West Virginia Code § 27-15-1

Enactment of compact
Open in Lexace · Ask the AI about this section
The interstate compact on the mentally disordered offender, hereinafter called "the
compact," is hereby ratified, enacted into law and entered into with all jurisdictions legally
joining therein, in the form substantially as follows:
Interstate Compact on the Mentally
Disordered Offender
Article I. Purpose and Policy.
(a) The party states, desiring by common action to improve their programs for the care and
treatment of mentally disordered offenders, declare that it is the policy of each of the party
states to: a
(1) Strengthen their own programs and laws for the care and treatment of the mentally
disordered offender.
(2) Encourage and provide for such care and treatment in the most appropriate locations,
giving due recognition to the need to achieve adequacy of diagnosis, care, treatment,
aftercare and auxiliary services and facilities and, to every extent practicable, to do so in
geographic locations convenient for providing a therapeutic environment.
(3) Authorize cooperation among the party states in providing services and facilities, when it
is found that cooperativLe programs can be more effective and efficient than programs
separately pursued.
(4) Place each mentally disordered offender in a legal status which will facilitate his care,
treatment and rehabilitation.
(5) WAuthorize research and training of personnel on a cooperative basis, in order to improve
the quality or quantity of personnel available for the proper staffing of programs, services
and facilities for mentally disordered offenders.
(6) Care for and treat mentally disordered offenders under conditions which will improve the
public safety.
(b) Within the policies set forth in this article, it is the purpose of this compact to:
(1) Authorize negotiation, entry into, and operations under contractual arrangements among
any two or more of the party states for the establishment and maintenance of cooperative
programs in any one or more of the fields for which specific provision is made in the several
articles of this compact.
(2) Set the limits within which such contracts may operate, so as to assure protection of the
civil rights of mentally disordered offenders and protection of the rights and obligations of
the public and of the party states.
(3) Facilitate the proper disposition of criminal charges pending against mentally disordered
offenders, so that programs for their care, treatment and rehabilitation may be carried on
efficiently.
Article II. Definitions.
As used in this compact:
(a) "Mentally disordered offender" means a person who has been determined, by
adjudication or other method legally sufficient for the purpose in the party state where the
determination is made, to be mentally ill and:
(1) Is under sentence for the commission of crime; or
(2) Who is confined or committed on account of the commission of an offense for which, in
the absence of mental illness, said person would be subject to incarceration in a penal or
correctional facility.
(b) "Patient" means a mentally disordered offender who is cared for, treated, or transferred
pursuant to this compact.
(c) "Sending state" means a state party to this compact in which the mentally disordered
offender was convicted;L or the state in which he would be subject to trial on or conviction of
an offense, except for his mental condition; or, within the meaning of Article V of this
compact, the state w hose authorities have filed a petition in connection with an untried
indictment, information or complaint.
(d) "Receiving state" means a state party to this compact to which a mentally disordered
offeWnder is sent for care, aftercare, treatment or rehabilitation, or within the meaning of
Article V of this compact, the state in which a petition in connection with an untried
indictment, information or complaint has been filed.
Article III. Contracts.
(a) Each party state may make one or more contracts with any one or more of the other
party states for the care and treatment of mentally disordered offenders on behalf of a
sending state in facilities situated in receiving states, or for the participation of such
mentally disordered offenders in programs of aftercare on conditional release administered
by the receiving state. Any such contract shall provide for:
(1) Its duration.
(2) Payments to be made to the receiving state by the sending state for patient care,
treatment and extraordinary services, if any.
(3) Determination of responsibility for ordering or permitting the furnishing of extraordinary
services, if any.
(4) Participation in compensated activities, if any, available to patients; the disposition or
crediting of any payment received by patients on account thereof; and the crediting of
proceeds from or disposal of any products resulting therefrom.
(5) Delivery and retaking of mentally disordered offenders.
(6) Such other matters as may be necessary and appropriate to fix the obligations,
responsibilities and rights of the sending and receiving states.
