Miss. Code Ann. § 41-21-67 (2026)

• (1)
  • (a) Prior to filing an affidavit for commitment of an individual, the relative or interested person shall be connected with the community mental health center in the county of financial responsibility or the county where the proposed patient is present for conduct of preliminary investigation to determine the need to file an affidavit for involuntary commitment. If the community mental health center is unavailable, any reputable licensed physician, psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant, as allowed in the discretion of the court, may conduct the pre-affidavit screening and examination as set forth in Section 41-21-69. The pre-affidavit screening shall be completed within twenty-four (24) hours of the community mental health center being notified. The community mental health center shall provide the pre-affidavit screening report to the chancery clerk for the county in which the petition is to be filed upon completion. The community mental health center shall appoint a screener to conduct an investigation. The prospective petitioner may not be the pre-affidavit screener. The investigation must include:
    • (i) An interview with the proposed patient and other individuals who appear to have knowledge of the condition of the proposed patient, if practicable. In-person interviews with the proposed patient are preferred. If the proposed patient is not interviewed, specific reasons must be documented;
    • (ii) Identification and investigation of specific alleged conduct that is the basis for application;
    • (iii) Identification, exploration, and listing of the specific reasons for rejecting or recommending alternatives to involuntary commitment; and
    • (iv) In the case of a commitment based on mental illness, information relevant to treatment.
  • (b) In conducting the investigation required by this subsection, the screener shall have access to all relevant medical records of proposed patients currently in treatment facilities, state-operated treatment programs, or community-based treatment programs. Data collected pursuant to this paragraph shall be considered private data on individuals. The pre-affidavit screening report is not admissible as evidence in court except by agreement of counsel or as permitted by the rules of court and is not admissible in any court proceedings unrelated to the commitment proceedings.
  • (c) When the pre-affidavit screener recommends commitment, a written report shall be sent to the chancery clerk for the county in which the petition is to be filed. The statement of facts contained in the written report must meet the requirements of Section 41-21-65(5), specifically certifying that a less restrictive alternative treatment was considered and specifying why treatment less restrictive than involuntary commitment is not appropriate.
  • (d) The pre-affidavit screener shall refuse to support the filing of an affidavit if the investigation does not disclose evidence sufficient to support commitment. Notice of the pre-affidavit screener's decision shall be provided to the prospective petitioner and the court. If a commitment is not recommended, the pre-affidavit screener shall provide the prospective petitioner with connection to other alternative services and resources available and offered, if appropriate.
  • (e) If the interested person wishes to proceed with a petition contrary to the recommendation of the pre-affidavit screener, application may be made directly to the chancellor, who shall determine whether or not to proceed with the petition. Notice of the chancellor's determination shall be provided to the interested party.
    • (2) After a pre-affidavit screener has attempted to complete an in-person screening, if a person is actively violent or refuses to participate in the pre-affidavit screening and the screening cannot be completed, then upon recommendation of the community mental health center, the affidavit may be filed and a writ issued for a sheriff to intervene. The pre-affidavit screener shall document why the pre-affidavit screening could not be completed. After completing the pre-affidavit screening required by subsection (1) of this section, receiving the written report from the pre-affidavit screener, and upon filing of an affidavit of commitment, the clerk, upon direction of the chancellor of the court, shall issue a writ directed to the sheriff of the proper county to take into custody the person alleged to be in need of treatment and to take the person for physical and mental examination and treatment by the appropriate community mental health center established under Section 41-19-31. Except as otherwise provided in Section 41-21-63, the community mental health center will be designated as the first point of entry for pre-affidavit screening and treatment. The writ may provide where the person shall be held before being taken for examination and treatment, which shall include any licensed medical facility or crisis stabilization unit. Reapplication may be made to the chancellor. If a pauper's affidavit is filed by an affiant who is a guardian or conservator of a person in need of treatment, the court shall determine if either the affiant or the person in need of treatment is a pauper and if the affiant or the person in need of treatment is determined to be a pauper, the county of the residence of the respondent shall bear the costs of commitment, unless funds for those purposes are made available by the state.
    • (3)
      • (a) Upon receiving the pre-affidavit screening and filing of an affidavit of commitment, the chancellor shall immediately appoint and summon two (2) reputable, licensed physicians or one (1) reputable, licensed physician and either one (1) psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant to conduct a physical and mental examination of the person at a place to be designated by the clerk or chancellor and to report their findings to the clerk or chancellor. However, if the pre-affidavit screening recommends against commitment, the chancellor may refuse to appoint two (2) physicians to conduct a physical and mental examination. However, any nurse practitioner or physician assistant conducting the examination shall be independent from, and not under the supervision of, the other physician conducting the examination. A nurse practitioner or psychiatric nurse practitioner conducting an examination under this chapter must be functioning within a collaborative or consultative relationship with a physician as required under Section 73-15-20(3). In all counties in which there is a county health officer, the county health officer, if available, may be one (1) of the physicians so appointed. If a licensed physician is not available to conduct the physical and mental examination within forty-eight (48) hours of the pre-affidavit screening, the court, in its discretion and upon good cause shown, may permit the examination to be conducted by the following:
        • (a) two (2) nurse practitioners, one (1) of whom must be a psychiatric nurse practitioner; or
        • (b) one (1) psychiatric nurse practitioner and one (1) psychologist or physician assistant. Neither of the physicians nor the psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant selected shall be related to that person in any way, nor have any direct or indirect interest in the estate of that person nor shall any full-time staff of residential treatment facilities operated directly by the State Department of Mental Health serve as examiner.
      • (b) Any health care practitioner who conducts a physical and mental examination of a person as provided under paragraph (a) of this subsection may sign the certificate required for establishing a guardianship or conservatorship for the person and take care of other related requirements as otherwise provided by law, at the time of conducting the physical and mental examinations.
    • (4) The clerk shall ascertain whether the respondent is represented by an attorney, and if it is determined that the respondent does not have an attorney, the clerk shall immediately notify the chancellor of that fact. If the chancellor determines that the respondent for any reason does not have the services of an attorney, the chancellor shall immediately appoint an attorney for the respondent at the time the examiners are appointed.
    • (5)
      • (a) If the chancellor determines that there is probable cause to believe that the respondent has a mental illness and that there is no reasonable alternative to detention, the chancellor may order that the respondent be retained as an emergency patient at any licensed medical facility, crisis stabilization unit, or any other available suitable location for evaluation by a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant and that a peace officer transport the respondent to the specified facility, unit or location. If the community mental health center serving the county has partnered with Crisis Intervention Teams under the provisions of Sections 41-21-131 through 41-21-143, the order may specify that the licensed medical facility be a designated single point of entry within the county or within an adjacent county served by the community mental health center. If the person evaluating the respondent finds that the respondent has a mental illness and in need of treatment, the chancellor may order that the respondent be retained at the licensed medical facility, crisis stabilization unit, or any other available suitable location as the court may so designate pending an admission hearing. If necessary, the chancellor may order a peace officer or other person to transport the respondent to that facility, or unit or suitable location. Any respondent so retained may be given such treatment as is indicated by standard medical practice. However, the respondent shall not be held in a hospital operated directly by the State Department of Mental Health .
      • (b) A jail or other detention center may not be used for custody unless the community mental health center has explored and exhausted the availability of other appropriate facilities, such as the crisis stabilization unit, the local hospital and any Department of Mental Health certified location; the chancellor specifically authorizes it; and the respondent is actively violent. The county of residence of any such person shall pay the cost of such interim treatment. The community mental health center shall provide documentation of the person's violent behavior and that no other appropriate facilities are available to the chancellor. Under these circumstances, no person may remain in a jail for longer than twenty-four (24) hours unless the community mental health center requests an additional twenty-four (24) hours from the chancellor. The community mental health center shall provide treatment during this timeframe pending placement at an appropriate facility.

