New York Codes, Rules and Regulations
Title 14 - DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HYGIENE
Chapter XIII - Office of Mental Health
Part 541 - Defendants Committed To The Custody Of The Commissioner Pursuant To Cpl Section 330.20
Section 541.1 - Definitions

(a) Administrative privileges means any occasion on which the defendant leaves the buildings to which he or she is restricted for the purpose of receiving care or treatment elsewhere in the facility, with or without the constant supervision of one or more employees of the facility, or any occasion on which the defendant leaves the confines of the facility for the receipt of medical care, appearance in court or attendance at the funeral of an immediate family member, and during which he or she is under the constant supervision of one or more employees of the facility.

(b) Application means an application to the hospital forensics committee.

(c) Clinical director means the person in charge of clinical services at the facility where the defendant is receiving care and treatment. In facilities in which the director is a physician, this term refers to the director. If the director of the facility is not a physician, this term refers to the deputy director for clinical services.

(d) Commissioner means the New York State Commissioner of Mental Health.

(e) Commitment order or recommitment order means an order committing a defendant to the custody of the commissioner for confinement in a secure facility for care and treatment for six months from the date of the order.

(f) Dangerous mental disorder means that a person currently suffers from a mental illness as defined in subdivision (o) of this section, and that because of that mental illness, he or she currently constitutes a physical danger to self or others.

(g) Defendant means a person accused of a crime who is found not responsible for that crime by reason of mental disease or defect.

(h) Director of Forensic Services means the New York State Director of Forensic Services designated to act on behalf of the commissioner for the purposes of this Part.

(i) Discharge order means an order terminating an order of conditions or unconditionally discharging a defendant from the supervision of the courts under the provisions of section 330.20 of the Criminal Procedure Law.

(j) District attorney means the office which prosecuted the criminal action resulting in the verdict or plea of not responsible by reason of mental disease or defect.

(k) Examination order means an order directed to the commissioner requiring that a defendant submit to a psychiatric examination to determine whether the defendant has a dangerous mental disorder, or if he does not have a dangerous mental disorder, whether he is mentally ill.

(l) First retention order means an order which is effective at the expiration of the period prescribed in a commitment order or a recommitment order, authorizing continued custody of a defendant by the commissioner for a period not to exceed one year.

(m) Furlough order means an order directing the commissioner to allow a defendant in confinement pursuant to a commitment order, recommitment order or retention order to temporarily leave the facility for a period not exceeding 14 days, either with or without the constant supervision of one or more employees of the facility.

(n) Hospital forensics committee or committee means a committee established in accordance with section 541.3 of this Part.

(o) Licensed psychologist means a person who is registered as a psychologist under article 153 of the Education Law.

(p) Mental illness means an affliction with a mental disease or mental condition which is manifested by a disorder or disturbance in behavior, feeling, thinking or judgment to such an extent that the person afflicted requires care, treatment and rehabilitation.

(q) Mentally ill and in need of care and treatment in a hospital means that a person currently suffers from a mental illness for which care and treatment as an inpatient in a psychiatric center is essential to his welfare and his judgment is so impaired that he is unable to understand the need for such care and treatment.

(r) Office facility or psychiatric center means any inpatient hospital within the Office of Mental Health.

(s) OMH means the New York State Office of Mental Health.

(t) Order of conditions means an order directing a defendant to comply with his prescribed treatment plan, or any other condition which the court determines to be reasonably necessary or appropriate, and, in addition, where a defendant is an inpatient at a psychiatric center, not to leave the facility without authorization.

(u) Psychiatric examiner means a qualified psychiatrist or a licensed psychologist who has been designated by a clinical director on behalf of the commissioner to examine a defendant pursuant to this section. Such designee need not be an employee of the State Department of Mental Hygiene.

(v) Qualified psychiatrist means a physician who:

(w) Release order means an order directing the commissioner to terminate a defendant's inpatient status without terminating the commissioner's responsibility for the defendant.

(x) Retention order means a first retention order, a second retention order or a subsequent retention order.

(y) Second retention order means an order which is effective at the expiration of the period prescribed in a first retention order, authorizing continued custody of a defendant by the commissioner for a period not to exceed two years.

(z) Secure facility means a psychiatric center or unit of a psychiatric center operated by the Office of Mental Health staffed with personnel adequately trained in security methods and so equipped as to minimize the risk or danger of escapes. The following facilities are secure facilities: Mid-Hudson Psychiatric Center; Hutchings Regional Forensic Unit; Gowanda Regional Forensic Unit; and Manhattan Forensic Unit.

(aa) Subsequent retention order means an order which is effective at the expiration of the period prescribed in a second retention order or a prior subsequent retention order authorizing continued custody of a defendant by the commissioner for a period not to exceed two years.

(bb) Transfer means the transfer of a defendant from a secure facility to a nonsecure facility.

(cc) Transfer order means an order directing the commissioner to transfer a defendant from a secure facility to a nonsecure facility under the jurisdiction of the commissioner or to any nonsecure facility designated by the commissioner.

(dd) Unescorted administrative privileges means any time during which a defendant leaves the buildings to which he or she is restricted but not the facility where he or she is receiving care and treatment and during which such leaving is with permission of the facility and without the constant supervision of one or more employees of the facility.

(ee) Unit chief means the administrator in charge of the unit where the defendant is receiving care and treatment.

(ff) Verdict means a finding of fact by a judge or jury that a person is not responsible for an alleged crime by reason of mental disease or defect.