BILL NUMBER:  S5427A

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the correction law, in relation to notification of
death of inmates to next of kin

 PURPOSE :

This bill would require the department of corrections and community
supervision (DOCCS) to be responsive to the next of kin or other
designated person who inquire as to the circumstances surrounding the
death of a prisoner, and to provide such person with an original
preliminary death certificate

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section one of the bill amends section 47 of the correction law to
require the State Commission of Correction (SCOC) to be responsive to
inquiries from family members or designated representatives who
contact the SCOC regarding the circumstances that led to the death of
their loved one while in custody in a state correctional facility.
SCOC is statutorily required to conduct investigations into inmate
deaths with the goal of improving policy in order to avoid similar
deaths in the future. SCOC investigations begin after the coroner and
state police have completed their medical and criminal investigations.
              

Section two of the bill adds a new section 624 to the correction law
requiring the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision
(DOCCS) to be responsive to inquiries from family members or
designated representatives regarding the death of their loved ones.
DOCCS may relay the circumstances surrounding the death of the inmate,
medical procedures used and preliminary cause of death determinations.

Section three amends section 16 of the correction law to require DOCCS
to acquire a preliminary or final death certificate from the issuing
coroner or medical examiner and forward such original death
certificate to the inmate's next of kin.

Section four of the bill is the effective date.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Every incarcerated individual is someone's son or daughter, father or
mother, brother or sister. Every year approximately 150 inmates die
while in the care, custody and control of the Department of
Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS).  They may have been
surprisingly young or very old, may have had mental illness or died
from medical conditions for which they were being treated prior to
incarceration, or may have died from circumstances that were seemingly
preventable or foreseeable.

Most die from natural causes, a term which includes death by injury
sustained in a fight or assault, complications from medical
conditions, overdose, heart attacks, and more. Sadly, between 10 and
20 incarcerated individuals typically die each year from suicide.

When an inmate has died, outside hospitals and county coroners are
responsive only to DOCCS and routinely tell next of kin that they must
contact the facility where the inmate had been in custody. At the same
time the facility employees will refer the next of kin back to the
hospital or coroner. The State Commission of Correction which
investigates the deaths of incarcerated individuals does not begin its
investigation until after the coroner and the state police
investigations have been completed. SCOC investigations are often not
complete until 12-18 months after an incarcerated individual's deaths,
a very long time to wait for information when someone in your family
has died in custody.

Close family members like parents, spouses and children should be able
to find out what their loved one died from when being told how to
retrieve the body, and they should receive a preliminary death
certificate at the earliest opportunity. We have received testimony at
public hearings, calls and letters from parents of inmate suicide
victims telling us that obtaining such information is very difficult.
The intent of this bill is to help make a difficult situation easier
to navigate.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

New Bill

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after it
shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition,
amendment and/or repeal of any rules or regulations necessary for the
implementation of the foregoing section of this act on its effective
date is authorized to be made on or before such effective date.