II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5565 

To encourage States to report to the Attorney General certain information 

regarding inmates who give birth in the custody of law enforcement 

agencies, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 17 (legislative day, DECEMBER 16), 2024 

Mr. OSSOFF (for himself and Mr. KENNEDY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To encourage States to report to the Attorney General certain information regarding inmates who give birth in 

the custody of law enforcement agencies, 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 ‘‘Births in Custody Re5 porting Act of 2024’’ or the ‘‘BCRA’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STATE INFORMATION REGARDING PREGNANT INDI2 VIDUALS AND INDIVIDUALS WHO GIVE BIRTH 

3 IN THE CUSTODY OF LAW ENFORCEMENT. 

4 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘‘boot 

5 camp prison’’ and ‘‘State’’ have the meanings given those 

6 terms, respectively, in section 901(a) of the Omnibus 

7 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 

8 10251(a)). 

9 (b) REPORT.—For each fiscal year after the expira10 tion of the period specified in subsection (e)(1) in which 

11 a State receives funds for a program referred to in sub12 section (e)(2), the State shall report to the Attorney Gen13 eral, on a quarterly basis and pursuant to guidelines es14 tablished by the Attorney General, anonymized informa15 tion from each custodial facility within the State’s jurisdic16 tion, regarding any inmate who is pregnant or who has 

17 given birth while the individual is detained or incarcerated 

18 at a municipal or county jail, State prison, State-run boot 

19 camp prison, boot camp prison that is contracted out by 

20 the State, any State or local contract facility, or other 

21 local or State correctional facility (including any juvenile 

22 facility). 

23 (c) INFORMATION REQUIRED.—The report required 

24 by subsection (b) shall contain information that, at a min25 imum, includes— 


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1 (1) the total number of pregnant inmates in 

2 custody to date in that calendar year; 

3 (2) the race and ethnicity of each pregnant in4 mate described in paragraph (1); 

5 (3) the quarter of admission to custody for each 

6 pregnant inmate described under paragraph (1); 

7 (4) whether each female inmate was adminis8 tered a pregnancy test not later than 1 week after 

9 admission to custody; 

10 (5) whether each pregnant inmate received a 

11 prenatal visit with a qualified medical professional 

12 not later than 7 days after facility personnel deter13 mined that the inmate was pregnant; 

14 (6) the outcome of each inmate’s pregnancy if 

15 the pregnancy occurred while the inmate was in cus16 tody, including live birth, stillbirth, miscarriage, ec17 topic pregnancy, maternal death, neonatal death, 

18 and preterm birth; 

19 (7) the quarter when the pregnant inmate was 

20 released from custody or of the pregnancy outcome 

21 described in paragraph (6), whichever occurs first; 

22 (8) whether each outcome under paragraph (6) 

23 took place at the custodial facility or at an off-site 

24 location, and if at an off-site location, which off-site 

25 location; 


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1 (9) the number of times that restraints were 

2 used on each pregnant inmate, the type of restraint 

3 used, and the justification for use of restraints, and 

4 including the following information— 

5 (A) whether restraints were used during 

6 pregnancy, during labor, or during delivery; 

7 (B) whether restraints were used while the 

8 pregnant inmate was in transit between the 

9 custodial facility and medical appointments, a 

10 hospital, or court proceedings; and 

11 (C) whether restraints were used on the 

12 pregnant inmate’s ankles, wrists, or abdomen; 

13 (10) the number of pregnant inmates who were 

14 still in custody postpartum, defined as at least 12 

15 weeks after delivery, and information about each of 

16 those inmates, including— 

17 (A) whether each inmate, as described in 

18 this paragraph, received a screening for 

19 postpartum depression with a qualified medical 

20 provider; and 

21 (B) whether each inmate, as described in 

22 this paragraph, received a postpartum medical 

23 appointment with a qualified medical provider 

24 within two weeks of delivery; and 


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1 (11) the total number of inmates described in 

2 paragraphs (1) and (10) who were placed in restric3 tive housing while pregnant or postpartum, the rea4 son for such placement, and the amount of time 

5 spent in restrictive housing. 

6 (d) PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION.— 

7 Data collected under subsection (c) may not contain any 

8 personally identifiable information of any incarcerated 

9 pregnant or postpartum inmate. 

10 (e) COMPLIANCE AND INELIGIBILITY.— 

11 (1) COMPLIANCE DATE.—Each State shall have 

12 not more than 120 days from the date of enactment 

13 of this Act to comply with subsection (b), except 

14 that the Attorney General may grant an additional 

15 120 days to a State that is making good faith ef16 forts to comply with such subsection; and 

17 (2) INELIGIBILITY FOR FUNDS.—For any fiscal 

18 year after the expiration of the period specified in 

19 paragraph (1), a State that fails to comply with sub20 section (b), shall, at the discretion of the Attorney 

21 General, be subject to not more than a 10-percent 

22 reduction of the funds that would otherwise be allo23 cated for that fiscal year to the State under subpart 

24 1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control 


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1 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10151 et 

2 seq.). 

3 (f) REALLOCATION.—Amounts not allocated under 

4 the program referred to in subsection (e)(2) to a State 

5 for failure to fully comply with subsection (b) shall be re6 allocated under that program to States that have not 

7 failed to comply with such subsection. 

8 (g) PUBLICATION OF REPORTS BY ATTORNEY GEN9 ERAL.—The Attorney General shall make available to the 

10 public each report submitted under subsection (b). 

11 (h) STUDY REQUIRED.—The Attorney General shall 

12 carry out a study on the information reported under sub13 section (c) to— 

14 (1) determine means by which such information 

15 can be used to improve the treatment of inmates 

16 who are pregnant or who have given birth at the 

17 jails, prisons, and other specified facilities covered in 

18 the reports; and 

19 (2) examine— 

20 (A) the relationship, if any, between still21 births, miscarriages, maternal deaths, neonatal 

22 deaths, and preterm births that occur while in23 mates are in custody; and 

24 (B) the actions of management of such 

25 jails, prisons, and other specified facilities. 


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1 (i) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 2 years 

2 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney Gen3 eral shall prepare and submit to Congress a report that 

4 contains the findings of the study required by subsection 

5 (h). 

Æ 


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