CHAPTER 668

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 37-1, 87-2, 37-4, 87-5, 87-6,and §§ 87-181,
87-182, 37-188, 37-185, 87-186, 37-187, all as amended, and § 37-188,
and §§ 87-189, 37-192, 87-212, 37-218, and 37-231, all as amended, of
the Code of Virginia, ‘relating to insane, epileptic, feeble-minded and
inebriate persons, and drug addicts, and giving the Commissioner
of Mental Hygiene and Hospitals certain authority formerly exer-

cised by the State Hospital Board; to amend and reenact § $87-1.1
of the Code containing certain definitions pertaining to Title 87;
to amend and reenact § 37-85, as amended, of the Code relating
to the escape, sickness, death, or discharge of the mentally ill in the
custody of a sheriff or sergeant; to amend and reenact §§ 37-1386,
87-187, 87-189 and $7-189.1, all as amended, relating to the appoint-
ment of committees for persons legally incompetent due to mental
illness or mental deficiency; to amend the Code of Virginia by adding
thereto new sections numbered 87-97.1, relating to arrest without
warrants of certain mentally ill persons, 87-186.1, 87-136.2 relating
to a person being adjudicated insane or feeble-minded by a court of
record; and to repeal §§ 37-188 and 87-201, as amended, of the Code
relating to the appointment of guardians and committees for mentally
deficient persons, and $7-226, as amended, of the Code relating to
certain definitions.
[H 549]

Approved April 7, 1954
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 37-1, 37-1.1, 37-2, 37-4, 37-5, 37-6, and §8§ 37-85, 37-186,
37-137, 37-139, 37-139. 1, 37-181, 37-182, 37-188, 37-185, 37-186, 37-187,
all as amended, and § 37-188 and §§ 37-189, 37-192, 37-212, 37-218, and
87-231, all as amended, of the Code of Virginia, be amended and reenacted
and the Code of Virginia be amended by adding sections numbered 37-97.1,
37-136.1, and 37-136.2, as follows:

§ 37-1. The State Hospitals for the * mentally il established at
Williamsburg, with the name of “Eastern State Hospital’, Staunton, with
the name of “Western State Hospital’, Marion, with the name of “South-
western State Hospital’, and Petersburg, with the name of “Central State
Hospital’, shall be continued as established and located, and shall be under
the management of the State Hospital Board.

§ 37-1.1. As used in this title, the following words shall have the
meaning ascribed to them:

(1) “Mentally ill” means * any person afflicted with mental disease
to such an extent that for his own welfare or the welfare of others, or of
the community, he requires care and treatment;

(2) “Mentally deficient” means * any person afflicted with mental
defectiveness from birth or from an early age to such extent that he ts
incapable of managing himself and his affairs, who for his own welfare
or the welfare of others or of the community requires supervision, control
or care and who is not mentally ill or of unsound mind to such an extent
as to require his commitment to an institution for the mentally ill;

(3) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Mental Hygiene
and Hospitals;

(4) “Department” means the Department of Mental Hygiene and
Hospitals ;

(5) “Board” means the State Hospital Board;

(6) “Legal resident” means any person who has lived in this State
for a period of one year without public support for himself or his spouse
or minor children; *
(7) “Justice” or “trial justice” includes police justices or civil anc
police justices of cities, but except as hereinafter provided shall not include
a justice of the peace or mayor;

(8) A “dotard” is a person of advanced years whose mental processes
have been weakened or impaired, but who shows no delusional formation
ppeaiornatons, behavior or emotional variations characteristic of menta

ness; ;

(9) “Insane” means a person who has been adjudicated legally tn
competent by a court of record or other constituted authority because 0}
mental disease; .. |

(10) “Feeble-minded” means a person who has been adjudicated
legally incompetent by a court of record or other constituted authority
because of intellectual defect;

(11) “Hospital” means a hospital for the care and treatment of the
mentally ill; ;

(12) “Colony” means the Lynchburg Training School and Hospital
the Petersburg Training School and Hospital, or the department for
colored epileptics at the Central State Hospital, Petersburg.

