State hospitals: prohibited items.

Existing law provides for state mental hospitals for the treatment of mentally disordered persons. Existing law places these hospitals under the jurisdiction of the State Department of State Hospitals, and authorizes the department to adopt uniform rules and regulations regarding the conduct and management of these facilities, including prohibiting patients from possessing certain items. Existing law requires the hospital director to be responsible for the overall management of the hospital, and authorizes the hospital director to establish rules and regulations, as specified, concerning the care and treatment of patients, research, clinical training, and for the government of the hospital buildings and grounds. This bill would authorize a state hospital under the jurisdiction of the State Department of State Hospitals to develop a list of items that are deemed contraband and prohibited on hospital grounds. This bill would require the hospital to form a contraband committee, as prescribed, to develop the list of contraband items, and would require the list of contraband items developed by the state hospital to be subject to review and approval by the Director of State Hospitals or his or her designee, and updated no less often than every 6 months. This bill would also require the State Department of State Hospitals to develop a list of items that shall be deemed contraband at every state hospital, subject to review and approval by the Director of State Hospitals. This bill would require a state hospital to post the lists developed pursuant to these provisions throughout the hospital and on its Internet Web site. This bill would authorize a hospital and the department to implement, interpret, and make specific these provisions without taking regulatory action.