(b) Prior to the construction or completion of construcation of any facility for mentally
disordered offenders or addition to such facility by a party state, any other party state or
states may contract therewith for the enlargement lof the planned capacity of the facility or
addition thereto, or for the inclusion therein of particular equipment or structures, and for
the reservation of a specific per centum of the capacity of the facility to be kept available for
use by patients of the sending state or staties so contracting. Any sending state so
contracting may, to the extent that moneys are legally available therefor, pay to the
receiving state, a reasonable sum as consideration for such enlargement of capacity, or
provision of equipment or structures, and reservation of capacity. Such payment may be in a
lump sum or in installments as provided in the contract.
(c) A party state may contract with any one or more other party states for the training of
professional or other personnel whose services, by reason of such training, would become
available for or be im proved in respect of ability to participate in the care and treatment of
mentally disorVdered offenders. Such contracts may provide for such training to take place at
any facility being operated or to be operated for the care and treatment of mentally
disordered offenders; at any institution or facility having resources suitable for the offering
of such training; or may provide for the separate establishment of training facilities:
Provided, That no such separate establishment shall be undertaken, unless it is determined
that an appropriate existing facility or institution cannot be found at which to conduct the
contemplated program. Any contract entered into pursuant to this paragraph shall provide
for:
(1) The administration, financing and precise nature of the program.
(2) The status and employment or other rights of the trainees.
(3) All other necessary matters.
(d) No contract entered into pursuant to this compact shall be inconsistent with any
provision thereof.
Article IV. Procedures and Rights.
(a) Whenever the duly constituted judicial or administrative authorities in a state party to
this compact, and which has entered into a contract pursuant to Article III, shall decide that
custody, care and treatment in, or transfer of a patient to, a facility within the territory of
another party state, or conditional release for aftercare in another party state is necessary in
order to provide adequate care and treatment or is desirable in order to proevide an
appropriate program of therapy or other treatment, or is desirable for clinical reasons, said
officials may direct that the custody, care and treatment be within a facrility or in a program
of aftercare within the territory of said other party state, the receiving state to act in that
regard solely as agent for the sending state.
(b) The appropriate officials of any state party to this compatct shall have access, at all
reasonable times, to any facility in which it has a contractual right to secure care or
treatment of patients for the purpose of inspection and visiting such of its patients as may be
in the facility or served by it.
(c) Except as otherwise provided in Article VI,s patients in a facility pursuant to the terms of
this compact shall at all times be subject to the jurisdiction of the sending state and may at
any time be removed for transfer to a facility within the sending state, for transfer to another
facility in which the sending state mgay have a contractual or other right to secure care and
treatment of patients, for release on aftercare or other conditional status, for discharge, or
for any other purpose permitteed by the laws of the sending state: Provided, That the sending
state shall continue to be obligated to such payments as may be required pursuant to the
terms of any contract enLtered into under the terms of Article III.
(d) Each receiving state shall provide regular reports to each sending state on the patients of
that sending state in facilities pursuant to this compact including a psychiatric and
behavioral record of each patient and certify said record to the official designated by the
sending state, in order that each patient may have the benefit of his or her record in
detWermining and altering the disposition of said patient in accordance with the law which
may obtain in the sending state and in order that the same may be a source of information
for the sending state.
(e) All patients who may be in a facility or receiving aftercare from a facility pursuant to the
provisions of this compact shall be treated in a reasonable and humane manner and shall be
cared for, treated and supervised in accordance with the standards pertaining to the
program administered at the facility. The fact of presence in a receiving state shall not
deprive any patient of any legal rights which said patient would have had if in custody or
receiving care, treatment or supervision as appropriate in the sending state.
(f) Any hearing or hearings to which a patient present in a receiving state pursuant to this
compact may be entitled by the laws of the sending state shall be had before the appropriate
authorities of the sending state, or of the receiving state if authorized by the sending state.
The receiving state shall provide adequate facilities for such hearings as may be conducted
by the appropriate officials of a sending state. In the event such hearing or hearings are had
before officials of the receiving state, the governing law shall be that of the sending state
and a record of the hearing or hearings as prescribed by the sending state shall be made.
