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Lawmakers call DOC health care 'a crisis' as committee advances oversight bill
Summary
Members described repeated medication lapses, specialist shortages and recent inmate deaths during debate on HB 5567; the Judiciary Committee sent the bill to the floor with amendment A and adopted an oral amendment clarifying payment for judicial outcomes in some proceedings.
House Bill 5567, a bill addressing health-care services in the Department of Correction, received extensive attention in the Judiciary Committee on March 24, 2026, where multiple members described the provision of care to incarcerated people as being ‘‘at a crisis level.’’
Representative Staffstrom, the bill sponsor, opened the discussion by recounting repeated reports that routine medication (for cholesterol, blood pressure and other chronic conditions) is not reliably delivered to inmates, that specialized services are often unavailable, and that those lapses can have long-term and sometimes deadly consequences. He said the bill is a first legislative attempt to improve oversight and address systemic failings.
Senator Kissel, Representative Fishburne and others recounted local consequences: understaffed facilities, ambulance burdens on small towns that respond to correctional medical calls, and operational fragility in certain older facilities. Multiple members said the committee should act even if the bill is not a final fix.
Representative Fishburne offered an oral amendment clarifying that certain payment obligations in the bill apply when a challenger obtains a full win; the chair accepted that amendment as friendly and it was attached as amendment A. After discussion the committee voted by roll call to send HB 5567 to the floor with the amendment.
The committee’s recorded roll call and discussion established the legislative record of acute concern about medical care inside the corrections system and directed LCO and staff to continue refining language as the bill proceeds to the floor and to follow through on implementation details.
