2021 -- S 0395

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LC001661

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2021

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A N   A C T

RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- RESTRICTIVE HOUSING ACT

     Introduced By: Senators Mack, Acosta, Mendes, Anderson, Calkin, Bell, Murray, Euer,
and Cano

     Date Introduced: February 25, 2021

     Referred To: Senate Judiciary

     It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

     SECTION 1. Title 42 of the General Laws entitled "STATE AFFAIRS AND

GOVERNMENT" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following chapter:

CHAPTER 160

RESTRICTIVE HOUSING ACT

     42-160-1. Legislative intent.

     (a) It is the policy of the state of Rhode Island that the department of corrections and the

facilities it operates, maintain safe, secure housing for all inmates.

     (b) Restrictive housing should only be used:

     (1) In circumstances that pose a clear and direct threat to the safety of persons or to the safe

and secure operations of the facility;

     (2) In the absence of alternatives to restrictive housing;

     (3) For the shortest time possible; and

     (4) With the least restrictive conditions possible.

     42-160-2. Definitions.

     As used in this chapter, unless the context indicates a different meaning or intent:

     (1) "Administrative confinement" means any status or classification, except for disciplinary

confinement, for prisoners whose conduct may pose a serious threat to life, self, staff, other

prisoners, or the facility's security or orderly operation.

     (2) "Department" means the department of corrections.

     (3) "Director" means the director of the department of corrections.

     (4) "Disciplinary confinement" means punitive confinement of a prisoner based on

violation of departmental rules, whether in general population, a specialized housing unit, or

elsewhere.

     (5) "General population" means classification to maximum, medium, or minimum security,

with no restrictions placed on activities.

     (6) "Member of a vulnerable population" means someone who:

     (i) Is twenty-two (22) years of age or younger;

     (ii) Is fifty-five (55) years of age or older;

     (iii) Has a serious and persistent mental illness, as defined by the department of corrections,

or a mental disability, as defined in § 40.1-5-2;

     (iv) Has a developmental disability, as defined in § 40.1-26-2;

     (v) Is pregnant, in the postpartum period, or has recently suffered a miscarriage or

terminated a pregnancy; or

     (vi) Has a significant auditory or visual impairment, or a serious medical condition that

cannot be adequately treated in restrictive housing.

     (7) "Protective custody" means any form of separation from a prison's general population

for prisoners requiring additional protection for their own safety.

     (8) "Restrictive housing" means any type of detention that involves removal of a prisoner

from general population, voluntarily or involuntarily; placement in a locked room or cell, whether

alone or with another prisoner; and the inability to leave the room or cell for the vast majority of

the day, typically eighteen (18) hours or more, to include all forms of disciplinary confinement and

administrative confinement.

     (9) "Step-down plan" means an individualized program, developed by a coordinated,

multidisciplinary team to include mental health, case management, and security practitioners, that

addresses:

     (i) The specific behaviors that resulted in placement in restrictive housing;

     (ii) The programs and services available to the prisoner to address that behavior and

promote general rehabilitation;

     (iii) An estimated timeframe for returning to a less-restrictive classification;

     (iv) Incentives available so that prisoners can earn additional privileges and an accelerated

return to the general population; and

     (v) A schedule for regular review of the plan and the prisoner’s classification.

     42-160-3. Restrictive housing, generally.

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     (a) Each prisoner entering restrictive housing must be seen and assessed by a qualified

mental health professional or health care professional within seventy-two (72) hours of placement

and at least every fourteen (14) days thereafter.

     (b) For each placement in restrictive housing, the department shall document:

     (1) The nature of the threat to safety and security posed by the prisoner;

     (2) The impact any restrictions in conditions of confinement may have on their health; and

     (3) All alternatives that may be available to safely deal with the threat, other than restrictive

housing.

     (c) Living conditions in restrictive housing must approximate those in general population,

including equal access to programming and services, contact with family, access to the library and

reading materials, personal belongings in-cell, and medical and mental health care, with no major

differences except for reasons of danger to life, health, or safety.

     (d) Prisoners in restrictive housing shall receive a daily visit from the senior correctional

supervisor in charge of the unit, daily visits from a qualified health care professional, and visits

from members of the program staff at least weekly.

     42-160-4. Discipline; disciplinary confinement.

     (a) The department shall establish maximum penalties for each level of offense. These

penalties should always include alternatives to disciplinary confinement.

     (b) All penalties shall be proportionate to the offense.

     (c) Disciplinary confinement shall only be considered for offenses involving violence,

involving escape, or posing a threat to institutional safety by encouraging others to engage in such

misconduct.