Said record together with any recommendations of the hearing officials shall be transmitted
forthwith to the official or officials before whom the hearing would have been had if it had
taken place in the sending state. In any and all proceedings had pursuant to the provisions of
this paragraph, the officials of the receiving state shall act solely as agents oef the sending
state and no final determination shall be made in any matter except by the appropriate
officials of the sending state. Costs of records made pursuant to this parragraph shall be
borne by the sending state.
(g) Any patient confined pursuant to this compact shall be released within the territory of
the sending state unless the patient, and the sending and retceiving states, shall agree upon
release in some other place. The sending state shall bear the cost of such return to its
territory.
(h) Any patient pursuant to the terms of this compact shall be subject to civil process and
shall have any and all rights to sue, be sued ansd participate in and derive any benefits or
incur or be relieved of any obligations or have such obligations modified or his status
changed on account of any action or proceeding in which he could have participated if in any
appropriate facility of the sending stgate or being supervised therefrom, as the case may be,
located within such state.
(i) The parent, guardian, trustee, or other person or persons entitled under the laws of the
sending state to act for,L advise, or otherwise function with respect to any patient shall not be
deprived of or restricted in his exercise of any power in respect of any patient pursuant to
the terms of this compact.
Article V. Disposition of Charges.
(a) WWhenever the authorities responsible for the care and treatment of a mentally disordered
offender, whether convicted or adjudicated in the state or subject to care, aftercare,
treatment or rehabilitation pursuant to a contract, are of the opinion that charges based on
untried indictments, informations or complaints in another party state present obstacles to
the proper care and treatment of a mentally disordered offender or to the planning or
execution of a suitable program for him such authorities may petition the appropriate court
in the state where the untried indictment, information or complaint is pending for prompt
disposition thereof. If the mentally disordered offender is a patient in a receiving state, the
appropriate authorities of the sending state, upon recommendation of the appropriate
authorities in the receiving state, shall, if they concur in the recommendation, file the
petition contemplated by this paragraph.
(b) The court shall hold a hearing on the petition within thirty days of the filing thereof. Such
hearing shall be only to determine whether the proper safeguarding and advancement of the
public interest; the condition of the mentally disordered offender; and the prospects for
more satisfactory care, treatment and rehabilitation of him warrant disposition of the untried
indictment, information or complaint prior to termination of the defendant's status as a
mentally disordered offender in the sending state. The prosecuting officer of the jurisdiction
from which the untried indictment, information or complaint is pending, the petitioning
authorities, and such other persons as the court may determine shall be entitled to be heard.
(c) Upon any hearing pursuant to this article, the court may order such adjoeurnments or
continuances as may be necessary for the examination or observation of the mentally
disordered offender or for the securing of necessary evidence. In grantring or denying any
such adjournment or continuance, the court shall give primary consideration to the purposes
of this compact, and more particularly to the need for expeditious determination of the legal
and mental status of a mentally disordered offender so that his care, treatment and
discharge to the community only under conditions which wiltl be consonant with the public
safety may be implemented.
(d) The presence of a mentally disordered offender within a state wherein a petition is
pending or being heard pursuant to this article, or his presence within any other state
through which he is being transported in connsection with such petition or hearing, shall be
only for the purposes of this compact, and no court, agency or person shall have or obtain
jurisdiction over such mentally disordered offender for any other purpose by reason of his
presence pursuant to this article. Thge mentally disordered offender shall, at all times, remain
in the custody of the sending state. Any acts of officers, employees, or agencies of the
receiving state in providing ore facilitating detention, housing or transportation for the
mentally disordered offender shall be only as agents for the sending state.
(e) Promptly upon conclusion of the hearing the court shall dismiss the untried indictment,
information or complaint, if it finds that the purposes enumerated in paragraph (b) of this
article would be served thereby. Otherwise, the court shall make such order with respect to
the petition and the untried indictment, information or complaint as may be appropriate in
the circumstances and consistent with the status of the defendant as a mentally disordered
offeWnder in the custody of and subject to the jurisdiction of the sending state.
