There are two directions a death or a serious illness can travel through a prison wall, and a family usually only thinks about it when it is already happening.
One direction is from the outside in. Someone in the family is dying or has died, and you need the prison to tell your incarcerated person, and you are wondering whether he can be there for it. The other direction is from the inside out. Your person is the one who is sick, or who has died in custody, and you are trying to find out what happened and what you are allowed to do. This article walks both directions for Arizona, run by the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (ADCRR).
I am going to tell you something up front, because I learned it the hard way and I do not want it to land on you cold. An approval that has been granted is not the same as your person being there. Those are two different things, and the gap between them is where families get hurt. In Arizona that gap is especially real, and I will show you exactly where.
When the Death or Illness Is on the Outside
If someone in the family is gravely ill or has died and you want your incarcerated person notified, the channel is the facility, usually through the unit chaplain. Call the institution, explain the emergency, and be ready to provide verification. For a death, that is typically the funeral home's information or a death certificate. For an imminent death, a hospital or physician confirmation that death is near.
Notification is the part that tends to work. Whether your person can leave the prison to be there is a separate and much harder question.
Attending a Funeral or a Bedside Visit in Arizona
Arizona handles this through Department Order 1005, Escorted Inmate Leave for Family Imminent Danger of Death or Funeral. Read these as the realities, not as promises.
What is actually allowed. DO 1005 provides for an escorted leave to make a bedside visit to an immediate family member in imminent danger of death, or to attend a private funeral viewing. Bedside visits are limited to a hospital, hospice care center, or nursing home; a bedside visit at a private residence will not be approved. Each request is decided case by case.
This is a heavily guarded trip. Arizona staffs an escorted leave at a ratio of two correctional officers to one inmate. The inmate is transported in a secure caged vehicle, the officers wear ballistic vests and carry department cell phones, and the inmate is strip searched before leaving and on return. For most custody levels the inmate is restrained, though restraints are not required for minimum custody. This is not a quiet, private goodbye; it is a security operation, and understanding that ahead of time spares the family some shock.
Who is flatly excluded. DO 1005 does not apply to people under community supervision, and eligibility can be denied for unresolved warrants or detainers, maximum custody status, or being housed in another state through the Interstate Compact. If your person is in maximum custody or held out of state, an escorted leave is essentially off the table.
The video alternative. This is important and genuinely useful. Arizona offers a video-based bedside visit or a video-based electronic funeral viewing as an alternative to an escorted leave. The inmate may choose either the escorted leave or the video viewing, but not both, and the video option depends on the institution and the funeral home, hospital, hospice, or nursing home being able to host it. For many families, especially when the person is in higher custody or far away, video is the realistic path to a goodbye. Ask the chaplain about it early.
Now the part I promised you.
I was told I had a five-hour furlough to attend my mother's funeral. I was told to get dressed and wait for the escort. I got dressed. I waited. The escort never came. Word going around was that the warden had been moved or was on leave, and the assistant warden denied it. Nobody walked up to me with a form. The day just passed. What I got, in the end, was a free phone call.
I tell you that not to make you bitter before you start, but to make you smart. An approval that exists on paper is not a person standing at a graveside. Administrators change. Acting wardens reverse decisions. Escorts and the two-officer detail fall through. If you are pinning the family's grief on the hope that he will physically be there, you are building on sand. Plan the service around the family that can be there. If he makes it, that is a mercy. If he does not, you were not depending on it, and the grief is heavy enough without that. In Arizona, the video viewing is the more reliable way to make sure he gets to say goodbye, so weigh it seriously.
When the Illness or Death Is on the Inside
The other direction is harder, because you have less control and the information comes slower.
If your person is seriously ill in custody. Push for medical information, knowing that medical privacy rules limit what staff will share unless the inmate has authorized release of information to you. Encourage your person, while able, to sign a release naming you so medical staff can speak to you. If the condition is terminal, Arizona has one main release-to-die mechanism, and you need to understand both how it works and how it can fail.
