of a facility operated by the Department for the control, care and treatment of persons convicted of a sexually violent offense who have been referred for civil commitment as unrestorably incompetent defendants, or the transfer of such persons to a facility in the jurisdiction, the Commissioner of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services shall notify state and local elected officials of the jurisdiction and the community, of the proposed siting of a facility.