1. When the state, county, or city health officer shall have reasonable grounds to believe that any person has tuberculosis in active state or in a communicable form and who will not voluntarily seek a medical examination or treatment, the health officer is authorized to cause the person to be apprehended and detained for the necessary tests and examinations, including an approved chest X-ray, sputum examination, and other approved laboratory tests to ascertain the presence of tuberculosis.

2. If active tuberculosis is found, it shall then be the duty of the health officer to make an investigation of the person to determine whether the conduct of the person is suitable for outpatient therapy or whether control of the case may require isolation.

1. If the health officer finds that the circumstances are not suitable for proper isolation or contagion control of the case by any type of local quarantine and the person will not voluntarily seek medical treatment and is a source of danger to others, then the health officer shall petition the probate court of the county where the person is found to order the admission of the person to any state-owned and operated hospital or any other hospital that is equipped to treat tuberculosis under the conditions enumerated in Ark. Code Ann. § 20-15-707(a).

2. The health officer shall set forth in a petition a summary of the factual basis of the determination that the circumstances are not suitable for proper contagion control of the case as an out-patient and that the person will not voluntarily seek medical treatment and is a source of danger to others.

1. Upon receiving the petition, the court shall fix a date for a hearing on the petition and shall cause notice of the petition, with the time and place for hearing to be served personally at least seven (7) days before the hearing, upon the person who is afflicted with tuberculosis and alleged to be dangerous to others.

2. During the time the petition is pending, the person shall be subject to the local quarantine or restrictions of his movements placed on him by the health officer for the protection of the public health.

1. If upon hearing of the petition, the court finds that the circumstances are not suitable for proper isolation or contagion control of the case by any type of local quarantine and that the person will not voluntarily seek medical treatment and is a source of danger to others, the court shall order the commitment of the person to a hospital as petitioned for.

2. The superintendent of the institution to which the person is committed shall direct that the person be placed apart from others in a room with a properly installed and operational germicidal UV light and restrained from leaving the institution.

1. A person who is committed to a hospital under the provisions of this subchapter shall observe all the rules of the hospital.

2. The superintendent of the institution may file a complaint in the municipal or justice of peace court against a person committed to the institution under the provisions of this subchapter who willfully violates the rules of the institution or who conducts himself in a disorderly manner. A person so charged shall have the legal procedural rights of a person charged with disorderly conduct.

1. The superintendent of the institution to which a person has been committed under this subchapter may discharge the person so committed upon signing and placing among the records of the institution a statement that the person has obeyed the rules of the institution and that for the reasons set forth in the statement, in his judgment the person may be discharged without danger to the health and life of others.

2. The superintendent of the institution shall report each discharge with a full statement of reasons therefore at once to the Director of the Department, to the county health officer of the county where the person was committed, and to the clerk of the court from which the person was committed.

1. A person committed to an institution who is found guilty of violating the rules of the institution or of conducting himself in a disorderly manner may be confined for a period not to exceed six (6) months in any place where persons convicted of disorderly conduct may be confined.

2. Any person committed to an institution pursuant to this subchapter, who shall leave or attempt to leave the institution without being properly discharged by the superintendent of the institution or his authorized agent, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be imprisoned for a period of not less than six (6) months nor more than one (1) year.

3. Any person confined or imprisoned pursuant to this section shall be kept separate and apart from the other inmates of the place of confinement. Upon completion of the period of confinement, he shall be returned to the hospital or sanatorium where originally committed.

4. Any person confined or imprisoned pursuant to the provisions of this section may be confined or imprisoned in the hospital where originally committed if facilities for confinement or imprisonment are available at the hospital.