Bill Text: HI HB823 | 2023 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating To Deaths Within The Correctional System.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)
Status: (Passed) 2023-04-20 - Act 022, 04/19/2023 (Gov. Msg. No. 1122). [HB823 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2023-HB823-Introduced.html
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
823 |
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO DEATHS WITHIN THE CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. Section 353-40, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:
"[[]§353-40[]] 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:
(A) Dies on the grounds of or while on duty at a correctional facility or community correctional center where Hawaii inmates reside; or
(B) 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] by or under the care and custody
of:
(A) A state or contracted correctional
facility[.]; or
(B) An agent of a state or contracted
correctional facility.
Within seven days of the director's
submission of the report to the governor, the department shall post a copy of
the report on its public website.
(b)
The report in subsection (a) shall include the following information:
(1) The
name of the decedent; [provided that this information is not protected from
disclosure by state or federal law;]
(2) The
gender and age of the decedent;
(3) Whether
the decedent was an inmate or an employee;
(4) The
location of the death or injury leading to the death;
(5) The
date and time of the death;
(6) The
cause of death; and
(7) 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),] When the official
cause of death has been determined, 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.] that shall include the following
information:
(1) The clinical mortality review conducted in response to the death, including correctional actions to be taken;
(2) The cause of death; and
(3) Any indication of sexual assault leading to
the death.
(d) [The
director may disclose other information not specified in subsection (b);
provided that the director shall not disclose information protected from
disclosure by state or federal law.] The information specified in paragraphs
(c)(2) and (3) shall be open to public inspection, unless:
(1) Any state or federal law protects the
information from disclosure; provided that the report shall cite the applicable state or federal law;
or
(2) The disclosure of the information would materially impair an ongoing criminal investigation."
SECTION 2. This Act does not affect rights and duties that matured, penalties that were incurred, and proceedings that were begun before its effective date.
SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on January 1, 2024.
INTRODUCED BY: |
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Report Title:
Corrections; Facilities; Deaths; Reports; Information
Description:
Expands the scope of inmate deaths that are to reported to the Governor and Legislature. Requires reports to be published on the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation website. Requires reports on the cause of death and mandates public access to certain information within those reports. Takes effect on the effective date of section 353-40, Hawaii Revised Statutes.
The summary description
of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is
not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.