(The Center Square) – When a person dies inside a Virginia jail, state law requires officials to report it.
Lawmakers are advancing a bill that would allow the governor to halt state payments to facilities that miss those deadlines.
House Bill 80 focuses on reporting compliance rather than redefining custody standards. Virginia law already requires correctional facilities and law enforcement agencies to submit reports when a civilian dies while detained, under arrest, being transported, incarcerated, or otherwise in custody.
Under the bill, if a local or regional adult correctional facility fails to send a required report within 10 days, the State Board of Local and Regional Jails would notify the governor. The governor may then direct the state comptroller to withhold further payments until the facility satisfies the reporting requirement.
The proposal builds on a reporting framework created through House Bill 611, approved during the 2024 legislative session. That law established the commonwealth’s standardized data collection system for civilian deaths in custody and assigned reporting and analysis responsibilities to state agencies.
The Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services’ first statewide analysis issued under that mandate documented 194 civilian deaths in custody in 2024. Those deaths occurred across state adult correctional facilities, local and regional jails, and during law enforcement custody.
The report describes the state’s reporting system as a shift from earlier data collection methods that relied more heavily on medical examiner records and external tracking sources.
“Unlike previous data collection methods, the new system collects data directly from the Commonwealth of Virginia’s law enforcement agencies and incarceration facilities who had custody of the decedent,” the report states.
The analysis notes that the deaths-in-custody reporting system remains relatively new and advises caution when comparing the figures with prior years due to those changes.
The report also states Justice Services added 22 cases to its dataset during investigations of previously unreported incidents, representing roughly 15% of the yearly total. The agency attributed much of that back reporting to clarification of Virginia’s “in custody” definition.
House Bill 80 does not modify how deaths are defined or categorized under Virginia law. Instead, the legislation outlines a compliance process tied to reporting deadlines, allowing state payments to be withheld until required reports are submitted.
The bill has been reported from the Senate Rehabilitation and Social Services Committee and referred to the Finance and Appropriations Committee.
