ABA Standards for Criminal Justice
Third Edition

Treatment of Prisoners

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Pursuinr: Ju.ticf,

Introduction
These Standards on the Treatment of Prisoners, over five years in the drafting, were approved by
the American Bar Association House of Delegates in February 2010. They replace the ABA’s
1981 Criminal Justice Standards on the Legal Status of Prisoners, which were supplemented by
two additions in 1985 but not subsequently amended. 1 In the 1980s, the now-replaced Legal
Status of Prisoners Standards proved a useful source of insight and guidance for courts and
correctional administrators, and were frequently cited and used. But this revision is long
overdue: enormous changes have affected American corrections since 1981, and even in the
1990s, the 1981 standards had grown sadly out of date. It is this project’s goal to provide up-todate guidelines addressing current conditions and challenges and helping to shape the fair and
humane development of the law and operation of the criminal justice system.
The most consequential factual change over the past decades has been the astronomical growth
in incarceration in the United States. In 1981, 557,000 prisoners were held in American jails and
prisons; that number has since skyrocketed to its current level of 2.4 million people on any given
day—more than 1 of every hundred adults in America. The population explosion has imposed
severe pressure on incarcerating authorities, as they attempt to cope with more people and longer
terms of incarceration. New challenges have appeared and old ones have expanded (among them
private prisons, long-term and extreme isolation of prisoners, and the special needs of a variety
of prisoners). At the same time, increased scale and generations of experience with modern
correctional approaches have produced many examples of expertise and excellence. Social
science research has developed significant insights in a large body of highly respected work.
Relevant law has also changed considerably, expanding the scope of legal protection for
prisoners in some areas while contracting that protection in others. International human rights
standards have likewise evolved substantially, and more uniformly in favor of prisoners’ rights.
New approaches in corrections have elicited new legal standards and rules; new approaches to a
variety of legal questions have varied in their application to corrections; and the application of
the Eighth Amendment, the “basic concept underlying [which] is nothing less than the dignity of
man,” has continued to safeguard “the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a
maturing society.” Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86, 100-01 (1958).
While the need for regulation and reform of prisons and jails has increased with their population
and experience with solutions has grown, much in the existing Standards has become outdated
and many new issues are simply not addressed. The need for updating and reformulation is by
this time both obvious and pressing.
In 2004, the Criminal Justice Standards Committee appointed a Task Force to propose revisions
1

There are currently 23 sets of ABA Criminal Justice Standards, many in their third edition, covering topics from
Discovery and Pretrial Release to Sentencing and Collateral Sanctions and Discretionary Disqualification of
Convicted Persons. See http://www.abanet.org/crimjust/standards/. The Legal Status of Prisoners Standards were
in volume 23 when they came out in 1981, and that numbering has been preserved in this new (and re-titled) edition.
See also 1984 Mental Health Standards, Part X (“Mentally Ill and Mentally Retarded Prisoners”). In August 2003,
Part VIII of the 1981 Standards, on Civil Disabilities of Convicted Persons, was superseded by the new Standards
on Collateral Sanctions and Discretionary Disqualification of Convicted Persons.

I

to the 1981 Standards. This Task Force, comprising many of the nation’s correctional law
experts, and assisted by many other experts, met in person seven times over two years.
Throughout the process, it obtained the comments and participation of various organizational
stakeholders—in particular, the American Correctional Association, the American Jail
Association, the ACLU National Prison Project, and the U.S. Department of Justice. The
members of the Task Force were unanimous in their approval of the 2007 draft. Prior to
submission of the draft to the Standards Committee in the summer of 2007, substantial redrafting
occurred in response to concerns expressed by several of the organizational liaisons.
The Standards Committee then reviewed and revised the revised Standards in detail, meeting
(like the Task Force) seven times over the course of two years, and getting further outside
comments during the last round of editing from, in particular, the Department of Justice liaison.
The Committee was unanimous in approving the draft, which was then sent to the Criminal
Justice Council and simultaneously to over 40 outside organizations and over 20 ABA entities.
Further changes responsive to the many comments that were received were made prior to a first
Council reading in August 2009 and a second in November 2009; the Standards were approved
by the Council without dissent. In February 2010 the Standards on the Treatment of Prisoners
were approved by the ABA House.
Over the years of development of the revised Standards, the Task Force on the Treatment of
Prisoners, the Standards Committee, and the Criminal Justice Section Council took as their task
Justice Anthony Kennedy’s 2003 challenge to the ABA to address “the inadequacies—and the
injustices—in our prison and correctional systems.” The revised Standards apply to all prisoners
confined in adult correctional and criminal detention facilities, regardless of age or immigration
status, but do not seek to cover facilities dedicated entirely to either juvenile or immigration
detention. While the 1981 Standards were an important starting point, the revised Standards
identify significant current problems that were not addressed by the 1981 Standards, such as
long-term and extreme isolation of prisoners, crowding, and prisoners whose mental and physical
health or other circumstances create a variety of special needs.
Over the past decades, the ABA has passed numerous policies relating to corrections. The Bar’s
involvement in corrections has aimed to promote the fair and humane operation of jails and
prisons, not merely to implement compliance with a constitutional floor. The revised Standards
rely on these prior ABA policies and careful consideration of relevant correctional standards and
policies, in particular accreditation standards of professional organizations like the American
Correctional Association and the National Commission on Correctional Health Care.
Accordingly, the revised Standards are very largely consonant with such existing standards—as
well as entirely consistent with current good professional practice.
As with other ABA Standards, commentary to be published along with the Standards will discuss
relevant sources of law—case law, statute, regulation, treaty, and administrative action—and
explain where the Standards propose either alterations in the law (for several statutes) or
coverage of some issue not currently legally constrained. It will also include a full set of crossreferences, to other ABA Standards and to relevant professional standards.
The revised Standards are careful to avoid topics more appropriately left to operational experts
rather than lawyers. The revised Standards —like the Standards they would replace—are

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directed at establishing the conditions that should exist in confinement facilities. How these
conditions come into being is left to the skill and resourcefulness of correctional administrators.
There are no doctor-prisoner ratios here, no minimum law library collections or the like. It is
clear that officials who run jails and prisons are better equipped than lawyer-observers to
operationalize legal standards. For example, adequate light is necessary for humane operation of
a prison, as stated in both the 1981 Standards and the revised Standards. But translation of this
general command into a specific measure of “footcandles” in different settings is beyond the
comparative advantage and appropriate role of the Bar.
In large part, the revised Standards state the law, with sources from the Constitution, federal
statutes and regulations, and court decisions developing each. They also rely on other legal
sources, such as settlements negotiated between the U.S. Department of Justice and state and
local governments, under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), as well as
non-DOJ consent decrees, as models for implementation of legal norms.
In addition, however, there are occasions in which the litigation-developed constitutional minima
for prisoners’ rights and their remediation omit critical issues that are of concern to criminal
justice policymakers and correctional administrators. Two points are relevant here. First, courts
grant correctional administrators a good deal of deference because of the principle of separation
of powers. As the Supreme Court explained in Lewis v. Casey, 518 U.S. 343, 349 (1996):
It is the role of courts to provide relief to claimants, in individual or class actions,
who have suffered, or will imminently suffer, actual harm; it is not the role of
courts, but that of the political branches, to shape the institutions of government in
such fashion as to comply with the laws and the Constitution.
These revised Standards, which would offer advice not just to courts but to the political
branches, are less deferential, because they have as their very purpose “to shape the institutions
of government in such fashion as to comply with the laws and the Constitution.” Many of them
aim at what might be called the infrastructure of constitutional compliance. The Constitution
does not, for example, guarantee prisoners trained correctional officers. But the Standards
address training because it is a necessary precondition for compliance with substantive
constitutional requirements. The Standards’ role is to provide guidance to judges, policy-makers,
lawyers, and correctional administrators, and to help shape the just development of the law and
operation of the criminal justice system. It is for this reason that, like Chapter 23 decades ago,
some of these Standards are aspirational, yet within the bounds of lawful and feasible
correctional practice. We firmly believe that each and every one of these Standards reflects the
best current thinking on the correctional practices necessary to protect prisoner’s rights and
operate safe, humane, and effective prisons.