37-2. The departments for the criminal * mentally ill as _ estab.
lished at the * Southwestern State Hospital at Marion and at * Centra
State Hospital at Petersburg shall be continued as established and
located.

37.4. The colony for the care of the epileptic and * mentally
deficient at Madison Heights, Amherst County, shall be continued a:
established and shall hereafter be known as the “Lynchburg * Training
School and Hospital” and shall be under the management and control of
the State Hospital Board. ;

§ 37-5. The colony for the care of the colored * mentally deficient
located partly in Prince George County and partly in Dinwiddie * County
with the name “Petersburg * Training School and Hospital’, shall be
continued as established and shall be under the management and contro!
of the State Hospital Board.

§ 37-6. The department for colored epileptics as established at
Central State Hospital shall be continued as established and located
and shall be under the management and control of the State Hospital

oard.

§ 37-85. If any person who has been committed to a hospital or
colony, while in the custody of a sheriff, sergeant or other person, shall
escape, become too sick to travel, die, or be discharged by due process
of law, the sheriff, sergeant, or other person shall immediately notify
the Commissioner of that fact. If any person who has been committed to
the custody of a sheriff, sergeant, or other person under the provision
of this section shall escape, the sheriff, sergeant, or other person having
such individual in custody shall immediately secure a warrant from any
of the persons authorized to issue such warrants under § 87-61 charging
the individual with escape, directing his apprehension, and stating what
disposition shall be made of such person upon arrest.

§ 37-97.1. Any officer authorized to make arrests is authorized to
make such arrests under warrants issued under the provisions of § $7-61,
§ 87-85, § 87-97 or § 87-221, without having such warrant in possession,
provided the warrants have been issued and the arresting officer has
been advised of the issuance thereof by telegram, radio or teletype mes-
sage, which telegram, radio or teletype message shall give the name of
the person wanted, shall direct the disposition that is to be made of the
person when apprehended, and shall give the basis of the issuance of the
warrant.

§ 37-136. If a person be * adjudicated insane or feeble-minded by
a court of record as hereinafter provided, or in a court in which he is
charged with crime, the circuit court of the county or the corporation or
circuit court of the city of which he is an inhabitant, or such other courts
in such city as have jurisdiction to appoint committees for * insane and
feeble-minded persons shall appoint a committee for him. The chancery
court shall have exclusive jurisdiction of such matters in the city of
Richmond, but nothing herein contained shall apply to or affect the
present jurisdiction of the Hustings Court, Part Two, of the city of
Richmond. Such appointments may be made by the court or the judge
thereof in vacation. Nothing in this chapter shall invalidate the appoint-
ment of any person as committee prior to July one, nineteen hundred and
fifty-four.

§ 37-186.1. Any judge of a court of record, when any person in his
county or city is alleged to be legally incompetent because of mental
illness or mental deficiencies, upon the written complaint and information
of any respectable citizen, shall issue his warrant, ordering such person
to be brought before him. The judge or justice may issue the warrant
on his own motion.

If a person is ina mental hospital under legal commitment and he is
found by the superintendent thereof after observation and examination
to be mentally ill to such a degree that the superintendent believes him
to be legally incompetent, the circuit court of the county or corporation
or circuit court of the city of his residence, or the Chancery Court of
the city of Richmond, if he is a resident of the city of Richmond, after
reasonable notice to such person, shall, on the sworn certificate of the
superintendent that such person is believed to be legally incompetent due
to either mental illness or mental defectiveness or upon such other evt-
dence as the court may deem proper and require, determine if the person
1s legally incompetent because of mental illness or mental deficiencies.

The court, or jury, if one be requested, shall determine if the person
is legally incompetent because of mental iliness or mental deficiencies.
For this purpose the court shall and the person may summon witnesses
to testify under oath as to the condition of such person.

If the court find the person to be legally incompetent because of
mental illness it shall adjudicate that person to be insane. If the court
finds the person to be legally incompetent because of mental deficiencies
at shall adjudicate that person to be feeble-minded.

The person shall have the right to appeal to the Supreme Court of
Appeals if he be adjudicated insane or feeble-minded.

