Sec. 1. 15 MRSA §103, as corrected by RR 1995, c. 2, §27 and amended by PL 2001, c. 354, §3, is further amended to read:

§103. Commitment of persons found guilty but insane

When a respondent is found not criminally responsible by reason of mental disease or mental defect the verdict and judgment must so state that the person is guilty but insane. In that case the court shall order the person committed to the custody of the Commissioner of Behavioral and Developmental Services to be placed in an appropriate institution for the mentally ill or the mentally retarded for care and treatment. Upon placement in the appropriate institution and in the event of transfer from one institution to another of persons committed under this section, notice of the placement or transfer must be given by the commissioner to the committing court.

Sec. 2. 15 MRSA §104-A, sub-§1, as corrected by RR 1995, c. 2, §28 and amended by PL 2001, c. 354, §3, is further amended to read:

1. Release and discharge. The term "release," as used in this section, means termination of institutional in-patient residency and return to permanent residency in the community. The head of the institution in which a person is placed, under section 103, shall, annually, forward to the Commissioner of Behavioral and Developmental Services a report containing the opinion of a staff psychiatrist as to the mental conditions of that person, stating specifically whether the person may be released or discharged without likelihood that the person will cause injury to that person or to others due to mental disease or mental defect. The report must also contain a brief statement of the reasons for the opinion. The commissioner shall immediately file the report in the Superior Court for the county in which the person is hospitalized. The court shall review each report and, if it is made to appear by the report that any person may be ready for release or discharge, the court shall set a date for and hold a hearing on the issue of the person's readiness for release or discharge. The court shall give notice of the hearing and mail a copy of the report to the Attorney General, offices of the district attorney that prosecuted the criminal charges for which the person was acquitted by reason of insanity found to be guilty but insane and the offices of the district attorneys in whose district the release petition was filed or in whose district release may occur. At the hearing, the court shall receive the testimony of at least one psychiatrist who has treated the person and a member of the State Forensic Service who has examined the person, the testimony of any independent