# Title 25 — Mental and Physical Illness or Disability

## Chapter 25-14 — Interstate Compact on Mentally Disordered Offenders

### § 25-14-01. Enactment of interstate compact on mentally disordered offenders.

The interstate compact on mentally disordered offenders, hereinafter called "the compact",
is hereby enacted and entered into with all other jurisdictions legally joining therein. The
provisions of said compact are as follows:
1. The party states, desiring by common action to improve their programs for the care
and treatment of mentally disordered offenders, declare that it is the policy of each of
the party states to:
a. Strengthen their own programs and laws for the care and treatment of the
mentally disordered offender.
b. Encourage and provide for such care and treatment in the most appropriate
locations, giving due recognition to the need to achieve adequacy of diagnosis,
care, treatment, after-care, and auxiliary services and facilities and, to every
extent practicable, to do so in geographic locations convenient for providing a
therapeutic environment.
c. Authorize cooperation among the party states in providing services and facilities,
when it is found that cooperative programs can be more effective and efficient
than programs separately pursued.
d. Place each mentally disordered offender in a legal status which will facilitate the
offender's care, treatment, and rehabilitation.
e. Authorize research and training of personnel on a cooperative basis, in order to
improve the quality or quantity of personnel available for the proper staffing of
programs, services, and facilities for mentally disordered offenders.
f. Care for and treat mentally disordered offenders under conditions which will
improve the public safety.
2. Within the policies set forth in this article, it is the purpose of this compact to:
a. Authorize negotiation, entry into, and operations under contractual arrangements
among any two or more of the party states for the establishment and
maintenance of cooperative programs in any one or more of the fields for which
specific provision is made in the several articles of this compact.
b. Set the limits within which such contracts may operate, so as to assure protection
of the civil rights of mentally disordered offenders and protection of the rights and
obligations of the public and of the party states.
c. Facilitate the proper disposition of criminal charges pending against mentally
disordered offenders, so that programs for their care, treatment, and rehabilitation
may be carried on efficiently.
As used in this compact:
1. "Mentally disordered offender" means a person who has been determined, by
adjudication or other method legally sufficient for the purpose in the party state where
the determination is made, to be mentally ill and:
a. Is under sentence for the commission of crime; or
b. Who is confined or committed on account of the commission of an offense for
which, in the absence of mental illness, said person would be subject to
incarceration in a penal or correctional facility.
2. "Patient" means a mentally disordered offender who is cared for, treated, or transferred
pursuant to this compact.
3. "Receiving state" means a state party to this compact to which a mentally disordered
offender is sent for care, after-care, treatment, or rehabilitation, or within the meaning
of article V, the state in which a petition in connection with an untried indictment,
information, or complaint has been filed.