        For the purposes of this subsection (5), "actively violent" means that the behavior presents an immediate and serious danger to the safety of the individual or another, the individual has inflicted or attempted to inflict serious bodily harm on another, or has acted in such a way as to create a substantial risk of serious bodily harm to another, or has engaged in extreme destruction of property; and that there is a reasonable probability that this conduct will be repeated.

        The provisions of this paragraph (b) shall not be construed to include jails that are designated as holding facilities under the requirement provided by Section 41-21-77.

    • (6)
      • (a) Whenever a licensed psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant who is certified to complete examinations for the purpose of commitment or a licensed physician has reason to believe that a person poses an immediate substantial likelihood of physical harm to himself or others or is gravely disabled and unable to care for himself by virtue of mental illness, as defined in Section 41-21-61(e), then the physician, psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant may hold the person or may admit the person to and treat the person in a licensed medical facility, without a civil order or warrant for a period not to exceed seventy-two (72) hours. However, if the seventy-two-hour period begins or ends when the chancery clerk's office is closed, or within three (3) hours of closing, and the chancery clerk's office will be continuously closed for a time that exceeds seventy-two (72) hours, then the seventy-two-hour period is extended until the end of the next business day that the chancery clerk's office is open. The person may be held and treated as an emergency patient at any licensed medical facility, available regional mental health facility, or crisis stabilization unit. The physician or psychologist, nurse practitioner or physician assistant who holds the person shall certify in writing the reasons for the need for holding.

        If a person is being held and treated in a licensed medical facility, and that person decides to continue treatment by voluntarily signing consent for admission and treatment, the seventy-two-hour hold may be discontinued without filing an affidavit for commitment. Any respondent so held may be given such treatment as indicated by standard medical practice. Persons acting in good faith in connection with the detention and reporting of a person believed to have a mental illness shall incur no liability, civil or criminal, for those acts.

      • (b) Whenever an individual is held for purposes of receiving treatment as prescribed under paragraph (a) of this subsection, and it is communicated to the mental health professional holding the individual that the individual resides or has visitation rights with a minor child, and if the individual is considered to be a danger to the minor child, the mental health professional shall notify the Department of Child Protection Services prior to discharge if the threat of harm continues to exist, as is required under Section 43-21-353.

        This paragraph (b) shall be known and may be cited as the "Andrew Lloyd Law."

Laws, 1975, ch. 492, § 3(2, 3); Laws, 1984, ch. 477, § 4; Laws, 1985, ch. 454, § 2; Laws, 1994, ch. 533, § 3; Laws, 1994, ch. 599, § 3; Laws, 2000, ch. 493, § 1; Laws, 2008, ch. 513, § 1; Laws, 2010, ch. 398, § 4; Laws, 2010, ch. 476, § 59; Laws, 2010, ch. 548, § 2, eff. 7/1/2010.

Amended by Laws, 2024, ch. 490, HB 1640,§ 3, eff. 7/1/2024.

Amended by Laws, 2024, ch. 479, HB 1088,§ 4, eff. 7/1/2024.

Amended by Laws, 2019, ch. 468, SB 2328,§ 6, eff. 7/1/2019.

Amended by Laws, 2014, ch. 448, HB 810, 2, eff. 7/1/2014.

Amended by Laws, 2014, ch. 351, SB 2483, 1, eff. 3/17/2014.