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IV

ABA Criminal Justice Standards on the Treatment of Prisoners
Approved by the ABA House of Delegates, February 2010
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Standard 23-1.0 

Definitions..........................................................................................................1 

PART I: GENERAL PRINCIPLES..................................................................................................3 
Standard 23-1.1 
General principles governing imprisonment......................................................3 
Standard 23-1.2 
Treatment of prisoners .......................................................................................4 
PART II: INTAKE AND CLASSIFICATION ................................................................................5 
Standard 23-2.1 
Intake screening .................................................................................................5 
Standard 23-2.2 
Classification system .........................................................................................5 
Standard 23-2.3 
Classification procedures ...................................................................................6 
Standard 23-2.4 
Special classification issues ...............................................................................6 
Standard 23-2.5 
Health care assessment ......................................................................................7 
Standard 23-2.6 
Rationales for segregated housing .....................................................................7 
Standard 23-2.7 
Rationales for long-term segregated housing ....................................................8 
Standard 23-2.8 
Segregated housing and mental health...............................................................8 
Standard 23-2.9 
Procedures for placement and retention in long-term segregated housing ........9 
PART III: CONDITIONS OF CONFINEMENT..........................................................................12 
Standard 23-3.1 
Physical plant and environmental conditions ..................................................12 
Standard 23-3.2 
Conditions for special types of prisoners.........................................................12 
Standard 23-3.3 
Housing areas...................................................................................................13 
Standard 23-3.4 
Healthful food ..................................................................................................13 
Standard 23-3.5 
Provision of necessities....................................................................................14 
Standard 23-3.6 
Recreation and out-of-cell time .......................................................................14 
Standard 23-3.7 
Restrictions relating to programming and privileges.......................................15 
Standard 23-3.8 
Segregated housing ..........................................................................................16 
Standard 23-3.9 
Conditions during lockdown............................................................................17 
PART IV: RULES OF CONDUCT AND DISCIPLINE...............................................................18 
Standard 23-4.1 
Rules of conduct and informational handbook ................................................18 
Standard 23-4.2 
Disciplinary hearing procedures ......................................................................18 
Standard 23-4.3 
Disciplinary sanctions......................................................................................20 
PART V: PERSONAL SECURITY ................................................................................................21 
Standard 23-5.1 
Personal security and protection from harm ....................................................21 
Standard 23-5.2 
Prevention and investigation of violence.........................................................21 
Standard 23-5.3 
Sexual abuse.....................................................................................................22 
Standard 23-5.4 
Self-harm and suicide prevention ....................................................................23 
Standard 23-5.5 
Protection of vulnerable prisoners ...................................................................23 
Standard 23-5.6 
Use of force......................................................................................................24 
Standard 23-5.7 
Use of deadly force ..........................................................................................26 
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Standard 23-5.8 
Standard 23-5.9 

Use of chemical agents, electronic weaponry, and canines .............................27 
Use of restraint mechanisms and techniques ...................................................28 

PART VI: HEALTH CARE ............................................................................................................30 
Standard 23-6.1 
General principles governing health care ........................................................30 
Standard 23-6.2 
Response to prisoner health care needs ...........................................................31 
Standard 23-6.3 
Control and distribution of prescription drugs.................................................31 
Standard 23-6.4 
Qualified health care staff................................................................................31 
Standard 23-6.5 
Continuity of care ............................................................................................32 
Standard 23-6.6 
Adequate facilities, equipment, and resources.................................................32 
Standard 23-6.7 
Quality improvement .......................................................................................33 
Standard 23-6.8 
Health care records and confidentiality ...........................................................33 
Standard 23-6.9 
Pregnant prisoners and new mothers ...............................................................34 
Standard 23-6.10 
Impairment-related aids ...................................................................................35 
Standard 23-6.11 
Services for prisoners with mental disabilities ................................................35 
Standard 23-6.12 
Prisoners with chronic or communicable diseases...........................................36 
Standard 23-6.13 
Prisoners with gender identity disorder ...........................................................36 
Standard 23-6.14 
Voluntary and informed consent to treatment .................................................36 
Standard 23-6.15 
Involuntary mental health treatment and transfer ............................................37 
PART VII: PERSONAL DIGNITY ................................................................................................40 
Standard 23-7.1 
Respect for prisoners........................................................................................40 
Standard 23-7.2 
Prisoners with disabilities and other special needs ..........................................40 
Standard 23-7.3 
Religious freedom............................................................................................41 
Standard 23-7.4 
Prisoner organizations......................................................................................42 
Standard 23-7.5 
Communication and expression.......................................................................42 
Standard 23-7.6 
Personal appearance.........................................................................................43 
Standard 23-7.7 
Records and confidentiality .............................................................................43 
Standard 23-7.8 
Searches of facilities ........................................................................................44 
Standard 23-7.9 
Searches of prisoners’ bodies...........................................................................44 
Standard 23-7.10 
Cross-gender supervision.................................................................................46 
Standard 23-7.11 
Prisoners as subjects of behavioral or biomedical research.............................46 
PART VIII: REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION......................................................48 
Standard 23-8.1 
Location of facilities ........................................................................................48 
Standard 23-8.2 
Rehabilitative programs ...................................................................................48 
Standard 23-8.3 
Restorative justice............................................................................................49 
Standard 23-8.4 
Work programs ................................................................................................49 
Standard 23-8.5 
Visiting.............................................................................................................50 
Standard 23-8.6 
Written communications..................................................................................52 
Standard 23-8.7 
Access to telephones ........................................................................................53 
Standard 23-8.8 
Fees and financial obligations..........................................................................53 
Standard 23-8.9 
Transition to the community............................................................................53 

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PART IX: GRIEVANCES AND ACCESS TO COURTS ............................................................56 
Standard 23-9.1 
Grievance procedures.......................................................................................56 
Standard 23-9.2 
Access to the judicial process ..........................................................................57 
Standard 23-9.3 
Judicial review of prisoner complaints ............................................................58 
Standard 23-9.4 
Access to legal and consular services ..............................................................58 
Standard 23-9.5 
Access to legal materials and information .......................................................60 
PART X: ADMINISTRATION AND STAFFING ........................................................................62 
Standard 23-10.1 
Professionalism ................................................................................................62 
Standard 23-10.2 
Personnel policy and practice ..........................................................................62 
Standard 23-10.3 
Training............................................................................................................63 
Standard 23-10.4 
Accountability of staff .....................................................................................64 
Standard 23-10.5 
Privately operated correctional facilities .........................................................64 
PART XI: ACCOUNTABILITY AND OVERSIGHT..................................................................67 
Standard 23-11.1 
Internal accountability .....................................................................................67 
Standard 23-11.2 
External regulation and investigation ..............................................................68 
Standard 23-11.3 
External monitoring and inspection .................................................................68 
Standard 23-11.4 
Legislative oversight and accountability .........................................................69 
Standard 23-11.5 
Media access to correctional facilities and prisoners.......................................69 
 

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iv

Standard 23-1.0

Definitions

Correctional agencies, facilities, staff, and prisoners
(a)
The term “chief executive officer of the facility” means the correctional
official with command authority over a particular correctional facility. In a prison, the
chief executive officer is the person usually termed the warden; in a jail, the chief
executive officer might be a sheriff, or might have a title such as superintendent, jailer, or
commander. The term includes the chief executive officer’s emergency designee, if, for
example, the chief executive officer is away or ill and has turned over command authority
for a period of time.
(b)
The term “correctional administrator” means an individual with
responsibility for system-wide operations and management.
(c)
The term “correctional agency” means an agency that operates
correctional facilities for a jurisdiction or jurisdictions and sets system-wide policies or
procedures, along with that agency’s decision-makers.
(d)
The term “correctional authorities” means all correctional staff, officials,
and administrators.
(e)
The term “correctional facility” means any place of adult criminal
detention, including a prison, jail, or other facility operated by or on behalf of a
correctional or law enforcement agency, without regard to whether such a facility is
publicly or privately owned or operated. The term “correctional facility” does not
include a facility that serves solely as an immigration detention facility, a juvenile
detention facility, or a juvenile correctional facility.
(f)
The term “correctional official” means an individual with responsibility
for facility-wide operations and management.
(g)
The term “correctional staff” or “staff” means employees who have direct
contact with prisoners, including both security and non-security personnel, and
employees of other governmental or private organizations who work within a correctional
facility.
(h)
The term “governmental authorities” encompasses persons in all branches
and levels of government whose conduct affects correctional policy or conditions,
including members of the legislature, prosecutors, judges, governors, etc.
(i)
The term “jail” means a correctional facility holding primarily pretrial
detainees and/or prisoners sentenced to a term of one year or less.
(j)
The term “prison” means a correctional facility holding primarily
prisoners sentenced to a term of at least one year.

1

(k)
facility.

The term “prisoner” means any person incarcerated in a correctional

Other defined terms
(l)
The term “counsel” means retained or prospectively retained attorneys, or
others sponsored by an attorney such as paralegals, investigators, and law students.
(m)
The term “effective notice” means notice in a language understood by the
prisoner who receives the notice; if that prisoner is unable to read, effective notice
requires correctional staff to read and explain the relevant information, using an
interpreter if necessary.
(n)
The term “health care” means the diagnosis and treatment of medical,
dental, and mental health problems.
(o)
The term “long-term segregated housing” means segregated housing that
is expected to extend or does extend for a period of time exceeding 30 days.
(p)
The term “qualified health care professional” means physicians, physician
assistants, nurses, nurse practitioners, dentists, qualified mental health professionals, and
others who by virtue of their education, credentials, and experience are permitted by law
to evaluate and provide health care to patients.
(q)
The term “qualified mental health professional” means psychiatrists,
psychologists, psychiatric social workers, licensed professional counselors, psychiatric
nurses, or others who by virtue of their education, credentials, and experience are
permitted by law to evaluate and provide mental health care to patients.
(r)
The term “segregated housing” means housing of a prisoner in conditions
characterized by substantial isolation from other prisoners, whether pursuant to
disciplinary, administrative, or classification action. “Segregated housing” includes
restriction of a prisoner to the prisoner’s assigned living quarters.
(s)
The term “serious mental illness” means a substantial disorder of thought
or mood that significantly impairs judgment, behavior, capacity to recognize reality or
cope with the ordinary demands of life within the prison environment and is manifested
by substantial pain or disability. It includes the status of being actively suicidal; severe
cognitive disorders that result in significant functional impairment; and severe personality
disorders that result in significant functional impairment and are marked by frequent
episodes of psychosis, depression, or self-injurious behavior.

