§4051 Treatment of Primary Caretaker Parents and Other Individuals

Summary

Requires the Bureau of Prisons to create an office that decides where prisoners are placed and to protect family ties, health, and safety. Definitions: correctional officer = a Bureau of Prisons officer; covered institution = a federal prison; Director = the Bureau of Prisons Director; post-partum recovery = the first 12-week period after giving birth; primary caretaker parent = as defined in section 31903 of the Family Unity Demonstration Project Act (34 U.S.C. 12242); prisoner = someone incarcerated in a federal prison (including a vulnerable person); vulnerable person = someone under 21 or over 60, pregnant, a crime victim or witness, someone who filed a nonfrivolous civil rights claim, or someone found during incarceration to have severe trauma or be a victim of gender-based violence (found by a court, prison official, the person’s lawyer, or the person). The office must try to place prisoners near their children when possible and may consider other factors it finds relevant. Pregnant people and those in the 12-week post-partum recovery period must not be put in segregated housing unless they pose an immediate danger, and any such placement must be brief. The Bureau must ask about children and family needs at intake and later, offer voluntary parenting classes to primary caretaker parents (including services for limited English speakers in compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964), train staff to spot trauma-related health needs and refer prisoners for care, train staff who deal with families on child-appropriate interaction and basic development, ensure adequate health care and gynecological access, and provide basic hygiene items free of charge with rules to make sanitary products available and not block visitors for carrying them. Nothing here changes the Prison Rape Elimination Act requirements.