Bill > H1332

This bill establishes criteria for releasing terminally ill inmates from correctional facilities to alternative locations of confinement, allowing them to receive medically appropriate care outside of jail or prison. If a physician or medical director at a state correctional facility, jail, or house of correction certifies that an inmate is terminally ill and expected to die in custody, the Commissioner of the Department of Correction or a Sheriff can petition the court for an order to release the inmate. This release can be to a community confinement monitoring program, where the inmate would live in a hospital, nursing facility, residential care facility, or a licensed hospice program, and may even receive hospice services at home. The Commissioner or Sheriff will receive regular reports from the inmate's healthcare providers, and if the inmate fails to comply with the program's requirements, or if their condition changes such that outside care is no longer medically appropriate, or if they are no longer considered terminally ill, their participation can be terminated and they can be returned to their original facility. This provision is set to take effect on July 1, 2015.