§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 provide protections and supports for pregnant people, new mothers, primary caregiver parents, and other vulnerable inmates. The office must try to put a prisoner with children as close to those children as possible. Pregnant prisoners and those in the first 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 short and temporary. At intake, the Bureau must ask about children and parenting needs, track those needs over time, and offer voluntary parenting classes to primary caregiver parents, including classes for people with limited English. Staff who work regularly with prisoners must get cultural competency and trauma training so they can spot trauma-related health needs and refer people for care. Staff who deal with prisoners’ families must get training on talking with children, basic child development, and simple customer service. The Bureau must make sure prisoners get adequate health care, give basic hygiene items (for example, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes) for free, set rules so sanitary products are available in sufficient amounts and visitors aren’t barred for using them, and ensure access to gynecologists. These rules do not change obligations under the Prison Rape Elimination Act. Definitions (one line each): correctional officer = a Bureau of Prisons officer; covered institution = a federal prison; Director = Director of the Bureau of Prisons; post-partum recovery = first 12-week period after giving birth; primary caretaker parent = as defined in the Family Unity Demonstration Project Act; prisoner = someone incarcerated in a federal prison; vulnerable person = someone under 21 or over 60, pregnant, a crime victim or witness, a filer of a nonfrivolous civil rights claim, or someone found to have severe trauma or to be a victim of gender-based violence.