439-C - Transfers of mental defectives to certain institutions under the jurisdiction of the department of mental hygiene.
§ 439-c. Transfers of mental defectives to certain institutions under the jurisdiction of the department of mental hygiene. 1. Any person over twenty-one years of age who is confined in an institution for the retarded in the department of correction and who has been so confined for five years or longer, may be transferred to a state school under the jurisdiction of the department of mental hygiene whenever it appears to the satisfaction of the commissioner of correction that such person will substantially benefit from care and treatment in such a state school and that the interests of the state will be best served thereby. Such a transfer may be made only upon written order of the commissioner of correction certifying the reasons therefor and upon the written consent and approval of the commissioner of mental hygiene. 2. Each state institution to which a person is transferred pursuant to this section shall receive, treat and otherwise care for such person in the same manner as other persons certified or admitted to such institution in accordance with the provisions of the mental hygiene law. 3. A person transferred pursuant to this section shall be subject to the rules and regulations of the department of mental hygiene and of the institution to which he is transferred, including rules and regulations governing convalescent status and release. Upon certification by the commissioner of mental hygiene and upon approval by the commissioner of correction, any such person may be finally discharged from confinement or from convalescent care. 4. Whenever it is determined that a person confined in an institution to which he has been transferred pursuant to this section is no longer suitable for treatment in such institution and the commissioner of mental hygiene so certifies to the commissioner of correction, such person shall be forthwith returned by the director or other official in charge of the mental hygiene institution to the institution from which he was transferred and such person shall thereafter again be subject to the rules and regulations of the institution from which he was originally transferred. 5. In the event that a person transferred pursuant to this section is under an indeterminate or determinate sentence of imprisonment, the provisions of subdivisions three, four and five of section four hundred thirty-nine-a of this article shall apply to such transfer in lieu of the provisions of subdivisions three and four of this section. 6. All expenses incident to a transfer under this section shall be borne by the department from which the transfer is originally made.