Pennsylvania Act 1951-86 — CREATING THE SCHOOL FOR MENTAL DEFECTIVES

Act text

CREATING THE SCHOOL FOR MENTAL DEFECTIVES
                  Act of May 24, 1951, P.L. 392, No. 86               Cl. 50
                                  AN ACT

     Providing for the construction and equipping of the Pennsylvania
        School for Mental Defectives; providing for the acquisition
        of land; providing for the care, maintenance and control of
        inmates; imposing duties and conferring powers on the
        Department of Welfare and the Department of Property and
        Supplies.

        The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
     hereby enacts as follows:

        Section 1.  The Department of Welfare, with the approval of
     the Governor, shall select for acquisition by the Department of
     Property and Supplies in the name of the Commonwealth, land for
     the erection and construction thereon of a new institution for
     mental defectives, with a capacity of not less than six hundred
     inmates. Such land shall provide ample water supply and be
     capable of adequate sewerage and drainage, and the acreage
     obtained shall be sufficient for the most productive
     agricultural employment of the inmates.
        Section 2.  Upon the acquisition of any land in the name of
     the Commonwealth, the Department of Property and Supplies shall
     construct thereon a new institution which shall be known as the
     "Pennsylvania School for Mental Defectives." The plans and
     specifications of the institution shall be subject to the
     approval of the Department of Welfare, and shall provide for
     suitable buildings and an adequate water supply system, sewage
     treatment works, heat and electric power plant or plants,
     service lines, and other necessary equipment, structures and
     improvements. The buildings shall be of modern design, plain and
     substantial, and capable of extension as the needs of the
     institution may require.
        Section 3.  The Department of Welfare shall receive into the
     custody of such institution, for care, guidance and control,
     mental defectives, in the manner provided by law.
        Section 4.  The management and operation of the school and
     the care, maintenance and employment of the inmates, shall be
     the function of the Department of Welfare. Subject to and in the
     manner provided in The Administrative Code of 1929 and its
     amendments, the Department of Welfare shall have power to employ
     and fix the compensation of a superintendent, deputy
     superintendent, chaplain, guards, physicians, mechanics, clerks,
     stenographers, and other employes, as may be deemed necessary
     for the proper maintenance and management of the school and the
     safekeeping therein of its inmates. The compensation of all
     persons so appointed and all other expenses in connection with
     the care and maintenance of inmates of the institution shall be
     paid from the appropriation made to the Department of Welfare
     for such purposes.
        Section 5.  In the management of the Pennsylvania School for
     Mental Defectives, the Department of Welfare shall have all the
     power conferred and perform all the duties imposed by the laws
     of the Commonwealth on the boards of trustees of the mental
     hospitals and institutions for mental defectives and epilepsy in
     Pennsylvania.