The commissioner of public welfare shall have power to detain in the public home, pending a vacancy for such person in a state institution, a person over the age of sixteen who has been certified as an individual with a developmental disability in accordance with the provisions of the mental hygiene law and for whom an application for admission to a state institution has been made. Whenever the commissioner shall so detain an incarcerated individual in the public home he or she shall at once notify the state department of mental hygiene.
New York Legal Code