30:4-82.1. Findings, declarations

1. It is found and declared:

a. That a significant number of inmates in State-owned or operated correctional facilities suffer from mental illness requiring treatment either in the form of counseling or inpatient treatment during the period of their incarceration.

b. That because of prison overcrowding, a lack of resources, and the inability of the Department of Human Services and the Department of Corrections to agree on a policy to provide adequate and appropriate mental health services to these persons, they are not receiving the mental health treatment they need.

c. That the inability of the two departments to agree on policy is attributable to their separate missions, the Department of Human Services being constituted to provide treatment and not security, and the Department of Corrections being constituted to provide secure custody and not treatment.

d. That mentally ill inmates who do not receive treatment present a danger to other inmates and to correction officers while they are incarcerated and pose a threat to their families and to other citizens of the State when they are released.

e. That the existing procedures of the Division of Mental Health Services in the Department of Human Services and of the Department of Corrections, as well as existing laws, seem to provide sufficient authority to enable the two State agencies to alleviate the problems caused by the lack of treatment made available to mentally ill inmates.

L.1986,c.71,s.1; amended L.1995,c.4,s.3.