[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3920 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3920

 To improve the conditions for women inmates in jails and correctional 
                              facilities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 14, 2000

 Ms. Waters (for herself, Mrs. Christensen, Mr. Meeks of New York, Ms. 
Jackson-Lee of Texas, Mr. Capuano, Mrs. Maloney of New York, Mrs. Jones 
 of Ohio, Mrs. Meek of Florida, Mr. Hilliard, Ms. Lofgren, Mr. Owens, 
   Ms. Norton, Ms. Kilpatrick, Ms. Carson, Mr. Pastor, Mr. Lewis of 
  Georgia, Ms. DeLauro, Mrs. Morella, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Jackson of 
  Illinois, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Conyers, and Mr. Payne) introduced the 
  following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To improve the conditions for women inmates in jails and correctional 
                              facilities.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Protection of Women in Prisons Act 
of 1999''.

SEC. 2. PROTECTION OF WOMEN INMATES.

    Section 20105(b)(1) of the Violent Crime Control and Law 
Enforcement Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 13705(b)(1)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``and'' after the 
        semicolon;
            (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period at the end 
        and inserting a semicolon; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) provide assurances, with accompanying 
                documentation, to the Attorney General that the State 
                has in effect policies that are monitored and enforced, 
                in jails and correctional facilities throughout the 
                State, that--
                            ``(i) restrict the role of male employees 
                        with women inmates;
                            ``(ii) prohibit male employees from 
                        supervising women inmates during showering and 
                        undressing;
                            ``(iii) prohibit male employees from 
                        conducting body searches, `thorough' pat 
                        searches, and frisks on women inmates except in 
                        the case of an emergency or in the presence of 
                        a female employee;
                            ``(iv) address the health needs of women 
                        inmates;
                            ``(v) prohibit the use of shackles or other 
                        restraints on pregnant women unless it is shown 
                        to be absolutely necessary;
                            ``(vi) provide additional protections to 
                        women inmates who report violations of this 
                        subparagraph to insulate them from retaliatory 
                        acts;
                            ``(vii) impose disciplinary action against 
                        a jail or correctional facility employee who 
                        violates the provisions of this subparagraph; 
                        and
                            ``(viii) require that a male employee who 
                        is found to have committed physical or sexual 
                        misconduct against a woman inmate is 
                        terminated;
                    ``(D) provide documentation to the Attorney General 
                that jails and correctional facilities throughout the 
                State have--
                            ``(i) instituted programs designed to 
                        address prior victimization, drug and alcohol 
                        abuse, and high-risk drug and sexual behaviors 
                        of women inmates;
                            ``(ii) contracted with an outside 
                        correctional health care organization to 
                        regularly assess the status of women's health 
                        in correctional settings;
                            ``(iii) complied with national correctional 
                        health care standards for screening, 
                        classifying, and housing that ensure continuity 
                        of care for women inmates;
                            ``(iv) implemented programs for crisis 
                        intervention, suicide precaution, case 
                        management, and discharge planning for women 
                        inmates; and
                            ``(v) made a concerted effort to meet 
                        nationally established standards that ensure 
                        the basic level of health care services for 
                        women offenders; and
                    ``(E) provide documentation to the Attorney General 
                that the State corrections department has--
                            ``(i) conducted a needs assessment of 
                        minority health needs in correctional settings; 
                        and
                            ``(ii) analyzed its health services to 
                        women inmates and classified the health and 
                        security risk of each woman inmate.''.
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