[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 97 (Monday, July 24, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H6736-H6737]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 DEATH IN CUSTODY REPORTING ACT OF 2000

  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass 
the bill (H.R. 1800) to amend the Violent Crime Control and Law 
Enforcement Act of 1994 to ensure that certain information regarding 
prisoners is reported to the Attorney General, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 1800

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Death in Custody Reporting 
     Act of 2000''.

     SEC. 2. REPORTING OF INFORMATION.

       Section 20104(a) of the Violent Crime Control and Law 
     Enforcement Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 13704(a)) is amended--
       (1) in paragraph (1)--
       (A) by inserting ``(A)'' after ``(1)''; and
       (B) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and (B) as clauses 
     (i) and (ii), respectively;
       (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ``(2)'' and inserting 
     ``(B)'';
       (3) in paragraph (3)--
       (A) by striking ``(3)'' and inserting ``(C)'';
       (B) by redesignating subparagraphs (A) and (B) as clauses 
     (i) and (ii), respectively; and
       (C) by striking the period and inserting ``; and''; and
       (4) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
       ``(2) such State has provided assurances that it will 
     follow guidelines established by the Attorney General in 
     reporting, on a quarterly basis, information regarding the 
     death of any person who is in the process of arrest, is en 
     route to be incarcerated, or is incarcerated at a municipal 
     or county jail, State prison, or other local or State 
     correctional facility (including any juvenile facility) that, 
     at a minimum, includes--
       ``(A) the name, gender, race, ethnicity, and age of the 
     deceased;
       ``(B) the date, time, and location of death; and
       ``(C) a brief description of the circumstances surrounding 
     the death.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Arkansas (Mr. Hutchinson) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hutchinson).


                             General Leave

  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 1800.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Arkansas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this important legislation, and I 
would like to thank the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) for his 
work on this bill. We have both been advocating this proposal for many 
years, and I am pleased that today we are one step

[[Page H6737]]

closer to bringing a new level of accountability to our Nation's 
correctional institutions, our prisons, in those instances in which 
individuals pass away while they are in custody.
  H.R. 1800 is called the Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2000. It 
ensures that States report the deaths of individuals who die in 
custody, whether it be State or local. The bill requires each State 
that receives Truth in Sentencing funding to report on a quarterly 
basis the number of and circumstances surrounding deaths that occur 
during arrest and incarceration.
  An estimated 1,000 men and women die questionable deaths each year 
while in police custody or in jail. An investigative article in the 
Asbury Park Press of New Jersey reported that a number of deaths which 
occur in State and local jails are listed as suicides but that such 
conclusions are often tainted by inadequate record keeping, 
investigative incompetence, and physical evidence that suggest 
otherwise. In addition, the study found that many of the individuals 
listed as suicides have been arrested for relatively minor offenses, 
reducing the likelihood that they would take their own lives.
  One teenage boy who was found dead by hanging in an Arkansas jail had 
been arrested for a failure to pay a fine for underage drinking. 
Another individual in an Arkansas jail was found suffocated by toilet 
paper stuffed down his throat. No records exist as to why he was in 
custody, according to the Asbury Park Press story.
  In any other atmosphere, unnatural deaths under questionable 
circumstances would not only be reported but would raise serious 
concerns. State and local jails and lockups should be no different. 
This legislation will provide openness in government and will bolster 
public confidence and trust in our judicial system. In addition, I 
believe that it will serve as a deterrent to future misconduct by 
wrongdoers who will know that someone will be monitoring their actions.
  Three years ago, the Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary 
Appropriations Act directed the Office of Justice Programs of the 
Department of Justice to determine the feasibility of creating a single 
source for annual statistics on in-custody deaths, including Federal, 
State and local incidents.
  In March of 1998, the Department of Justice reported that this goal 
is achievable. Currently, statistics are gathered on an annual and a 
voluntary basis for Federal and State deaths and on a 5-year voluntary 
basis for county and local jails.
  This bill directs the Attorney General to develop guidelines for the 
reporting of deaths in custody; and it requires that, at a minimum, the 
report include the name of the deceased, the gender of the deceased, 
the race and ethnicity of the deceased, the age of the deceased, the 
date and time and location of the death, and a brief description of the 
circumstances surrounding the death.
  The House Committee on Judiciary unanimously approved a similar 
provision as an amendment to H.R. 1659, the National Police Training 
Commission Act of 1999; but that bill has not been considered by the 
House.
  Madam Speaker, I am offering a manager's amendment that makes some 
minor changes to the bill. The amendment has been cleared with the 
minority, and I am not aware of any opposition to the amendment.
  The amendment simply changes the statutory cite to ensure this 
legislation amends the correct portion of the Code, and it adds process 
of arrest to the factors that must be reported about the deceased 
individual; and it includes a brief description surrounding the 
circumstances of death as part of the reporting requirement.
  I strongly believe that the data gathered under this act will provide 
us with a better understanding about our Nation's correctional system, 
and I urge my colleagues to support the legislation.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SCOTT. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I am pleased to join the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. 
Hutchinson) in commending H.R. 1800, the Death In Custody Act of 2000, 
to the Members of the House.

                              {time}  1515

  We have worked together in developing this issue for the past 5 
years, and I even worked with Senator Tim Hutchinson from Arkansas on 
this issue when he was a Member of the House.
  This bill simply requires that deaths in State and local police 
custody be reported to the attorney general. A similar measure was 
adopted by the House on a voice vote without opposition in the 1995 
Crime Bill, but it was adjusted in conference to simply require this 
Department of Justice to study the feasibility of requiring localities 
to report deaths in custody. The Department has now said that reporting 
deaths in custody is feasible. Of course, I would hate to think that 
there are any jurisdictions with so many deaths in custody that it 
would not be feasible to report them.
  Dating back to my experiences as a State legislator, I have always 
been concerned that there was no national system for accounting for 
deaths in law enforcement custody. As detailed in an exhaustive, year-
long investigative report by the Asbury Press in New Jersey, about 
1,000 such deaths occur each year. Many of these deaths occur under 
suspicious circumstances. While most are listed as ``suicides,'' many, 
the Asbury Press reports, are ``tainted with racial overtones, good-
ole-boy conspiracies and coverups, or investigative incompetence.'' The 
problem is that, with no one looking at these deaths from a systematic 
point of view, we do not know whether there is any pattern or practice 
relating to such deaths nor whether there is any training needed 
amongst law enforcement officials which could limit such occurrences or 
anything else.
  In fact, without such information, the debate on the issue is 
relegated to: ``There's a problem; No, there isn't; Yes, there is,'' 
with both sides yelling at each other and little or no actual 
information being the basis of the discussion.
  Regular reports of deaths in custody will allow us to get a handle on 
the nature and extent of what I believe to be a serious problem; we 
just do not know the extent. Let us hope that, at a minimum, the 
knowledge that a report is required to the Justice Department of all 
deaths in custody, and something brief about their circumstances, will 
discourage the misconduct, or questionable conduct, against those in 
custody by their custodians. And, furthermore, to the extent there may 
be common elements to these deaths, we will be in a much better 
position to prevent them in the future.
  This is a modest proposal, and I urge Members of the House to support 
the bill.
  Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back 
the balance of my time.
  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, 
and I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Biggert). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hutchinson) that the House 
suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1800, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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