4. "Sending state" means a state party to this compact in which the mentally disordered
offender was convicted; or the state in which the offender would be subject to trial on
or conviction of an offense, except for the offender's mental condition; or, within the
meaning of article V, the state whose authorities have filed a petition in connection with
an untried indictment, information, or complaint.
1. Each party state may make one or more contracts with any one or more of the other
party states for the care and treatment of mentally disordered offenders on behalf of a
sending state in facilities situated in receiving states, or for the participation of such
mentally disordered offenders in programs of after-care on conditional release
administered by the receiving state. Any such contract shall provide for:
a. Its duration.
b. Payments to be made to the receiving state by the sending state for patient care,
treatment, and extraordinary services, if any.
c. Determination of responsibility for ordering or permitting the furnishing of
extraordinary services, if any.
d. Participation in compensated activities, if any, available to patients; the
disposition or crediting of any payment received by patients on account thereof;
and the crediting of proceeds from or disposal of any products resulting
therefrom.
e. Delivery and retaking of mentally disordered offenders.
f. Such other matters as may be necessary and appropriate to fix the obligations,
responsibilities, and rights of the sending and receiving states.
2. Prior to the construction or completion of construction of any facility for mentally
disordered offenders or addition to such facility by a party state, any other party state
or states may contract therewith for the enlargement of the planned capacity of the
facility or addition thereto, or for the inclusion therein of particular equipment or
structures, and for the reservation of a specific per centum of the capacity of the facility
to be kept available for use by patients of the sending state or states so contracting.
Any sending state so contracting may, to the extent that moneys are legally available
therefor, pay to the receiving state, a reasonable sum as consideration for such
enlargement of capacity, or provision of equipment or structures, and reservation of
capacity. Such payment may be in a lump sum or in installments as provided in the
contract.
3. A party state may contract with any one or more other party states for the training of
professional or other personnel whose services, by reason of such training, would
become available for or be improved in respect of ability to participate in the care and
treatment of mentally disordered offenders. Such contracts may provide for such
training to take place at any facility being operated or to be operated for the care and
treatment of mentally disordered offenders; at any institution or facility having
resources suitable for the offering of such training; or may provide for the separate
establishment of training facilities, provided that no such separate establishment shall
be undertaken, unless it is determined that an appropriate existing facility or institution
cannot be found at which to conduct the contemplated program. Any contract entered
into pursuant to this paragraph shall provide for:
a. The administration, financing, and precise nature of the program.
b. The status and employment or other rights of the trainees.
c. All other necessary matters.
4. No contract entered into pursuant to this compact shall be inconsistent with any
provision thereof.
1. Whenever the duly constituted judicial or administrative authorities in a state party to
this compact, and which has entered into a contract pursuant to article III, shall decide
that custody, care, and treatment in, or transfer of a patient to, a facility within the
territory of another party state, or conditional release for after-care in another party
state is necessary in order to provide adequate care and treatment or is desirable in

order to provide an appropriate program of therapy or other treatment, or is desirable
for clinical reasons, said officials may direct that the custody, care, and treatment be
within a facility or in a program of after-care within the territory of said other party state,
the receiving state to act in that regard solely as agent for the sending state.
2. The appropriate officials of any state party to this compact shall have access, at all
reasonable times, to any facility in which it has a contractual right to secure care or
treatment of patients for the purpose of inspection and visiting such of its patients as
may be in the facility or served by it.
3. Except as otherwise provided in article VI, patients in a facility pursuant to the terms of
this compact shall at all times be subject to the jurisdiction of the sending state and
may at any time be removed for transfer to a facility within the sending state, for
transfer to another facility in which the sending state may have a contractual or other
right to secure care and treatment of patients, for release on after-care or other
conditional status, for discharge, or for any other purpose permitted by the laws of the
sending state; provided that the sending state shall continue to be obligated to such
payments as may be required pursuant to the terms of any contract entered into under
the terms of article III.
4. Each receiving state shall provide regular reports to each sending state on the patients
of that sending state in facilities pursuant to this compact, including a psychiatric and
behavioral record of each patient and certify said record to the official designated by
the sending state, in order that each patient may have the benefit of the patient's
record in determining and altering the disposition of said patient in accordance with the
law which may obtain in the sending state and in order that the same may be a source
of information for the sending state.
5. All patients who may be in a facility or receiving after-care from a facility pursuant to
the provisions of this compact shall be treated in a reasonable and humane manner
and shall be cared for, treated, and supervised in accordance with the standards
pertaining to the program administered at the facility. The fact of presence in a
receiving state shall not deprive any patient of any legal rights which said patient
would have had if in custody or receiving care, treatment, or supervision as
appropriate in the sending state.
6. Any hearing or hearings to which a patient present in a receiving state pursuant to this
compact may be entitled by the laws of the sending state shall be had before the
appropriate authorities of the sending state, or of the receiving state if authorized by
the sending state. The receiving state shall provide adequate facilities for such
hearings as may be conducted by the appropriate officials of a sending state. In the
event such hearing or hearings are had before officials of the receiving state, the
governing law shall be that of the sending state and a record of the hearing or
hearings as prescribed by the sending state shall be made. Said record together with
any recommendations of the hearing officials shall be transmitted forthwith to the
official or officials before whom the hearing would have been had if it had taken place
in the sending state. In any and all proceedings had pursuant to the provisions of this
paragraph, the officials of the receiving state shall act solely as agents of the sending
state and no final determination shall be made in any matter except by the appropriate
officials of the sending state. Costs of records made pursuant to this paragraph shall
be borne by the sending state.
7. Any patient confined pursuant to this compact shall be released within the territory of
the sending state unless the patient, and the sending and receiving states, shall agree
upon release in some other place. The sending state shall bear the cost of such return
to its territory.
8. Any patient pursuant to the terms of this compact shall be subject to civil process and
shall have any and all rights to sue, be sued, and participate in and derive any benefits
or incur or be relieved of any obligations or have such obligations modified or the
patient's status changed on account of any action or proceeding in which the patient
could have participated if in any appropriate facility of the sending state or being
supervised therefrom, as the case may be, located within such state.