§ 37-186.2. A copy of the findings of the court, if the person be
found to be legally incompetent, shall be filed by the judge with the clerk
of the court of the county or city in which deeds are admitted to record.
The clerk shall enter the copy sent him in a book to be supplied by his
county or city, shall properly index the same and shall not permit the
same to be kept open to public inspection, but shall immediately notify
the Commissioner of the Department of Mental Hygiene and Hospitals
in accordance with § 37-158.1.

§ 37-137. If no person shall be appointed a committee within one
month from the adjudication the court, or the judge thereof in vacation, on
motion of any interested person, may appoint a committee, or he shall
commit the estate of the * legally incompetent person to the sheriff of
the county or sergeant of the city, who shall be committee, and he and
the sureties on his official bond shall be bound for the faithful perform-
ance of the trust.

§ 37-139. Ifa person residing out of the State but having property
therein, be suspected of being * legally incompetent due to mental illness
or mental deficiency, the circuit court of the county or corporation or
circuit court of the city or such other courts in such city as have juris-
diction to appoint committees for * legally incompetent persons, except
that the chancery court shall have exclusive jurisdiction of such matters
in the city of Richmond, wherein such property or greater part of it is,
shall, upon like application and being satisfied that he is * legally incom-
petent, appoint a committee for him. The appointment may be made by
the court or the judge thereof in vacation.

No person against whom proceedings under this section are author-
ized shall be proceeded against unless and until he shall have been given
at least fifteen days notice by registered mail posted to his last known
address. Any person proceeded against under the provisions of this sec-
tion shall have the right of appeal at any time from the finding of being
legally incompetent due to mental illness or mental deficiency provided
that he had no notice as herein provided of the application for appoint-
ment of a committee hereunder.

§ 37-139.1. When a person adjudged to be an epileptic and com-
mitted to a hospital or colony is found by the superintendent thereof
after observation and examination to be mentally ill to such a degree
that the superintendent believes him to be legally incompetent, the circuit
court of the county or corporation or circuit court of the city of his
residence, or the chancery court of the city of Richmond, if he is a resi-
dent of the city of Richmond, after reasonable notice to such person shall,
on the sworn certificate of the superintendent that such person is *
believed to be legally incompetent due to mental illness, and upon such
other evidence as such court may deem proper and require, appoint a
committee for him. Such appointments may be made by the court or the
judge thereof in vacation.

§ 37-181. A suitable building or buildings shall be erected at the
Lynchburg * Training School and Hospital, and at the Central State
Hospital at Petersburg, Virginia, for the exclusive care of the men-
tally deficient as defined in § 37-177 and on completion and equip-
ment of this department, the superintendents of the colonies shall be
authorized to receive male and female patients properly committed.

§ 37-182. Whenever an epileptic person is adjudged to be such, as
defined in § 37-178, by any commission held for that purpose if he be a
white person he shall be committed to the Lynchburg * Training School
and Hospital at Madison Heights, Amherst County, and if he be a colored
person he shall be committed to a department for epileptics in the
Central State Hospital at Petersburg. Nothing in this title shall be
construed to forbid the necessary and temporary detention of any
epileptic or mentally deficient white person in any of the hospitals nor
of any mentally ill person in the colony until he can be transferred to
the proper hospital or colony. Nothing in this title shall be construed
to authorize or permit a white person to be sent to or received at the
Central State Hospital or the Petersburg Training School and Hospital
or a colored person to be sent to or received in any other hospital or
colony than the * Central State Hospital or Petersburg Training School
and Hospital.

§ 37-1838. All patients adjudged to be mentally deficient or epileptic
by regular commissions to determine the mental condition of such patients
and committed as such to any of those institutions whether by a commis-
sion and trial justice, or by court order, who have been found by the
superintendent of the institution to be mentally deficient or epileptic and
who appear on the records of the institutions to have been so admitted,
are hereby declared to be lawfully committed patients of the Lynchburg
* Training School and Hospital, the Petersburg * Training School and
Hospital, or of the department for colored epileptics, as the case may be.

§ 37-185. All the provisions of this title relating to the commit-
ment, care, training and treatment of mentally deficient white persons
shall be applicable to the commitment, care, training and treatment of
mentally deficient colored persons when legally committed to the Peters-
burg * Training School and Hospital.