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PART I: GENERAL PRINCIPLES
Standard 23-1.1

General principles governing imprisonment

(a)
A correctional facility should be safe and orderly and should be run in a
fair and lawful manner.
(b)
Imprisonment should prepare prisoners to live law-abiding lives upon
release. Correctional authorities should facilitate prisoners’ reintegration into free society
by implementing appropriate conditions of confinement and by sustained planning for
such reintegration.
(c)
A correctional facility should maintain order and should protect prisoners
from harm from other prisoners and staff. Restrictions placed on prisoners should be
necessary and proportionate to the legitimate objectives for which those restrictions are
imposed.
(d)
Correctional authorities should respect the human rights and dignity of
prisoners. No prisoner should be subjected to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or
conditions.
(e)
For a convicted prisoner, loss of liberty and separation from society should
be the sole punishments imposed by imprisonment. For a prisoner not serving a sentence
for a crime, the purpose of imprisonment should be to assure appearance of the prisoner
at trial and to safeguard the public, not to punish.
(f)

A correctional facility should be appropriately staffed.

(g)
Correctional officials should implement internal processes for continually
assessing and improving each correctional facility.
(h)
A correctional facility should be monitored and regularly inspected by
independent government entities.
(i)
A lack of resources should not excuse treatment or conditions that violate
prisoners’ constitutional or statutory rights.
(j)
Governmental authorities should provide sufficient resources to
implement these Standards.
(k)
If governmental authorities elect to furnish prisoners any services by
contracting with private providers, those contracted services should comply with these
Standards, and the correctional agency should monitor and ensure such compliance, and
should be held accountable for doing so.

3

Standard 23-1.2

Treatment of prisoners

In order to effectuate these principles, correctional authorities should:
(a)

provide prisoners with:
(i)
humane and healthful living conditions;
(ii)
safety from harm, including protection from punitive or excessive
force and protection from abuse by other prisoners and staff;
(iii) necessary health care;
(iv)
freedom from staff harassment and invidious discrimination;
(v)
freedom of religion and substantial freedom of expression;
(vi)
conditions conducive to maintaining healthy relationships with
their families;
(vii) opportunities to participate in constructive activity
and rehabilitative programs; and
(viii) comprehensive re-entry planning; and

(b)

implement effective policies and procedures for:
(i)
investigation and resolution of complaints and problems;
(ii)
fair and rational decision-making; and
(iii) internal and external oversight of correctional operations.

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PART II: INTAKE AND CLASSIFICATION
Standard 23-2.1

Intake screening

Correctional authorities should screen each prisoner as soon as possible
(a)
upon the prisoner’s admission to a correctional facility to identify the prisoner's
immediate potential security risks, including vulnerability to physical or sexual abuse,
and should closely supervise prisoners until screening and follow-up measures are
conducted.
(b)
Correctional authorities should screen each prisoner as soon as possible
upon the prisoner’s admission to a correctional facility to identify issues requiring
immediate assessment or attention, such as illness, communicable diseases, mental health
problems, drug or alcohol intoxication or withdrawal, ongoing medical treatment, risk of
suicide, or special education eligibility. Medical and mental health screening should:
(i)
use a properly validated screening protocol, including, if
appropriate, special protocols for female prisoners, prisoners who
have mental disabilities, and prisoners who are under the age of
eighteen or geriatric;
(ii)
be performed either by a qualified health care professional or by
specially trained correctional staff; and
(iii) include an initial assessment whether the prisoner has any
condition that makes the use of chemical agents or electronic
weaponry against that prisoner particularly risky, in order to
facilitate compliance with Standard 23-5.8(d).
(c)
Correctional authorities should take appropriate responsive measures
without delay when intake screening identifies a need for immediate comprehensive
assessment or for new or continuing medication or other treatment, suicide prevention
measures, or housing that takes account of a prisoner’s special needs.

Standard 23-2.2

Classification system

In order to implement appropriate classification, housing, and programming,
correctional officials should:
(a)
implement an objective classification system that determines for each
prisoner the proper level of security and control, assesses the prisoner’s needs, and assists
in making appropriate housing, work, cellmate, and program assignments;
(b)
initially and periodically validate an objective classification instrument to
ensure consistent and appropriate custody and other decisions for each correctional
facility’s population, including prisoners’ assignments to multiple occupancy cells or
dormitories; and

5

(c)
ensure that classification and housing decisions, including assignment to
particular cells and cellmates, take account of a prisoner’s gender, age, offense, criminal
history, institutional behavior, escape history, vulnerability, mental health, and special
needs, and whether the prisoner is a pretrial detainee.

Standard 23-2.3

Classification procedures

(a)
Initial classification of a prisoner should take place within [48 hours] of
the prisoner’s detention in a jail and within [30 days] of the prisoner’s confinement in a
prison.
(b)
Each classification decision should be in writing, and should set forth the
considerations and factors that led to the decision; the written decision should be made
available to the prisoner, and should be explained by an appropriate staff member if the
prisoner is incapable of understanding it. Correctional authorities should be permitted to
summarize or redact information provided to the prisoner if it was obtained under a
promise of confidentiality or if its disclosure could harm the prisoner or others or would
not serve the best treatment interests of the prisoner.
(c)
If a classification decision has an impact on a prisoner’s release date or
ability to participate in facility programs, correctional authorities should provide the
prisoner an opportunity to request reconsideration and at least one level of appeal.
(d)
Correctional authorities should review the classification of a prisoner
housed in a prison at least every [12 months], and the classification of a prisoner housed
in a jail at least every [90 days].

Standard 23-2.4

Special classification issues

(a)
Classification and housing assignments should not segregate or
discriminate based on race unless the consideration of race is narrowly tailored to serve a
compelling governmental interest.
(b)
A prisoner should not be separated from the general population or denied
programmatic opportunities based solely on the prisoner’s offense or sentence, except
that separate housing areas should be permissible for prisoners under sentence of death.
If convicted capital offenders are separately housed based solely on their sentence,
conditions should be comparable to those provided to the general population.
(c)
Correctional authorities should assign to single occupancy cells prisoners
not safely or appropriately housed in multiple occupancy cells, and correctional and
governmental authorities should maintain sufficient numbers of such single cells for the
needs of a facility’s particular prisoner population.

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(d)
Correctional authorities should make individualized housing and custody
decisions for prisoners who have undergone sex reassignment surgery or have had other
surgical or hormonal treatment and present themselves and identify as having a gender
different from their physical sex at birth. In deciding whether to assign such a prisoner to
a facility for male or female prisoners and in making other housing and programming
assignments, staff should consider on a case by case basis whether a placement would
ensure the prisoner’s health and safety, and whether the placement would present
management or security problems. Placement and programming assignments for such a
prisoner should be reassessed at least twice each year to review any threats to safety
experienced by the prisoner. The prisoner’s own views with respect to his or her own
safety should be given serious consideration.

Standard 23-2.5

Health care assessment

Each prisoner should receive a comprehensive medical and mental health
assessment by qualified medical and mental health professionals no later than [14 days]
after admission to a correctional facility, and a comprehensive medical assessment
periodically thereafter, which should include mental health screening. The frequency of
periodic medical assessments should accord with community health standards, taking
account of the age and health status of each prisoner. No new comprehensive medical
and mental health assessment need occur for a prisoner transferred or readmitted to a
correction facility who has received comprehensive health assessment within the prior
year unless it is medically necessary, or the prisoner’s medical records are not available.
Unless a dental emergency requires more immediate attention, a dental examination by a
dentist or trained personnel directed by a dentist should be conducted within [90 days] of
admission if the prisoner’s confinement may exceed one year, and annually thereafter.

Standard 23-2.6

Rationales for segregated housing

(a)
Correctional authorities should not place prisoners in segregated housing
except for reasons relating to: discipline, security, ongoing investigation of misconduct
or crime, protection from harm, medical care, or mental health care. Segregated housing
should be for the briefest term and under the least restrictive conditions practicable and
consistent with the rationale for placement and with the progress achieved by the
prisoner. Segregation for health care needs should be in a location separate from
disciplinary and long-term segregated housing. Policies relating to segregation for
whatever reason should take account of the special developmental needs of prisoners
under the age of eighteen.
(b)
If necessary for an investigation or the reasonable needs of law
enforcement or prosecuting authorities, correctional authorities should be permitted to
confine a prisoner under investigation for possible criminal violations in segregated
housing for a period no more than [30 days].

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Standard 23-2.7

Rationales for long-term segregated housing

(a)
Correctional authorities should use long-term segregated housing
sparingly and should not place or retain prisoners in such housing except for reasons
relating to:
(i)
discipline after a finding that the prisoner has committed a very
severe disciplinary infraction, in which safety or security was
seriously threatened;
(ii)
a credible continuing and serious threat to the security of others or
to the prisoner’s own safety; or
(iii)
prevention of airborne contagion.
(b)
Correctional authorities should not place a prisoner in long-term
segregated housing based on the security risk the prisoner poses to others unless less
restrictive alternatives are unsuitable in light of a continuing and serious threat to the
security of the facility, staff, other prisoners, or the public as a result of the prisoner’s:
(i)
history of serious violent behavior in correctional facilities;
(ii)
acts such as escapes or attempted escapes from secure correctional
settings;
(iii) acts or threats of violence likely to destabilize the institutional
environment to such a degree that the order and security of the
facility is threatened;
(iv)
membership in a security threat group accompanied by a finding
based on specific and reliable information that the prisoner either
has engaged in dangerous or threatening behavior directed by the
group or directs the dangerous or threatening behavior of others; or
(v)
incitement or threats to incite group disturbances in a correctional
facility.

