General operational and educational information for corrections professionals. Not legal, medical, or compliance advice, and not a certification of compliance with any law or standard. Policies and standards vary by agency and jurisdiction; follow your facility's policy and your own legal, medical, and professional advisors. The library is reviewed and updated monthly; see the changelog.
The law around jail safety is moving in one direction: more death reporting, more mandatory inspection, more independent oversight. This is a running watch of the significant measures, federal and state, with whether each is enacted, introduced, carried over, or failed. It is curated, not exhaustive, and we mark our sources.
Five measures added. Delaware enacted SB 291, putting DCRA death reporting into state law with a funding consequence for agencies that do not report. California signed AB 2257, giving counties a formal say in who runs the county jail. Virginia HB 80 passed the House and carries over to 2027. Mississippi HB 1739 died in the Senate. The Federal Prison Oversight Act is listed as the federal inspection baseline for federal prisons.
Ten years ago most of this did not exist. Now states are passing mandatory inspections, death-reporting timelines, and independent oversight offices, and the ones without them are getting asked why. The direction is one way. A facility that already keeps an honest record and gets ahead of these requirements is not the one scrambling when the law changes.
| Jurisdiction | Measure | What it does | Status | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal | Death in Custody Reporting Act (DCRA), PL 113-242 | Requires states receiving Byrne JAG funding to report deaths in custody to the U.S. Department of Justice. | Enacted | 2014 |
| Federal | Family Notification of Death, Injury, or Illness in Custody Act (H.R. 2718) | Would require timely, compassionate notification of family when a person dies or is seriously hurt in custody. | Introduced | 2025 |
| Federal | Federal Prison Oversight Act (2024) | Requires routine, risk-based inspections of all Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities by the DOJ Inspector General and creates an ombudsman for the health, safety, and rights of people in federal custody and staff. Federal prisons only, not county jails. | Enacted | 2024 |
| Federal | Governor's Right to Inspect Act | Would affirm a right to inspect federal detention conditions. | Introduced | 2026 |
| California | In-custody death reporting law | Requires agencies to report in-custody deaths to the Attorney General within 10 days and publicly disclose the circumstances. | Enacted | 2025 |
| New York | Jail and Prison Oversight Omnibus (S.8415 / A.8871) | Overhauls the State Commission of Correction and requires mandatory annual inspections of every jail and prison, plus next-of-kin notice and public posting of in-custody deaths. | Enacted | 2025 |
| Arizona | Independent Correctional Oversight Office | Creates a statutory office to monitor conditions, conduct regular and unannounced inspections, and investigate complaints. | Enacted | 2025 |
| Colorado | Jail standards + Jail Standards Advisory Committee | Requires jails to comply with standards by July 1, 2026, creates an advisory committee to evaluate, and allows the attorney general to assess jails. | Enacted | 2025 |
| Delaware | SB 291, deaths in law enforcement custody reporting | Codifies the state process for reporting deaths in custody under federal DCRA, requires compliance reporting, and makes a non-complying law enforcement agency ineligible for certain funding until it complies. | Enacted | 2026 |
| California | AB 2257, jail administrators | Gives counties a formal role in who administers the county jail system, rather than leaving jail administration solely to the elected sheriff. Signed September 30, 2026. | Enacted | 2026 |
| Virginia | HB 80, civilian deaths in custody reporting | Would require the State Board of Local and Regional Jails to notify the Governor when a local or regional jail fails to file required death-in-custody reports, tied to state jail funding. Passed the House; continued to the 2027 session in Senate Finance and Appropriations. | Carried over | 2026 |
| Utah | HB 39, Prison and Jail Standards Amendments | Would amend the state's prison and jail standards. | Introduced | 2026 |
| Washington | SB 5005, statewide jail oversight | Would have created statewide jail oversight and inspections; amended to a study council and failed. Washington remains without enforceable statewide jail standards. | Failed | 2026 |
| Mississippi | HB 1739, prison deaths oversight | Would have directed the Corrections and Criminal Justice Oversight Task Force to review unexpected prison deaths and publish findings. Passed the House; died without a Senate vote. | Failed | 2026 |
Curated watch, updated 2026-10-05. Status reflects our reading of public legislative sources at that date; confirm current status with the measure's official record. Know a measure we should add? Tell us.
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