2017 Arizona Revised Statutes
Title 31 - Prisons and Prisoners
§ 31-226.01 Emergency transfer procedures

31-226.01. Emergency transfer procedures

A. If the written report made pursuant to section 31-226, subsection A indicates reasonable cause to believe that, as a result of mental disorder, the prisoner is a danger to self or others and that without immediate treatment in a mental health inpatient treatment facility or the state hospital the prisoner is likely to suffer substantial physical harm or serious illness or is likely to inflict substantial physical harm on another, the director of the state department of corrections shall immediately authorize transfer for treatment of the prisoner to a mental health inpatient treatment facility operated by the state department of corrections if the prisoner is an adult male and to the state hospital if the prisoner is a female or a minor.

B. On presentation of a prisoner for emergency transfer, an admitting officer of a mental health inpatient treatment facility or the state hospital may examine the prisoner and may admit the prisoner as an emergency admission. The transferred prisoner remains in the legal custody of the state department of corrections, and the department shall pay all costs incurred for the prisoner during the term of the prisoner's sentence.

C. If a prisoner has been transferred pursuant to subsection A of this section, within forty-eight hours, excluding weekends and holidays, after the transfer the director shall file a petition for emergency transfer with the superior court in the county to which the prisoner has been transferred. The petition shall include:

1. A summary of the symptoms and signs displayed by the prisoner which led to the mental examination.

2. A summary of the recommendations of the examining psychiatrist or physician.

3. A statement supporting the need for immediate transfer of the prisoner.

D. On review of the petition for emergency transfer, if the court finds that as a result of mental disorder the prisoner is a danger to self or others, and that without immediate treatment in a mental health inpatient treatment facility or the state hospital the prisoner is likely to suffer substantial physical harm or serious illness or is likely to inflict substantial physical harm on another, the court shall order the continued treatment of the prisoner, and the provisions of section 31-226, subsections B through J apply to the petition for emergency transfer.

E. On review of the petition for emergency transfer, if the court does not find as described in subsection D of this section, the court shall order that the prisoner be returned to the facility in which the prisoner was incarcerated within forty-eight hours.

F. If the court orders that the prisoner be returned to the facility in which the prisoner was incarcerated, the director of the state department of corrections may proceed pursuant to section 31-226.