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Bill to Improve Prison Inmate Health Care in Delaware

digitalplanet

DOVER, Del. (AP) - House lawmakers have unanimously approved a bill reforming a committee charged with monitoring prison health care in Delaware.

The changes approved Tuesday are aimed at improving the work of the Adult Correction Healthcare Review Committee.

The bill places the committee under the oversight of the state Criminal Justice Council and adds the chairs of the House and Senate Corrections committees and the chief of the Bureau of Correctional Healthcare Services as nonvoting members.

The committee now consists of a physician, psychiatrist, psychologist, registered nurse, lawyer and a substance abuse expert. Its duties include reviewing medical records of inmates who die in custody, reviewing health care-related grievances filed by inmates, and monitoring inmate hospital admissions and infectious disease diagnoses.

The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.