II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 517 

To prevent discrimination and retaliation against incarcerated workers, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 16, 2023 

Mr. BOOKER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To prevent discrimination and retaliation against 

incarcerated workers, 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 ‘‘Combating Workplace 

5 Discrimination in Correctional Facilities Act of 2023’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF REQUIRED PARTICIPATION IN 

7 THE INMATE WORK PROGRAM. 

8 (a) UNITED STATES CODE.—Section 4001(b) of title 

9 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 

10 the following: 


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1 ‘‘(3) The Attorney General may not require inmates 

2 to participate in a work program.’’. 

3 (b) CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS.—The Attor4 ney General shall amend sections 545.20 and 545.23 of 

5 title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, and any other regu6 lations necessary, to comply with the amendment made in 

7 paragraph (1). 

8 SEC. 3. ELIMINATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE EXHAUSTION 

9 REQUIREMENT. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7(a) of the Civil Rights 

11 of Institutionalized Persons Act (42 U.S.C. 1997e(a)) is 

12 amended to read as follows: 

13 ‘‘(a) ADMINISTRATIVE EXHAUSTION NOT RE14 QUIRED.—A prisoner confined in any jail, prison, or other 

15 correctional facility may bring an action with respect to 

16 prison conditions under section 1979 of the Revised Stat17 utes of the United States (42 U.S.C. 1983) or another 

18 Federal law without regard to whether the prisoner has 

19 exhausted the administrative remedies that are avail20 able.’’. 

21 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub22 section (a) shall apply with respect to any action that is 

23 filed on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 4. LIMITATIONS ON RETALIATION AND DISCIPLINE 

2 FOR REFUSAL TO WORK. 

3 (a) PROHIBITION OF RETALIATION FOR REFUSAL TO

4 WORK.—Section 6 of the Civil Rights of Institutionalized 

5 Persons Act (42 U.S.C. 1997d) is amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘No person’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) 

7 REPORTING VIOLATIONS.—No person’’; and 

8 (2) by adding at the end: 

9 ‘‘(b) REFUSAL TO WORK.—No prisoner (as defined 

10 in section 7) shall be subjected to retaliation in any man11 ner for refusal to work.’’. 

12 (b) LIMITATION ON DISCIPLINE.— 

13 (1) UNITED STATES CODE.—Section 4042 of 

14 title 18, United States Code, is amended— 

15 (A) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub16 section (e); and 

17 (B) by inserting after subsection (c) the 

18 following: 

19 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON DISCIPLINE.—The Director of 

20 the Bureau of Prisons may not discipline a prisoner for 

21 refusing to work.’’. 

22 (2) CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS.—The 

23 Attorney General shall amend sections 541.3 and 

24 545.24(c) of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, 

25 and any other regulations necessary, to comply with 

26 the amendment made in paragraph (1). 


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1 SEC. 5. NONDISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT AND PUB2 LIC SERVICES. 

3 (a) CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 701 of the Civil 

5 Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e) is amended— 

6 (A) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘(in7 cluding an entity that operates, directly or by 

8 contract, a correctional facility, with respect to 

9 employment of persons including incarcerated 

10 workers)’’ after ‘‘industry affecting commerce’’; 

11 (B) in subsection (f), by inserting ‘‘(includ12 ing an incarcerated worker)’’ after ‘‘an indi13 vidual’’ the first place it appears; and 

14 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

15 ‘‘(o) The term ‘correctional facility’ means a jail, 

16 prison, or other detention facility used to house people who 

17 have been arrested, detained, held, or convicted by a crimi18 nal justice agency or a court. 

19 ‘‘(p) In subsections (b) and (f), the term ‘employ’ has 

20 the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Fair Labor 

21 Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203). 

22 ‘‘(q) The term ‘incarcerated worker’ means an indi23 vidual, incarcerated or detained in a correctional facility 

24 operated by a public agency or by a private entity through 

25 a contract with a public agency, who performs labor of26 fered or required by or through the correctional facility, 


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1 including labor associated with prison work programs, 

2 work release programs, the UNICOR program, State pris3 on industries, public works programs, restitution centers, 

4 and correctional facility operations and maintenance.’’. 

5 (2) EXCEPTION.—Section 703(a)(2) of the Civil 

6 Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e–2(a)(2)) is 

7 amended by inserting ‘‘, except that a correctional 

8 facility may segregate incarcerated workers into sep9 arate facilities by sex if necessary to maintain pri10 vacy or institutional order’’ before the period. 

11 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

12 717(a) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 

13 2000e–16(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 

14 following: ‘‘This section shall not apply to a Federal 

15 department, agency, or unit that operates, directly 

16 or by contract, a correctional facility, with respect to 

17 employment of persons including incarcerated work18 ers.’’. 

19 (b) AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1990; 

20 REHABILITATION ACT OF 1973.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each agency that operates a 

22 correctional facility (directly or by contract with a 

23 private entity) shall— 

24 (A) provide to each incarcerated worker 

25 notice of the worker’s rights under the AmeriVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:57 Mar 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S517.IS S517

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1 cans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 

2 12101 et seq.) and section 504 of the Rehabili3 tation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794), with re4 spect to the correctional facilities that the agen5 cy operates; 

6 (B) implement policies and training to en7 sure compliance with the Americans with Dis8 abilities Act of 1990 and section 504 of the Re9 habilitation Act of 1973, with respect to those 

10 facilities; 

11 (C) annually prepare a report that con12 tains an evaluation of the agency’s compliance 

13 with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 

14 1990 and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act 

15 of 1973, with respect to those facilities; and 

16 (D) submit the report described in sub17 paragraph (C) to the Attorney General, who 

18 shall make the report publicly available on the 

19 website of the Department of Justice. 

20 (2) NONCOMPLIANCE.—The Attorney General 

21 shall determine, and implement, appropriate rem22 edies for the failure of an agency covered by para23 graph (1) to submit a report required by paragraph 

24 (1). 


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1 (3) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms 

2 ‘‘correctional facility’’ and ‘‘incarcerated worker’’ 

3 have the meanings given the terms in section 701 of 

4 the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e), as 

5 amended by this Act. 

Æ 


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