Issue of Personal Care Items. There shall be written policies and procedures developed by the facility administrator for the issue of personal hygiene items. Double edged safety razors, electric razors, and other shaving instruments capable of breaking the skin, when shared among inmates, must be disinfected between individual uses by the method prescribed by the State Board of Barbering and Cosmetology in Sections 979 and 980, Chapter 9, Title 16, California Code of Regulations. The written policies and procedures called for by this regulation should include the process by which inmates are made aware that personal care items are available on an as-needed basis. Providing a handout, posting notice in living areas, including the information in the inmate orientation required by Section 1069 are some, but may not be all, the ways to accomplish this notification.
Some jurisdictions prefer to issue the items at intake as a matter of routine.
Local jurisdictions should be aware that personal care items are a sensitive issue and have recently been the subject of litigation in the city jails. As noted in the guideline to Section 1206.5, Management of Communicable Diseases in a Custody Setting , there is reason to believe the sharing of razors and blades may be a significant route of transmission for some contagious diseases like AIDS and hepatitis. It is important that inmates not share these devices unless they are carefully disinfected between use. Disposable razors cannot be effectively disinfected and thus must be disposed of after an individual's use. This may take the form of a board or cabinet with numbered slots that correspond to individual inmates or their respective cells.