§ 148-22.  Treatment programs.

(a) The general policies, rules, and regulations of the Division of Prisons of the Department of Adult Correction shall provide for humane treatment of prisoners and for programs to effect their correction and return to the community as promptly as practicable. Visits and correspondence between prisoners and approved friends shall be authorized under reasonable conditions, and family members shall be permitted and encouraged to maintain close contact with the prisoners unless the contacts prove to be hurtful. Casework, counseling, and psychotherapy services provided to prisoners may be extended to include members of the prisoner's family if practicable and necessary to achieve the purposes of the programs. Education, library, recreation, and vocational training programs shall be developed so as to coordinate with corresponding services and opportunities which will be available to the prisoner when he or she is released. Programs may be established for the treatment and training of prisoners with intellectual or other developmental disabilities and other special groups. These programs may be operated in segregated sections of facilities housing other prisoners or in separate facilities.

(b) The Division of Prisons of the Department of Adult Correction may cooperate with and seek the cooperation of public and private agencies, institutions, officials, and individuals in the development and conduct of programs designed to give persons committed to the Division opportunities for physical, mental, and moral improvement. The Division may enter into agreements with other agencies of federal, State, or local government and with private agencies to promote the most effective use of available resources.

Specifically the Secretary of the Department of Adult Correction may enter into contracts or agreements with appropriate public or private agencies offering needed services including health, mental health, behavioral health, intellectual and other developmental disability, substance abuse, rehabilitative, or training services for such inmates of the Division of Prisons of the Department of Adult Correction as the Secretary may deem eligible. These agencies shall be reimbursed from applicable appropriations to the Division of Prisons of the Department of Adult Correction for services rendered at a rate not to exceed that which the agencies normally receive for serving their regular clients.

The Secretary may contract for the housing of work-release inmates at county jails and local confinement facilities. Inmates may be placed in the care of the agencies but shall remain the responsibility of the Division and shall be subject to the complete supervision of the Division. The Division may reimburse the agencies for the support of the inmates at a rate not in excess of the average daily cost of inmate care in the corrections unit to which the inmate would otherwise be assigned. (1917, c. 286, s. 15; C.S., s. 7732; 1925, c. 163; 1933, c. 172, s. 18; 1955, c. 238, s. 9; 1967, c. 996, s. 5; 1975, c. 679, ss. 1, 2; 1977, c. 297; 1983, c. 376; 1985, c. 589, s. 55; 2011-145, s. 19.1(h), (i); 2017-186, s. 2(lllllll); 2019-76, s. 29; 2021-180, s. 19C.9(o), (p).)