II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 992 

To improve the treatment of Federal prisoners who are primary caretaker 

parents, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 2, 2019 

Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Ms. WARREN, Mr. DURBIN, and Ms. HARRIS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To improve the treatment of Federal prisoners who are 

primary caretaker parents, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Dignity for Incarcer5 ated Women Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘Dignity Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. IMPROVING THE TREATMENT OF PRIMARY CARE2 TAKER PARENTS AND OTHER INDIVIDUALS 

3 IN FEDERAL PRISONS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 303 of title 18, United 

5 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘§ 4051. Treatment of primary caretaker parents and 

8 other individuals 

9 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

10 ‘‘(1) the term ‘correctional officer’ means a cor11 rectional officer of the Bureau of Prisons; 

12 ‘‘(2) the term ‘covered institution’ means a 

13 Federal penal or correctional institution; 

14 ‘‘(3) the term ‘Director’ means the Director of 

15 the Bureau of Prisons; 

16 ‘‘(4) the term ‘post-partum recovery’ has the 

17 meaning given the term ‘postpartum recovery’ in 

18 section 4322; 

19 ‘‘(5) the term ‘primary caretaker parent’ has 

20 the meaning given the term in section 31903 of the 

21 Family Unity Demonstration Project Act (34 U.S.C. 

22 12242); 

23 ‘‘(6) the term ‘prisoner’ means an individual 

24 who is incarcerated in a covered institution, includ25 ing a vulnerable person; and 


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1 ‘‘(7) the term ‘vulnerable person’ means an in2 dividual who— 

3 ‘‘(A) is under 21 years of age or over 60 

4 years of age; 

5 ‘‘(B) is pregnant; 

6 ‘‘(C) identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, 

7 transgender, or intersex; 

8 ‘‘(D) is victim of or witness to a crime; 

9 ‘‘(E) has filed a nonfrivolous civil rights 

10 claim in Federal or State court; 

11 ‘‘(F) has a serious mental or physical ill12 ness or disability; or 

13 ‘‘(G) during the period of incarceration, 

14 has been determined to have experienced or to 

15 be experiencing severe trauma or to be the vic16 tim of gender-based violence— 

17 ‘‘(i) by any court or administrative ju18 dicial proceeding; 

19 ‘‘(ii) by any corrections official; 

20 ‘‘(iii) by the individual’s attorney or 

21 legal service provider; or 

22 ‘‘(iv) by the individual. 

23 ‘‘(b) VISITATION RULES.—The Director shall pro24 mulgate regulations for visitation between prisoners who 


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1 are primary caretaker parents and their family members 

2 under which— 

3 ‘‘(1) a prisoner may receive visits not fewer 

4 than 6 days per week, which shall include Saturday 

5 and Sunday; 

6 ‘‘(2) a Federal penal or correctional institution 

7 shall be open for visitation for not fewer than 8 

8 hours per day; 

9 ‘‘(3) a prisoner may have up to 5 adult visitors 

10 and an unlimited number of child visitors per visit; 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(4) a prisoner may have physical contact with 

13 visitors unless the prisoner presents an immediate 

14 physical danger to the visitors. 

15 ‘‘(c) PROHIBITION ON PLACEMENT OF PREGNANT

16 PRISONERS OR PRISONERS IN POST-PARTUM RECOVERY

17 IN SEGREGATED HOUSING UNITS.— 

18 ‘‘(1) PLACEMENT IN SEGREGATED HOUSING

19 UNITS.—A covered institution may not place a pris20 oner who is pregnant or in post-partum recovery in 

21 a segregated housing unit unless the prisoner pre22 sents an immediate risk of harm to the prisoner or 

23 others. 


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1 ‘‘(2) RESTRICTIONS.—Any placement of a pris2 oner described in subparagraph (A) in a segregated 

3 housing unit shall be limited and temporary. 

4 ‘‘(d) PARENTING CLASSES.—The Director shall pro5 vide parenting classes to each prisoner who is a primary 

6 caretaker parent. 

7 ‘‘(e) TRAUMA SCREENING.—The Director shall pro8 vide training to each correctional officer and each em9 ployee of the Bureau of Prisons who regularly interacts 

10 with prisoners, including each instructor and health care 

11 professional, to enable those correctional officers and em12 ployees to— 

13 ‘‘(1) identify a prisoner who has a mental or 

14 physical health need relating to trauma the prisoner 

15 has experienced; and 

16 ‘‘(2) refer a prisoner described in paragraph (1) 

17 to the proper healthcare professional for treatment. 

18 ‘‘(f) OMBUDSMAN.—The Attorney General shall des19 ignate an ombudsman to oversee and monitor, with re20 spect to Federal penal and correctional institutions— 

21 ‘‘(1) prisoner transportation; 

22 ‘‘(2) use of segregated housing; 

23 ‘‘(3) strip searches of prisoners; and 

24 ‘‘(4) civil rights violations. 

25 ‘‘(g) TELECOMMUNICATIONS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director— 

2 ‘‘(A) may not charge a fee for a telephone 

3 call made by a prisoner; and 

4 ‘‘(B) shall make videoconferencing avail5 able to prisoners in each Federal penal or cor6 rectional institution free of charge. 

7 ‘‘(2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in 

8 paragraph (1)(B) shall be construed to authorize the 

9 Director to use videoconferencing as a substitute for 

10 in-person visits. 

11 ‘‘(h) INMATE HEALTH.— 

12 ‘‘(1) HEALTH CARE ACCESS.—The Director 

13 shall ensure that all prisoners receive adequate 

14 health care. 