Arizona imminent danger of death commutation. Arizona does not have a parole-board medical release the way many states do. Instead, the path home for a dying prisoner runs through a commutation of sentence based on imminent danger of death, decided by the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency, a separate agency from the ADCRR. The process: a doctor connected with the ADCRR or its healthcare provider must certify in writing that the prisoner's condition will, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, result in death within a defined short window. The application goes first to the ADCRR time computation unit for eligibility, then to the Board, which can hold an expedited hearing and vote whether to recommend release to the Governor.
Here is the hard part, and it is specific to Arizona. The Board only recommends. The Governor must sign. Arizona has a documented history of prisoners who were approved by the Board for imminent danger of death release and then died in prison while waiting for the Governor to act. There is a provision by which a unanimous Board recommendation can take effect automatically if the Governor does not act within about 90 days, but for someone with weeks to live, 90 days is not mercy. The lesson for families is blunt: this can work, but it is slow and uncertain, so if your person may qualify, get the medical certification and the application started as early as humanly possible, and get an advocate or attorney involved. Do not assume an approval means your person is coming home in time.
If your person dies in custody. Arizona handles hospitalization and death notification under Department Order 711. The ADCRR notifies the next of kin, and when the next of kin is reachable the unit chaplain typically makes the call, with the policy contemplating notification within a short window. Whenever possible the inmate's own consent or refusal of consent to notify a given person is obtained and documented in advance, which is one reason the next-of-kin information your person has on file matters so much. Make sure that record is correct now.
Autopsy and the medical examiner. A death in custody is investigated, and Arizona law requires certain deaths to be reported to the county medical examiner. The county medical examiner for the county where the death occurred handles the examination and decides on an autopsy, and the ADCRR conducts its own investigation and a mortality review into the cause and manner of death. The medical examiner controls the timing of releasing the body, so the family does not automatically get the body immediately.
Claiming the body. Under DO 711, the ADCRR identifies who is willing to assume legal and financial responsibility for claiming the body, which can be the next of kin, the executor of the estate, the guardian at time of death, or a religious or other organization willing to sponsor arrangements. The family is given the opportunity to provide for burial or other arrangements. Make your intention to claim your person known to the institution promptly, and be clear about who the legal next of kin is, because disputes between family members slow everything down. If no one claims the body, ask the institution and the county about indigent disposition.
What Families Can Do Before a Crisis
Most of the pain in these situations comes from decisions that were never made in calm times. A few things you can do now, while no one is dying:
Make sure your person has the correct next of kin and emergency contact recorded with the ADCRR, and keep it current. Under DO 711 the inmate is supposed to keep this updated, and it determines who the prison calls.
Have your person sign a medical release of information naming the family members who should be allowed to speak with medical staff. Without it, privacy rules will keep you in the dark.
Find out your person's custody level and whether they are held out of state through the Interstate Compact, because maximum custody and out-of-state placement effectively rule out an escorted leave and make the video viewing your realistic option.
Ask the chaplain now how the institution handles video bedside visits and funeral viewings, so you are not learning the process during the crisis.
If your person has a terminal condition, get the ADCRR medical certification and an imminent danger of death commutation application moving as early as possible, and line up an advocate, because in Arizona the clock and the Governor's signature are the obstacles.
State Resources
Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry: contact the institution directly; use the ADCRR website for facility and chaplain contacts.
Arizona Board of Executive Clemency: for imminent danger of death commutation and other clemency questions.
County Medical Examiner: for cause of death, autopsy, and release of remains, contact the medical examiner for the county where the death occurred.
Arizona Department of Health Services, Vital Records: for certified copies of the death certificate.
Arizona 211: dial 2-1-1 for grief support, funeral assistance resources, and counseling referrals in your area.
Frequently asked questions
How do I notify an Arizona prison of a family death?
