Sens. Ossoff & Kennedy, Rep. Kamlager-Dove Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Notify Loved Ones When Inmates Suffer Health Complications

Legislation will ensure families receive timely notifications of any health complications of incarcerated family members

Families across Georgia have suffered from the prison system's failure to notify people of their relatives' health issues

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is continuing his work to safeguard human rights in Georgia's prisons.

Today, Sens. Ossoff and John Kennedy (R-LA) introduced the bipartisan Family Notification of Death, Injury, or Illness in Custody Act to help ensure family members are notified in a timely and compassionate manner in the event of the death or serious illness or injury of a loved one in custody.

Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-37) is leading the companion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The bipartisan bill would require the U.S. Department of Justice to establish best practices for family notification by issuing central guidance to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and local and state institutions.

"Too often, the families of those incarcerated never find out about a serious illness, a life-threatening injury, or even the death of a loved one behind bars. That's why we are introducing this bipartisan reform legislation," Sen. Ossoff said.

"Parents, children, and siblings deserve to know about the well-being of their family members. However, our current prison system does not require correctional facilities to notify the families of incarcerated people if their loved ones are seriously ill, injured, or deceased," said Congresswoman Kamlager-Dove. "In 2016, Wakiesha Wilson tragically died while incarcerated, and her family members were never directly informed about her passing. It took them 18 days to finally see her, but it was already too late. No one should have to experience the agony of the unknown, which is why this bill is so important."

Families across Georgia have suffered from the prison system's failure to notify families of their relatives' health in recent years:

According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a Clayton County Jail inmate's daughter was never notified after her mother fell and suffered from serious injuries, including a collapsed lung that required hospitalization. Her daughter only received notice of her death once the mother's longtime boyfriend attempted to visit the jail and was told that she was no longer there. The jail did not provide the boyfriend nor the daughter with additional information on the mother's death.

In South Georgia, a woman was only notified of her father's death at Valdosta State Prison after a letter was returned to her stamped, "Return to sender: inmate dead." She was then unable to obtain any further information about her father's death from prison officials.

In March of 2020, a mother in Macon was notified by an incarcerated individual, and not by Macon State Prison's staff, that her 23-year-old son was stabbed to death.

Sen. Ossoff has been a longtime advocate for improving transparency in the U.S. prison system.

Last month, Sens. Ossoff and Rev. Warnock urged Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) Commissioner Tyrone Oliver to promptly address the deeply concerning findings in the DOJ's report last month on Georgia's state prison system, which found conditions in Georgia's prisons "violate the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution."

In October, the U.S. Senate passed Sen. Ossoff's bipartisan Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati Stopping Prison Contraband Act with bipartisan support, which would crack down on the smuggling of contraband cellphones into Federal prisons by upgrading the charge of smuggling of a contraband cellphone into a Federal prison from a misdemeanor offense to a felony.

In June, Sens. Ossoff and Reverend Warnock launched an inquiry with Attorney General Merrick Garland urging the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to strengthen policies aimed at tracking and collecting data about deaths in Federal, state, and local custody in order to better understand and mitigate risks inmates face while incarcerated.

In 2022, Sen. Ossoff led a 10-month bipartisan investigation that uncovered the DOJ failed to count nearly 1,000 deaths in state and local custody in 2021 alone.

Click here to read the Family Notification of Death, Injury, or Illness in Custody Act.

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