Provides for the notification of the next of kin of the death of an inmate

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.