PAROLE REQUIREMENTS
House Bill 4395
Sponsor: Rep. Doug Hart
Committee: Criminal Justice
Complete to 4-18-01
A SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILL 4395 AS INTRODUCED 3-1-01
The bill would amend Chapter III, entitled "Bureau of Pardons and Paroles", of Public Act 232 of 1953, the Department of Corrections Act. The bill would require a prisoner who had significant mental health needs to meet with a mental health professional before being placed on parole or before release upon completion of serving his or her maximum term. The mental health professional would have to be from the area into which the prisoner would be expected to reside while on parole or after release. The mental health professional would have to review the community mental health programs in that area with the prisoner, and would also have to verify that the prisoner understood any course of medication that had been prescribed for him or her. Upon release on parole or upon final release, a prisoner would have to receive a 90-day supply of each prescribed medication. "Mental health professional" is defined in the Mental Health Code (MCL 330.1100b).
In addition, an order of parole for a prisoner who had significant mental health needs would have to contain the following:
· the parolee would have to comply with any course of prescribed medication;
· the parole officer assigned to the case would have to meet with the parolee 90 days after the prisoner's release date to verify that the prisoner was complying with any prescribed course of medication; and,
· after meeting with the prisoner, if the parole officer determined that the prisoner was not complying with his or her prescribed course of medication, the parole officer would have to require the prisoner to meet with a mental health caseworker from the area in which the prisoner was living. If, at a subsequent parole review, the parole officer determined that the prisoner was again in noncompliance with a prescribed course of medication, the prisoner's parole would have to be revoked as provided in the act.
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This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House staff for use by House members in their deliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.