Intervention in or reporting of use of unreasonable, excessive or illegal force by a witnessing officer. Whistle blower protections. Review and disclosure of recording of incident. Plan for implementation of body-worn recording equipment

(a) Any correction officer who witnesses another correction officer use what the witnessing correction officer objectively knows to be excessive or illegal use of force shall intervene and attempt to stop such other correction officer from using such force. Any correction officer who fails to intervene in such an incident may be prosecuted and punished in accordance with the provisions of section 53a-8 for the same acts as the correction officer who used unreasonable, excessive or illegal force. (b) Any correction officer who witnesses another correction officer use what the witnessing correction officer objectively knows to be unreasonable, excessive or illegal use of force or is otherwise aware of such use of force by another correction officer shall report, as soon as is practicable, such use of force to the warden of the facility where such use of force occurred, who shall immediately upon being informed of such use of force report such use of force to the Commissioner of Correction and the state police. Any correction officer required to report such an incident who fails to do so may be prosecuted and punished in accordance with the provisions of sections 53a-165 to 53a-167, inclusive. (c) The Department of Correction or any employee of the department shall not take any retaliatory personnel action or discriminate against a correction officer because such correction officer intervened in an incident pursuant to subsection (a) of this section or reported an incident pursuant to subsection (b) of this section. Such intervening or reporting correction officer shall be protected by the provisions of section 4-61dd. (d) If a correction officer is giving a formal statement about the use of force or if a correction officer is the subject of a disciplinary investigation in which a recording is being considered as part of a review of an incident, the officer shall (1) have the right to review such recording in the presence of the officer's attorney or labor representative, and (2) have the right to review recordings capturing the officer's image or voice during the incident. Such recording shall not be disclosed, except by request of and to (A) a person in the recording or an authorized representative of the family of such person as disclosed to the Correction Ombuds; or (B) the chairpersons and ranking members of the joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to the Department of Correction. (e) Not later than January 1, 2026, the Commissioner of Correction shall develop a plan for the implementation of body-worn recording equipment in correctional facilities. Not later than February 1, 2026, the commissioner shall report such plan, in accordance with the provisions of section 11-4a, to the joint standing committees of the General Assembly having cognizance of matters relating to public safety, government oversight and the Department of Correction. Such plan shall include recommendations for any legislation necessary to implement such plan, the budgetary resources required for the implementation of such plan and the department's timeline for implementation of such plan, if such budgetary resources are made available. (f) For purposes of this section, “use of force” means the use of physical force or deadly physical force, as defined in section 53a-3, by a correction officer to compel compliance by a person who is incarcerated. “Use of force” includes, but is not limited to, the use of restraints, chemical agents, canines, chokeholds or munitions or forceable extraction from a cell.