Judges: JAMES E. DOYLE, Attorney General
Filed Date: 4/10/1991
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/6/2016
JAMES DUVALL, Corporation Counsel Buffalo County
You state that the closest hospital to the Buffalo County Jail is in Wabasha, Minnesota. The closest hospital to southern Buffalo County is in Winona, Minnesota. You ask whether a Wisconsin law enforcement officer may take a prisoner to Minnesota for emergency medical treatment, whether the officer may detain the prisoner when he is in Minnesota and whether the officer may bring the prisoner back into Wisconsin.
In my opinion, a law enforcement officer may take a prisoner out of Wisconsin for emergency medical treatment. However, upon leaving Wisconsin, a law enforcement officer of the receiving state must take custody of the prisoner. In addition, the prisoner may only be returned to Wisconsin using the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act. As is apparent from the discussion that follows, these required procedures present serious practical problems.
A sheriff and his or her deputies have county wide jurisdiction. Secs.
The sheriff must provide appropriate care or treatment for prisoners, and "may transfer the prisoner to a hospital . . . making provision for the security of the prisoner." Sec.
If the sheriff decides to take the prisoner to a medical facility that is not in Wisconsin, the sheriff should proceed under the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act, section
So that the simple inquiry must be whether the person whose surrender is demanded is in fact a fugitive from justice, not whether he consciously fled from justice in order to avoid prosecution for the crime with which he is charged by the demanding state. A person charged by indictment or by affidavit before a magistrate with the commission within a state of a crime covered by its laws, and who, after the date of the commission of such crime, leaves the state, — no matter for what purpose or with what motive, nor under what belief, — becomes, from the time of such leaving, and within the meaning of the Constitution and the laws of the United States, a fugitive from justice. . . .
Appleyard v. Massachusetts,
Under the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act the arrest of a person may be made by an officer or a private citizen without a warrant upon reasonable information that the accused stands charged in the courts of another state with a crime punishable by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one year. Sec.
When a prisoner is brought to Minnesota for emergency medical treatment, you should proceed under the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act, informing the local officials of the prisoner's presence in their jurisdiction and, if appropriate, ask that they arrest him or her without a warrant. In any event, you are required to use the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act to obtain the prisoner's return to Wisconsin. That Act provides the authority for the Wisconsin officers to have custody of the prisoner on the return to Wisconsin, either by the governor's warrant or by execution of a valid waiver by the prisoner. Sec.
The Uniform Criminal Extradition Act does not apply to forfeitures because in Wisconsin, conduct punishable by forfeiture is not a crime. Sec.
If the problems of obtaining medical treatment and maintaining custody are a recurring problem in your county or other border counties, it may be appropriate for Wisconsin and the other states to enter into compacts. These compacts could waive the extradition process for persons transported across state lines for emergency medical treatment and could also provide that the appropriate officers of each state could exercise their law enforcement powers over that prisoner for that specific purpose. The extradition process is a right conferred on the state *Page 45
and the state may waive that right as to an identifiable group of citizens as long as the waiver is not arbitrary. State ex rel.Niederer v. Cady,
The Uniform Criminal Extradition Act allows the Wisconsin sheriff to maintain security on a prisoner in custody for a crime. The prisoner may be transported to Minnesota with the assistance of Minnesota law enforcement authorities and kept in custody. The sheriff has the authority to transport the prisoner back to Wisconsin upon his waiver of extradition or the completion of extradition proceedings. Of course, in the usual case it is probably preferable to take Wisconsin prisoners to Wisconsin hospitals. In emergency situations, however, the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act provides the means for maintaining Wisconsin's jurisdiction over the prisoner.
JED:AL *Page 46
McLean v. Mississippi Ex Rel. Roy ( 1938 )
State Ex Rel. O'Connor v. Williams ( 1980 )
David Whitney Chamberlain v. Richard F. Celeste ( 1984 )
State Ex Rel. Niederer v. Cady ( 1976 )
State Ex Rel. Krueger v. Michalski ( 1957 )
Opinion No. Oag 56-88, (1988) ( 1988 )
State Ex Rel. Jackson v. Froelich ( 1977 )