1642 LAWS OF MARYLAND. [CH. 685

ters the Department may consider necessary. The Depart-
ment shall from time to time cause to be made an examination
of all the records and methods of administration as relate to
patients, the general and special dietary and treatment of
any patients confined therein, especially where admitted since
the preceding visit, giving such as may desire it suitable
opportunity to converse with the representative or represen-
tatives of the Department privately.

21. If in their judgment any person confined in any in-
stitution in this State as insane be not insane, the Super-
intendent or the Commissioner of Mental Hygiene may, at
any time, bring the matter to the attention of the state's
attorney of Baltimore City, or the state's attorney of any of
the respective counties of the State, whose duty it shall be
to apply to the proper tribunal for the writ of habeas corpus,
to the end that proper inquiry and investigation may be had
at once as to the mental condition of such person; and if
the court shall be of the opinion that such person is not in-
sane, then the court shall discharge such person; but if the
court shall determine that such person is insane, then the
court shall order that such person be returned to the insti-
tution from which he has been taken under said writ of
habeas corpus.

24. It shall be mandatory upon the officers or others in
charge of such institutions under the supervision of the
Department to furnish all information that may be requested
by the Commissioner, and give free access to any representa-
tive or representatives of the Department and to the Board of
Review and the Advisory Board and any member or authorized
representative of either to visit the insane or feeble-minded in
their keeping; and refusal to do so on the part of anyone
shall be a misdemeanor, punishable by fine or imprisonment,
in the discretion of the court in which the case may be tried.
Any representative or representatives of the Department and
of the Board of Review and the Advisory Board may visit
any sanitarium or other institution where sick or infirm per-
sons are received, cared for or treated, for compensation or
free, for the purpose of ascertaining whether insane persons
are confined therein without authority and contrary to the
provisions of the law. All persons having charge of and con-
nected with any such sanitarium or institution shall permit
such representatives to have full access to any portion thereof,
and shall give such information and afford such facilities for
the inspection and inquiry as such representatives making
such visit may require.