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Florida Statute 945.42 - Full Text and Legal Analysis
Florida Statute 945.42 | Lawyer Caselaw & Research
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The 2025 Florida Statutes

Title XLVII
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE AND CORRECTIONS
Chapter 945
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
View Entire Chapter
945.42 Definitions; ss. 945.40-945.49.As used in ss. 945.40-945.49, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed to them, unless the context shall clearly indicate otherwise:
(1) “Court” means the circuit court.
(2) “Crisis stabilization care” means an inpatient level of care that is less restrictive and intensive than care provided in a mental health treatment facility, that includes a broad range of evaluation and treatment and services provided within a secure and highly structured residential setting, and that is intended for inmates who are experiencing acute psychological distress and who cannot be adequately evaluated and treated in a transitional care unit or infirmary isolation management room. Such treatment and services are more intense than treatment and services provided in a transitional care unit and are devoted principally toward rapid stabilization of acute symptoms and conditions.
(3) “Department” means the Department of Corrections.
(4) “Express and informed consent” means consent voluntarily given in writing, by a competent inmate, after sufficient explanation and disclosure of the subject matter involved, to enable the inmate to make a knowing and willful decision without any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, or other form of constraint or coercion.
(5) “Gravely disabled” means a condition in which an inmate, as a result of a diagnosed mental illness, is:
(a) In danger of serious physical harm resulting from the inmate’s failure to provide for his or her essential physical needs of food, clothing, hygiene, health, or safety without the assistance of others; or
(b) Experiencing a substantial deterioration in behavioral functioning evidenced by the inmate’s unremitting decline in volitional control over his or her actions.
(6) “Incompetent to consent to treatment” means a state in which an inmate’s judgment is so affected by mental illness that he or she lacks the capacity to make a well-reasoned, willful, and knowing decision concerning his or her medical or mental health treatment and services. The term is distinguished from the term “incompetent to proceed,” as defined in s. 916.106, and only refers to an inmate’s inability to provide express and informed consent for medical or mental health treatment and services.
(7) “In need of care and treatment” means that an inmate has a mental illness for which inpatient services in a mental health treatment facility are necessary and because of the mental illness:
(a) But for being isolated in a more restrictive and secure housing environment:
1. The inmate is demonstrating a refusal to care for himself or herself and without treatment is likely to continue to refuse to care for himself or herself, and such refusal poses a real and present threat of substantial harm to his or her well-being; or
2. There is a substantial likelihood that in the near future the inmate will inflict serious bodily harm on himself or herself or another person, as evidenced by recent behavior causing, attempting, or threatening such harm.
(b) The inmate is incompetent to consent to treatment and is unable or is refusing to provide express and informed consent to treatment.
(c) The inmate is unable to determine for himself or herself whether placement is necessary; and
(d) All available less restrictive treatment alternatives that would offer an opportunity for improvement of the inmate’s condition have been clinically determined to be inappropriate.
(8) “Inmate” means any person committed to the custody of the Department of Corrections.
(9) “Involuntary examination” means a psychiatric examination performed at a mental health treatment facility to determine whether an inmate should be placed in the mental health treatment facility for inpatient mental health treatment and services.
(10) “Likelihood of serious harm” means:
(a) A substantial risk that the inmate will inflict serious physical harm upon his or her own person, as evidenced by threats or attempts to commit suicide or the actual infliction of serious physical harm on self;
(b) A substantial risk that the inmate will inflict physical harm upon another person, as evidenced by behavior which has caused such harm or which places any person in reasonable fear of sustaining such harm; or
(c) A reasonable degree of medical certainty that the inmate will suffer serious physical or mental harm, as evidenced by the inmate’s recent behavior demonstrating an inability to refrain from engaging in self-harm behavior.
(11) “Mental health treatment facility” means any extended treatment or hospitalization-level unit within the corrections system which the Assistant Secretary for Health Services of the department specifically designates by rule to provide acute mental health care and which may include involuntary treatment and therapeutic intervention in contrast to less intensive levels of care such as outpatient mental health care, transitional mental health care, or crisis stabilization care. The term does not include a forensic facility as defined in s. 916.106.
(12) “Mental illness” or “mentally ill” means an impairment of the mental or emotional processes that exercise conscious control of one’s actions or of the ability to perceive or understand reality, which impairment substantially interferes with the person’s ability to meet the ordinary demands of living. However, for the purposes of transferring an inmate to a mental health treatment facility, the term does not include a developmental disability as defined in s. 393.063, simple intoxication, or conditions manifested only by antisocial behavior or substance abuse addiction. However, an individual who is developmentally disabled may also have a mental illness.
(13) “Psychiatrist” means a medical practitioner licensed pursuant to chapter 458 or chapter 459 who has primarily diagnosed and treated nervous and mental disorders for a period of not less than 3 years inclusive of psychiatric residency.
(14) “Psychological professional” means a behavioral practitioner who has an approved doctoral degree in psychology as defined in s. 490.003(3)(b) and is employed by the department or who is licensed as a psychologist pursuant to chapter 490.
(15) “Secretary” means the Secretary of Corrections.
(16) “Transitional mental health care” means a level of care that is more intensive than outpatient care, but less intensive than crisis stabilization care, and is characterized by the provision of traditional mental health treatment and services such as group and individual therapy, activity therapy, recreational therapy, and psychotropic medications in the context of a secure, structured residential setting. Transitional mental health care is indicated for an inmate with chronic or residual symptomatology who does not require crisis stabilization care or acute mental health care, but whose impairment in functioning nevertheless renders him or her incapable of adjusting satisfactorily within the general inmate population.
(17) “Treatment” means psychotropic medications prescribed by a medical practitioner licensed pursuant to chapter 458 or chapter 459, including those laboratory tests and related medical procedures that are essential for the safe and effective administration of a psychotropic medication and psychological interventions and services such as group and individual psychotherapy, activity therapy, recreational therapy, and music therapy. The term does not include forensic services for inmate defendants who are incompetent to proceed as defined in s. 916.106.
(18) “Warden” means the warden of a state corrections facility or his or her designee.
History.s. 1, ch. 82-224; s. 29, ch. 84-361; s. 26, ch. 91-225; s. 3, ch. 96-422; s. 1859, ch. 97-102; s. 19, ch. 2000-161; s. 11, ch. 2008-250; s. 13, ch. 2010-64; s. 43, ch. 2013-162; s. 49, ch. 2020-133; s. 9, ch. 2025-81.

