(a) "State" means a state of the United States; the United States of America; a territory or possession of the United States; the District of Columbia; the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(b) "Sending state" means a state party to this compact in which conviction or court commitment was had.
(c) "Receiving state" means a state party to this compact to which an incarcerated individual is sent for confinement other than a state in which conviction or court commitment was had.
(d) "Incarcerated individual" means a male or female offender who is committed, under sentence to or confined in a penal or correctional institution.
(e) "Institution" means any penal or correctional facility, including but not limited to a facility for the mentally ill or mentally defective, in which incarcerated individuals as defined in subdivision (d) of this section may lawfully be confined.