SECTIONS 7300-7329 - California Statutes

WELFARE AND INSTITUTIONS CODE

SECTION 7300-7329

7300. It shall be the policy of the department to make available to
all persons admitted to a state hospital prior to July 1, 1969, and
to all persons judicially committed or remanded to its jurisdiction
all of the facilities under the control of the department. Whenever,
in the opinion of the Director of Mental Health, it appears that a
person admitted prior to July 1, 1969, or that a person judicially
committed or remanded to the State Department of Mental Health for
placement in an institution would be benefited by a transfer from
that institution to another institution in the department, the
director may cause the transfer of the patient from that institution
to another institution under the jurisdiction of the department.
Preference shall be given in any such transfer to an institution in
an adjoining rather than a remote district.
However, before any inmate of a correctional school may be
transferred to a state hospital for the mentally disordered he shall
first be returned to a court of competent jurisdiction, and, if
subject to commitment, after hearing, may be committed to a state
hospital for the mentally disordered in accordance with law.
The expense of such transfers is chargeable to the state, and the
bills for the same, when approved by the Director of Mental Health,
shall be paid by the Treasurer on the warrant of the Controller, out
of any moneys provided for the care or support of the patients or out
of the moneys provided for the support of the department, in the
discretion of the department.

7301. Whenever, in the opinion of the Director of Mental Health and
with the approval of the Director of Corrections, any person who has
been committed to a state hospital pursuant to provisions of the
Penal Code or who has been placed in a state hospital temporarily for
observation pursuant to, or who has been committed to a state
hospital pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 6300) of
Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 6 of this code needs care and
treatment under conditions of custodial security which can be better
provided within the Department of Corrections, such person may be
transferred for such purposes from an institution under the
jurisdiction of the State Department of Mental Health to an
institution under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections.
Persons so transferred shall not be subject to the provisions of
Section 4500, 4501, 4501.5, 4502, 4530, or 4531 of the Penal Code.
However, they shall be subject to the general rules of the Director
of Corrections and of the facility where they are confined and any
correctional employee dealing with such persons during the course of
an escape or attempted escape, a fight or a riot, shall have the same
rights, privileges and immunities as if the person transferred had
been committed to the Director of Corrections.
Whenever a person is transferred to an institution under the
jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections pursuant to this
section, any report, opinion, or certificate required or authorized
to be filed with the court which committed such person to a state
hospital, or ordered such person placed therein, shall be prepared
and filed with the court by the head of the institution in which the
person is actually confined or by the designee of such head.

7302. Patients admitted to a state hospital prior to July 1, 1969,
and all patients judicially committed or remanded, may be transferred
to a like institution at the request of relatives or friends, if
there is room in the like institution to which transfer is sought and
if the department or departments having jurisdiction over such
institutions and the medical directors of the institutions from which
and to which the transfer is to be made consent thereto. The expense
of such transfer shall be paid by such relatives or friends.

7303. Whenever a person, committed to the care of the State
Department of Mental Health or the State Department of Developmental
Services under one of the commitment laws which provides for
reimbursement for care and treatment to the state by the county of
commitment of such person, is transferred under Section 7300 to an
institution under the jurisdiction of the department where the state
rather than the county is liable for the support and care of
patients, the county of commitment may have the original commitment
vacated and a new commitment issued, designating the institution to
which the person has been transferred, in order to absolve the county
from liability under the original commitment.

7304. Whenever a person, committed to the State Department of
Mental Health or the State Department of Developmental Services under
one of the commitment laws providing for no reimbursement for care
and treatment to the state by the county of commitment, is
transferred under Section 6700 to an institution under the
jurisdiction of the department where the county is required to
reimburse the state for such care and treatment, the State Department
of Mental Health or the State Department of Developmental Services
may have the original commitment vacated and a new commitment issued,
designating the institution to which the person has been
transferred, in order to make the county liable for the care and
treatment of the committed person to the extent provided by Sections
7511 and 7512 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.