F.S. 945.42 on Google Scholar

F.S. 945.42 on CourtListener

Amendments to 945.42


Annotations, Discussions, Cases:

Cases Citing Statute 945.42

Total Results: 4  |  Sort by: Relevance  |  Newest First

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Florida Dep't of Corr. v. Watts, 800 So. 2d 225 (Fla. 2001).

Cited 1 times | Published | Supreme Court of Florida | 26 Fla. L. Weekly Supp. 743, 2001 Fla. LEXIS 2264, 2001 WL 1380024

...Section 945.43(1), Florida Statutes (1999), entitled “Admission of inmate to mental health treatment facility,” provides that "[a]n inmate may be admitted to a mental health treatment facility if he or she is mentally ill and is in need of care and treatment.” (Emphasis supplied.) *232 As defined by section 945.42(8), Florida Statutes (1999), “mentally ill,” means an impairment of the emotional processes, of the ability to exercise conscious control of one's actions, or of the ability to perceive reality or to understand, which impairment su...
...The phrase “In need of care and treatment” is defined as follows: "[A]n inmate has a mental illness for which inpatient services in a mental health treatment facility are necessary, which mental illness poses a real and present threat of substantial harm to the inmate’s well-being or to the safety of others.” § 945.42(5), Fla....
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Taylor v. State (Fla. 2d DCA 2017).

Published | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal

...r penitentiary, or to the custody of the [DOC] pursuant to lawful authority." § 944.02(6) (emphasis added); see also § 944.17(1) ("Each prisoner sentenced to the state penitentiary shall be committed by the court to the custody of the [DOC]."); § 945.42(7), Fla....
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E.F. v. State, 889 So. 2d 135 (Fla. 3d DCA 2004).

Published | Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal | 2004 Fla. App. LEXIS 18149

...filed a written report taking exceptions to the general master’s findings, claiming there was insufficient evidence that he stated he was leaving on a regular basis and that he had a long history of mental illness, and that he did not need care and treatment according to section 945.42(5)....
...antial evidence. We hold that the State failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that his delusion that he is a free man posed a real and present threat of substantial harm to his well-being or to the safety of others as required by sections 945.42(5) and 945.43, Florida Statutes (2003), for involuntary commitment to a corrections mental health facility....
...(3) PROCEDURE FOR HEARING ON TRANSFER OF AN INMATE FOR MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT.— ... If, at the hearing, the court finds that the inmate is mentally ill and in need of care and treatment, it shall order that he or she be transferred to a mental health treatment facility and provided appropriate treatment.... In addition, section 945.42(5), Florida Statutes (2003), defines “in need of care and treatment” as follows: (5) “In need of care and treatment” means that an inmate has a mental illness for which inpatient services in a mental health treatment facility a...
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EF v. State, 889 So. 2d 135 (Fla. 3d DCA 2004).

Published | Florida 3rd District Court of Appeal | 2004 WL 2726017

...filed a written report taking exceptions to the general master's findings, claiming there was insufficient evidence that he stated he was leaving on a regular basis and that he had a long history of mental illness, and that he did not need care and treatment according to section 945.42(5)....
...antial evidence. We hold that the State failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence that his delusion that he is a free man posed a real and present threat of substantial harm to his well-being or to the safety of others as required by sections 945.42(5) and 945.43, Florida Statutes (2003), for involuntary commitment to a corrections mental health facility....
...(3) PROCEDURE FOR HEARING ON TRANSFER OF AN INMATE FOR MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT. — ... If, at the hearing, the court finds that the inmate is mentally ill and in need of care and treatment, it shall order that he or she be transferred to a mental health treatment facility and provided appropriate treatment.... In addition, section 945.42(5), Florida Statutes (2003), defines "in need of care and treatment" as follows: (5) "In need of care and treatment" means that an inmate has a mental illness for which inpatient services in a mental health treatment facility are neces...

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