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 they 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 Washington State, run by the Washington State Department of Corrections.
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.
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. Contact the facility, explain the emergency, and be ready to provide the family member's name and relationship, the funeral home or hospital name and location, and what is happening. Staff will verify the illness or death and notify your incarcerated person. Ask the assigned Corrections Counselor to be involved from the start, since they play a central role in the escorted leave process if a trip is requested.
Attending a Funeral or a Deathbed Visit in Washington
Washington handles emergency trips through an escorted leave policy governed by state law and Department policy, and Washington's approach is specific enough to walk through carefully.
Washington State law (RCW 72.01.370) authorizes the superintendent of any state correctional facility to grant escorted leaves of absence to go to the bedside of a seriously ill immediate family member, or to attend the funeral of an immediate family member. The Department's policy, DOC 420.110, sets out how this works in practice. There is also a special policy, DOC 420.115, specifically covering funeral and deathbed visits on Tribal Lands.
It is one or the other. The policy allows an escorted bedside visit to a hospital or nursing home, or attendance at a funeral, but not both for the same event.
Who counts as immediate family. Washington defines immediate family broadly: children, stepchildren, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, parents, stepparents, grandparents, great-grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and a lawful spouse or state registered domestic partner.
It is escorted and the incarcerated person stays in custody. When not actually in transit or engaged in the visit, your person will be housed in a city or county jail, state facility, or other Department-supervised arrangement. The Superintendent or designee approves each request, and law enforcement is notified.
Duration and distance. The visit, including travel, cannot exceed 48 hours unless the Superintendent or designee approves an extension. Escorted leaves and furloughs must be within Washington State.
The family pays the costs, and indigence is not a reason to deny the request. Costs include mileage, meals, overnight lodging, and the employee salary for escort based on the custody classification's supervision requirements. These must be pre-paid before the trip. Your person's assigned Corrections Counselor can provide a cost estimate. The fact that a family cannot easily afford the escort costs does not by itself make the person ineligible, though payment must still be arranged.
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. Escort details fall through. The illness has to be verified before the request moves forward, and sometimes the window closes before everything is in place. If you are pinning the family's grief on the hope that your person will physically be there, you are building on sand. Plan the service around the family that can be there. If your person makes it, that is a mercy. If they do not, you were not depending on it, and the grief is heavy enough without that.
Ask about a phone call and a video option in the same conversation. Washington's Department has investing significantly in video visiting infrastructure, and a video connection to the funeral home or hospital is worth pursuing immediately, alongside the formal escorted leave request.
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 incarcerated person has authorized release of information to you. Encourage your person, while able, to sign a release naming you. If the condition is terminal or involves a permanent or degenerative condition, learn about Washington's medical release route now.
Washington Extraordinary Medical Placement. Washington has a medical release mechanism called Extraordinary Medical Placement, or EMP, set out in state law. The Secretary of the Department of Corrections may authorize EMP when two physicians assess the incarcerated person and determine either that they are affected by a permanent or degenerative medical condition to such a degree that they do not and likely will not pose a threat to public safety, or that they are in ill health and expected to die within six months and do not and likely will not pose a threat to public safety. Individuals serving a life sentence without parole are not eligible.
A person released under EMP is placed on electronic monitoring. If the monitoring equipment would be harmful to the person's health, interfere with medical equipment, or cause loss of funding for medical care, a different type of monitoring must be used instead.
There is also a Governor's route. Separately, the Governor, upon recommendation from the Clemency and Pardons Board, may grant an extraordinary release for reasons of serious health problems, senility, advanced age, extraordinary meritorious acts, or other extraordinary circumstances.
What families can do here. Because EMP is authorized by the Secretary of DOC, the process runs through the Department. Make sure the prison's medical staff document the condition and get two physicians to assess and confirm it, ask in writing that your person be evaluated for EMP, and help line up where your person would receive care in the community. A suitable care plan and housing arrangement matters. Document everything and consider an attorney. Start early, because the process takes time and a terminal illness does not wait.
If your person dies in custody. The Department attempts to notify the family using the emergency contact your person has on record, which is exactly why that contact must be correct now. Make sure the listed person is reachable and will tell the rest of the family.
The coroner or medical examiner, and the autopsy. Washington uses a county-based system of coroners and medical examiners, depending on the county. When a person dies in a prison, the county's coroner or medical examiner determines the cause and manner of death. An autopsy is performed when the coroner or medical examiner determines one is needed, or when the prosecuting attorney requests one.
Getting records, and claiming the body. Washington's law provides that autopsy reports are confidential, but the personal representative of the decedent, any family member, the attending physician, the prosecuting attorney or law enforcement, and public health officials may examine and obtain copies. In addition, the coroner, medical examiner, or attending physician shall, upon request, meet with the family to discuss the findings of the autopsy. So you have a right to both the records and a meeting to discuss them. Contact the county coroner or medical examiner where the death occurred. The body is released to the next of kin, generally through a funeral home, once the investigation allows. Next of kin in Washington is defined by state law in a specific order. Make your intention known promptly and be clear about who the legal next of kin is, since disputes slow everything down. The death certificate is available through Washington vital records. If the family cannot afford a funeral, ask the funeral home and the county about assistance.