9. The parent, guardian, trustee, or other person or persons entitled under the laws of the
sending state to act for, advise, or otherwise function with respect to any patient shall
not be deprived of or restricted in the exercise of any power in respect of any patient
pursuant to the terms of this compact.
1. Whenever the authorities responsible for the care and treatment of a mentally
disordered offender, whether convicted or adjudicated in the state or subject to care,
after-care, treatment, or rehabilitation pursuant to a contract, are of the opinion that
charges based on untried indictments, informations, or complaints in another party
state present obstacles to the proper care and treatment of a mentally disordered
offender or to the planning or execution of a suitable program for the offender, such
authorities may petition the appropriate court in the state where the untried indictment,
information, or complaint is pending for prompt disposition thereof. If the mentally
disordered offender is a patient in a receiving state, the appropriate authorities of the
sending state, upon recommendation of the appropriate authorities in the receiving
state, shall, if they concur in the recommendation, file the petition contemplated by this
paragraph.
2. The court shall hold a hearing on the petition within thirty days of the filing thereof.
Such hearing shall be only to determine whether the proper safeguarding and
advancement of the public interest, the condition of the mentally disordered offender,
and the prospects for more satisfactory care, treatment, and rehabilitation of the
offender warrant disposition of the untried indictment, information, or complaint prior to
termination of the defendant's status as a mentally disordered offender in the sending
state. The prosecuting officer of the jurisdiction from which the untried indictment,
information, or complaint is pending, the petitioning authorities, and such other
persons as the court may determine shall be entitled to be heard.
3. Upon any hearing pursuant to this article, the court may order such adjournments or
continuances as may be necessary for the examination or observation of the mentally
disordered offender or for the securing of necessary evidence. In granting or denying
any such adjournment or continuance, the court shall give primary consideration to the
purposes of this compact, and more particularly to the need for expeditious
determination of the legal and mental status of a mentally disordered offender so that
the offender's care, treatment, and discharge to the community only under conditions
which will be consonant with the public safety may be implemented.
4. The presence of a mentally disordered offender within a state wherein a petition is
pending or being heard pursuant to this article, or the offender's presence within any
other state through which the offender is being transported in connection with such
petition or hearing, shall be only for the purposes of this compact, and no court,
agency, or person shall have or obtain jurisdiction over such mentally disordered
offender for any other purpose by reason of the offender's presence pursuant to this
article. The mentally disordered offender shall, at all times, remain in the custody of the
sending state. Any acts of officers, employees, or agencies of the receiving state in
providing or facilitating detention, housing, or transportation for the mentally disordered
offender shall be only as agents for the sending state.
5. Promptly upon conclusion of the hearing, the court shall dismiss the untried indictment,
information, or complaint, if it finds that the purposes enumerated in paragraph 2
would be served thereby. Otherwise, the court shall make such order with respect to
the petition and the untried indictment, information, or complaint as may be
appropriate in the circumstances and consistent with the status of the defendant as a
mentally disordered offender in the custody of and subject to the jurisdiction of the
sending state.
6. No fact or other matter established or adjudicated at any hearing pursuant to this
article, or in connection therewith, shall be deemed established or adjudicated, nor
shall the same be admissible in evidence, in any subsequent prosecution of the
untried indictment, information, or complaint concerned in a petition filed pursuant to
this article unless:

a. The defendant or the defendant's duly empowered legal representative requested
or expressly acquiesced in the making of the petition, and was afforded an
opportunity to participate in person in the hearing; or
b. The defendant offers or consents to the introduction of the determination or
adjudication at such subsequent proceedings.
1. Any decision of the sending state in respect of any matter over which it retains
jurisdiction pursuant to this compact shall be conclusive upon and not reviewable
within the receiving state, but if at the time the sending state seeks to remove a patient
from the receiving state there is pending against the patient within such state any
criminal charge or if the patient is suspected of having committed within such state a
criminal offense, the patient shall not be returned without the consent of the receiving
state until discharged from prosecution or other form of proceeding, imprisonment, or
detention for such offense. The duly accredited officers of the sending state shall be
permitted to transport patients pursuant to this compact through any and all states
party to this compact without interference.
2. A patient who escapes while receiving care and treatment or who violates provisions of
after-care by leaving the jurisdiction, or while being detained or transported pursuant to
this compact shall be deemed an escapee from the sending state and from the state in
which the facility is situated or the after-care was being provided. In the case of an
escape to a jurisdiction other than the sending or receiving state, the responsibility for
return shall be that of the sending state, but nothing contained herein shall be
construed to prevent or affect the activities of officers and agencies of any jurisdiction
directed toward the apprehension and return of an escapee.
Any state party to this compact may accept federal aid for use in connection with any facility
or program, the use of which is or may be affected by this compact or any contract pursuant
thereto and any patient in a receiving state pursuant to this compact may participate in any such
federally aided program or activity for which the sending and receiving states have made
contractual provision; provided that if such program or activity is not part of the customary
regimen of the facility or program, the express consent of the appropriate official of the sending
state shall be required therefor.
This compact shall enter into force and become effective and binding upon the states so
acting when it has been enacted into law by any two states from among the states of Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South
Dakota, and Wisconsin. Thereafter, this compact shall enter into force and become effective and
binding as to any other of said states, or any other state upon similar action by such state.
This compact shall continue in force and remain binding upon a party state until it shall have
enacted a statute repealing the same and providing for the sending of formal written notice of
withdrawal from the compact to the appropriate officials of all other party states. An actual
withdrawal shall not take effect until two years after the notices provided in said statute have
been sent. Such withdrawal shall not relieve the withdrawing state from its obligations assumed
hereunder prior to the effective date of withdrawal. Before the effective date of withdrawal, a
withdrawing state shall remove to its territory, at its own expense, such patients as it may have
in other party states pursuant to the provisions of this compact.
Nothing contained in this compact shall be construed to abrogate or impair any agreement
or other arrangement which a party state may have with a nonparty state for the custody, care,
treatment, rehabilitation, or after-care of patients nor to repeal any other laws of a party state
authorizing the making of cooperative arrangements.
The provisions of this compact shall be liberally construed and shall be severable. If any
phrase, clause, sentence, or provision of this compact is declared to be contrary to the
constitution of any participating state or of the United States or the applicability thereof to any

government, agency, person, or circumstance is held invalid, the validity of the remainder of this
compact and the applicability thereof to any government, agency, person, or circumstance shall
not be affected thereby. If this compact shall be held contrary to the constitution of any state
participating therein, the compact shall remain in full force and effect as to the remaining states
and in full force and effect as to the state affected as to all severable matters.
### § 25-14-02. Department of health and human services shall administer compact.

The department of health and human services may negotiate and enter contracts on behalf
of the state pursuant to article III of the compact and may perform such contracts; provided that
no funds, personnel, facilities, equipment, supplies, or materials shall be pledged, committed, or
used on account of any such contract unless legally available therefor.
