I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2034 
To improve the treatment of Federal prisoners who are primary caretaker 
parents, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 2, 2019 
Ms. JAYAPAL (for herself and Ms. BASS) introduced the following bill; which 
was 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Dignity for Incarcer-
ated Women Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘Dignity Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. IMPROVING THE TREATMENT OF PRIMARY CARE-
TAKER PARENTS AND OTHER INDIVIDUALS 
IN FEDERAL PRISONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 303 of title 18, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘§ 4051. Treatment of primary caretaker parents and 
other individuals 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘correctional officer’ means a cor-
rectional officer of the Bureau of Prisons; 
‘‘(2) the term ‘covered institution’ means a 
Federal penal or correctional institution; 
‘‘(3) the term ‘Director’ means the Director of 
the Bureau of Prisons; 
‘‘(4) the term ‘post-partum recovery’ has the 
meaning given the term ‘postpartum recovery’ in 
section 4322; 
‘‘(5) the term ‘primary caretaker parent’ has 
the meaning given the term in section 31903 of the 
Family Unity Demonstration Project Act (34 U.S.C. 
12242); 
‘‘(6) the term ‘prisoner’ means an individual 
who is incarcerated in a covered institution, includ-
ing a vulnerable person; and 
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‘‘(7) the term ‘vulnerable person’ means an in-
dividual who— 
‘‘(A) is under 21 years of age or over 60 
years of age; 
‘‘(B) is pregnant; 
‘‘(C) identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, 
transgender, or intersex; 
‘‘(D) is victim of or witness to a crime; 
‘‘(E) has filed a nonfrivolous civil rights 
claim in Federal or State court; 
‘‘(F) has a serious mental or physical ill-
ness or disability; or 
‘‘(G) during the period of incarceration, 
has been determined to have experienced or to 
be experiencing severe trauma or to be the vic-
tim of gender-based violence— 
‘‘(i) by any court or administrative ju-
dicial proceeding; 
‘‘(ii) by any corrections official; 
‘‘(iii) by the individual’s attorney or 
legal service provider; or 
‘‘(iv) by the individual. 
‘‘(b) VISITATION RULES.—The Director shall pro-
mulgate regulations for visitation between prisoners who 
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are primary caretaker parents and their family members 
under which— 
‘‘(1) a prisoner may receive visits not fewer 
than 6 days per week, which shall include Saturday 
and Sunday; 
‘‘(2) a Federal penal or correctional institution 
shall be open for visitation for not fewer than 8 
hours per day; 
‘‘(3) a prisoner may have up to 5 adult visitors 
and an unlimited number of child visitors per visit; 
and 
‘‘(4) a prisoner may have physical contact with 
visitors unless the prisoner presents an immediate 
physical danger to the visitors. 
‘‘(c) PROHIBITION ON PLACEMENT OF PREGNANT 
PRISONERS OR PRISONERS IN POST-PARTUM RECOVERY 
IN SEGREGATED HOUSING UNITS.— 
‘‘(1) PLACEMENT
IN
SEGREGATED
HOUSING 
UNITS.—A covered institution may not place a pris-
oner who is pregnant or in post-partum recovery in 
a segregated housing unit unless the prisoner pre-
sents an immediate risk of harm to the prisoner or 
others. 
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