States must report all deaths in police and jail holding.
H.R. 10909 — Deaths in Custody Reporting Reform Act · Filed by Steve Cohen (D-TN) · 8 cosponsors · Introduced Oct 26, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill makes states and federal offices report deaths in police holding, jails, prisons, and immigration holding. Reports go to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. It covers deaths in medical centers within 30 days after release. All reports must use the same format and be public. The bill sets up a review panel to check compliance and funds research on prevention.
Who it affects
Families of people who died in holding get detailed reports. The public can see this data. Communities most hit by holding deaths gain from prevention research.
One thing to notice
The bill covers deaths in medical centers up to 30 days after release. This may catch deaths from poor medical care during holding. A review panel can force police officials to testify about missed reports.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
8 cosponsors: 8 Democrats.
- Oct 26, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Oct 26, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce and House Committee on Homeland Security · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committees on Homeland Security, and…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- holding — When police, jail, or prison officials keep someone in their care.
- Bureau of Justice Statistics — A federal office that collects and studies crime and justice data.
- review panel — A group not run by police that checks if offices follow the law.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (30,432 characters) on Oct 29, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,598 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-29.
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