§22-52-70. Procedure for commitment to mental health facility.

In case any person sentenced to or imprisoned in the penitentiary or sentenced to or confined at hard labor for a county anywhere in the state becomes mentally ill, the physician in attendance on said person shall report the fact to the Governor, who shall appoint three suitable persons, one of whom is the said physician, who shall examine said prisoner and report the result of their examination to the Governor. If said prisoner is declared to be mentally ill and fit to be sent to a mental health facility of the state, the Governor shall direct the proper officer to apply to the superintendent of such facility for the admission of said prisoner into the facility. When notified by the superintendent that said prisoner can be received, and to which facility he shall be taken, the said officer shall send him, at the expense of the state, to said facility, along with a copy of the order of the Governor. The same compensation shall be allowed to sheriffs or guards for conveying mentally ill prisoners to and from mental health facilities as is allowed for carrying prisoners to the penitentiary.

(Code 1867, §§1067, 1068, 1069; Code 1876, §§1494, 1495, 1496; Code 1886, §§1250, 1251, 1252; Code 1896, §§2563, 2564, 2565; Code 1907, §871; Code 1923, §1456; Code 1940, T. 45, §222.)