7325. (a) When any patient committed by a court to a state hospital
or other institution on or before June 30, 1969, or when any patient
who is judicially committed on or after July 1, 1969, or when any
patient who is involuntarily detained pursuant to Part 1 (commencing
with Section 5000) of Division 5 escapes from any state hospital, any
hospital or facility operated by or under the Veterans'
Administration of the United States government, or any facility
designated by a county pursuant to Part 1 (commencing with Section
5000) of Division 5, or any facility into which the patient has been
placed by his or her conservator appointed pursuant to Chapter 3
(commencing with Section 5350) of Part 1 of Division 5, or when a
judicially committed patient's return from leave of absence has been
authorized or ordered by the State Department of Mental Health, or
the State Department of Developmental Services, or the facility of
the Veterans' Administration, any peace officer, upon written request
of the state hospital, veterans' facility, or the facility
designated by a county, or the patient's conservator appointed
pursuant to Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 5350) of Part 1 of
Division 5, shall, without the necessity of a warrant or court order,
or any officer or employee of the State Department of Mental Health,
or of the State Department of Developmental Services, designated to
perform these duties may, apprehend, take into custody, and deliver
the patient to the state hospital or to a facility of the Veterans'
Administration, or the facility designated by a county, or to any
person or place authorized by the State Department of Mental Health,
the State Department of Developmental Services, the Veterans'
Administration, the local director of the county mental health
program of the county in which is located the facility designated by
the county, or the patient's conservator appointed pursuant to
Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 5350) of Part 1 of Division 5, as
the case may be, to receive him or her. Every officer or employee of
the State Department of Mental Health, or of the State Department of
Developmental Services, designated to apprehend or return those
patients has the powers and privileges of peace officers so far as
necessary to enforce this section.
(b) As used in this section, "peace officer" means a person as
specified in Section 830.1 of the Penal Code.
(c) Any officer or employee of a state hospital, hospital or
facility operated by or under the Veterans' Administration, or any
facility designated by a county pursuant to Part 1 (commencing with
Section 5000) of Division 5 shall provide any peace officer with any
information concerning any patient who escapes from the hospital or
facility that is necessary to assist in the apprehension and return
of the patient. The written notification of the escape required by
this section shall include the name and physical description of the
patient, his or her home address, the degree of dangerousness of the
patient, including specific information about the patient if he or
she is deemed likely to cause harm to himself or herself or to
others, and any additional information that is necessary to apprehend
and return the patient. If the escapee has been charged with any
crime involving physical harm to children, the notice shall be
provided by the law enforcement agency to school districts in the
vicinity of the hospital or other facility in which the escapee was
being held, in the area the escapee is known or is likely to
frequent, and in the area where the escapee resided immediately prior
to confinement.
(d) The person in charge of the hospital or facility, or his or
her designee, may provide telephonic notification of the escape to
the law enforcement agency of the county or city in which the
hospital or facility is located. If that notification is given, the
time and date of notification, the person notified, and the person
making the notification shall be noted in the written notification
required by this section.
(e) Photocopying is not required in order to satisfy the
requirements of this section.
(f) No public or private entity or public or private employee
shall be liable for damages caused, or alleged to be caused, by the
release of information or the failure to release information pursuant
to this section.

7325.5. Notwithstanding Section 5328, information regarding a
person's name, reason for commitment, age, physical description, and
any other information which the medical director of the treatment
facility considers essential in aiding apprehension of the escapee
shall be released if the person has escaped from a state mental
health facility, and the person was committed to the state mental
health facility by a court after being found not guilty by reason of
insanity pursuant to Section 1026 of the Penal Code, unable to stand
trial due to mental condition pursuant to Section 1370 of the Penal
Code, or a mentally disordered sex offender pursuant to Division 6
(commencing with Section 6000).

7326. Any person who willfully assists any judicially committed or
remanded patient of a state hospital or other public or private
mental health facility to escape, to attempt to escape therefrom, or
to resist being returned from a leave of absence shall be punished by
imprisonment in the state prison, a fine of not more than ten
thousand dollars ($10,000), or both such imprisonment and fine; or by
imprisonment in a county jail for a period of not more than one
year, a fine of not more than two thousand dollars ($2,000), or both
such imprisonment and fine.

7327. Every peace officer who is designated in and pursuant to
Section 7325 delivers or assists in the delivery of a patient to a
state hospital or other place designated by a state hospital shall be
entitled to receive from the state hospital such fees and expenses
as are payable to sheriffs for conveyance of patients to state
hospitals.

7328. Whenever a person who is committed to an institution subject
to the jurisdiction of the State Department of Mental Health or the
State Department of Developmental Services, under one of the
commitment laws that provides for reimbursement for care and
treatment to the state by the county of commitment of the person, is
accused of committing a crime while confined in the institution and
is committed by the court in which the crime is charged to another
institution under the jurisdiction of the State Department of Mental
Health or the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the state
rather than the county of commitment shall bear the subsequent cost
of supporting and caring for the person.

7329. When any patient, who is subject to judicial commitment, has
escaped from any public mental hospital in a state of the United
States other than California and is present in this state, any peace
officer, health officer, county physician, or assistant county
physician may take such person into custody within five years after
the escape. Such person may be admitted and detained in the quarters
provided in any county hospital or state hospital upon application of
the peace officer, health officer, county physician, or assistant
county physician. The application shall be in writing and shall state
the identity of the person, the name and place of the institution
from which he escaped and the approximate date of the escape, and the
fact that the person has been apprehended pursuant to this section.
As soon as possible after the person is apprehended, the district
attorney of the county in which the person is present shall file a
petition in the superior court alleging the facts of the escape, and
requesting an immediate hearing on the question of whether the person
has escaped from a public mental hospital in another state within
five years prior to his apprehension. The hearing shall be held
within three days after the day on which the person was taken into
custody. If the court finds that the person has not escaped from such
a hospital within five years prior to his apprehension, he shall be
released immediately.
If the court finds that the person did escape from a public mental
hospital in another state within five years prior to his
apprehension, the superintendent or physician in charge of the
quarters provided in such county hospital or state hospital may care
for and treat the person, and the district attorney of the county in
which such person is present immediately shall present to a judge of
the superior court a petition asking that the person be judicially
committed to a state hospital in this state. The hearing on the
petition shall be held within seven days after the court's
determination in the original hearing that the person did escape from
a public mental hospital in another state within five years prior to
his apprehension. Proceedings shall thereafter be conducted as on a
petition for judicial commitment of the particular type of person
subject to judicial commitment. If the court finds that the person is
subject to judicial commitment it shall order him judicially
committed to a state hospital in this state; otherwise, it shall
order him to be released. It shall be the duty of the superintendent
of the state hospital to accept custody of such person, if he has
been determined to be subject to judicial commitment. The State
Department of Mental Health will promptly cause such person to be
returned to the institution from which he escaped if the authorities
in charge of such institution agree to accept him. If such
authorities refuse to accept such person, the superintendent of the
state hospital in which the person is confined shall continue to care
for and treat the person in the same manner as any other person
judicially committed to the hospital as mentally disordered.