I 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3567 
To prevent discrimination and retaliation against incarcerated workers, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 22, 2023 
Mr. CLEAVER (for himself, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Mr. THOMPSON of Mis-
sissippi, Ms. NORTON, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, and Ms. PRESSLEY) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 
Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Education and the Work-
force, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each 
case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 
the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To prevent discrimination and retaliation against 
incarcerated workers, 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 ‘‘Combating Workplace 
Discrimination in Correctional Facilities Act of 2023’’. 
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SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF REQUIRED PARTICIPATION IN 
THE INMATE WORK PROGRAM. 
(a) UNITED STATES CODE.—Section 4001(b) of title 
18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 
the following: 
‘‘(3) The Attorney General may not require inmates 
to participate in a work program.’’. 
(b) CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS.—The Attor-
ney General shall amend sections 545.20 and 545.23 of 
title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, and any other regu-
lations necessary, to comply with the amendment made in 
paragraph (1). 
SEC. 3. ELIMINATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE EXHAUSTION 
REQUIREMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7(a) of the Civil Rights 
of Institutionalized Persons Act (42 U.S.C. 1997e(a)) is 
amended to read as follows: 
‘‘(a) 
ADMINISTRATIVE
EXHAUSTION
NOT
RE-
QUIRED.—A prisoner confined in any jail, prison, or other 
correctional facility may bring an action with respect to 
prison conditions under section 1979 of the Revised Stat-
utes of the United States (42 U.S.C. 1983) or another 
Federal law without regard to whether the prisoner has 
exhausted the administrative remedies that are avail-
able.’’. 
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(b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub-
section (a) shall apply with respect to any action that is 
filed on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 4. LIMITATIONS ON RETALIATION AND DISCIPLINE 
FOR REFUSAL TO WORK. 
(a) PROHIBITION OF RETALIATION FOR REFUSAL TO 
WORK.—Section 6 of the Civil Rights of Institutionalized 
Persons Act (42 U.S.C. 1997d) is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘No person’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) 
REPORTING VIOLATIONS.—No person’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end: 
‘‘(b) REFUSAL TO WORK.—No prisoner (as defined 
in section 7) shall be subjected to retaliation in any man-
ner for refusal to work.’’. 
(b) LIMITATION ON DISCIPLINE.— 
(1) UNITED STATES CODE.—Section 4042 of 
title 18, United States Code, is amended— 
(A) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub-
section (e); and 
(B) by inserting after subsection (c) the 
following: 
‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON DISCIPLINE.—The Director of 
the Bureau of Prisons may not discipline a prisoner for 
refusing to work.’’. 
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(2) CODE
OF
FEDERAL
REGULATIONS.—The 
Attorney General shall amend sections 541.3 and 
545.24(c) of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, 
and any other regulations necessary, to comply with 
the amendment made in paragraph (1). 
SEC. 5. NONDISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT AND PUB-
LIC SERVICES. 
(a) CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Section 701 of the Civil 
Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e) is amended— 
(A) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘(in-
cluding an entity that operates, directly or by 
contract, a correctional facility, with respect to 
employment of persons including incarcerated 
workers)’’ after ‘‘industry affecting commerce’’; 
(B) in subsection (f), by inserting ‘‘(includ-
ing an incarcerated worker)’’ after ‘‘an indi-
vidual’’ the first place it appears; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(o) The term ‘correctional facility’ means a jail, 
prison, or other detention facility used to house people who 
have been arrested, detained, held, or convicted by a crimi-
nal justice agency or a court. 
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‘‘(p) In subsections (b) and (f), the term ‘employ’ has 
the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Fair Labor 
Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203). 
‘‘(q) The term ‘incarcerated worker’ means an indi-
vidual, incarcerated or detained in a correctional facility 
operated by a public agency or by a private entity through 
a contract with a public agency, who performs labor of-
fered or required by or through the correctional facility, 
including labor associated with prison work programs, 
work release programs, the UNICOR program, State pris-
on industries, public works programs, restitution centers, 
and correctional facility operations and maintenance.’’. 
(2) EXCEPTION.—Section 703(a)(2) of the Civil 
Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e–2(a)(2)) is 
amended by inserting ‘‘, except that a correctional 
facility may segregate incarcerated workers into sep-
arate facilities by sex if necessary to maintain pri-
vacy or institutional order’’ before the period. 
(3) 
CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—Section 
717(a) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 
2000e–16(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following: ‘‘This section shall not apply to a Federal 
department, agency, or unit that operates, directly 
or by contract, a correctional facility, with respect to 
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employment of persons including incarcerated work-
ers.’’. 
(b) AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1990; 
REHABILITATION ACT OF 1973.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Each agency that operates a 
correctional facility (directly or by contract with a 
private entity) shall— 
(A) provide to each incarcerated worker 
notice of the worker’s rights under the Ameri-
cans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 
12101 et seq.) and section 504 of the Rehabili-
tation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794), with re-
spect to the correctional facilities that the agen-
cy operates; 
(B) implement policies and training to en-
sure compliance with the Americans with Dis-
abilities Act of 1990 and section 504 of the Re-
habilitation Act of 1973, with respect to those 
facilities; 
(C) annually prepare a report that con-
tains an evaluation of the agency’s compliance 
with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 
1990 and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act 
of 1973, with respect to those facilities; and 
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(D) submit the report described in sub-
paragraph (C) to the Attorney General, who 
shall make the report publicly available on the 
website of the Department of Justice. 
(2) NONCOMPLIANCE.—The Attorney General 
shall determine, and implement, appropriate rem-
edies for the failure of an agency covered by para-
graph (1) to submit a report required by paragraph 
(1). 
(3) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms 
‘‘correctional facility’’ and ‘‘incarcerated worker’’ 
have the meanings given the terms in section 701 of 
the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e), as 
amended by this Act. 
Æ 
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