Death in Prison: increasing transparency on next of kin notification and disposition of remains

Health & Justice

Research Article

Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein¹  Michael Forrest Behne²  Yoshiko Iwai³ 

[1] Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA;Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA;Department of Population Health Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA;University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Box 7240, 340 MacNider Hall Campus, 333 South Columbia Street, 27599-7240, Chapel Hill, NC, USA;

关键词: Prisons;    Next-of-kin notification;    Communication;    Death;    Prison policies;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40352-023-00232-x

 received in 2023-01-05, accepted in 2023-07-17,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPolicies for next-of-kin (NOK) notification and disposition of remains surrounding death are unclear across the United States’ (US) carceral systems. The goal of this study was to collect data on carceral system policies pertaining to NOK notification and disposition of remains for individuals who are incarcerated. We collected publicly available operational policies for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 50 state prison systems, and the Washington D.C. jail for a total of 53 systems.ResultsApproximately 70% of systems had available policies on NOK notification and disposition of remains. Few systems had information on time constraints for NOK notification, notifying parties or designated contacts person, and ultimate disposition of unclaimed remains. Several systems had no accessible policies.ConclusionsAcross the US, carceral systems vary in policies for notifying NOK after the death of an incarcerated individual and their processes for the disposition of remains. Carceral and health systems should work towards standardization of policies on communication and disposition of remains after death of an individual who is incarcerated to work towards equity.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2023