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Sentencing Act 1995
80Approved treatment facility orders
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80 Approved treatment facility orders
(1) Where a person is found guilty of an offence and the court:
(a) is satisfied by the production of a certificate, in the prescribed
form, of the Chief Health Officer or by any other evidence that:
(i) the person appears to be mentally ill or mentally
disturbed; and
(ii) the person may benefit from being treated in an
(b) receives written advice from the Chief Health Officer that
facilities are available at an approved treatment facility to treat
the person and the admission, detention and treatment is
appropriate;
it may:
(c) order that the person be admitted to and detained at the
discretion of the Chief Health Officer in an approved treatment
facility to enable the diagnosis, assessment and treatment of
the person under the Mental Health and Related Services
Act 1998; or
(d) order that the person be admitted to and detained in an
approved treatment facility to enable the diagnosis,
assessment and treatment of the person under the Mental
Health and Related Services Act 1998 for a period, not
exceeding 3 months, as specified in the order; or
(e) order that the person be admitted to and detained in an
approved treatment facility to enable the treatment of the
person under the Mental Health and Related Services
Act 1998 for a period specified in the order.
(2) The court may, after consulting with the Chief Health Officer or an
approved person, impose conditions on an order under
subsection (1) to ensure the security and good order of the person.
(3) Conditions under subsection (2) may include:
(a) whether the person must be detained in a particular part of the
(b) whether the person must be kept under guard at the approved
treatment facility; and
Sentencing Act 1995 64
(c) whether the person may be granted leave of absence from the
(d) whether the person, if the person is a prisoner, is to be subject
to the same restrictions as applying to the person if he or she
were in a custodial correctional facility.
(4) An order made under subsection (1) is to be consistent with
recommendations made in the report provided to the court under
section 79.
(5) Where an order is made under subsection (1), the person is to be
treated under the Mental Health and Related Services Act 1998 and
is entitled to exercise the rights conferred by that Act.
(6) Unless the court orders otherwise, where:
(a) an order made under subsection (1)(d) or (e) is in force in
respect of a person; and
(b) the person is discharged from an approved treatment facility
under this Act or the Mental Health and Related Services
Act 1998;
the person must be:
(c) taken to a custodial correctional facility in accordance with
section 84; and
(d) returned to the court on the first available sitting day.
(7) A person returned to the court under subsection (6) may be dealt
with by the court as if he or she were before the court on being
found guilty of the offence in respect of which the order under
subsection (1)(d) or (e) was made.
(8) Where the court makes an order under subsection (1)(c), the
person cannot be detained for longer than 3 months but may be
discharged by the Chief Health Officer before the 3 months expires.
(9) A court must not make an order under subsection (1)(e) unless, but
for the mental illness or mental disturbance of the person, it would
have sentenced the person to a term of imprisonment.
(10) Where a court makes an order under subsection (1)(e), it:
(a) must not specify a period of detention in an approved
treatment facility that is longer than the period of imprisonment
to which the person would have been sentenced had the order
not been made; and
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(b) must, subject to Part 3, Division 5, Subdivision 3, fix a
non-parole period in accordance with that Subdivision as if the
order were a term of imprisonment.
(11) At any time before the end of the period specified in an order under
subsection (1)(e) an authorised psychiatric practitioner nominated
by the Chief Health Officer or the Tribunal may in pursuance of the
Mental Health and Related Services Act 1998 order the discharge
of the person named in the order from the approved treatment
facility and the order has effect as a sentence of imprisonment for
the unexpired portion of it and that unexpired portion must be
served in a custodial correctional facility unless the person is
released on parole.
(12) A non-parole period fixed under subsection (10) is only relevant in
the circumstances referred to in subsection (11).