Sec. 1. 15 MRSA §104-A, as corrected by RR 1995, c. 2, §§28 to 30 and as amended by PL 2001, c. 354, §3, is further amended to read:

§104-A. Release and discharge, hearing, payment of

fees

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 prosecutorial office that prosecuted the criminal charges for which the person was acquitted found not criminally responsible by reason of insanity mental disease or mental defect 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 psychiatrist or licensed clinical psychologist who is employed by the prosecuter prosecutor or the petitioner and has examined the person and any other relevant testimony. If, after hearing, the court finds that 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 court shall order, as applicable:

A. Release from the institution, provided that:

(1) The order for release may include conditions determined appropriate by the court, including, but not limited to, out-patient treatment and supervision by