Corrections_Today_July_August_2023_Vol.85_No.4

How do you fulfill CNA requirements? Consular notification is fast and easy. Notification can be made by fax, email or telephone. Faxes can be sent at any time, on any day, and the fax confirmation sheet provides a written record of the notification. Email also can be sent at any time of the day or night, weekends and holidays. While faxing is becoming rarer, most foreign embassies and consulates have a dedicated email address for consular notification purposes. The sent email is a record of the notification. Keep a copy of the fax or sent email in the file. If the email or fax does not go through, please email us at consnot@state.gov and we will find the correct contact information. Again, it’s essential not only to provide notification, but to document it. In the event the detainee, the detainee’s attorney or the foreign government later claims that no offer to provide consular notification was made or notification never happened, including in subsequent litigation challenging their con viction or sentence on the basis of non-notification, you have proof. If you notify by telephone, make a note in the file of the time and date, the phone number you called, and the name of the person with whom you spoke. What happens after you fulfill our CNA obligations? After the foreign embassy or consulate has been notified of an

or other medical facility for treatment. You should notify the foreign consular officer of their citizen’s departure from your facility, and where they are going for medical care. We also encourage you to notify the Embassy or consulate in any situation where a foreign national is in such a critical condition that contacting consular officials would be in that person’s best interests--for example, the foreign national is in the Intensive Care Unit, comatose or on a respirator. Notify the foreign consular officer when they return to your facility. If an inmate or detainee dies in your facility, every effort should be made to ensure that notification is provided to the foreign embassy or consul ate, in addition to notifying next of kin. If a detained or incarcerated foreign national originally turned down consular notification following their arrest but requests it later while in detention or while serv ing their sentence, you must provide notification to the foreign embassy or consulate. When a foreign national changes their mind, send consular notification as soon as reasonably possible under the circumstances. The foreign embassy or consulate may complain that notification was not provided immediately after the arrest. That is why it is critical you keep records indicating notification was initially declined and the foreign national changed their mind. These records help the State Department respond to complaints from foreign embassies and consulates.

arrest or detention, what hap pens next is up to the foreign government’s officials. Consular notification and access obliga tions provide foreign officials and those whom they authorize to have “access” to their nationals. Access may be an in-person visit, a prearranged telephone call or a letter. Whether foreign officials wish to communicate with their citizens and the method depends on the traditions and resources of the country, and the location of the nearest consulate. Some of the services that consular officers may provide include: →

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