[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 22 (Wednesday, February 4, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E196-E197]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 DEATH IN CUSTODY REPORTING ACT OF 2009

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. SHEILA JACKSON-LEE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 3, 2009

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 
738 ``Deaths in Custody Reporting Act of 2009.''
  The purpose of this bill is to encourage States to report to the 
Attorney General certain information regarding the deaths of 
individuals in the custody of law enforcement agencies. I urge my 
colleagues to support this legislation.
  Each year a small number of people die suddenly while restrained. 
Most of these deaths are associated with individuals who were 
restrained while being taken into custody during a violent police 
encounter. Other cases of sudden restraint death involve individuals in 
detention or residential treatment programs who were restrained during 
violent encounters while also under the influence of psychiatric 
medications.
  Madam Speaker, no one is certain how many restraint related sudden 
deaths occur each year. Identifying the exact cause of death is the 
biggest problem. The number of estimated deaths is in question but may 
range between 50 and 125 per year. Some estimates are higher. Sudden 
death after individuals were taken into police custody has been

[[Page E197]]

reported for several decades; however this piece of legislation 
provides the first uniform national reporting for all deaths in law 
enforcement and correctional custody. H.R. 738 will now make it 
possible to ascertain the percentage of deaths by suicides and 
homicides, or from natural causes, which will result in a significant 
improvement in the oversight of prisoner treatment. With the detailed 
statistical data, policy makers, both state and federal, can make 
informed policy judgments about the treatment of prisoners leading to 
great success in lowering the prisoner death rate. In fact, since the 
focus on deaths in custody emerged in the mid-1980's, the latest BJS 
report, dated August 2005, shows a 64 percent decline in suicides and a 
93 percent decline in the homicide rate.
  Madam Speaker, between 2001 and 2004, state prison authorities 
nationwide reported a total of 12,129 state prisoner deaths to the 
Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (DCRP). Total number of deaths 
excludes 258 State prison executions during 2001-2004. Nearly 9 in 10 
of these deaths (89 percent) were attributed to medical conditions. 
Less than 1 in 10 were the result of suicide (6 percent) and homicide 
(2 percent), while alcohol/drug intoxication and accidental injury 
accounted for another 1 percent each. A definitive cause could not be 
determined for 1 percent of these deaths.
  The Deaths in Custody Reporting Act requires that states receiving 
federal funding report quarterly to the Attorney General, in methods 
prescribed by the Attorney General, the circumstances surrounding the 
death of any person in custody of a state prison or local jail, which 
includes any person in the process of arrest, en route to 
incarceration, incarceration in any state facility (municipal jail, 
county jail, prison, juvenile facility or any other State or local 
correctional facility).
  In 1983, the State of Texas Legislature passed laws requiring the 
reporting of all custodial deaths in Texas. The data was to involve 
deaths that occur in the process of arrest, as well as those deaths 
that occurred while confined in a jail or any correctional facility. 
This information was reported to the State Attorney General's Office, 
and Prosecutor Assistance/Special Investigation Division. The reports 
were aimed to be vital pieces to investigations and for open records 
requests. The failure to report a death to the proper authorities would 
result in a misdemeanor offense.
  Madam Speaker, this legislation provides for detailed statistical 
data, that allows for policy makers, both state and federal, to make 
informed policy judgments about the treatment of prisoners leading to 
great success in lowering the prisoner death rate. I urge my colleagues 
to support this bill.

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