The permanent subcommittee on investigations will come to order. Today the subcommittee continues our bipartisan work investigating conditions in prisons, jails, and Detention Centers across the United States. I think the Ranking Member for his cooperation. In july we released findings of corruption, abuse and misconduct in the federal prison system and questioned the now former director of the federal bureau of prisons. Today after a 10 month bipartisan investigation we can reveal that despite a clear charge from congress to determine who is dying in prisons and jails across the country, where they are dying and why they are dying that abutment of justice is failing to do so. This failure undermines efforts to address the urgent humanitarian crisis ongoing behind bars across the country. Our investigation has revealed that last year alone, according to gao analysis the department of justice failed to identify at least 990 deaths in custody, nearly one thousand uncounted deaths and the true number is likely much higher. We will here today from Belinda Maley and vanessa fano whose loved ones died preventively while in custody. In both cases, sons and brothers who died, pretrial detainees having been convicted of no crime. We will hear their grief and anger. Grief and anger shared by many thousands of americans whose loved ones needlessly suffered and died while incarcerated. We will hear from professor Andrea Armstrong of Loyola University to understand failure to oversee prisons and jails, undermined american civil rights. We will hear from doctor Gretta Goodwin of the Government Accountability office, legislative Branch Agency that provides Investigator Services to congress which analyzed at my request the death in custody date of the doj collected in 2021 and will publicly report those findings for the first time. Will question the Deputy Assistant attorney general about the departments failures since the death in custody reporting act, failure that has undermined federal oversight of conditions in prisons and jails nationwide and therefore undermined americans human and Constitutional Rights. Members of congress swear to support and defend the constitution of the United States, rights of all americans in my state and every state including rights of those who are incarcerated. We are here today because what the United States is allowing to happen on our watch in prisons, jails and Detention Centers nationwide is a moral disgrace. Federal legislators serving on the nations preeminent investigative panel, it is our obligation to investigate federal governments complicity in this disgrace. It is our obligation to ask what tools the department of justice is using to protect the Constitutional Rights of the incarcerated to hold doj accountable when it fails to use those tools and to furnish better, more powerful tools with which the department can defend civil rights and civil liberties. There are bright spots. For example i was encouraged when Kristin Clark announced the doj investigation of conditions in georgias horrific state prisons one year ago today but it has become clear in the course of this investigation that the department is failing in its responsibility to implement the custody reporting act, the department is failing to determine who is dying behind bars, where they are dying and why they are dying and therefore failing to determine where and which interventions are most urgently needed to save lives. In 2,000 and again in 2014 Congress Passed the death in custody reporting act known tasking doj with custodial data nationwide. An opportunity to improve understanding of why deaths occur in custodian and develop solutions to prevent avoidable deaths. For nearly 20 years doj collected and published this data. Invaluable resource from the department for congress and the public. Then abruptly the publication stopped. And our investigation followed. We found in recent years over multiple administrations the Department Implementation of this law has failed despite clear internal warnings from dojs own Inspector General and dojs bureau of justice statistics. For example, the First Quarter of fiscal year 20 the department did not capture any state prison deaths in 11 states or jail deaths in 12 states in the district of columbia. In fiscal year 21 alone according to gao analysis the department failed to identify 1000 deaths. My assessment is the true number is likely much higher. Of those reported, 70 of the records were incomplete, 40 of records failed to capture the circumstances of death. The department of justice has failed to collect complete or accurate state and local death data for the past two years and failed to report to congress how deaths in custody can be used to save lives, a report required by law that is 6 years past due and we recently learned it is not affected to be produced for another two years. Psi investigation also found the department has no plans to make state or local death data public again despite the obvious Public Interest in this transparency. Todays hearing may dive into arcane discussions of administrative regulations or close parsing of legislative texts and those discussions are relevant. They are relevant. Of the department has concluded in 2022, twee 8 years after this law was reauthorized that it is incapable of successfully implementing it i am surely willing to work with them to help fix that but this hearing is about something more fundamental. Americans are needlessly dianes are being killed while in the custody of their own government. In our july hearing focused on the federal prison system we reveal federal pretrial detainees have been denied proper