LRB-4760/1
JEO:jlg:hmh
1999 - 2000 LEGISLATURE
March 28, 2000 - Introduced by Senators Breske and Roessler, cosponsored by
Representative Underheim. Referred to Committee on Judiciary and
Consumer Affairs.
SB513,1,3
1An Act to create 940.20 (1g) of the statutes;
relating to: battery by persons
2detained or committed under certain civil commitment laws and providing a
3penalty.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Current law prohibits a prisoner confined to a state prison or other state, county
or municipal detention facility from intentionally causing bodily harm to another
prisoner or to an officer, employe or visitor of the prison or facility without the consent
of the person harmed. A prisoner convicted of violating this prohibition may be fined
not more than $10,000 or imprisoned for not more than ten years or both.
Current law also provides various procedures by which a person may be
involuntarily committed to a treatment facility for mental health treatment,
including the following: 1) a procedure for committing a person who has a mental
illness and who, based on evidence of certain acts, omissions or other behavior,
satisfies at least one of five standards of dangerousness; 2) a procedure for the
commitment of persons who are charged with a crime but who are found not
competent to stand trial; 3) a procedure for committing a person who is found not
guilty of a criminal charge because he or she has a mental disease or defect; and 4)
a procedure for committing a sexually violent person, which is a person who has
committed certain sexually violent offenses and who is dangerous because he or she
suffers from a mental disorder that makes it substantially probable that the person
will engage in acts of sexual violence in the future. In addition, under prior law a
person who was convicted of committing certain sex crimes could be committed for
treatment instead of being sentenced. Though this law was repealed in 1980, there
are currently persons who remain subject to commitments that began before the
repeal of the law.
This bill prohibits a person who has been involuntarily committed to certain
treatment facilities for mental health treatment under one of the procedures
mentioned above, or a person who has been detained in certain treatment facilities
while the procedure is pending, from intentionally causing bodily harm to an officer,
employe or visitor of the treatment facility or to another person who is detained in
or committed to the treatment facility without the consent of the person injured. A
person who violates this prohibition may be fined not more than $10,000 or
imprisoned for not more than ten years or both. The treatment facilities covered by
the bill are the maximum security facility at the Mendota Mental Health Institute,
the Wisconsin Resource Center, a secure mental health facility established for the
custody, care and treatment of sexually violent persons and the Milwaukee County
Mental Health Complex.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
SB513, s. 1
1Section
1. 940.20 (1g) of the statutes is created to read:
SB513,2,22
940.20
(1g) Battery by detained or committed person. (a) In this subsection:
SB513,2,43
1. "Detained or committed person" means a person who is detained or
4committed under ch. 51, 971, 975 or 980.
SB513,2,55
2. "Inpatient treatment facility" means any of the following:
SB513,2,66
a. The maximum security facility at the Mendota Mental Health Institute.
SB513,2,77
b. The secure mental health facility established under s. 46.055.
SB513,2,88
c. The Wisconsin Resource Center established under s. 46.056.
SB513,2,99
d. A secure mental health unit or facility established under s. 980.065 (2).
SB513,2,1010
e. The Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex established under s. 51.08.
SB513,3,211
(b) Any detained or committed person confined to an inpatient treatment
12facility who intentionally causes bodily harm to an officer, employe or visitor of the
13inpatient treatment facility or to another detained or committed person confined to
1the inpatient treatment facility, without the consent of the person injured, is guilty
2of a Class D felony.