Standard 23-2.8

Segregated housing and mental health

No prisoner diagnosed with serious mental illness should be placed in
(a)
long-term segregated housing.
(b)
No prisoner should be placed in segregated housing for more than [1 day]
without a mental health screening, conducted in person by a qualified mental health
professional, and a prompt comprehensive mental health assessment if clinically
indicated. If the assessment indicates the presence of a serious mental illness, or a history
of serious mental illness and decompensation in segregated settings, the prisoner should
be placed in an environment where appropriate treatment can occur. Any prisoner in
segregated housing who develops serious mental illness should be placed in an
environment where appropriate treatment can occur.
(c)
The mental health of prisoners in long-term segregated housing should be
monitored as follows:

8

(i)
(ii)

(iii)
(iv)

(v)

Standard 23-2.9

Daily, correctional staff should maintain a log documenting
prisoners’ behavior.
Several times each week, a qualified mental health professional
should observe each segregated housing unit, speaking to unit
staff, reviewing the prisoner log, and observing and talking with
prisoners who are receiving mental health treatment.
Weekly, a qualified mental health professional should observe and
seek to talk with each prisoner.
Monthly, and more frequently if clinically indicated, a qualified
mental health professional should see and treat each prisoner who
is receiving mental health treatment. Absent an individualized
finding that security would be compromised, such treatment should
take place out of cell, in a setting in which security staff cannot
overhear the conversation.
At least every [90 days], a qualified mental health professional
should perform a comprehensive mental health assessment of each
prisoner in segregated housing unless a qualified mental health
professional deems such assessment unnecessary in light of
observations made pursuant to subdivisions (ii)-(iv).

Procedures for placement and retention in long-term segregated
housing

(a)
A prisoner should be placed or retained in long-term segregated housing
only after an individualized determination, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the
substantive prerequisites set out in Standards 23-2.7 and 23-5.5 for such placement are
met. In addition, if long-term segregation is being considered either because the prisoner
poses a credible continuing and serious threat to the security of others or to the prisoner’s
own safety, the prisoner should be afforded, at a minimum, the following procedural
protections:
(i)
timely, written, and effective notice that such a placement is being
considered, the facts upon which consideration is based, and the
prisoner’s rights under this Standard;
(ii)
decision-making by a specialized classification committee that
includes a qualified mental health care professional;
(iii) a hearing at which the prisoner may be heard in person and, absent
an individualized determination of good cause, has a reasonable
opportunity to present available witnesses and information;
(iv)
absent an individualized determination of good cause, opportunity
for the prisoner to confront and cross-examine any witnesses or, if
good cause to limit such confrontation is found, to propound
questions to be relayed to the witnesses;
(v)
an interpreter, if necessary for the prisoner to understand or
participate in the proceedings;

9

(vi)

if the classification committee determines that a prisoner is unable
to prepare and present evidence and arguments effectively on his
or her own behalf, counsel or some other appropriate advocate for
the prisoner;
(vii) an independent determination by the classification committee of
the reliability and credibility of confidential informants if material
allowing such determination is available to the correctional
agency;
(viii) a written statement setting forth the evidence relied on and the
reasons for placement; and
(ix)
prompt review of the classification committee’s decision by
correctional administrators.
(b)
Within [30 days] of a prisoner’s placement in long-term segregated
housing based on a finding that the prisoner presents a continuing and serious threat to
the security of others, correctional authorities should develop an individualized plan for
the prisoner. The plan should include an assessment of the prisoner’s needs, a strategy
for correctional authorities to assist the prisoner in meeting those needs, and a statement
of the expectations for the prisoner to progress toward fewer restrictions and lower levels
of custody based on the prisoner’s behavior. Correctional authorities should provide the
plan or a summary of it to the prisoner, and explain it, so that the prisoner can understand
such expectations.
(c)
At intervals not to exceed [30 days], correctional authorities should
conduct and document an evaluation of each prisoner’s progress under the individualized
plan required by subdivision (b) of this Standard. The evaluation should also consider
the state of the prisoner’s mental health; address the extent to which the individual’s
behavior, measured against the plan, justifies the need to maintain, increase, or decrease
the level of controls and restrictions in place at the time of the evaluation; and
recommend a full classification review as described in subdivision (d) of this Standard
when appropriate.
(d)
At intervals not to exceed [90 days], a full classification review involving
a meeting of the prisoner and the specialized classification committee should occur to
determine whether the prisoner’s progress toward compliance with the individual plan
required by subdivision (b) of this Standard or other circumstances warrant a reduction of
restrictions, increased programming, or a return to a lower level of custody. If a prisoner
has met the terms of the individual plan, there should be a presumption in favor of
releasing the prisoner from segregated housing. A decision to retain a prisoner in
segregated housing following consideration by the classification review committee
should be reviewed by a correctional administrator, and approved, rejected, or modified
as appropriate.

10

(e)
Consistent with such confidentiality as is required to prevent a significant
risk of harm to other persons, a prisoner being evaluated for placement in long-term
segregated housing for any reason should be permitted reasonable access to materials
considered at both the initial and the periodic reviews, and should be allowed to meet
with and submit written statements to persons reviewing the prisoner’s classification.
(f)
Correctional officials should implement a system to facilitate the return to
lower levels of custody of prisoners housed in long-term segregated housing. Except in
compelling circumstances, a prisoner serving a sentence who would otherwise be
released directly to the community from long-term segregated housing should be placed
in a less restrictive setting for the final months of confinement.

11

PART III: CONDITIONS OF CONFINEMENT
Standard 23-3.1
(a)

Physical plant and environmental conditions
The physical plant of a correctional facility should:
(i)
be adequate to protect and promote the health and safety of
prisoners and staff;
(ii)
be clean and well-maintained;
(iii) include appropriate housing, laundry, health care, food service,
visitation, recreation, education, and program space;
(iv)
have appropriate heating and ventilation systems;
(v)
not deprive prisoners or staff of natural light, of light sufficient to
permit reading throughout prisoners’ housing areas, or of
reasonable darkness during the sleeping hours;
(vi)
be free from tobacco smoke and excessive noise;
(vii) allow unrestricted access for prisoners to potable drinking water
and to adequate, clean, reasonably private, and functioning toilets
and washbasins; and
(viii) comply with health, safety, and building codes, subject to regular
inspection.

(b)
Governmental authorities in all branches in a jurisdiction should take
necessary steps to avoid crowding that exceeds a correctional facility’s rated capacity or
adversely affects the facility’s delivery of core services at an adequate level, maintenance
of its physical plant, or protection of prisoners from harm, including the spread of
disease.

Standard 23-3.2

Conditions for special types of prisoners

(a)
Correctional agencies and facilities should provide housing options with
conditions of confinement appropriate to meet the protection, programming, and
treatment needs of special types of prisoners, including female prisoners, prisoners who
have physical or mental disabilities or communicable diseases, and prisoners who are
under the age of eighteen or geriatric.
(b)
No prisoner under the age of eighteen should be housed in an adult
correctional facility. Where applicable law does not provide for all such prisoners to be
transferred to the care and control of a juvenile justice agency, a correctional agency
should provide specialized facilities and programs to meet the education, special
education, and other needs of this population.

12

(c)
A correctional agency should be permitted to confine female prisoners in
the same facility as male prisoners but should house female and male prisoners
separately. Living conditions for a correctional agency’s female prisoners should be
essentially equal to those of the agency’s male prisoners, as should security and
programming. A facility that confines female prisoners should have on duty at all times
adequate numbers of female staff to comply with Standard 23-7.10.
(d)
Correctional authorities should house and manage prisoners with physical
disabilities, including temporary disabilities, in a manner that provides for their safety
and security. If necessary, housing should be designed for use by prisoners with
disabilities; such housing should be in the most integrated setting appropriate for such
prisoners. Correctional authorities should safely accommodate prisoners who are
particularly vulnerable to heat-related illness or infectious disease, or are otherwise
medically vulnerable.

Standard 23-3.3

Housing areas

(a)
Correctional authorities should provide prisoners living quarters of
adequate size. Single-occupancy cells should be the preferred form of prisoner housing.
Facilities that must use dormitories or other multiple-prisoner living quarters should
provide sufficient staffing, supervision, and personal space to ensure safety for prisoners
and security for their belongings. All prisoner living quarters and personal hygiene areas
should be designed to facilitate adequate and appropriate supervision of prisoners and to
allow prisoners privacy consistent with their security classification.
(b)
Correctional authorities should provide each prisoner, at a minimum, with
a bed and mattress off the floor, a writing area and seating, an individual secure storage
compartment sufficient in size to hold personal belongings and legal papers, a source of
natural light, and light sufficient to permit reading.
(c)
Correctional authorities should provide sufficient access to showers at an
appropriate temperature to enable each prisoner to shower as frequently as necessary to
maintain general hygiene.