(f) No fact or other matter established or adjudicated at any hearing pursuant to this article,
or in connection therewith, shall be deemed established or adjudicated, nor shall the same
be admissible in evidence, in any subsequent prosecution of the untried indictment,
information or complaint concerned in a petition filed pursuant to this article unless:
(1) The defendant or his duly empowered legal representative requested or expressly
acquiesced in the making of the petition, and was afforded an opportunity to participate in
person in the hearing; or
(2) The defendant himself offers or consents to the introduction of the determination or
adjudication at such subsequent proceedings.
Article VI. Acts Not Reviewable in Receiving
State; Return.
(a) Any decision of the sending state in respect of any matter over which it retains
jurisdiction pursuant to this compact shall be conclusive upon and not reviewable within the
receiving state, but if at the time the sending state seeks to remove a patient from the
receiving state there is pending against the patient within such state any criminal charge or
if the patient is suspected of having committed within such state a criminal eoffense, the
patient shall not be returned without the consent of the receiving state until discharged from
prosecution or other form of proceeding, imprisonment or detention forr such offense. The
duly accredited officers of the sending state shall be permitted to transport patients
pursuant to this compact through any and all states party to this compact without
interference.
(b) A patient who escapes while receiving care and treatment or who violates provisions of
aftercare by leaving the jurisdiction, or while being detained or transported pursuant to this
compact shall be deemed an escapee from the sending state and from the state in which the
facility is situated or the aftercare was being provided. In the case of an escape to a
jurisdiction other than the sending or receivinsg state, the responsibility for return shall be
that of the sending state, but nothing contained herein shall be construed to prevent or
affect the activities of officers and agencies of any jurisdiction directed toward the
apprehension and return of an escapgee.
Article VII. Federal Aid. e
Any state party to this compact may accept federal aid for use in connection with any facility
or program, the use of which is or may be affected by this compact or any contract pursuant
thereto and any patient in a receiving state pursuant to this compact may participate in any
such federally aided program or activity for which the sending and receiving states have
made contractual provision: Provided, That if such program or activity is not part of the
customary regimen of the facility or program the express consent of the appropriate official
of tWhe sending state shall be required therefor.
Article VIII. Entry into Force.
This compact shall enter into force and become effective and binding upon the states so
acting when it has been enacted into law by any two states from among the states of Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South
Dakota and Wisconsin. Thereafter, this compact shall enter into force and become effective
and binding as to any other of said states, or any other state upon similar action by such
state.
Article IX. Withdrawal and Termination.
This compact shall continue in force and remain binding upon a party state until it shall have
enacted a statute repealing the same and providing for the sending of formal written notice
of withdrawal from the compact to the appropriate officials of all other party states. An
actual withdrawal shall not take effect until two years after the notices provided in said
statute have been sent. Such withdrawal shall not relieve the withdrawing state from its
obligations assumed hereunder prior to the effective date of withdrawal. Before the effective
date of withdrawal, a withdrawing state shall remove to its territory, at its own expense,
such patients as it may have in other party states pursuant to the provisions of this compact.
Article X. Other Arrangements Unaffected.
Nothing contained in this compact shall be construed to abrogate or impair any agreement
or other arrangement which a party state may have with a nonpaurty state for the custody,
care, treatment, rehabilitation or aftercare of patients nor to repeal any other laws of a party
state authorizing the making of cooperative arrangements. t
Article XI. Construction and Severability. a
The provisions of this compact shall be liberally conlstrued and shall be severable. If any
phrase, clause, sentence or provision of this csompact is declared to be contrary to the
Constitution of any participating state or of the United States or the applicability thereof to
any government, agency, person or circumistance is held invalid, the validity of the
remainder of this compact and the agpplicability thereof to any government, agency, person
or circumstance shall not be affected thereby. If this compact shall be held contrary to the
Constitution of any state participating therein, the compact shall remain in full force and
effect as to the remaining states and in full force and effect as to the state affected as to all
severable matters.

‹ Prev All West Virginia sections Next ›


Lexace provides legal information, not legal advice, and no attorney–client relationship is created. Statute text is provided for general information and may not reflect the most recent amendments; verify against the official state code.