Bill > LD1721

Introduced Session

This bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to report annually on the current number and case specifics of children served by the department's Office of Child and Family Services, including where the department is in the reunification process of children with whom the Office of Child and Family Services is involved and who have parents or primary caregivers who are incarcerated in a jail or correctional facility or detention facility and the number of cases of abuse and neglect that were not opened for assessment. The bill adds a person with knowledge related to the incarceration of women and a woman who has been incarcerated in the State and who has had prior involvement with the Office of Child and Family Services to the board of visitors of each jail. The bill establishes a board of visitors for women's services to serve with regard to women who are incarcerated in Department of Corrections correctional and detention facilities and requires the Commissioner of Corrections to establish a separate grievance process for complaints regarding compliance with standards for county and municipal detention facilities, jails and other detention housing. The bill prohibits a correctional or detention facility from billing an indigent client for future payment of services and medications. The bill adds to the rights of a person who is incarcerated in the custody of the Department of Corrections opportunities and conditions for visitations with the child of the person that parallel those opportunities and conditions for visitation for families receiving family reunification services from the Department of Health and Human Services. The bill requires the Department of Corrections to report annually to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over criminal justice and public safety matters on the number of juveniles in the custody of the department as juvenile detainees or juvenile clients or under department supervision on probation whose parents or primary caregivers are known to the department to be in the custody of the department or under the supervision of the department. The bill requires that a correctional or detention facility ensure the presence of a female law enforcement officer during the transportation of a female prisoner to and from medical appointments. Finally, the Department of Corrections is required to provide all persons residing in a correctional or detention facility in the State with the contact information for the Office of Child and Family Services and information on the relevance of that contact to the family reunification process. Contact with the Office of Child and Family Services must be provided at no cost.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Rachel Talbot Ross (D)*,  Catherine Breen (D),  Richard Evans (D),  Ryan Fecteau (D),  Lori Gramlich (D),  Craig Hickman (D),  Mark Lawrence (D),  Rebecca Millett (D),  Bill Pluecker (I),  Charlotte Warren (D), 

PASSED TO BE ENACTED, in concurrence. (on 04/05/2022)

Official Document