Call the institution and ask for the unit chaplain. Explain the emergency and be ready to provide verification, such as the funeral home's information or a death certificate for a death, or a hospital or physician confirmation for an imminent death. The chaplain will notify your incarcerated person. This notification step is generally reliable and is separate from any question of whether your person can leave to attend a service or make a bedside visit.
Can an Arizona prisoner attend a funeral or bedside visit?
Sometimes, through an escorted leave under Department Order 1005, but it is not a right. Bedside visits are limited to a hospital, hospice, or nursing home, never a private residence, and funeral attendance is for a private viewing. It is a two-officer escort in a secure vehicle, decided case by case, and excluded for maximum custody, unresolved warrants or detainers, and out-of-state placements. Arizona also offers a video bedside visit or funeral viewing as an alternative, but not both.
Who pays for an Arizona prisoner escorted leave?
The costs associated with an escorted leave generally fall to the inmate or family, and because Arizona staffs these trips with two officers in a secure vehicle, they are resource heavy. Ask the chaplain or the inmate's unit staff for specifics as early as possible. If the cost, custody level, or distance makes an escorted leave impossible, ask about the video-based bedside visit or funeral viewing, which avoids the escort entirely and is often the realistic way to say goodbye.
Will the prison tell my relative about a family death?
Yes. Call the institution and ask for the unit chaplain, explain the emergency, and provide verification such as funeral home information, a death certificate, or a physician confirmation for an imminent death. The chaplain will notify your incarcerated person. This notification is generally reliable and separate from the harder question of whether your person can be approved for an escorted leave or should instead use Arizona's video bedside visit or funeral viewing option.
How is family notified if a prisoner dies in Arizona?
Under Department Order 711, the ADCRR notifies the next of kin, typically through the unit chaplain when the next of kin is reachable, within a short window. Whenever possible the inmate's consent or refusal to notify a given person is documented in advance. This is why it matters now that your person has the correct next of kin and emergency contact on file with the ADCRR. Keep that record current so the right people are reached.
What is Arizona imminent danger of death release?
It is a commutation of sentence, decided by the Arizona Board of Executive Clemency, for a prisoner certified by an ADCRR-connected doctor to be within a short window of death. The application goes through the ADCRR time computation unit, then to the Board, which can recommend release to the Governor, who must sign. Arizona has a documented history of approved people dying while awaiting the Governor's signature, so start the medical certification and application as early as possible.
Who can claim the body after a prisoner dies in Arizona?
Under Department Order 711, the ADCRR identifies who will assume legal and financial responsibility for the body, which can be the next of kin, the executor of the estate, the guardian at time of death, or a religious or other sponsoring organization. The family is given the opportunity to arrange burial. Timing depends on the county medical examiner releasing the body. Make your intention to claim your person known promptly and be clear about who the legal next of kin is.
Is there an autopsy when a prisoner dies in Arizona?
Often. A death in custody is investigated, and Arizona law requires certain deaths to be reported to the county medical examiner for the county where the death occurred, which handles the examination and decides on an autopsy. The ADCRR also conducts its own investigation and a mortality review. The medical examiner controls the timing of releasing the body, which is why families do not always get the body immediately.
Why was a promised funeral visit cancelled last minute?
Because approval and attendance are not the same thing. An escorted leave is a case-by-case, security-heavy operation that can fall apart when administrators change, an acting warden reverses a decision, or the two-officer detail cannot be staffed. The writer of this article was told to dress and wait for an escort to his mother's funeral that never arrived, reportedly after an administrative change. Plan the service around the family who can be present, and consider Arizona's video viewing as the more reliable option.
What can I do before a serious illness becomes a crisis?
Make sure your person has the correct next of kin and emergency contact on file with the ADCRR and keep it current, because that decides who the prison calls. Have your person sign a medical release of information naming family who can speak with medical staff. Learn their custody level and whether they are held out of state, since both can rule out an escorted leave. Ask the chaplain how video viewings work, and if their illness is terminal, start an imminent danger of death application early. ---
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