Standard 23-3.4

Healthful food

Correctional authorities should provide each prisoner an adequate amount
(a)
of nutritious, healthful, and palatable food, including at least one hot meal daily. Food
should be prepared, maintained, and served at the appropriate temperatures and under
sanitary conditions.
(b)
Correctional authorities should make appropriate accommodations for
prisoners with special dietary needs for reasons of health or age.

13

(c)
Correctional authorities should not withhold food or water from any
prisoner. The standard menu should not be varied for any prisoner without the prisoner’s
consent, except that alternative food should be permitted for a limited period for a
prisoner in segregated housing who has used food or food service equipment in a manner
that is hazardous to the prisoner or others, provided that the food supplied is healthful,
palatable, and meets basic nutritional requirements.

Standard 23-3.5

Provision of necessities

(a)
Correctional authorities should maintain living quarters and associated
common areas in a sanitary condition. Correctional authorities should be permitted to
require prisoners able to perform cleaning tasks to do so, with necessary materials and
equipment provided to them regularly and without charge.
(b)
Correctional authorities should provide prisoners with clean, appropriately
sized clothing suited to the season and facility temperature and to the prisoner’s work
assignment and gender, in quantities sufficient to allow for a daily change of clothing.
Prisoners should receive opportunities to mend and machine launder their clothing if the
facility does not provide these services. Correctional authorities should implement
procedures to permit prisoners to wear street clothes when they appear in court before a
jury.
(c)
Correctional authorities should provide prisoners, without charge, basic
individual hygiene items appropriate for their gender, as well as towels and bedding,
which should be exchanged or laundered at least weekly. Prisoners should also be
permitted to purchase hygiene supplies in a commissary.

Standard 23-3.6

Recreation and out-of-cell time

(a)
To the extent practicable and consistent with prisoner and staff safety,
correctional authorities should minimize the periods during the day in which prisoners are
required to remain in their cells.
(b)
Correctional authorities should provide all prisoners daily opportunities
for significant out-of-cell time and for recreation at appropriate hours that allows them to
maintain physical health and, for prisoners not in segregated housing, to socialize with
other prisoners. Each prisoner, including those in segregated housing, should be offered
the opportunity for at least one hour per day of exercise, in the open air if the weather
permits.

14

(c)
Correctional authorities should whenever practicable allow each prisoner
not in segregated housing to eat in a congregate setting, whether that is a specialized
room or a housing area dayroom, absent an individualized decision that a congregate
setting is inappropriate for a particular prisoner. Prisoners should be allowed an adequate
time to eat each meal.

Standard 23-3.7

Restrictions relating to programming and privileges

(a)
In no case should restrictions relating to a prisoner’s programming or
other privileges, whether imposed as a disciplinary sanction or otherwise, detrimentally
alter a prisoner’s:
(i)
exposure to sufficient light to permit reading in the prisoner’s
housing area, and reasonable darkness during the sleeping hours;
(ii)
adequate ventilation;
(iii) living area temperature;
(iv)
exposure to either unusual amounts of noise or to auditory
isolation;
(v)
opportunity to sleep;
(vi)
access to medication or medical devices or other health care;
(vii) nutrition, except as permitted by Standard 23-3.4(c);
(viii) access to water; and
(ix)
counsel or clergy visits, or written communication with family
members, except as provided in subdivision (d) of this Standard.
(b)
A prisoner should not be administered sedating or otherwise psychoactive
drugs for purposes of discipline or convenience, or because of any decision relating to
programming or privileges; such drugs should be used only to treat health conditions.
(c)
Restrictions relating to a prisoner’s programming or other privileges,
whether as a disciplinary sanction or otherwise, should be permitted to reduce, but not to
eliminate, a prisoner’s:
(i)
access to items of personal care and hygiene;
(ii)
opportunities to take regular showers;
(iii) personal visitation privileges, but suspension of such visits should
be for no more than [30 days];
(iv)
opportunities for physical exercise;
(v)
opportunities to speak with other persons;
(vi)
religious observance in accordance with Standard 23-7.3; and
(vii) access to varied reading material.
(d)
Correctional authorities should be permitted to reasonably restrict, but not
eliminate, counsel visits, clergy visits, and written communication if a prisoner has
engaged in misconduct directly related to such visits or communications.

15

Standard 23-3.8

Segregated housing

(a)
Correctional authorities should be permitted to physically separate
prisoners in segregated housing from other prisoners but should not deprive them of those
items or services necessary for the maintenance of psychological and physical wellbeing.
(b)
Conditions of extreme isolation should not be allowed regardless of the
reasons for a prisoner’s separation from the general population. Conditions of extreme
isolation generally include a combination of sensory deprivation, lack of contact with
other persons, enforced idleness, minimal out-of-cell time, and lack of outdoor recreation.
(c)
All prisoners placed in segregated housing should be provided with
meaningful forms of mental, physical, and social stimulation. Depending upon individual
assessments of risks, needs, and the reasons for placement in the segregated setting, those
forms of stimulation should include:
(i)
in-cell programming, which should be developed for prisoners who
are not permitted to leave their cells;
(ii)
additional out-of-cell time, taking into account the size of the
prisoner’s cell and the length of time the prisoner has been housed
in this setting;
(iii) opportunities to exercise in the presence of other prisoners,
although, if necessary, separated by security barriers;
(iv)
daily face-to-face interaction with both uniformed and civilian
staff; and
(v)
access to radio or television for programming or mental
stimulation, although such access should not substitute for human
contact described in subdivisions (i) to (iv).
(d)
Prisoners placed in segregated housing for reasons other than discipline
should be allowed as much out-of-cell time and programming participation as practicable,
consistent with security.
(e)
No cell used to house prisoners in segregated housing should be smaller
than 80 square feet, and cells should be designed to permit prisoners assigned to them to
converse with and be observed by staff. Physical features that facilitate suicide attempts
should be eliminated in all segregation cells. Except if required for security or safety
reasons for a particular prisoner, segregation cells should be equipped in compliance with
Standard 23-3.3(b).
(f)
Correctional staff should monitor and assess any health or safety
concerns related to the refusal of a prisoner in segregated housing to eat or drink,
or to participate in programming, recreation, or out-of-cell activity.

16

Standard 23-3.9

Conditions during lockdown

(a)
The term “lockdown” means a decision by correctional authorities to
suspend activities in one or more housing areas of a correctional facility and to confine
prisoners to their cells or housing areas.
(b)
A lockdown of more than one day should be imposed only to restore
order; to address an imminent threat of violence, disorder, or serious contagion; or to
conduct a comprehensive search of the facility.
(c)
During any lockdown, correctional authorities should not suspend medical
services, food service, and provision of necessities, although necessary restrictions in
these services should be permitted. Prisoners should continue to have unrestricted access
to toilets, washbasins, and drinking water. Except in the event of an emergency
lockdown of less than [72 hours] in which security necessitates denial of such access,
prisoners should be afforded access to showers, correspondence, delivery of legal
materials, and grievance procedures.
(d)
In the event of a lockdown of longer than [7 days], a qualified mental
health professional should visit the affected housing units at least weekly to observe and
talk with prisoners in order to assess their mental health and provide necessary services.
(e)
A lockdown should last no longer than necessary. As the situation
improves, privileges and activities for the affected area should be progressively
increased. Procedures should exist for identifying individual prisoners who did not
participate in incidents that led to the lockdown and whose access to programs and
movement within the facility may be safely restored prior to the termination of lockdown
status. In the extraordinary situation that a lockdown lasts longer than [30 days], officials
should mitigate the risks of mental and physical deterioration by increasing out-of-cell
time and in-cell programming opportunities.
(f)
Correctional officials should not use a lockdown to substitute for
disciplinary sanctions or for reclassification of prisoners.

17

PART IV: RULES OF CONDUCT AND DISCIPLINE
Standard 23-4.1

Rules of conduct and informational handbook

Correctional administrators and officials should promulgate clear written
(a)
rules for prisoner conduct, including specific definitions of disciplinary offenses,
examples of conduct that constitute each type of offense, and a schedule indicating the
minimum and maximum possible punishment for each offense.
(b)
Upon a prisoner’s entry to a correctional facility, correctional authorities
should provide the prisoner a personal copy of the rules for prisoner conduct and an
informational handbook written in plain language. A written translation in a language the
prisoner understands should be provided within a reasonable period of time to each
literate prisoner who does not understand English. Copies of the rules and handbook in
the languages a facility’s prisoners understand should also be available in areas of the
facility readily accessible to prisoners, including libraries. Staff should explain and read
the rules and the handbook to any prisoner unable to read them by reason of illiteracy or
disability.
(c)
The handbook should contain specific criteria and procedures for
discipline and classification decisions, including decisions involving security status and
work and housing assignments. In addition, the handbook should set forth the facility’s
policy forbidding staff sexual contact or exploitation of prisoners, and the procedures for
making complaints, filing grievances, and appealing grievance denials, as well as
describing any types of complaints deemed not properly the subject of the grievance
procedures.
(d)
The handbook should specify the authorized means by which prisoners
should seek information, make requests, obtain medical or mental health care, seek an
accommodation relating to disability or religion, report an assault or threat, and seek
protection.
(e)
Correctional officials and administrators should annually review and
update facility and agency rules and regulations to ensure that they comport with current
legal standards. Correctional officials should annually review and update the handbooks
provided to prisoners to ensure that they comport with current legal standards, facility
and agency rules, and practice.

