This bill requires the federal government and encourages state and local authorities to establish consistent policies for notifying family members when someone in police, jail, or prison custody dies or experiences a serious illness or injury. Within one year of the law's enactment, the Attorney General must implement notification procedures for federal detention agencies and create model policies for states, territories, tribes, and local governments to adopt. The bill sets specific standards, including notifying next of kin within 12 hours of a death (between 6 a.m. and midnight), providing details about what happened, and ensuring notifications are made compassionately by trained staff. Detention agencies must collect emergency contact information from people in custody, allow them to update it, and keep records of all notification attempts. The bill does not create any funding mechanism or provide specific appropriations, nor does it allow families to sue if agencies fail to notify them, making compliance largely dependent on voluntary adoption of these standards by state and local authorities.
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