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SB-1139 Prisons: visitation.(2021-2022)

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Date Published: 10/03/2022 09:00 PM
SB1139:v94#DOCUMENT

Senate Bill No. 1139
CHAPTER 837

An act to add Sections 5007.6, 6401, 6401.5, and 6401.8 to the Penal Code, relating to prisons.

[ Approved by Governor  September 29, 2022. Filed with Secretary of State  September 29, 2022. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 1139, Kamlager. Prisons: visitation.
Existing law authorizes the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to prescribe and amend rules and regulations for the administration of prisons. Existing law authorizes the department to provide medical care to incarcerated persons and to develop polices and regulations on visitation. Existing regulations establish the framework by which incarcerated persons in prison receive medical treatment and visitors and make personal calls.
Existing regulations allow an incarcerated person to designate, on forms provided by the department, an individual to receive an inmate’s health information or records, a next of kin or person to be notified in case of their death, serious injury, or serious illness, and persons on the incarcerated person’s approved visitor list. Existing regulations require the incarcerated person to send to the potential visitor a visitor questionnaire for the department’s approval. Existing law allows an individual with capacity to execute a power of attorney for health care, giving the agent authority to make health care decisions.
This bill, upon appropriation by the Legislature, would require the department to allow persons outside of a department facility to initiate a telephone call with an incarcerated person when the person has been admitted to the hospital for a serious or critical medical condition and to inform the department when a family member or designated person has become critically ill or dies while the incarcerated has been hospitalized. The bill would require the department to assist an incarcerated person in completing an approved visitor list, medical release of information form, medical power of attorney form, and next of kin form, and to allow the incarcerated person to update those forms within 24 hours of being hospitalized, as provided. The bill would require the department, within 24 hours of an incarcerated person being hospitalized, as specified, to inform persons covered by the medical release of information form of the incarcerated person’s health status. The bill would require the department to make emergency in-person contact visits and video calls available whenever an incarcerated person is hospitalized due to a serious or critical medical condition.
Existing law allows a patient to inspect the patient’s medical records upon request for those records to the health care provider and payment of reasonable costs.
This bill would prohibit the secretary from charging a fee for an incarcerated person to request, review, or use their medical records.
Under existing regulations, an inmate may file a healthcare-related grievance through an administrative process established by the department.
This bill, upon appropriation by the Legislature, would require the department to have a grievance process in place by which an incarcerated person or designated person may file a formal grievance to review the failure of the department to provide health care information to specified persons, to provide notice of an incarcerated person’s hospitalization to specified persons, to provide visitation during hospitalization, or to provide medical care and treatment, as specified. The bill would specify that the grievance process found in specified regulations satisfies these requirements.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 5007.6 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

5007.6.
 The Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall not charge a fee for an incarcerated person to request, review, or use their medical records.

SEC. 2.

 Section 6401 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

6401.
 (a) (1) At intake, every incarcerated person shall be asked whom they want covered by the following documents and shall be assisted in completing the necessary paperwork for the following documents:
(A) Approved visitor list. If the incarcerated person would like to add a visitor, the department shall provide a visitor application form for the incarcerated person to sign and send to the potential visitor, who may then complete and submit it to the visiting department of the facility.
(B) Medical release of information form.
(C) Medical power of attorney form.
(D) Next of kin form authorizing control over body and possessions in case of death.
(2) Incarcerated persons shall have the ability to update the forms in subparagraphs (A) to (D), inclusive, of paragraph (1) at any time. At least once a year, the department shall offer incarcerated persons the opportunity to review and update, as necessary, the forms in subparagraphs (A) to (D), inclusive, of paragraph (1).
(b) Emergency telephone calls shall be made available to persons outside of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and to incarcerated people, as specified under paragraphs (1) and (2). The department shall allow persons outside the facility to initiate a telephone call to an incarcerated person in either of the circumstances described in paragraphs (1) and (2).
(1) When the incarcerated person has been admitted to the hospital for a serious or critical medical condition, as defined in subparagraph (A).
(A) Within 24 hours of an incarcerated person being hospitalized for a serious or critical medical condition, the department shall inform all persons covered by the current medical release of information form about the incarcerated person’s health status, and shall facilitate telephone calls between the incarcerated person and those persons if the incarcerated person consents. A serious or critical medical condition may include any of the following:
(i) A medical professional has determined that the incarcerated person needs medical treatment for a terminal disease.
(ii) A medical professional has determined that the incarcerated person needs to receive life-sustaining medical treatment.
(iii) The incarcerated person has been admitted to a public or community hospital.
(B) If the incarcerated person has died, the department shall notify all persons covered by the current medical release of information form and next of kin form within 24 hours.
(C) If the incarcerated person is able to provide knowing and voluntary consent, the department shall, within 24 hours of being admitted to a hospital within a prison, ask the incarcerated person whether they want to add people to any of the forms included in subparagraphs (A) to (D), inclusive, of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a). The department shall promptly assist, as able, the incarcerated person in completing the paperwork. The department shall promptly inform the designated persons on the medical release form of the incarcerated person’s condition and facilitate a telephone call between the incarcerated person and the designated persons, if one is requested.
(2) The department shall maintain a telephone line for outside people to call to inform the department that a family member or a person designated in any of the forms in subparagraphs (A) to (D), inclusive, of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) has become critically ill or has died while the incarcerated person has been hospitalized. The department shall attempt to verify the identity of the caller and whether the person has become critically ill or has died, and promptly notify the incarcerated person of these calls upon their receipt.
(c) Emergency in-person contact visits and video calls shall be made available whenever an incarcerated person is hospitalized due to a serious or critical medical condition, including imminent danger of dying. If in-person contact visits are unavailable at the facility due to a public health emergency or are inconsistent with the patient’s current medical treatment needs, as determined by their medical provider, video calls shall be made available. Any visitor approval process shall be conducted through an expedited process and any request responded to with an approval or a denial within 24 hours. If in-person visits are not able to occur within the 24-hour timeframe and the individual is in imminent danger of dying, a video visit shall be offered without clearance. When the incarcerated person is in imminent danger of dying, the department shall allow up to four visitors at one time to visit the incarcerated person.
(d) For purposes of this section, “hospital” shall include an on-site facility set up to provide hospital-like services during a public health emergency.

SEC. 3.

 Section 6401.5 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

6401.5.
 The department shall have a grievance process in place by which the incarcerated person, or the person designated by the incarcerated person on a form specified in subparagraph (B) or (C) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 6401, may file a formal grievance to review the failure of the department to provide the incarcerated person’s health care information and records to the designated person, the department’s failure to provide notice to the designated person as required by subparagraph (A) or (C) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 6401, the decision of the department to deny visitation as required by subdivision (c) of Section 6401, or the department’s failure to provide adequate medical care and treatment. The department’s grievance process found in Article 5 (commencing with Section 3999.225) of Subchapter 2 of Chapter 2 of Division 3 of Title 15 of the California Code of Regulations satisfies the requirements of this section.

SEC. 4.

 Section 6401.8 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

6401.8.
 The operation of Sections 6401 and 6401.5 is contingent upon the appropriation of funds for these sections by express reference in the annual Budget Act or another statute.