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An Act Regarding Mental Health First Aid Training for Corrections Personnel
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  25 MRSA §2801-A, sub-§5-A  is enacted to read:
 
5-A.  Mental health first aid training.     "Mental health first aid training" means training in how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance abuse provided by a trainer certified by a nationally recognized organization that provides evidence-based mental health first aid training.
Sec. 2.  25 MRSA §2804-D, sub-§2  is enacted to read:
 
2.  Mental health first aid component.     The basic training course under subsection 1 must include 8 hours of mental health first aid training.
Sec. 3. Jails, prisons and correctional facilities to incrementally train all corrections personnel in mental health first aid. Every jail, prison and state correctional facility shall train all corrections officers at the jail, prison or state correctional facility in mental health first aid pursuant to the procedures of this section. Each jail, prison and state correctional facility shall send 2 corrections officers to the Maine Criminal Justice Academy for mental health first aid training as defined in the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 25, section 2801-A, subsection 5-A. After the first 2 corrections officers receive mental health first aid training at the academy, the jail, prison or state correctional facility shall send 2 other corrections officers to the academy for training and repeat this process until all corrections officers at the jail, prison or state correctional facility have received mental health first aid training at the academy. For purposes of this section, "corrections officer" has the same meaning as in Title 25, section 2801-A, subsection 2.
Sec. 4. Report. A jail, prison or state correctional facility under section 3 shall report to the Commissioner of Corrections after all corrections personnel at the facility have received mental health first aid training at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy under section 3. When all jails, prisons and state correctional facilities in the State have reported to the commissioner, the commissioner shall report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over criminal justice and public safety matters that the provisions of section 3 have been met.
 
SUMMARY
This bill requires that the Maine Criminal Justice Academy provide 8 hours of mental health first aid training as part of basic corrections training and that each jail, prison and correctional facility in the State send 2 corrections officers to the academy for training. After the first 2 corrections officers receive mental health first aid training at the academy, the jail, prison or state correctional facility is required to send 2 other corrections officers to the academy for training and to repeat this process until all corrections officers at the jail, prison or state correctional facility have received mental health first aid training at the academy. This bill requires each jail, prison and correctional facility to report to the Commissioner of Corrections when all corrections officers have received mental health first aid training at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy and the commissioner to report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over criminal justice and public safety matters after receiving the report from all jails, prisons and correctional facilities.