1. The Iowa medical and classification center at Oakdale shall be utilized as a forensic psychiatric hospital for persons displaying evidence of mental illness or psychosocial disorders and requiring diagnostic services or treatment in a security setting, as a security unit for persons requiring confinement in a security setting, and as a classification unit for the reception, orientation, and classification of inmates before placement in the most appropriate correctional institutions according to necessary security and custody arrangements and the assessed service needs of the inmates.

Terms Used In Iowa Code 904.201

  • department: means the Iowa department of corrections and the Iowa department of human services. See Iowa Code 904.706
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • person: means individual, corporation, limited liability company, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, or any other legal entity. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • persons with mental illness: include persons with psychosis, persons who are severely depressed, and persons with any type of mental disease or mental disorder, except that mental illness does not refer to intellectual disability, or to insanity, diminished responsibility, or mental incompetency as defined and used in the Iowa criminal code or in the rules of criminal procedure, Iowa court rules. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" may include the said district and territories. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
 2. The medical director of the department or the medical director’s designee shall secure the professional care and treatment of each person confined at the center and maintain a complete record on the condition of each person confined at the center.
 3. a. The forensic psychiatric hospital may admit the following persons:

 (1) Residents transferred from an institution under the jurisdiction of the department of human services or the Iowa department of corrections.
 (2) Persons committed by the courts as mentally incompetent to stand trial pursuant to section 812.6.
 (3) Persons referred by the courts for psychosocial diagnosis and recommendations as part of the pretrial or presentence procedure or determination of mental competency to stand trial.
 (4) Prisoners transferred from county and city jails for diagnosis, evaluation, or treatment for mental illness.
 b. Other persons may be admitted providing the admissions are not inconsistent with law and are within the capacity of the facilities and staff to accommodate the persons.
 4. The classification unit shall admit inmates for purposes of orientation and classification before placement in the most appropriate correctional institutions.
 5. The director may house inmates from any correctional institution at the center in order to provide the inmates with suitable security or medical treatment, or both. Unless an inmate is determined to be mentally ill, the inmate shall not be subjected involuntarily to psychiatric treatment.
 6. All admissions to the forensic psychiatric hospital shall be by written application only. Application shall be made by the head of the state institution, agency, governmental body, or court requesting admission to the medical director of the department or the medical director’s designee. An application may be denied by the medical director of the department or the medical director’s designee, with the approval of the director, if the admission will result in an overcrowded condition or if adequate staff or facilities are not available. The decision regarding admission and discharge of persons shall be made by the medical director of the department or the medical director’s designee, subject to approval of the director.
 7. When a person transferred to the center from any other state institution or admitted by request or order of any agency, governmental body, or court no longer requires special treatment in the security setting, the person may be returned to the source from which received. The state institution, agency, governmental body, or court that referred the person for hospitalization shall retain constructive jurisdiction over the person. Persons without legal encumbrances may be discharged directly from the center upon concurrence of the medical director of the department or the medical director’s designee and the head of the referring institution, agency, governmental body, or court. The support, commitment, and release statutes applicable to a person at the state institution from which transferred shall remain applicable while the person is at the center.
 8. Chapter 230 governs the determination of costs and charges for the care and treatment of persons with mental illness admitted to the forensic psychiatric hospital, except that charges for the care and treatment of any person transferred to the forensic psychiatric hospital from an adult correctional institution or from a state training school shall be paid entirely from state funds. Charges for all other persons at the forensic psychiatric hospital shall be billed to the respective counties at the same ratio as for patients at state mental health institutes under section 230.20.