Standard 23-4.2

Disciplinary hearing procedures

(a)
Correctional authorities should not seek to impose a disciplinary sanction
upon a prisoner for misconduct unless the misconduct is a criminal offense or the
prisoner was given prior written and effective notice of the violated rule.

18

(b)
Informal resolution of minor disciplinary violations should be encouraged
provided that prisoners have notice of the range of sanctions that may be imposed as a
result of such an informal resolution, those sanctions are only minimally restrictive, and
the imposition of a sanction is recorded and subject to prompt review by supervisory
correctional staff, ordinarily on the same day.
(c)
Correctional authorities should be permitted to confine a prisoner in
segregated housing pending the hearing required by subdivision (d) of this Standard, if
necessary for individual safety or institutional security. Such prehearing confinement
should not exceed [3 days] unless necessitated by the prisoner’s request for a continuance
or by other demonstrated good cause. Prisoners should receive credit against any
disciplinary sentence for time served in prehearing confinement if prehearing conditions
were substantially similar to conditions in disciplinary segregation.
(d)
When the possible sanction for a disciplinary offense includes the delay of
a release date, loss of sentencing credit for good conduct or good conduct time earning
capability, or placement in disciplinary segregation, a prisoner should be found to have
committed that offense only after an individualized determination, by a preponderance of
the evidence. In addition, the prisoner should be afforded, at a minimum, the following
procedural protections:
(i)
at least 24 hours in advance of any hearing, written and effective
notice of the actions alleged to have been committed, the rule
alleged to have been violated by those actions, and the prisoner’s
rights under this Standard;
(ii)
an impartial decision-maker;
(iii)
a hearing at which the prisoner may be heard in person and, absent
an individualized determination of good cause, has a reasonable
opportunity to present available witnesses and documentary and
physical evidence;
(iv)
absent an individualized determination of good cause, opportunity
for the prisoner to confront and cross-examine any witnesses or, if
good cause to limit such confrontation is found, to propound
questions to be relayed to the witnesses;
(v)
an interpreter, if necessary for the prisoner to understand or
participate in the proceedings;
(vi)
if the decision-maker determines that a prisoner is unable to
prepare and present evidence and arguments effectively on his or
her own behalf, counsel or some other advocate for the prisoner,
including a member of the correctional staff or another prisoner
with suitable capabilities;
(vii) an independent determination by the decision-maker of the
reliability and credibility of any confidential informants;

19

(viii) a written statement setting forth the evidence relied on and the
reasons for the decision and the sanction imposed, rendered
promptly but no later than [5 days] after conclusion of the hearing
except in exceptional circumstances where good cause for the
delay exists; and
(ix)
opportunity for the prisoner to appeal within [5 days] to the chief
executive officer of the facility or higher administrative authority,
who should issue a written decision within [10 days] either
affirming or reversing the determination of misconduct and
approving or modifying the punishment imposed.
(e)
If correctional officials conduct a disciplinary proceeding during the
pendency of a criminal investigation or prosecution, correctional authorities should
advise the prisoner of the right to remain silent during the proceeding, and should not use
that silence against the prisoner.
(f)
A prisoner should be permitted to waive the right to a hearing if the
prisoner so chooses after being informed of the disciplinary offense of which he or she is
accused and the potential penalties and other consequences; such a waiver should be
made in person to a designated correctional official who should accept it only if the
prisoner understands the consequences.

Standard 23-4.3

Disciplinary sanctions

(a)
Correctional authorities should be permitted to impose a range of
disciplinary sanctions to maintain order and ensure the safe custody of prisoners.
Sanctions should be reasonable in light of the offense and the prisoner’s circumstances,
including disciplinary history and any mental illness or other cognitive impairment. In
addition to the limitations itemized in Standard 23-3.7, sanctions should never include:
(i)
corporal punishment;
(ii)
conditions of extreme isolation as described in Standard 23-3.8(b);
(iii) use of restraints, such as handcuffs, chains, irons, strait-jackets, or
restraint chairs; or
(iv)
any other form of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.
(b)
Only the most severe disciplinary offenses, in which safety or security are
seriously threatened, ordinarily warrant a sanction that exceeds [30 days] placement in
disciplinary housing, and no placement in disciplinary housing should exceed one year.
(c)
No disciplinary sanction should ever be administered by other prisoners,
even under the direction of correctional authorities.

20

PART V: PERSONAL SECURITY
Standard 23-5.1

Personal security and protection from harm

Correctional authorities should protect prisoners from physical injury,
(a)
corporal punishment, sexual assault, extortion, harassment, and personal abuse, among
other harms.
(b)
Correctional authorities should exercise reasonable care with respect to
property prisoners lawfully possess or have a right to reclaim. A remedy should be
reasonably available to prisoners if correctional authorities negligently or intentionally
destroy or lose such property.

Standard 23-5.2

Prevention and investigation of violence

(a)
Correctional and governmental authorities should take all practicable
actions to reduce violence and the potential for violence in correctional facilities and
during transport, including:
(i)
using a validated objective classification system and instrument as
provided in Standard 23-2.2;
(ii)
preventing crowding as provided in Standard 23-3.1(b);
(iii) ensuring adequate and appropriate supervision of prisoners during
transport and in all areas of the facility, preferably direct
supervision in any congregate areas;
(iv)
training staff and volunteers appropriately as provided in Standard
23-10.3;
(v)
preventing introduction of drugs and other contraband, and
providing substance abuse treatment as provided in Standard 238.2(b);
(vi)
preventing opportunities for prisoners to exercise coercive
authority or control over other prisoners, including through access
to another prisoner’s confidential information;
(vii) preventing opportunities for gangs to gain any power;
(viii) promptly separating prisoners when one may be in danger from
another;
(ix)
preventing staff from tolerating, condoning, or implicitly or
explicitly encouraging fighting, violence, bullying, or extortion;
(x)
regularly assessing prisoners’ level of fear of violence and
responding accordingly to prisoners’ concerns; and
(xi)
preventing idleness by providing constructive activities for all
prisoners as provided in Standards 23-8.2 and 23-8.4.
(b)
Correctional officials should promptly and thoroughly investigate and
make a record of all incidents involving violence, and should take appropriate remedial
action.

21

Standard 23-5.3

Sexual abuse

(a)
Correctional authorities should protect all prisoners from sexual assault by
other prisoners, as well as from pressure by other prisoners to engage in sexual acts.
Correctional officials should strive to create an institutional culture in which sexual
assault or sexual pressure is not tolerated, expected, or made the subject of humor by staff
or prisoners. Correctional authorities should evaluate reports of sexual assault or threats
of sexual assault without regard to a prisoner’s sexual orientation, gender, or gender
identity and should not be permitted to retaliate formally or informally against prisoners
who make such reports. Correctional authorities should not presume that sexual activity
among prisoners is consensual.
(b)
Correctional authorities should protect all prisoners from any sexual
contact with or sexual exploitation by staff, including volunteers and employees of other
governmental or private organizations who work in the correctional facility. States and
the federal government should prohibit by statute and correctional agencies by policy any
form of sexual contact between staff and prisoners.
(c)
Correctional officials should establish and publicize the means by which
prisoners and others may easily and confidentially report to any staff member or
appropriate outside entity a sexual assault or pressure to engage in sexual acts, sexual
contact or exploitation involving a prisoner and staff, or the fear of such conduct.
Correctional authorities should promptly relay any such report, or any other information
they obtain regarding such conduct, to the chief executive officer of the facility.
Correctional officials should implement a policy of prompt and thorough investigation of
any credible allegation of the threat or commission of prisoner sexual assault or sexual
contact with or sexual exploitation by staff. Correctional officials should establish
criteria for forwarding such reports to a specialized unit trained in the appropriate
investigation methods. Correctional authorities should take steps necessary to protect the
prisoner from further sexual assaults, contacts, or exploitation. If a complaining prisoner
and the subject of the complaint are separated during any such investigation, care should
be taken to minimize conditions for the complaining prisoner that a reasonable person
would experience as punitive.
(d)
Medical treatment and testing, and psychological counseling, should be
immediately available to victims of sexual assault or of sexual contact with or sexual
exploitation by staff. Correctional authorities, including health care staff, should be alert
to identify and document signs of sexual assault and should implement a protocol for
providing victims with a thorough forensic medical examination performed by an
appropriately trained qualified medical professional.
(e)
Correctional authorities, including health care staff, should not reveal
information about any incident of prisoner sexual abuse to any person, except to other
staff or law enforcement personnel who need to know about the incident in order to make
treatment, investigation, or other security or management decisions, or to appropriate
external oversight officials or agencies.