§ 37-186. The superintendent of the Lynchburg * Training School
and Hospital shall receive and care for such epileptic, and such mentally
deficient white persons, male and female, when facilities are available,
to whom such training would be of most benefit, who are legal residents
of Virginia, as under the laws of the State are committed to such colony,
provided that in committing persons to the colony and in receiving them
therein those indigent white persons who would be most likely to receive
benefit from colony care and training shall be first received and admitted.

§ 37-187. In order to promote the objects for which the Lynchburg
* Training School and Hospital was established, for the protection of
society and mentally deficient and epileptic persons themselves and that
those who are capable of being trained for self-support may eventually
leave the institution and enjoy the life and liberty of the outer world,
the superintendent thereof and the State Hospital Board shall, as far as
practicable, provide suitable employment for such patients and such
training, both educational and industrial, as is adapted to their capacities
and shall see that such moral, medical and surgical treatment as they
deem.proper shall be given such patients in order to promote the objects
for which the institution is provided.

§ 37-188. The State Hospital Board and superintendent of the
Lynchburg * Training School and Hospital shall, as far as practicable,
provide necessary school and industrial buildings and employ such
teachers as are necessary for these purposes. :

§ 37-189. Until separate buildings for mentally deficient males are
provided, the superintendent of the Lynchburg * Training School and

ospital may receive and care for, with white epileptic males, such white
mentally deficient male patients as, for urgent and distressing reasons,
require custodial care and treatment.

§ 37-192. The State Hospital Board shall provide suitable buildings
with proper appurtenances and equipment for the care, custody, control,
teaching, training and employment of such mentally deficient colored
persons as may be committed under the law of the State to the Petersburg
* Training School and Hospital. The superintendent * thereof shall, as
rapidly as proper accommodations for them can be provided, receive and
care for such mentally deficient colored persons who are legal residents
of Virginia as under the laws of the State may be admitted to the colony,
provided that in committing persons to the colony and in receiving them
therein, those indigent colored children who would be most likely to
receive benefit from care and training, shall, so far as practicable, be
first received and admitted.

§ 37-212. Mentally deficient white persons not charged with the
graver felonies, such as rape, homicide or armed robbery, at the discretion
of the superintendent of the Lynchburg * Training School and Hospital,
and the * Commissioner may be received into the Colony on regular
commitment. In order that the superintendent of the Lynchburg * Train-
ing School and Hospital, and the State Hospital Board, may be able to
determine whether or not such cases could properly be cared for in the
aforesaid institution the presiding officer of the court before which the
criminal person, suspected of being mentally deficient, appears shall
transmit to such superintendent and the * Commissioner, together with
the commitment papers, a complete record of any prior criminal history
of the suspected person, together with a detailed account of the crime with
which such person stands charged before the court.

§ 37-213. Any person received into the Lynchburg * Training School
and Hospital who after a suitable period of observation and study by the
superintendent of the Colony is found to be, in the opinion of the super-
intendent, a moral or social menace to the welfare of the other inmates
of the Colony or unmanageable, * may, upon complaint of the superin-
tendent to the * Commissioner be transferred to the criminal department
of the Southwestern State Hospital, or other appropriate custodial insti-
tution to be determined by the * Commissioner.

§ 37-231. Whenever the superintendent of the Western State Hos-
pital, or of the Eastern State Hospital, or of the Southwestern State
Hospital, or of the Central State Hospital, or of the Lynchburg * Train-
ing School and Hospital or of the Petersburg * Training School and
Hospital shall be of opinion that it'is for the best interests of the
patient and of society that any inmate of the institution under his
care should be sexually sterilized, such superintendent is hereby author-
ized to perform, or cause to be performed by some capable physician or
surgeon, the operation of sterilization on any such inmate afflicted with
the hereditary forms of mental illness that are recurrent, mental deficiency
or epilepsy; provided that such superintendent shall have first complied
with the requirements of this chapter.

2. That §§ 37-138, 37-201 and 37-226 of the Code of Virginia as amended
are repealed.