2017 Massachusetts General Laws
PART I ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT
TITLE XVIII PRISONS, IMPRISONMENT, PAROLES AND PARDONS
Chapter 127 OFFICERS AND INMATES OF PENAL AND REFORMATORY INSTITUTIONS. PAROLES AND PARDONS
Section 39A Segregated units; mental health screening prior to placement; prohibition on placement of inmate with serious mental illness in segregated unit
Section 39A. (a) Prior to placement in a segregated unit within a state correctional facility, as defined in section 1 of chapter 125, all inmates shall be screened by a qualified mental health professional to determine whether the inmate has a serious mental illness and whether there are any acute mental health contraindications to placement in a segregated unit. The screening shall be conducted in accordance with clinical standards adopted by the department of correction.
A qualified mental health professional shall make rounds in each such segregated unit and may conduct an out-of-cell meeting with any inmate for whom a confidential meeting is warranted in the clinician's professional judgment. Inmates in such segregated units shall be evaluated by a qualified mental health professional in accordance with clinical standards adopted by the department of correction.
[ Subsection (b) added by 2014, 446, Sec. 4 and as amended by 2015, 10, Sec. 30 effective April 5, 2015.]
(b) Except in exigent circumstances that would create an unacceptable risk to the safety of any person or where no secure treatment unit bed is available, a segregated inmate diagnosed with a serious mental illness in accordance with clinical standards adopted by the department of correction shall not be housed in a segregated unit for more than 30 days and shall be placed in a secure treatment unit. Any such segregated inmate awaiting transfer to a secure treatment unit shall be offered additional mental health services in accordance with clinical standards adopted by the department.
