HONOLULU — Lawmakers are seeking more transparency about the deaths of inmates in Hawaii’s jails and prisons after a past effort to force the state’s Department of Public Safety to release information largely failed.
The public safety department routinely withholds information about the deaths from lawmakers and the public, arguing that federal law forbids its release., the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Thursday.
The state passed an act two years ago requiring the public safety director to provide the governor and Legislature with reports on inmate deaths.
The reports are required to include names, genders and ages of inmates, where they died and whether there was any indication of sexual assault. Follow-up reports are required when an official cause of death is determined.
While Hawaii public safety officials have balked at releasing the reports, other states routinely make similar information available.
A new bill passed out of the House Committee on Corrections, Military and Veterans on Wednesday specifies that the public safety director does not have the discretion to withhold the information.
If a report’s release purportedly contradicts federal or state law, the bill requires the department to cite the statute.
The measure also mandates that the public safety department make copies of reports available to the families of deceased inmates and the media.
The department opposes the measure. Public Safety Director Max Otani told lawmakers Wednesday that the requirements violate family privacy rights and the state attorney general’s office recommended only providing an age range, death date and gender without identification.
The department has argued information about deceased inmates is protected under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, which imposes safeguards to protect patient private health care information.
“I don’t know that HIPAA applies to dead people,” said Democratic state Rep. Matt LoPresti, who introduced the bill.
The measure has the backing of the state Office of the Public Defender and the Community Alliance on Prisons, which advocates for inmate protection and prison reform.
Kat Brady, the head of the organization, said nothing in the bill pertains to private medical information.
“This is public information. When someone gets arrested their name, their picture, their offense and everything goes all over the news,” Brady said. “Why can’t the public know, in a publicly funded facility, that someone has passed away?”