nutrition, hygiene and medical care, months of lockdowns with little or no access to the outdoors. Rats and roaches infesting them. Federal inmates killed themselves while the basic practices of Suicide Prevention wellness checks were neglected, abusive and unconstitutional practices by the federal government that likely lead to loss of life in federal facilities, was warned for years by its own investigators with corruption and misconduct in its facility and lack of regard for human life. We will hear about the experiences of americans, state and local prisons in jails, americans entitled to Constitutional Rights no matter where they are incarcerated, no matter whether they are incarcerated and we will hear about americans who died in custody many of whose deaths and causes of death are not counted by the federal government as the federal government is bound to count them. As they defend their Constitutional Rights. Before i yield to the Ranking Member, we will listen to an audio clip, with her son when jailed, pretrial detainee. I want to warn those who are tuned in across the country, this is a disturbing clip and while this audio plays, imagine how we might feel on either end of this call. Please play the call. I have found everything i can, and all this other chart. And trying to get you out of there. I know you are but i am doing everything i can to get you out so i can see you. Hello . Doing everything they can. My blood, my feet are swollen. I know, i told you. Going to die in here. The crisis in americas prisons, jails and Detention Centers is ongoing and unconscionable. The department of justice and Congress Must treat this as the emergency for Constitutional Rights that it is. I yield to you. You are correct, that is difficult to listen to. Belinda maley, vanessa fano, sincere condolences for the loss of your loved ones. I cant imagine how difficult that is for you to listen to that. First of all let me enter my prepared opening remarks into the record, much of what i prepared, a repeat of what the chairman laid out. Many people might question what equity does the federal government have how state and local governments run their prisons. We heard the equity right there. As the chairman laid out, theres civil rights and basic civil liberties. Presumption of innocence. The rights to a fair trial. A speedy trial. Rights to be given proper care when in custodial. I just want to commend the chairman for doggedly pursuing the truth here. We are experiencing the frustration i have experienced the chairman doing investigations and simply having departments and agencies who will ignore the requests. The American People deserve the truth. The American People deserve to understand what is happening in federal government agencies. I dont know if these things can be prevented from more rigorous oversight exposure but it is the right thing to do. I appreciate your pursuit of these truths. I appreciate the fact that we have been able to work on this in terms of this issue it is interesting, the original law passed in 2000 did produce information. We got a report of 40 pages, chockfull of information. It expired but the department of justice continued to provide information to inform congress and the american public, then congress changed the law, updated the law, and funding attached to it, something went haywire, talking about the legislative test. Which agency can collect the data versus one that cant. It is all bureaucratic bs if you ask me, but it happened and so we lost transparency. It doesnt look like the department of justice is interested in providing that transparency now and it is a serious issue. I dont understand it. But listen. I am going to continue to cooperate with you to get those answers because i think vanessa fano, and Belinda Maley deserve those answers. Hopefully this congressional oversight can do more than assist us in passing new laws. Hopefully it can change save lives. I wish that was the case with your loved ones. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, Ranking Member johnson. The subcommittees findings which formed the basis for todays hearing are laid out in a bipartisan staff report and i ask unanimous consent that this report be entered into the record. We will now or call our first panel of witnesses for this afternoons hearing. Vanessa fanos sister of jonathan phano who died in east parish prison in louisiana. Belinda maley is the mother of Matthew Laughlin who died in the Chatham Detention Center in georgia. Professor Andrea Armstrong is a professor of law at Loyola University new Orleans College of law. The subcommittee is deeply grateful for your presence, testimony, and courage in appearing today. We look forward to your testimony. The hearing record will remain open for 15 days for any additional comments or questions by members of the subcommittee. The rules of the subcommittee require all witnesses to be sworn in so at this time i would ask you to please stand and raise your right hand. Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give before this subcommittee is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god . Thank you. The record will reflect that all witnesses answered in the affirmative. Please be seated. Your written testimonies will be printed for the record in their entirety. We ask that you try to limit your remarks to around five minutes. Vanessa fano, we will hear from you first and you are recognized for your opening remarks. A kind reminder to all three of you when addressing the subcode he please make sure your microphones are on is indicated by the red light. Thank you, chairman and Ranking Member johnson, for the opportunity to testify before you today. Thank you to the Committee Staff whose tireless work made my appearance possible here today. No amount of time can truly heal what i share with you today. Jonathan is my brother, jonathan was so kind to he felt guilty so much as killing a bug. He wants took the bus downtown just to babysit our cousins kids even though it was his own birthday. Jonathan would spend hours upon hours listening to my problems and do anything to support me. At the time, he needed the same support, no one responsible for his care, custody and control gave it to him. Jonathan suffered from bipolar disorder and depression for which he sought professional help and support from his families. He was never any type of threat or danger to us or others. October 2016, jonathan was arrested in baton rouge, louisiana while having mental breakdown and taken to East Baton Rouge Parish prison and ten weeks in pretrial detention jonathan never received a mental evaluation. After cutting his risks he was placed in isolation. Despite frequent phone calls, the family was told jonathan did not want to speak to us. It was only on christmas we heard from him. Jonathan told us he wasnt allowed to call us. During that phone call we learned about jonathans attempt on his own life. We could not get the details before the phone system cut off our calls even though we provided more funds, we were not able to continue the call. We trusted the chance the system. My family trusted the system when it provided us Jonathans Court date. My family flew across the country only to discover we were provided the wrong date. We trusted his public defender would be advocating for jonathans Mental Health care and relief and the advice to wait a little longer for custody to resolve the case. We trusted the Baton Rouge Sheriffs Office to confirm jonathan from the care he needed in detention. February 2, 2017, jonathan hanged himself with a sheet in his cell. When we saw his life, the first time, he was handcuffed to an intensive care unit bed. It was only then we realized how wrong we were to place our trust in a system that told us there was no fault after their own internal investigation of jonathans death. It is only our own insistence over the past 5 years that we have come to learn how hard jonathan tried to receive help, how belittled he was, how no one believed him. How so many other people died in the same jail under the same conditions. Each time i tell jonathans story he feels farther away. I worry for the day when i cant distinctly remember his voice or his face. I tell you jonathans story for every family who experienced the same. I hope in doing so we can improve our beloved nation and prevent this ever happening to another family again. Please accept my respectful request to enter further written testimony into the record, thank you. Thank you, the rest of your written testimony will be so entered without objection. Thank you for your testimony. Belinda maley, we will now hear from you. Dont feel bound by the precise time on the clock, we will accommodate the time you need to share your story and you are recognized for opening statement. Thank you, chairman john ossoff and ranking never johnson for the opportunity to testify before you today. Thank you to Committee Staff whose work made my appearance today possible. Mothers and sons have a special bond. A bond that no one should ever be able to break. Tragically, in my case, that bond was broken. It was broken by a for profit medical provider that brought a painful death on my only son, my only child. My son matthew was scared and alone in the Chatham County georgia Detention Center on a nonviolent drug offense. Matthew was suffering from cardiomyopathy, which the for profit medical provider ignored. Studies show that the prognosis for people with untreated cardiomyopathy is bleak. And matthew was never given any treatment. Cardiomyopathy is bleak. And matthew was never given any treatment. The forprofit medical provider had no intentions of treating him, because cardiology appointments outside of the jail would cut into one of his jailers called his pain and anguish quoteunquote fussy. Il matthew knew he was dying. He told me many times by phone and in a single jail visit that, quote, i needed to get him out of here, and that he didnt want to die here. The pure horror of matthews voice made me feel as though i was dying as well. Matthew died a slow, painful death over the course of weeks. He was too sick to take phone calls or visits. After the one time i got to see him in jail. I never got to hold him to tell them how much i loved him or pray with him. The next time i got to see matthew he had already suffered a brain injuryay after being resuscitated three timesot by te jail staff. My last visit with him was to take them off of life support, where he was still handcuffed to an icu bed and under 24 7 supervision by corrections officer. After 32 years of life with my only son, our bond was broken. And no one, not the health provider, not the infirmary staff, the sheriffs office, or the District Attorney was willingt to help. They did take time to, in fact, one last indignity upon matthew before his death, issuing him a personal recognizance bond after he was braindead. So his death would not count as an in custody death. Not a day goes by that i dont think of what matthew went through. In closing, matthews story might not be over. I will continue to spread awareness of this problem for as long as i am able. With over 2 Million People of people in our jails, there are more mothers, fathers, siblings and friends who were in this same or worse situation. This should not be ignored. T