Code of Virginia - Title 19.2 Criminal Procedure - Section 19.2-177.1 Determination of mental illness after sentencing; hearing

§ 19.2-177.1. Determination of mental illness after sentencing; hearing

A person convicted of a crime who is in the custody of a local correctional facility after sentencing may be the subject of a commitment hearing for involuntary admission in accordance with the procedures provided in Chapter 8 (§ 37.2-800 et seq.) of Title 37.2. Such hearing shall be commenced upon petition of the person having custody over the prisoner. If the person having custody over the prisoner has reasonable cause to believe that the prisoner (i) has mental illness and that there exists a substantial likelihood that, as a result of mental illness, the prisoner will, in the near future, cause serious physical harm to himself or others as evidenced by recent behavior causing, attempting, or threatening harm and other relevant information, if any, and (ii) requires treatment in a hospital rather than a local correctional facility and the person having such custody arranges for an evaluation of the prisoner by an employee or designee of the local community services board or behavioral health authority who is skilled in the assessment and treatment of mental illness and who has completed a certification program approved by the Department as provided in § 37.2-809, then a district court judge or a special justice, as defined in § 37.2-100 or, if a judge is not available, a magistrate, upon the advice of a person skilled in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness, may issue a temporary detention order for treatment in accordance with the procedures specified in subdivision A 2 of § 19.2-169.6.

In all other respects, the involuntary admission procedures specified in Chapter 8 of Title 37.2 shall be applicable, except:

1. Any involuntary admission shall be only to a facility designated for this purpose by the Commissioner;

2. In no event shall the prisoner have the right to make application for voluntary admission and treatment as may be otherwise provided in § 37.2-805 or 37.2-814;

3. The time that such prisoner is confined to a hospital shall be deducted from any term for which he may be sentenced, but in no event may such hospitalization be continued beyond the date upon which his sentence would have expired;

4. Any prisoner hospitalized pursuant to this section who has not completed service of his sentence upon discharge from the hospital shall serve the remainder of his sentence.

(1988, c. 787; 1995, c. 844; 2005, c. 716; 2008, cc. 779, 850, 870.)

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Last modified: April 16, 2009