22

Standard 23-5.4

Self-harm and suicide prevention

(a)
Correctional officials should implement procedures to identify prisoners at
risk for suicide and to intervene to prevent suicides.
(b)
When the initial screening pursuant to Standard 23-2.1 or any subsequent
observation identifies a risk of suicide, the prisoner should be placed in a safe setting and
promptly evaluated by a qualified mental health professional, who should determine the
degree of risk, appropriate level of ongoing supervision, and appropriate course of mental
health treatment.
(c)
Instead of isolating prisoners at risk of suicide, correctional authorities
should ordinarily place such prisoners in housing areas that are designed to be suicide
resistant and that allow staff a full and unobstructed view of the prisoners inside. A
suicidal prisoner’s clothing should be removed only if an individualized assessment finds
such removal necessary, and the affected prisoner should be provided with suicide
resistant garments that are sanitary, adequately modest, and appropriate for the
temperature. Physical restraints should be used only as a last resort and their use should
comply with the limitations in Standard 23-5.9.
(d)
At a minimum, prisoners presenting a serious risk of suicide should be
housed within sight of staff and observed by staff, face-to-face, at irregular intervals of no
more than 15 minutes. Prisoners currently threatening or attempting suicide should be
under continuous staff observation. Suicide observation should be documented, and
prisoners under suicide observation should be evaluated by a qualified mental health
professional prior to being removed from observation.
(e)
Correctional authorities should minimize the risk of suicide in housing
areas and other spaces where prisoners may be unobserved by staff by eliminating, to the
extent practicable, physical features that facilitate suicide attempts.
(f)
When staff observe a prisoner who appears to have attempted or
committed suicide, they should administer appropriate first-aid measures immediately
until medical personnel arrive and assess the situation. Cut-down tools should be readily
available to security personnel, who should be trained in first aid and cardiopulmonary
resuscitation, cut-down techniques, and emergency notification procedures.

Standard 23-5.5

Protection of vulnerable prisoners

(a)
The term “protective custody” means housing of a prisoner in segregated
housing or under any other substantially greater restrictions than those applicable to the
general population with which the prisoner would otherwise be housed, in order to
protect the prisoner from harm.

23

(b)
Correctional officials should implement procedures for identifying those
prisoners who are particularly vulnerable to physical or sexual abuse, manipulation, or
psychologically harmful verbal abuse by other prisoners or by staff, and for protecting
these and other prisoners who request and need protection.
(c)
Correctional authorities should minimize the extent to which vulnerable
prisoners needing protection are subjected to rules and conditions a reasonable person
would experience as punitive. Correctional authorities should not stigmatize prisoners
who need protection. Such prisoners should not be housed with prisoners who have been
identified as potential aggressors.
(d)
Correctional authorities should not assign a prisoner to involuntary
protective custody for a period exceeding [30 days] unless there is a serious and credible
threat to the prisoner’s safety and staff are unable to adequately protect the prisoner either
in the general population or by a transfer to another facility.
(e)
At intervals not to exceed three months, correctional authorities should
afford a prisoner placed in protective custody a review to determine whether there is a
continuing need for separation from the general population.
(f)
Consistent with such confidentiality as is required to prevent a significant
risk of harm to other persons, a prisoner being evaluated for involuntary placement in
protective custody should be permitted reasonable access to materials considered at both
the initial and the periodic reviews, and should be allowed to meet with and submit
written statements to persons reviewing the prisoner’s classification.
(g)
If correctional authorities assign a prisoner to protective custody, such a
prisoner should be:
(i)
housed in the least restrictive environment practicable, in
segregated housing only if necessary, and in no case in a setting
that is used for disciplinary housing;
(ii)
allowed all of the items usually authorized for general population
prisoners;
(iii)
provided opportunities to participate in programming and work as
described in Standards 23-8.2 and 8.4; and
(iv)
provided the greatest practicable opportunities for out-of-cell time.

Standard 23-5.6

Use of force

(a)
“Force” means offensive or defensive physical contact with a prisoner,
including blows, pushes, or defensive holds, whether or not involving batons or other
instruments or weapons; discharge of chemical agents; discharge of electronic weaponry;
and application of restraints such as handcuffs, chains, irons, strait-jackets, or restraint
chairs. However, force does not include a firm hold, or use of hand or leg restraints, or
fitting of a stun belt, on an unresisting prisoner.

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(b)

Correctional authorities should use force against a prisoner only:
(i)
to protect and ensure the safety of staff, prisoners, and others; to
prevent serious property damage; or to prevent escape;
(ii)
if correctional authorities reasonably believe the benefits of force
outweigh the risks to prisoners and staff; and
(iii)
as a last alternative after other reasonable efforts to resolve the
situation have failed.

(c)

In no case should correctional authorities use force against a prisoner:
(i)
to enforce an institutional rule or an order unless the disciplinary
process is inadequate to address an immediate security need;
(ii)
to gratuitously inflict pain or suffering, punish past or present
conduct, deter future conduct, intimidate, or gain information; or
(iii) after the risk that justified the use of force has passed.

(d)
A correctional agency should implement reasonable policies and
procedures governing staff use of force against prisoners; these policies should establish a
range of force options and explicitly prohibit the use of premature, unnecessary, or
excessive force. Control techniques should be intended to minimize injuries to both
prisoners and staff. Except in highly unusual circumstances in which a prisoner poses an
imminent threat of serious bodily harm, staff should not use types of force that carry a
high risk of injury, such as punches, kicks, or strikes to the head, neck, face, or groin.
(e)
Correctional authorities should not be assigned responsibilities potentially
requiring the use of force unless they are appropriately trained for the anticipated type of
force, and are initially and periodically evaluated as being physically and mentally fit for
such hazardous and sensitive duties.
(f)
Except in an emergency, force should not be used unless authorized by a
supervisory officer. Such an officer should be called to the scene whenever force is used,
to direct and observe but ordinarily not to participate in the physical application of force,
and should not leave the scene until the incident has come to an end. To the extent
practicable, continually operating stationary video cameras should be used in areas in
which uses of force are particularly likely, such as intake areas, segregation, and mental
health units. Correctional authorities should video and audio record every planned or
anticipated use of force from the initiation of the action, and should begin recording any
other use of force incident as soon as practicable after the incident starts.
(g)
If practicable, staff should seek intervention and advice from a qualified
mental health professional prior to a planned or predictable use of force against a prisoner
who has a history of mental illness or who is exhibiting behaviors commonly associated
with mental illness.

25

(h)
Following any incident in which a prisoner is subjected to use of either
chemical agents or any kind of weapon or is injured during a use of force, the prisoner
should receive an immediate health care examination and appropriate treatment,
including decontamination. Health care personnel should document any injuries
sustained.
(i)
Correctional agency policies should strive to ensure full staff
accountability for all uses of force. Correctional authorities should memorialize and
facilitate review of uses of force. Following any incident that involves a use of force
against a prisoner, participants and witnesses should be interviewed or should file written
statements. Correctional authorities should prepare a complete file for the chief
executive officer of the facility, including a report, any recordings, and written statements
and medical reports for both prisoners and staff. Correctional officials and administrators
should review and retain the file for purposes of management, staff discipline, training,
and the identification of trends.
(j)
A jurisdiction or correctional agency should establish criteria, based on the
extent of prisoner injury and the type of force, for forwarding use of force reports to a
person or office outside the relevant facility’s chain of command for a more in-depth
investigation. Such investigation should take place for every use of force incident that
results in a death or major traumatic injury to a prisoner or to staff.

Standard 23-5.7

Use of deadly force

(a)
“Deadly force” means force that creates or is intended to create a
substantial risk of death or serious bodily harm. The use of firearms should always be
considered the use of deadly force.
(b)
Correctional agency policies and procedures should authorize the use of
deadly force only by security personnel trained in the use of deadly force, and only in a
situation when correctional authorities reasonably believe that deadly force is necessary
to prevent imminent death or serious bodily harm or to prevent an escape from a secure
correctional facility, subject to the qualification in subdivision (c) of this Standard.
(c)
Deadly force to prevent an escape should be permitted only when the
prisoner is about to leave the secure perimeter of a correctional facility without
authorization or, if the prisoner is permitted to be on the grounds outside the secure
perimeter, the prisoner is about to leave the facility grounds without authorization.
Before staff use a firearm to prevent an escape, they should shout a warning and, if time
and circumstances allow, summon other staff to regain control without shooting. For
purposes of this subdivision, a prisoner in custody for transit to or from a secure
correctional facility is considered to be within the perimeter of such facility.

26

(d)
The location and storage of firearms should be strictly regulated.
Correctional authorities carrying firearms should not be assigned to positions that are
accessible to prisoners or in which they come into direct contact with prisoners, except
during transport or supervision of prisoners outside the secure perimeter, or in emergency
situations. In those situations, each staff member should also have available for use a
weapon less likely to be lethal.

Standard 23-5.8

Use of chemical agents, electronic weaponry, and canines

(a)
Correctional administrators should develop and implement policies
governing use of chemical agents and electronic weaponry. Such policies should:
(i)
provide for testing and training;
(ii)
specify that, as with any use of force, chemical agents and
electronic weaponry are to be used only as a last resort after the
failure of other reasonable conflict resolution techniques;
(iii) cover the medical and tactical circumstances in which use of such
agents and weaponry is inappropriate or unsafe;
(iv)
forbid the use of such agents and weaponry directly on vital parts
of the body, including genitals and, for electronic weaponry, eyes,
mouth, and neck; and
(v)
forbid the use of electronic weaponry in drive-stun or direct
contact mode.
(b)
Correctional agency policy should prohibit use of electronic or chemical
weaponry for the following purposes:
(i)
as punishment;
(ii)
as a prod;
(iii)
to rouse an unconscious, impaired, or intoxicated prisoner;
(iv)
against any prisoner using passive resistance when there is no
immediate threat of bodily harm; or
(v)
to enforce an order after a prisoner has been immobilized or a
threat has been neutralized.
(c)
Correctional officials should implement any appropriate facility-specific
restrictions on use of chemical agents and electronic weaponry that are appropriate for
the particular facility and its prisoner population, and should promulgate policy that sets
forth in detail the circumstances in which such weapons may be used.
(d)
When practicable, before using either chemical agents or electronic
weaponry against a prisoner, staff should determine whether the prisoner has any
contraindicating medical conditions, including mental illness and intoxication, and make
a contemporaneous record of this determination.