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 emergency contact and next of kin recorded with the Department, and keep it current. This determines who the prison calls.
Have your person sign a 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.
Know that the escorted leave requires verification of the illness or death and costs that must be pre-paid. Keep a funeral home or hospital ready to provide verification, and talk to the Corrections Counselor in advance about what the process looks like before an emergency happens.
If your person is terminally ill, has a permanent or degenerative condition, or may qualify for EMP, do not wait. Ask in writing that two physicians assess your person and document their condition, and ask the Department to evaluate your person for Extraordinary Medical Placement. Start building a community care plan.
Keep the funeral home's contact information ready, both for verification during an escorted leave request, and to claim your person if they die inside.
State Resources
Washington State Department of Corrections: contact the facility and the assigned Corrections Counselor directly; use the DOC website and incarcerated individual search for facility contacts.
Washington State Clemency and Pardons Board and the Governor's Office: for an extraordinary release based on serious health problems, advanced age, or other extraordinary circumstances.
County Coroner or Medical Examiner: for the cause and manner of death, the autopsy, and records in the county where the death occurred.
Washington State Department of Health, Vital Statistics: for certified copies of the death certificate.
Washington 211: dial 2-1-1 for grief support, funeral assistance resources, and counseling referrals.
Frequently asked questions
How do I notify a Washington State prison of a death?
Contact the facility and ask for your person's assigned Corrections Counselor. Explain the emergency and provide the family member's name and relationship, the funeral home or hospital name and location, and what is happening. Staff will verify the illness or death and notify your incarcerated person. Getting the Corrections Counselor involved early is important because they handle the escorted leave process if a trip is requested.
Can a Washington State inmate attend a funeral?
Yes, through an escorted leave under state law and DOC 420.110, but it is discretionary. Washington authorizes the superintendent to grant escorted leaves for a bedside visit to a seriously ill immediate family member or attendance at a family member's funeral, and each is approved case by case. If approved, your person may attend the funeral OR a bedside visit, but not both for the same event. The trip must be within Washington State and does not exceed 48 hours including travel unless extended.
Is the funeral trip escorted in Washington State?
Yes. Your person remains in DOC custody and is in a supervised arrangement such as a city or county jail or state facility at all times when not in transit or at the visit. Law enforcement is notified. The trip is not a furlough or release. The Superintendent or designee approves, and approval is not guaranteed.
Who pays for the escorted leave in Washington State?
The family. Costs include mileage, meals, overnight lodging, and employee salary for the escort at the supervision level your person's custody classification requires, and payment must be pre-paid before the trip. Your person's Corrections Counselor can provide a cost estimate. Importantly, indigence, meaning financial hardship, is not itself a reason to deny the request under Washington policy, but payment must still be arranged before the trip can happen.
How is family told if an inmate dies in Washington?
The Department attempts to notify the family using the emergency contact in your person's record, which is why that record must be correct now. Make sure the listed person is reachable and will inform the rest of the family. Separately, the county coroner or medical examiner in the county where the death occurred handles the death investigation, determines cause and manner, and releases the body once the work is complete.
What is extraordinary medical placement in Washington?
It is Washington's medical release route for incarcerated individuals with serious medical conditions, authorized by the Secretary of DOC under state law. Two physicians must assess the person and confirm either a permanent or degenerative condition that eliminates the public safety threat, or that the person is expected to die within six months and does not pose a public safety threat. Individuals serving life without parole are not eligible. A person released under EMP is placed on electronic monitoring, with an exception if monitoring is medically harmful.
Who can request EMP in Washington State?
The Secretary of the Department of Corrections authorizes EMP, and the process runs through the DOC. Push the facility's medical staff to document the condition and get two physicians to assess it. Ask in writing that your person be evaluated for EMP. Help build a community care plan, including housing and medical care arrangements. An attorney or advocate familiar with Washington's system can help navigate the process. If EMP does not apply, consider a request to the Clemency and Pardons Board for the Governor's extraordinary release route.
Who can claim the body after an inmate dies in WA?
The next of kin, generally through a funeral home, once the county coroner or medical examiner's work allows. Washington law defines next of kin in a specific order, so be clear about who that is, since disputes cause delay. To get the cause of death, the autopsy report, and other records, contact the coroner or medical examiner in the county where the death occurred. Under Washington law, any family member may examine and obtain copies of the autopsy report, and the coroner or ME must, upon request, meet with the family to discuss the findings. The death certificate is available through Washington vital statistics.
Is there an autopsy when an inmate dies in Washington?
Often. Washington uses county coroners and medical examiners, and when a person dies in a prison, the county official handles the death investigation and determines the cause and manner of death. An autopsy is performed when the coroner or medical examiner determines it is needed. When an autopsy is performed, the family has a right under Washington law to receive a copy of the report and to meet with the coroner, medical examiner, or attending physician to discuss the findings, upon request.
What can I do before a serious illness becomes a crisis?
Make sure your person has the correct emergency contact on file and keep it current. Have your person sign a medical information release naming family who can speak with staff. Talk to the Corrections Counselor in advance about the escorted leave process, verification requirements, and cost estimates. If your person has a terminal illness, a permanent or degenerative condition, or other serious medical condition, ask in writing for an EMP evaluation and ensure two physicians document the condition. Start building a community care and housing plan. ---
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