YourVoice.Now Summary
Criminal Justice & Due ProcessTransparency & AccountabilityFederal officers who carelessly fail to get urgent medical help for someone in custody could face up to 1 year in jail
Criminal Justice & Due Process
Federal police, prison staff, or Marshals Service staff could be fined and jailed up to 1 year. This is for when they carelessly fail to get help for a person in distress in front of them. It counts only if the person suffers needless pain, injury, or death.
A state's attorney general could go to federal court when a resident is harmed this way. The court could order the agency to act, but the bill does not award money.
Transparency & Accountability
The agency's watchdog must look into each case where a person in custody was hurt or died this way. If the agency has no watchdog, the one at the Justice Department does it. If the officer was careless, the case goes to the Attorney General to weigh charges.
Each agency watchdog would set up a way for anyone to report these cases in secret.
More about this bill
If you are held in federal custody and show signs of a medical crisis, officers would have to get you help right away. Trouble breathing counts as a sign. The rule covers federal law enforcement officers, federal prison staff, and U.S. Marshals Service staff. An officer who carelessly fails to get help could be fined, jailed for up to 1 year, or both. That applies only if the person suffers needless pain, injury, or death as a result. The agency's Inspector General (its in-house watchdog) would have to look into each such case. If the officer was careless, the case would go to the Attorney General for possible charges. Each watchdog would set up a way to report these cases in secret. A state's attorney general could also sue in federal court for a court order when a resident is harmed. Agencies would have to train their officers on getting medical help.
Congressional Summary
Andrew Kearse Accountability for Denial of Medical Care Act of 2025 This bill establishes a new federal criminal offense for failing to obtain medical attention for an individual in federal custody who displays medical distress. Specifically, the bill requires federal law enforcement officers and the Bureau of Prisons' personnel to provide or obtain immediate medical attention for an individual in federal custody who displays medical distress. It criminalizes the negligent failure to obtain or provide such medical attention that results in unnecessary pain, injury, or death. A violator is subject to criminal penalties—a fine, a prison term of up to one year, or both.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2025-05-23
- Date Added
- 2026-10-15
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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