FILED ON: 7/30/2014

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 4367

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Fourteen

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An Act reforming the delivery of forensic mental health services.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

The department of mental health, in consultation with the division of capital asset management and maintenance, the chief administrator of the trial court of the commonwealth and the commissioner of the department of correction, shall determine the feasibility of developing an existing state property or facility to be operated by the department of mental health for the primary purpose of providing evaluation, care and treatment of persons in the criminal justice system who may have mental illness and who are determined by a court to require evaluation, care or treatment in an enhanced security setting.  The feasibility study shall include design features of any such facility, capacity requirements, costs of construction, financing strategies, and the siting of any such facility.  The department of mental health shall further develop an implementation plan addressing the administration and operation of such facility, including its plan to provide forensic evaluations, competence restoration and attainment services, care, or treatment of persons who are determined to require enhanced security. The department shall report to the general court with the results of the feasibility study and implementation plan, or the respective progress thereof, by December 15, 2014.