It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 40.1-3-11 of the General Laws in Chapter 40.1-3 entitled "Curative Services" is hereby amended to read as follows:

40.1-3-11. Discharge, parole, or transfer of residents. -- The director of mental health, retardation, and hospitals may at any time parole or discharge any of the inmates of the institute for mental health, the Dr. Joseph H. Ladd Center and the general hospital patients of the Eleanor Slater Hospital, and may in his or her discretion, subject to the terms of commitment, permanently transfer the inmate patient to any of the institutions under his or her care and control for better care and keeping. The director may parole any person confined in any state institution under the control of the department of mental health, retardation, and hospitals, upon such terms, conditions, and limitations as the director shall prescribe, during the remainder of the term for which the person might be held in the institution as specified, and the director may terminate such parole at any time and order the return of the paroled person into actual custody. Any officer qualified to serve criminal process in this state and any employee of the state department of mental health, retardation, and hospitals is hereby authorized to serve any such order and retake and return the person named therein to the institution from which he or she was paroled.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.