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KHS H06197'26 *_HB5920_INTR_1 12a09g
HOUSE BILL NO. 5920
A bill to amend 1975 PA 46, entitled
"An act to create the office of the legislative corrections
ombudsman; to prescribe the powers and duties of the office, the
ombudsman, the legislative council, and the department of
corrections; and to provide remedies from administrative acts,"
by amending sections 1, 4, and 5 (MCL 4.351, 4.354, and 4.355),
section 1 as amended by 1998 PA 318 and sections 4 and 5 as amended
by 2018 PA 571.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 1. As used in this act: 1
(a) "Administrative act" includes an action, omission, 2
April 29, 2026, Introduced by Reps. Wortz, Bohnak, Prestin, Markkanen, Cavitt, Paquette,
Schmaltz, Wozniak, Meerman, Steele, Kunse, Outman, Dievendorf, Pavlov, Beson, St.
Germaine, Wilson, Brixie, Herzberg, McKinney, Price, Woolford, Young, Arbit, Aragona,
Schuette, Pohutsky, McFall, Jenkins -Arno, Steckloff, Wegela and Snyder and referred to
Committee on Judiciary.
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decision, recommendation, practice, or other procedure of the 1
department. 2
(b) "Complainant" means a prisoner, or legislator, family 3
member, corrections employee, or prisoner advocate who files a 4
complaint under section 4. 5
(c) "Corrections employee" means an employee of the department 6
of corrections or a private contractor at a correctional facility 7
owned or operated by the department of corrections. 8
(d) (c) "Council" means the legislative council established 9
under section 15 of article IV of the state constitution of 1963. 10
(e) (d) "Department" means the department of corrections. 11
(f) "Family member" means a family member of a prisoner who 12
advocates on behalf of that prisoner. 13
(g) (e) "Legislator" means a member of the senate or the house 14
of representatives of this state. 15
(h) (f) "Office" means the office of the legislative 16
corrections ombudsman created under this act. 17
(i) "Official" means an official or employee of the 18
department. 19
(j) (g) "Ombudsman" means the office of legislative 20
corrections ombudsman. 21
(k) (h) "Prisoner" means a person an individual committed to 22
or under the jurisdiction of the department. 23
(i) "Official" means an official or employee of the department 24
of corrections. 25
(l) "Prisoner advocate" means an individual or organization who 26
advocates on behalf of a prisoner or prisoners. 27
(m) "Qualified expert" means a professional with substantial 28
experience in a field, including, but not limited to, 29
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environmental, medical, or mental health professionals. 1
Sec. 4. (1) The ombudsman may commence an investigation upon 2
either on any of the following: 3
(a) Receipt of a complaint from a prisoner, a legislator, 4
complainant or on the ombudsman's own initiative, concerning an 5
administrative act that is alleged to be contrary to law or 6
contrary to departmental policy. 7
(b) The ombudsman's own initiative for significant prisoner 8
health and safety issues, correctional facility security, and 9
public safety, and other matters for which there is no effective 10
administrative remedy. 11
(2) By not later than 120 business days after the effective 12
date of the amendatory act that added this subsection, the 13
ombudsman shall create a standardized complaint form that a 14
complainant may use, and make the standardized complaint form 15
available in both of the following ways: 16
(a) Electronically on the ombudsman's website. 17
(b) In hard copy in all correctional facility law libraries 18
and other locations in correctional facilities as requested by the 19
ombudsman. 20
(3) On receiving a complaint from a complainant, the ombudsman 21
shall notify the complainant that the complaint was received. 22
(4) (2) Subject to approval of the council, the ombudsman 23
shall establish procedures for receiving and processing complaints, 24
conducting investigations, holding hearings, and reporting the 25
findings resulting from the investigations. 26
Sec. 5. (1) Upon On request and without the requirement of any 27
release, the ombudsman shall be given department shall give the 28
ombudsman access to and physical or electronic copies of all 29
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information, records, and documents in the possession of the 1
department that the ombudsman considers necessary in an 2
investigation, including, but not limited to, prisoner medical 3
health records, prisoner mental health records, and prisoner 4
mortality and morbidity records. Upon On request, the ombudsman may 5
interview any of the following individuals whom the ombudsman 6
considers necessary in an investigation: 7
(a) An individual employed by or retained under contract by 8
the department. 9
(b) An individual employed by or retained under contract by a 10
private contractor that operates a facility or institution that 11
houses prisoners under the jurisdiction of the department. 12
(2) The ombudsman may consult or contract with qualified 13
experts for assistance with investigations, inspections, hearings, 14
or other work of the ombudsman. Subject to this subsection, the 15
qualified expert must be permitted to enter facilities with the 16
ombudsman and bring any necessary testing equipment into 17
correctional facilities. The ombudsman or qualified expert may 18
bring photographic equipment into correctional facilities to take 19
pictures that the ombudsman or qualified expert determines to be 20
necessary, if taking those pictures does not compromise 21
correctional facility security. The ombudsman shall give the 22
department 72 hours' advance notice when the ombudsman considers it 23
necessary to take an expert into a correctional facility. The 24
ombudsman shall provide the department with the name of the expert, 25
a completed law enforcement information network form concerning 26
that expert to allow the department to conduct a background check 27
on that expert, the expert's credentials, including any licensing 28
information in the expert's area of expertise if applicable, and a 29
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description of any testing equipment the expert may need. The 1
department may search any testing equipment for contraband that is 2
brought into a correctional facility by an expert or ombudsman. An 3
expert must adhere to state or national standards developed for the 4
expert's area of expertise. The department may ask the ombudsman to 5
reconsider taking testing equipment into a correctional facility if 6
the department determines that the testing equipment may interfere 7
with the operations of the correctional facility. The department 8
shall provide the ombudsman with a written statement explaining the 9
specific impact testing equipment will have on the operations of 10
the correctional facility for the ombudsman to consider. The 11
department shall notify the ombudsman if a requested testing 12
procedure is under litigation, and the ombudsman must delay that 13
testing until the litigation has been completed. 14
(3) (2) Upon On request and without notice, the ombudsman must 15
be granted entrance to inspect at any time any premises under the 16
control of the department. One ombudsman staff person member must 17
also be granted entry into a correctional facility or the 18
department's "think tank" or "command center" during emergency 19
situations including, but not limited to, correctional facility 20
disturbances, riots, and hostage incidents, and must be provided 21
with updates regarding the status of the emergent situation as well 22
as the department's efforts to address the situation. The ombudsman 23
staff person member granted entry for an emergency situation under 24
this subsection is present for observation and to report on the 25
emergency situation. 26
(4) (3) The ombudsman may hold informal hearings and may 27
request that any person appear before the ombudsman, or at a 28
hearing, and give testimony or produce documentary or other 29
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evidence that the ombudsman considers relevant to a matter under 1
investigation. 2
(5) (4) The ombudsman shall arrange an interview under 3
subsection (1) in cooperation with the department at a time and 4
location that does not interfere with the operation of a 5
correctional facility. 6
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take effect 7
unless House Bill No. 5921 (request no. H06198'26) of the 103rd 8
Legislature is enacted into law. 9