I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 176 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to impose conditions on the use 

of solitary confinement in Federal prisons, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 4, 2021 

Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to impose conditions 

on the use of solitary confinement in Federal prisons, 

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 ‘‘Restricting the Use 

5 of Solitary Confinement Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SOLITARY CONFINEMENT. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 301 of title 18, United 

8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘§ 4015. Solitary confinement 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Any placement of an inmate in 

3 solitary confinement shall comply with the following: 

4 ‘‘(1) An inmate shall not be placed in solitary 

5 confinement unless there is reasonable cause to be6 lieve that— 

7 ‘‘(A) the inmate would create a substantial 

8 risk of immediate serious harm to another, as 

9 evidenced by recent threats or conduct; and 

10 ‘‘(B) a less restrictive intervention would 

11 be insufficient to reduce this risk. 

12 The correctional facility shall bear the burden of es13 tablishing this standard by clear and convincing evi14 dence before any agency review. An inmate who 

15 would create a substantial risk of immediate serious 

16 harm to self, or who create a substantial risk of im17 mediate serious harm to another because of a med18 ical reason shall be placed in an appropriate medical 

19 facility. 

20 ‘‘(2) An inmate shall not be placed in solitary 

21 confinement for non-disciplinary reasons. 

22 ‘‘(3) An inmate shall not be placed in solitary 

23 confinement before receiving a personal and com24 prehensive medical and mental health examination 

25 conducted by a clinician. A preliminary examination 

26 shall be conducted by a member of the medical staff 


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1 within 12 hours before confinement and the clinical 

2 examination shall be conducted within 48 hours of 

3 confinement. 

4 ‘‘(4) An inmate shall only be held in solitary 

5 confinement pursuant to initial procedures and re6 views which provide timely, fair and meaningful op7 portunities for the inmate to contest the confinement 

8 in such an administrative proceeding as the Director 

9 shall establish. These procedures shall include— 

10 ‘‘(A) the right to an initial hearing within 

11 72 hours of placement and a review every 15 

12 days thereafter, in the absence of exceptional 

13 circumstances, unavoidable delays, or reason14 able postponements; 

15 ‘‘(B) the right to appear at the hearing; 

16 ‘‘(C) the right to be represented at the 

17 hearing pursuant to the Defender Services Pro18 gram of the Department of Justice; 

19 ‘‘(D) an independent hearing officer; and 

20 ‘‘(E) a written statement of reasons for the 

21 decision made at the hearing. 

22 ‘‘(5) The final decision to place an inmate in 

23 solitary confinement shall be made by the adminis24 trator of the correctional facility where that inmate 

25 is held. 


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1 ‘‘(6) An inmate shall not be placed or retained 

2 in solitary confinement if the administrator deter3 mines that the inmate no longer meets the standard 

4 for the confinement. 

5 ‘‘(7) A clinician shall evaluate each inmate 

6 placed in solitary confinement on a daily basis, in a 

7 confidential setting outside of the cell whenever pos8 sible, to determine whether the inmate is a vulner9 able person. 

10 ‘‘(8) An inmate shall not be placed in solitary 

11 confinement for more than 15 consecutive days, or 

12 for more than 20 days during any 60-day period. 

13 ‘‘(9) An inmate held in solitary confinement 

14 shall not be denied access to food, water, medical 

15 care including emergency medical care, or any other 

16 basic necessity. 

17 ‘‘(10) An inmate shall not be directly released 

18 from solitary confinement to the community during 

19 the final 180 days of the inmate’s term of incarcer20 ation, unless it is necessary for the safety of the in21 mate, staff, other inmates, or the public. 

22 ‘‘(11) An inmate who is a vulnerable person de23 scribed in subparagraph (B), (E), or (F) of sub24 section (b)(3), who would otherwise be placed in soli25 tary confinement, shall alternately be placed in an 


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1 appropriate medical or other unit as determined by 

2 the administrator. 

3 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 ‘‘(1) CLINICIAN.—The term ‘clinician’ means a 

5 Federal or State licensed physician, except that for 

6 purposes of mental health evaluations, the term shall 

7 include a Federal or State licensed psychiatrist or 

8 psychologist, or an advanced practice nurse or clin9 ical nurse specialist with a specialty in psychiatric 

10 nursing. 

11 ‘‘(2) SOLITARY CONFINEMENT.—The term ‘soli12 tary confinement’ means confinement of an inmate 

13 in a correctional facility, pursuant to disciplinary, 

14 administrative, protective, investigative, medical, or 

15 other classification, in a cell or similarly confined 

16 holding or living space, alone or with other inmates, 

17 for approximately 20 hours or more per day, with 

18 severely restricted activity, movement, and social 

19 interaction. 

20 ‘‘(3) VULNERABLE PERSON.—The term ‘vulner21 able person’ means any inmate who— 

22 ‘‘(A) is 25 years of age or younger; 

23 ‘‘(B) is 65 years of age or older; 

24 ‘‘(C) has a disability based on a mental ill25 ness, a history of psychiatric hospitalization, or 


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1 has recently exhibited conduct, including serious 

2 self-mutilation, indicating the need for further 

3 observation or evaluation to determine the pres4 ence of mental illness; 

5 ‘‘(D) has a developmental disability; 

6 ‘‘(E) has a serious medical condition which 

7 cannot effectively be treated in isolated confine8 ment; 

9 ‘‘(F) is pregnant, is in the postpartum pe10 riod, or has recently suffered a miscarriage or 

11 terminated a pregnancy; 

12 ‘‘(G) has a significant auditory or visual 

13 impairment; or 

14 ‘‘(H) is perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisex15 ual, transgender, or intersex.’’. 

16 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

17 for such chapter is amended by adding at the end the fol18 lowing: 

‘‘4015. Solitary confinement.’’. 

19 SEC. 3. REPORT. 

20 Not later than 270 days after the date of enactment 

21 of this Act, the Bureau of Prisons shall prepare, in con22 sultation with other entities including human rights advo23 cates, mental health experts, academics, and other profes24 sionals in the correction and rehabilitation area, and 

25 thereafter submit a report to the Committees on the JudiVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:30 Feb 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H176.IH H176

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1 ciary of the House of Representatives and of the Senate 

2 with recommendations to reduce the use of solitary con3 finement in Federal prisons to near zero over the 10-year 

4 period beginning on the date of the submission of the re5 port. 

Æ 


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