15 ‘‘(2) HEALTHCARE PRODUCTS.— 

16 ‘‘(A) AVAILABILITY.—The Director shall 

17 make the healthcare products described in sub18 paragraph (C) available to prisoners for free, in 

19 a quantity that is appropriate to the healthcare 

20 needs of each prisoner. 

21 ‘‘(B) QUALITY OF PRODUCTS.—The Direc22 tor shall ensure that the healthcare products 

23 provided under this paragraph conform with ap24 plicable industry standards. 


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1 ‘‘(C) PRODUCTS.—The healthcare products 

2 described in this subparagraph are— 

3 ‘‘(i) tampons; 

4 ‘‘(ii) sanitary napkins; 

5 ‘‘(iii) moisturizing soap, which may 

6 not be lye-based; 

7 ‘‘(iv) shampoo; 

8 ‘‘(v) body lotion; 

9 ‘‘(vi) Vaseline; 

10 ‘‘(vii) toothpaste; 

11 ‘‘(viii) toothbrushes; 

12 ‘‘(ix) aspirin; 

13 ‘‘(x) ibuprofen; and 

14 ‘‘(xi) any other healthcare product 

15 that the Director determines appropriate. 

16 ‘‘(3) GYNECOLOGIST ACCESS.—The Director 

17 shall ensure that all prisoners have access to a gyne18 cologist as appropriate. 

19 ‘‘(i) USE OF SEX-APPROPRIATE CORRECTIONAL OF20 FICERS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) REGULATIONS.—The Director shall make 

22 rules under which— 

23 ‘‘(A) a correctional officer may not conduct 

24 a strip search of a prisoner of the opposite sex 

25 unless— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the prisoner presents a risk of 

2 immediate harm to the prisoner or others, 

3 and no other correctional officer of the 

4 same sex as the prisoner, or medical staff, 

5 is available to assist; or 

6 ‘‘(ii) the prisoner has previously re7 quested that an officer of a different sex 

8 conduct searches; 

9 ‘‘(B) a correctional officer may not enter a 

10 restroom reserved for prisoners of the opposite 

11 sex unless— 

12 ‘‘(i) a prisoner in the restroom pre13 sents a risk of immediate harm to the pris14 oner or others; or 

15 ‘‘(ii) there is a medical emergency in 

16 the restroom and no other correctional offi17 cer of the appropriate sex is available to 

18 assist; 

19 ‘‘(C) a transgender prisoner’s sex shall be 

20 determined according to the sex with which the 

21 prisoner identifies; and 

22 ‘‘(D) a correctional officer may not search 

23 or physically examine a prisoner for the sole 

24 purpose of determining the prisoner’s genital 

25 status or sex. 


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1 ‘‘(2) RELATION TO OTHER LAWS.—Nothing in 

2 paragraph (1) shall be construed to affect the re3 quirements under the Prison Rape Elimination Act 

4 of 2003 (34 U.S.C. 30301 et seq.).’’. 

5 (b) SUBSTANCE ABUSE TREATMENT.—Section 

6 3621(e) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by 

7 adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘(7) ELIGIBILITY OF PRIMARY CARETAKER

9 PARENTS AND PREGNANT WOMEN.—The Director of 

10 the Bureau of Prisons may not prohibit an eligible 

11 prisoner who is a primary caretaker parent (as de12 fined in section 4051) or pregnant from partici13 pating in a program of residential substance abuse 

14 treatment provided under paragraph (1) on the basis 

15 of a failure by the eligible prisoner, before being 

16 committed to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, 

17 to disclose to any official of the Bureau of Prisons 

18 that the eligible prisoner had a substance abuse 

19 problem on or before the date on which the eligible 

20 prisoner was committed to the custody of the Bu21 reau of Prisons.’’. 

22 (c) IMPLEMENTATION REPORT.—Not later than 1 

23 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director 

24 of the Bureau of Prisons shall submit to the Committee 

25 on the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee on the 


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1 Judiciary of the House of Representatives a report on the 

2 implementation of this section and the amendments made 

3 by this section. 

4 (d) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

5 (1) TABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of sections 

6 for chapter 303 of title 18, United States Code, is 

7 amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘4051. Treatment of primary caretaker parents and other individuals.’’. 

8 (2) HEALTHCARE PRODUCTS.—Section 611 of 

9 the First Step Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–391; 

10 132 Stat. 5194) is repealed. 

11 SEC. 3. OVERNIGHT VISIT PILOT PROGRAM. 

12 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

13 (1) the term ‘‘Director’’ means the Director of 

14 the Bureau of Prisons; 

15 (2) the term ‘‘primary caretaker parent’’ has 

16 the meaning given the term in section 31903 of the 

17 Family United Demonstration Project Act (34 

18 U.S.C. 12242); and 

19 (3) the term ‘‘prisoner’’ means an individual 

20 who is incarcerated in a Federal penal or correc21 tional institution. 

22 (b) PILOT PROGRAM.—The Director shall carry out 

23 a pilot program under which prisoners who are primary 

24 caretaker parents and meet eligibility criteria established 


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1 by the Director may receive overnight visits from family 

2 members. 

3 (c) ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA.—In establishing eligi4 bility criteria for the pilot program under subsection (b), 

5 the Director shall— 

6 (1) require that a prisoner have displayed good 

7 behavior; and 

8 (2) prohibit participation by any prisoner who 

9 has been convicted of a crime of violence (as defined 

10 in section 16 of title 18, United States Code). 

Æ 


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