(1) Except as otherwise provided by law, the commissioner may transfer an offender for observation, diagnosis and treatment to another appropriate state department or institution, provided that he has given prior written notice to the administrator of the agency.

(2) The department of corrections shall create a board of examiners, hereinafter referred to as the “board,” who shall examine and evaluate the condition of offenders who are apparently suffering from psychosis, other mental illness, or dependency or addiction to drugs. The commissioner shall refer such offenders to the board which shall make a written report of its findings pertaining to each such offender. If all members of the board determine that an offender is in need of mental treatment or can obtain benefit from the programs of treatment for drug dependency or addiction at a facility of the department of mental health, then the board may authorize his transfer for observation, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation after prior written notice to the administrator of the facility of the department of mental health that is to receive the offender.

(3) The board shall be composed of the following:

(a) A physician on the staff of the Mississippi State Hospital at Whitfield, Mississippi, or the East Mississippi State Hospital at Meridian, Mississippi;

(b) A physician on the staff of the Mississippi Department of Corrections; and

(c) A physician to be selected by the commissioner of corrections who is not an employee of the department of corrections or the department of mental health.

(4) The board shall meet once each month at the correctional facility located at Parchman, Mississippi. All fees, compensation and expenses of the board shall be paid from funds appropriated to or otherwise available to the state department of corrections. The board is authorized to establish such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this section.

(5) While the offender is in another institution, his sentence shall continue to run. When the director of the institution to which an offender has been transferred determines that the offender is not in need of treatment or has recovered from the condition which occasioned the transfer or has received the maximum benefit of treatment and rehabilitation, the commissioner shall provide for his return to the department, unless his sentence has expired, in which case he shall be issued a discharge in accordance with law.