     (d) All prisoners in disciplinary confinement shall receive a minimum of two (2) hours out-

of-cell each day.

     (e) No prisoner shall serve more than fifteen (15) days at a time in disciplinary confinement,

for any single rule violation or any series of related rule violations. Any policy implementing this

provision will require a break of at least fifteen (15) days between disciplinary detention sanctions.

     (f) No member of a vulnerable population shall be placed in disciplinary confinement for

any period of time unless the individual presents an immediate and present danger and there is no

reasonable alternative for placement. Such placement shall last only as long as necessary to find an

alternative housing placement.

     (g) A prisoner should not be placed in restrictive housing pending investigation of a

disciplinary offense unless their presence in general population would pose a danger to themselves,

staff, other prisoners, or the public. A prisoner’s placement in restrictive housing pending

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investigation shall be reviewed within twenty-four (24) hours by the warden or his/her designee.

No prisoner shall remain in investigative segregation for a longer period of time than the maximum

term of disciplinary segregation permitted for the most serious offense charged.

     42-160-5. Transitional disciplinary confinement.

     (a) If, after completing a fifteen (15) day term of disciplinary confinement, a prisoner’s

immediate return to general population would pose an imminent threat to the security of the

institution, the director or designee may place such prisoner in transitional disciplinary confinement

for the limited purpose of addressing the root cause of the threat posed.

     (b) All prisoners in transitional disciplinary confinement shall be offered programming

tailored to the nature of the threat that would be posed by their immediate return to general

population. No prisoner shall be placed in transitional disciplinary confinement unless such

programming is made available to him or her.

     (c) Upon release from transitional disciplinary confinement, prisoners may continue and

complete any programming that they began in transitional disciplinary confinement.

     (d) No prisoner shall spend more than thirty (30) days at a time in transitional disciplinary

confinement.

     (e) All prisoners in transitional disciplinary confinement must receive a minimum of two

(2) hours recreation each day. Programming time shall not count towards the two (2) hour minimum

recreation time.

     42-160-6. Administrative confinement, protective custody.

     (a) Placement in administrative confinement is limited to individuals who pose an

imminent threat to the security of the institution, shall only be considered when it serves a specific

penological purpose, and must last no longer than necessary to address the specific reason(s) for

placement.

     (b) All prisoners in administrative confinement shall receive a minimum of four (4) hours

out-of-cell each day.

     (c) Each prisoner in administrative confinement must have their status reviewed by the

classification board, warden, or warden’s designee every seven (7) days for the first sixty (60) days

of the prisoner’s placement and at least every thirty (30) days after the first sixty (60) days.

     (d) The department shall create an individualized step-down plan, as defined in § 42-160-

2, no later than fourteen (14) days after each placement in administrative confinement. This step-

down plan shall be shared with the prisoner unless specifically articulable security concerns require

otherwise.

     (e) Where possible, prisoners with serious mental illness should be diverted from

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administrative confinement and placed in a clinically appropriate alternative form of housing. Any

prisoner with a serious mental illness placed in administrative confinement must receive intensive,

clinically appropriate mental health treatment for the entirety of the placement in administrative

confinement.

     (f) No prisoner classified to protective status may be held in conditions more restrictive

than those in administrative confinement.

     42-160-7. Transitional administrative confinement and step-down housing.

     (a) The department shall create a system of step-down and transitional housing and

programming for prisoners who require additional assistance in transitioning from administrative

confinement into general population.

     (b) Conditions in transitional step-down and transitional housing shall mirror, to the extent

possible, those in general population.

     (c) At a minimum, prisoners in step-down and transitional housing shall receive six (6)

hours of out-of-cell time each day.

     42-160-8. Reporting.

     The department of corrections shall issue a report to be made publicly available on the

department’s website one year after the passage of this section and by January 31 of each year

thereafter, indicating the following, broken out by disciplinary, administrative, and transitional

confinement:

     (1) The number of prisoners in each institution placed in restrictive housing during the past

year;

     (2) The nature of the infractions and behaviors leading to the use of restrictive housing;

     (3) The lengths of terms served in restrictive housing, including terms served consecutively

and cumulatively;

     (4) The race, ethnicity, gender, and religion of all prisoners placed in restrictive housing;

     (5) The number of defined members of a vulnerable population, placed in restrictive

housing, by category listed in § 42-160-2.

     SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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EXPLANATION

BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

OF

A N   A C T

RELATING TO STATE AFFAIRS AND GOVERNMENT -- RESTRICTIVE HOUSING ACT

***

     This act would create the restrictive housing act providing procedures for removing

prisoners from general population and into restrictive housing.

     This act would take effect upon passage.

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