33-404.101. Mental Health Services Program - Purpose and Scope

(1) Mental health services are those services and activities that are provided primarily by mental health staff and secondarily by other health care staff for the purposes of:

(a) Identifying inmates who are experiencing disabling symptoms of a mental disorder that impair the ability to function adequately within the incarceration environment;

(b) Providing appropriate intervention to alleviate disabling symptoms of a mental disorder;

(c) Assisting inmates with a mental disorder with adjusting to the demands of prison life;

(d) Assisting inmates with a mental disorder to maintain a level of adaptive functioning; and

(e) Providing re-entry mental health planning to facilitate the inmate’s continuity of care after release to the community.

(2) Access to necessary mental health services shall be available to all inmates within the department, shall be provided in a non-discriminatory fashion, and shall be provided in accordance with prevailing community and correctional standards of care. All inmates are eligible to receive mental health screening and evaluation as necessary.

(3) The department shall provide the following levels of mental health care:

(a) Outpatient;

(b) Infirmary;

(c) Transitional;

(d) Crisis Stabilization; and

(e) Corrections Mental Health Treatment Facility Care.

(4) Final medical responsibility and authority for mental health matters at the institutional level rest with the chief health officer or medical executive director, with support and oversight provided by the regional mental health consultant, director of mental health services and assistant secretary for health services.

Rulemaking Authority 944.09, 945.49 FS. Law Implemented 945.40, 945.49 FS. History–New 5-27-97, Formerly 33-40.001, Amended 3-1-11.