(20 ILCS 1705/14) (from Ch. 91 1/2, par. 100-14)

Sec. 14. Chester Mental Health Center. To maintain and operate a facility for the care, custody, and treatment of persons with mental illness or habilitation of persons with developmental disabilities hereinafter designated, to be known as the Chester Mental Health Center.

Within the Chester Mental Health Center there shall be confined the following classes of persons, whose history, in the opinion of the Department, discloses dangerous or violent tendencies and who, upon examination under the direction of the Department, have been found a fit subject for confinement in that facility:

(a) Any male person who is charged with the commission of a crime but has been acquitted by reason of insanity as provided in Section 5-2-4 of the Unified Code of Corrections.

(b) Any male person who is charged with the commission of a crime but has been found unfit under Article 104 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963.

(c) Any male person with mental illness or developmental disabilities or person in need of mental treatment now confined under the supervision of the Department or hereafter admitted to any facility thereof or committed thereto by any court of competent jurisdiction.

If and when it shall appear to the facility director of the Chester Mental Health Center that it is necessary to confine persons in order to maintain security or provide for the protection and safety of recipients and staff, the Chester Mental Health Center may confine all persons on a unit to their rooms. This period of confinement shall not exceed 10 hours in a 24 hour period, including the recipient's scheduled hours of sleep, unless approved by the Secretary of the Department. During the period of confinement, the persons confined shall be observed at least every 15 minutes. A record shall be kept of the observations. This confinement shall not be considered seclusion as defined in the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code.

The facility director of the Chester Mental Health Center may authorize the temporary use of handcuffs on a recipient for a period not to exceed 10 minutes when necessary in the course of transport of the recipient within the facility to maintain custody or security. Use of handcuffs is subject to the provisions of Section 2-108 of the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code. The facility shall keep a monthly record listing each instance in which handcuffs are used, circumstances indicating the need for use of handcuffs, and time of application of handcuffs and time of release therefrom. The facility director shall allow the Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commission, the agency designated by the Governor under Section 1 of the Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Developmental Disabilities Act, and the Department to examine and copy such record upon request.

The facility director of the Chester Mental Health Center may authorize the temporary use of transport devices on a civil recipient when necessary in the course of transport of the civil recipient outside the facility to maintain custody or security. The decision whether to use any transport devices shall be reviewed and approved on an individualized basis by a physician, an advanced practice registered nurse, or a physician assistant based upon a determination of the civil recipient's: (1) history of violence, (2) history of violence during transports, (3) history of escapes and escape attempts, (4) history of trauma, (5) history of incidents of restraint or seclusion and use of involuntary medication, (6) current functioning level and medical status, and (7) prior experience during similar transports, and the length, duration, and purpose of the transport. The least restrictive transport device consistent with the individual's need shall be used. Staff transporting the individual shall be trained in the use of the transport devices, recognizing and responding to a person in distress, and shall observe and monitor the individual while being transported. The facility shall keep a monthly record listing all transports, including those transports for which use of transport devices was not sought, those for which use of transport devices was sought but denied, and each instance in which transport devices are used, circumstances indicating the need for use of transport devices, time of application of transport devices, time of release from those devices, and any adverse events. The facility director shall allow the Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commission, the agency designated by the Governor under Section 1 of the Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Developmental Disabilities Act, and the Department to examine and copy the record upon request. This use of transport devices shall not be considered restraint as defined in the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code. For the purpose of this Section "transport device" means ankle cuffs, handcuffs, waist chains or wrist-waist devices designed to restrict an individual's range of motion while being transported. These devices must be approved by the Division of Mental Health, used in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions, and used only by qualified staff members who have completed all training required to be eligible to transport patients and all other required training relating to the safe use and application of transport devices, including recognizing and responding to signs of distress in an individual whose movement is being restricted by a transport device.

If and when it shall appear to the satisfaction of the Department that any person confined in the Chester Mental Health Center is not or has ceased to be such a source of danger to the public as to require his subjection to the regimen of the center, the Department is hereby authorized to transfer such person to any State facility for treatment of persons with mental illness or habilitation of persons with developmental disabilities, as the nature of the individual case may require.

Subject to the provisions of this Section, the Department, except where otherwise provided by law, shall, with respect to the management, conduct and control of the Chester Mental Health Center and the discipline, custody and treatment of the persons confined therein, have and exercise the same rights and powers as are vested by law in the Department with respect to any and all of the State facilities for treatment of persons with mental illness or habilitation of persons with developmental disabilities, and the recipients thereof, and shall be subject to the same duties as are imposed by law upon the Department with respect to such facilities and the recipients thereof.

The Department may elect to place persons who have been ordered by the court to be detained under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act in a distinct portion of the Chester Mental Health Center. The persons so placed shall be separated and shall not comingle with the recipients of the Chester Mental Health Center. The portion of Chester Mental Health Center that is used for the persons detained under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act shall not be a part of the mental health facility for the enforcement and implementation of the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code nor shall their care and treatment be subject to the provisions of the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code. The changes added to this Section by this amendatory Act of the 98th General Assembly are inoperative on and after June 30, 2015.

(Source: P.A. 99-143, eff. 7-27-15; 99-581, eff. 1-1-17; 100-513, eff. 1-1-18.)