House Bill 425

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 47-1-57, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCREASE FROM $10.00 TO $15.00 THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT COUNTY PRISONERS MAY PAY FOR NONEMERGENCY MEDICAL ATTENTION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 47-1-57, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

47-1-57. (1) When any person confined in jail shall be in need of medical or surgical aid, the sheriff shall immediately examine the condition of such prisoner and, if he is of the opinion that the prisoner needs such aid, he shall call in a nurse or physician to attend him. If the prisoner be unable to pay the cost, the account of the nurse or physician, when allowed and certified as required in respect to accounts of sheriffs for keeping prisoners, shall be paid, in like manner, out of the treasury of the county in which a prisoner is charged with the crime for which he is imprisoned. The board of supervisors may contract with a physician for the jail by the year.

(2) The board of supervisors of any county may authorize the sheriff to establish a program under which prisoners expressing the need for nonemergency medical attention will have access to a registered nurse who will evaluate their condition and determine the necessity for treatment by a physician. Charges for such a visit with a registered nurse shall be paid by the prisoner by deductions made by the sheriff out of any funds of the prisoner held by the sheriff or in any other manner satisfactory to the sheriff; however, such prisoner shall not be required to pay out of funds of the prisoner held by the sheriff, more than Fifteen Dollars ($15.00) per visit. If the prisoner is unable to pay the cost, the cost shall be paid out of the county treasury in the same manner as provided for payment of other medical costs in subsection (1) of this section.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2010.