HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

796

THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2021

H.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO CORRECTIONAL FACILITY AND COMMUNITY CORRECTIONAL CENTER DEATHS.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  Section 353C-8.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "[[]§353C-8.5[]]  Correctional facility and community correctional center deaths; reporting.  (a)  Within forty-eight hours, the director shall report to the governor, and the governor shall report to the legislature, the death of any:

     (1)  Correctional facility or community correctional center employee who dies on the grounds of or while on duty at a correctional facility or community correctional center where Hawaii inmates reside or who sustains an injury on the grounds of or while on duty at a correctional facility or community correctional center where Hawaii inmates reside that causes the death of the employee; or

     (2)  Hawaii inmate who is incarcerated in a state or contracted correctional facility[.] or community correctional center.

     (b)  The report in subsection (a) shall include the following information:

     (1)  The name of the decedent;

     (2)  The gender and age of the decedent;

     (3)  Whether the decedent was an inmate or an employee;

     (4)  The location [of] where the death or injury leading to the death[;] occurred;

     (5)  The date and time of the death;

     (6)  The cause of death; [and]

     (7)  The race of the decedent; and

    [(7)] (8)  Any indication of sexual assault leading to the death;

provided that when the official cause of death has been determined, the director shall immediately report the official cause of death to the governor, and the governor shall immediately report the official cause of death to the legislature.

     (c)  Within thirty days of a death described in subsection (a), the director shall submit a report to the governor, and the governor shall submit the report to the legislature, of the clinical mortality review conducted in response to the death, including correctional actions to be taken.

     (d)  The director shall not have the discretion to withhold disclosure of the decedent's name or any information, unless the name or information is otherwise protected from disclosure by state or federal laws[.]; provided that the report shall cite the state or federal law the director relied upon to withhold disclosure.

     (e)  Upon receipt of the report from the medical examiner, the director shall make a copy of the report required by subsection (a) public and readily available to the family of the decedent and the press.

     (f)  For the purposes of this section, "family" means the decedent's spouse or reciprocal beneficiary, as defined in section 572C-3, and any child, parent, grandparent, brother, or sister of the decedent, and the spouses or reciprocal beneficiaries of such persons."

     SECTION 2.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 3050.


 


 

Report Title:

Correctional Facilities; Community Correctional Centers; Deaths; Reporting; Employees and Inmates; Department of Public Safety

 

Description:

Updates reporting requirements by the department of public safety when employees and inmates die at correctional facilities and community correctional centers.  Requires race of the decedent to be included in the report.  Requires the report to cite to any authority relied upon by the department of public safety in determining that information is protected by state or federal law.  Makes a copy of the report required by this section public and readily available to the family and press upon the director's receipt of the medical examiner's report.  Effective 7/1/3050.  (HD1)

 

 

 

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