Jakelin Caal Death in Custody Reporting Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 458 To require investigations and reports regarding individuals who died in the custody of certain Federal authorities, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 25, 2021 Mr. CASTRO of Texas (for himself, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. VARGAS, Ms. ESCOBAR, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. CA´RDENAS, and Mr. GALLEGO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Com- mittee on Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To require investigations and reports regarding individuals who died in the custody of certain Federal authorities, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Jakelin Caal Death 4 in Custody Reporting Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:23 Feb 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H458.IH H458 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 458 IH SEC. 2. INVESTIGATION AND REPORTING OF INDIVIDUALS 1 WHO DIED IN THE CUSTODY OF FEDERAL IM- 2 MIGRATION ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES. 3 (a) INVESTIGATION.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after 5 the death of an alien in the custody of the Depart- 6 ment of Homeland Security, the Secretary of Home- 7 land Security shall conduct an investigation into 8 such death, which shall include a root cause analysis 9 that identifies any changes to policies, practices, 10 training curricula, staffing, or potential system-wide 11 errors that could reduce the probability of such an 12 event in the future. Such root cause analysis shall 13 include consultation with and input from appro- 14 priately qualified personnel, who, at a minimum, 15 shall consist of a medical professional qualified in 16 any field germane to such death, and shall be per- 17 formed in accordance with professional medical 18 standards for investigating sentinel events in medical 19 care facilities, including the Sentinel Event Policy 20 promulgated by The Joint Commission. 21 (2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Not later than 30 22 days after the conclusion of the investigation re- 23 quired under paragraph (1), the Secretary of Home- 24 land Security shall make publicly available on the 25 website of the Department of Homeland Security a 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:23 Feb 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H458.IH H458 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 458 IH report describing the results of such investigation, 1 including the root cause analysis described in such 2 paragraph. 3 (b) REPORTING.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Chief of the U.S. Bor- 5 der Patrol and Director of U.S. Immigration and 6 Customs Enforcement shall submit to the appro- 7 priate congressional committees and post on a pub- 8 licly available website of the Department of Home- 9 land Security not later than 24 hours after the 10 death of any individual in the custody of the U.S. 11 Border Patrol or U.S. Immigration and Customs 12 Enforcement, as the case may be, in the temporary 13 custody of other law enforcement agencies on behalf 14 of such agencies, or after the use of force by an 15 agent or officer of such agencies a report relating to 16 each such death. 17 (2) ELEMENTS.—Each report under paragraph 18 (1) shall include information that, at minimum, in- 19 cludes the following with respect to each death that 20 is the subject of each such report: 21 (A) The name, gender, race, ethnicity, and 22 age of the deceased. 23 (B) The date, time, and location of such 24 death. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:23 Feb 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H458.IH H458 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 458 IH (C) A description of the circumstances sur- 1 rounding such death. 2 (3) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 3 ‘‘appropriate congressional committees’’ means the 4 Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on 5 Homeland Security of the House of Representatives 6 and the Committee on the Judiciary and the Com- 7 mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Af- 8 fairs of the Senate. 9 SEC. 3. INVESTIGATION AND REPORTING OF INDIVIDUALS 10 WHO DIED IN THE CUSTODY OF THE OFFICE 11 OF REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT. 12 (a) INVESTIGATION.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after 14 the death of an alien in the custody of the Depart- 15 ment of Health and Human Services, the Secretary 16 of Health and Human Services shall conduct an in- 17 vestigation into such death, which shall include a 18 root cause analysis that identifies any changes to 19 policies, practices, training curricula, staffing, or po- 20 tential system-wide errors that could reduce the 21 probability of such an event in the future. Such root 22 cause analysis shall include consultation with and 23 input from appropriately qualified personnel, who, at 24 a minimum, shall consist of a medical professional 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:23 Feb 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H458.IH H458 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 458 IH qualified in any field germane to such death, and 1 shall be performed in accordance with professional 2 medical standards for investigating sentinel events in 3 medical care facilities, including the Sentinel Event 4 Policy promulgated by The Joint Commission. 5 (2) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Not later than 30 6 days after the conclusion of the investigation re- 7 quired under paragraph (1), the Secretary of Health 8 and Human Services shall make publicly available on 9 the website of the Department of Health and 10 Human Services a report describing the results of 11 such investigation, including the root cause analysis 12 described in such paragraph. 13 (b) REPORTING.— 14 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Office of 15 Refugee Resettlement of the Department of Health 16 and Human Services shall submit to the appropriate 17 congressional committees and post on a publicly 18 available website of the Department not later than 19 24 hours after the death of any individual in the 20 custody of such Office a report relating to each such 21 death. 22 (2) ELEMENTS.—Each report under paragraph 23 (1) shall include information that, at minimum, in- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:23 Feb 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H458.IH H458 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 458 IH cludes the following with respect to each death that 1 is the subject of each such report: 2 (A) The name, gender, race, ethnicity, and 3 age of the deceased. 4 (B) The date, time, and location of death. 5 (C) A description of the circumstances sur- 6 rounding the death. 7 (3) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, the term 8 ‘‘appropriate congressional committees’’ means the 9 Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Rep- 10 resentatives and the Committee on the Judiciary of 11 the Senate. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:23 Feb 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H458.IH H458 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS