The Florida Senate

945.42  Definitions.--As used in ss. 945.40-945.49, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed to them, unless the context shall clearly indicate otherwise:

(1)  "Court" means the circuit court.

(2)  "Department" means the Department of Corrections.

(3)  "Director" means the Director for Mental Health Services of the Department of Corrections or his or her designee.

(4)  "In immediate need of care and treatment" means that an inmate is apparently mentally ill and is not able to be appropriately cared for in the institution where the inmate is confined and that, without intervention, the alleged mental illness poses an immediate, real, and present threat of substantial harm to the inmate's well-being or to the safety of others.

(5)  "In need of care and treatment" means that an inmate has a mental illness for which inpatient services in a mental health treatment facility are necessary, which mental illness poses a real and present threat of substantial harm to the inmate's well-being or to the safety of others.

(6)  "Inmate" means any person committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections.

(7)  "Mental health treatment facility" means the Corrections Mental Health Institution and any other institution that the Assistant Secretary for Health Services of the department specifically designates by rule to provide acute psychiatric care at the hospital level, in contrast to less intensive levels of care such as outpatient mental health care, transitional mental health care, or crisis stabilization care.

(8)  "Mentally ill" means an impairment of the emotional processes, of the ability to exercise conscious control of one's actions, or of the ability to perceive reality or to understand, which impairment substantially interferes with a person's ability to meet the ordinary demands of living, regardless of etiology, except that, for the purposes of transfer of an inmate to a mental health treatment facility, the term does not include retardation or developmental disability as defined in chapter 393, simple intoxication, or conditions manifested only by antisocial behavior or drug addiction.

(9)  "Psychiatrist" means a medical practitioner licensed pursuant to chapter 458 or chapter 459 who has primarily diagnosed and treated nervous and mental disorders for a period of not less than 3 years inclusive of psychiatric residency.

(10)  "Psychologist" means a behavioral practitioner who has an approved degree in psychology that is primarily clinical in nature from a university or professional graduate school that is state-authorized or accredited by an accrediting agency approved by the United States Department of Education and who is professionally certified by the appropriate professional psychology association or is licensed as a psychologist pursuant to chapter 490.

(11)  "Secretary" means the Secretary of Corrections.

(12)  "Superintendent" means the superintendent of a state corrections facility or his or her designee.

(13)  "Transitional mental health care" means a level of care that is more intensive than outpatient care, but less intensive than crisis stabilization care, and is characterized by the provision of traditional mental health treatments such as group and individual therapy, activity therapy, recreational therapy, and chemotherapy, in the context of a structured residential setting. Transitional mental health care is indicated for a person with chronic or residual symptomatology who does not require crisis stabilization care or acute psychiatric care at the hospital level, but whose impairments in functioning nevertheless render him or her incapable of adjusting satisfactorily within the general inmate population, even with the assistance of outpatient care.

History.--s. 1, ch. 82-224; s. 29, ch. 84-361; s. 26, ch. 91-225; s. 3, ch. 96-422; s. 1859, ch. 97-102.