Missouri House Corrections Committee defines gross negligence in suicide cases

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Intro:	A bill in the state legislature would make it difficult for families of inmates who commit suicide to sue the facility where the suicide occurs.
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Wrap: Republican Representative Mike Kelley brought the bill before a House corrections committee, he says to lessen the number of costly lawsuits correctional facilities recieve each year.

Kelley says that many times the prison or other corrections facility can't be blamed for the unpredictable actions of their inmates.

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Description: "I guarantee you the parents that have children in their home commit suicide, if they could've done something to stop it they would have, well we can't expect higher standards of our correctional facilities than we expect of our parents."

Kelley also says that some of these lawsuits are unneccessary, and that the bill would require proof of gross negligence in order to file a lawsuit.

Reporting from the state Capitol, I'm Tyler Fine.

Intro:	Families of inmates who commit suicide may now have to prove gross negligence in order to bring lawsuits against correctional facilities.
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Wrap: Republican Representative Mike Kelley proposed a bill requiring proof of gross negligence in any case brought against prisons for inmate suicides.

Kelley says prosecuting attorney Steven Kaderly from his district was part of the inspiration for the bill.

Kaderly came to the hearing to testify in support.

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Description: "What we're wanting to do is raise the standard of the burden of proof, you know, to make sure that if these lawsuits are filed, that there is gonna be strong proof that there should be liability."

Currently the law defines gross negligence as the failure to act on a strong probability that an inmate would commit suicide.

Reporting from the state Capitol, I'm Tyler Fine.

Intro:	The Missouri House Corrections Committee heard a bill that defines gross negligence for any lawsuit regarding suicides in correctional facilities.
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Wrap: The bill would change the current wording of the law from negligence to gross negligence in an effort to avoid costly lawsuits against prisons.

Bill sponsor Republican Representative Mike Kelley included a definition for gross negligence in the bill, saying that gross negligence can only be proven if someone knew something would happen, but did nothing to stop it.

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Description: "The state and the county is having to pay out on lawsuits that I do not feel that they need to be paying out on."

Kelley says that lawsuits over inmate suicide can take money away from the facilities that need it.

Reporting from the state Capitol, I'm Tyler Fine.