NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1977 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 297

HOUSE BILL 686

 

 

AN ACT TO AMEND G.S. 148-22(b) TO ALLOW FOR INCREASED COOPERATION BETWEEN THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION AND OTHER PUBLIC AND PRIVATE AGENCIES IN ORDER TO IMPROVE THE DELIVERY OF MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES TO INMATES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  G.S. 148-22(b), as the same appears in the 1975 Cumulative Supplement to Volume 3C, is hereby rewritten to read as follows:

"(b)      The Department of Correction may cooperate with and seek the cooperation of public and private agencies, institutions, officials, and individuals in the development and conduct of programs designed to give persons committed to the department opportunities for physical, mental and moral improvement. The department may enter into agreements with other agencies of federal, State or local government and with private agencies to promote the most effective use of available resources.

Specifically the Secretary of Correction may enter into contracts or agreements with appropriate public or private agencies offering needed services including health, mental health, rehabilitative or training services for such inmates of the Department of Correction as the secretary may deem eligible. These agencies shall be reimbursed from applicable appropriations to the Department of Correction for services rendered at a rate not to exceed that which such agencies normally receive for serving their regular clients.

The secretary may contract for the housing of work-release inmates at county jails and local confinement facilities. Inmates may be placed in the care of such agencies but shall remain the responsibility of the department and shall be subject to the complete supervision of the department. The department may reimburse such agencies for the support of such inmates at a rate not in excess of the average daily cost of inmate care in the corrections unit to which the inmate would otherwise be assigned."

Sec. 2.  This act shall become effective July 1, 1977.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 2nd day of May, 1977.