27

(e)
Correctional authorities should be permitted to use canines inside the
secure perimeter of a correctional facility only for searches and, except in emergencies,
only if prisoners have been moved away from the area to be searched. Canines should
never be used for purposes of intimidation or control of a prisoner or prisoners.

Standard 23-5.9

Use of restraint mechanisms and techniques

(a)
Correctional authorities should not use restraint mechanisms such as
handcuffs, leg irons, straitjackets, restraint chairs, and spit-masks as a form of
punishment or retaliation. Subject to the remainder of this Standard, restraints should not
be used except to control a prisoner who presents an immediate risk of self-injury or
injury to others, to prevent serious property damage, for health care purposes, or when
necessary as a security precaution during transfer or transport.
(b)
When restraints are necessary, correctional authorities should use the least
restrictive forms of restraints that are appropriate and should use them only as long as the
need exists, not for a pre-determined period of time. Policies relating to restraints should
take account of the special needs of prisoners who have physical or mental disabilities,
and of prisoners who are under the age of eighteen or are geriatric, as well as the
limitations specified in Standard 23-6.9 for pregnant prisoners or those who have recently
given birth. Correctional authorities should take care to prevent injury to restrained
prisoners, and should not restrain a prisoner in any manner that causes unnecessary
physical pain or extreme discomfort, or that restricts the prisoner’s blood circulation or
obstructs the prisoner’s breathing or airways. Correctional authorities should not hog-tie
prisoners or restrain them in a fetal or prone position.
(c)
Correctional authorities should prevent co-mingling of restrained and
unrestrained prisoners either in a correctional facility or during transport.
(d)
Other than as allowed by subdivision (e) of this Standard, correctional
authorities should not use restraints in a prisoner’s cell except immediately preceding an
out-of-cell movement or for medical or mental health purposes as authorized by a
qualified medical or mental health professional. Reasonable steps should be taken during
movement to protect restrained prisoners from accidental injury.
(e)
If restraints are used for medical or mental health care purposes, the
restrained prisoner should, if possible, be placed in a health care area of the correctional
facility, and the decision to use, continue, and discontinue restraints should be made by a
qualified health care professional, in accordance with applicable licensing regulations.
(f)
Four- or five-point restraints should be used only if a prisoner presents an
immediate and extreme risk of serious self-injury or injury to others and only after less
restrictive forms of restraint have been determined likely to be ineffective to control the
prisoner’s risky behavior. Whenever practicable, a qualified health care professional
should participate in efforts to avoid using four- or five-point restraints.

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(g)
If it is necessary for correctional authorities to apply four- or five-point
restraints without participation of a qualified health care professional because the
situation is an emergency and health care staff are not available, a qualified health care
professional should review the situation as soon as possible and assess whether such
restraints are appropriate. If correctional authorities have applied four- or five-point
restraints without the participation of a qualified health care professional or if that
professional disagrees with the application of the restraints, correctional authorities
should notify the facility’s chief executive office immediately on gaining control of the
prisoner. The chief executive officer should decide promptly whether the use of such
restraints should continue.
(h)
Whether restraints are used for health care or for custodial purposes,
during the period that a prisoner is restrained in a four- or five-point position, staff should
follow established guidelines for use of the restraint mechanism that take into account the
prisoner’s physical condition, including health problems and body weight, should provide
adequate nutrition, hydration, and toileting, and should take the following precautions to
ensure the prisoner’s safety:
(i)
for the entire period of restraint, the prisoner should be video- and
audio-recorded;
(ii)
immediately, a qualified health care professional should conduct
an in-person assessment of the prisoner’s medical and mental
health condition, and should advise whether the prisoner should be
transferred to a medical or mental health unit or facility for
emergency treatment;
(iii) until the initial assessment by a qualified health care professional
required by subdivision (ii), staff should continuously observe the
prisoner, in person;
(iv)
after the initial medical assessment, at least every fifteen minutes
medically trained staff should conduct visual observations and
medical checks of the prisoner, log all checks, and evaluate the
continued need for restraint;
(v)
at least every two hours, qualified health care staff should check
the prisoner’s range of motion and review the medical checks
performed under subdivision (iv); and
(vi)
at least every four hours, a qualified medical professional should
conduct a complete in-person evaluation to determine the
prisoner’s need for either continued restraint or transfer to a
medical or mental health facility.

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PART VI: HEALTH CARE
Standard 23-6.1

General principles governing health care

(a)

Correctional authorities should ensure that:
(i)
a qualified health care professional is designated the responsible
health authority for each facility, to oversee and direct the
provision of health care in that facility;
(ii)
prisoners are provided necessary health care, including preventive,
routine, urgent, and emergency care;
(iii)
such care is consistent with community health care standards,
including standards relating to privacy except as otherwise
specified in these Standards;
(iv)
special health care protocols are used, when appropriate, for
female prisoners, prisoners who have physical or mental
disabilities, and prisoners who are under the age of eighteen or
geriatric; and
(v)
health care that is necessary during the period of imprisonment is
provided regardless of a prisoner’s ability to pay, the size of the
correctional facility, or the duration of the prisoner’s incarceration.

(b)

Prisoners should not be charged fees for necessary health care.

(c)
Dental care should be provided to treat prisoners’ dental pain, eliminate
dental pathology, and preserve and restore prisoners’ ability to chew. Consistent with
Standard 23-2.5, routine preventive dental care and education about oral health care
should be provided to those prisoners whose confinement may exceed one year.
(d)
Prisoners should be provided timely access to appropriately trained and
licensed health care staff in a safe and sanitary setting designed and equipped for
diagnosis or treatment.
(e)
Health care should be based on the clinical judgments of qualified health
care professionals, not on non-medical considerations such as cost and convenience.
Clinical decisions should be the sole province of the responsible health care
professionals, and should not be countermanded by non-medical staff. Work
assignments, housing placements, and diets for each prisoner should be consistent with
any health care treatment plan developed for that prisoner.
(f)
Prisoners should be provided basic educational materials relating to
disease prevention, good health, hygiene, and proper usage of medication.

30

Standard 23-6.2

Response to prisoner health care needs

(a)
Correctional authorities should implement a system that allows each
prisoner, regardless of security classification, to communicate health care needs in a
timely and confidential manner to qualified health care professionals, who should
evaluate the situation and assess its urgency. Provision should be made for prisoners who
face literacy, language, or other communication barriers to be able to communicate their
health needs. No correctional staff member should impede or unreasonably delay a
prisoner’s access to health care staff or treatment.
(b)
A prisoner suffering from a serious or potentially life-threatening illness or
injury, or from significant pain, should be referred immediately to a qualified medical
professional in accordance with written guidelines. Complaints of dental pain should be
referred to a qualified dental professional, and necessary treatment begun promptly.
(c)
When appropriate, health care complaints should be evaluated and treated
by specialists. A prisoner who requires care not available in the correctional facility
should be transferred to a hospital or other appropriate place for care.

Standard 23-6.3

Control and distribution of prescription drugs

A correctional facility should store all prescription drugs safely and under the
control and supervision of the physician in charge of the facility’s health care program.
Prescription drugs should be distributed in a timely and confidential manner. Ordinarily,
only health care staff should administer prescription drugs, except that health care staff
should be permitted to authorize prisoners to hold and administer their own asthma
inhalers, and to implement other reasonable “keep on person” drug policies. In an
emergency, or when necessary in a facility in which health care staff are available only
part-time, medically trained correctional staff should be permitted to administer
prescription drugs at the direction of qualified health care professionals. In no instance
should a prisoner administer prescription drugs to another prisoner.

Standard 23-6.4

Qualified health care staff

Each correctional agency should employ or contract with a sufficient
(a)
number of qualified medical, dental, and mental health professionals at each correctional
facility to render preventive, routine, urgent, and emergency health care in a timely
manner consistent with accepted health care practice and standards.

31

(b)
Health care providers in a non-federal correctional facility should be fully
licensed in the state in which the facility is located; health care providers in a federal
correctional facility should be fully licensed in the United States. No health care provider
should be permitted to practice in a correctional facility beyond the scope permissible for
that individual provider outside of a correctional facility, given the provider’s particular
qualifications and licensing.
(c)
Regardless of any training a prisoner may have had, no prisoner should be
allowed to provide health care evaluation or treatment to any other prisoner.

Standard 23-6.5

Continuity of care

(a)
A correctional agency should ensure each prisoner’s continuity of care,
including with respect to medication, upon entry into the correctional system, during
confinement and transportation, during and after transfer between facilities, and upon
release. A prisoner’s health care records and medication should travel with the prisoner
in the event of a transfer between facilities, including facilities operated by different
agencies.
(b)
Prisoners who are determined to be lawfully taking prescription drugs or
receiving health care treatment when they enter a correctional facility directly from the
community, or when they are transferred between correctional facilities—including
facilities operated by different agencies—should be maintained on that course of
medication or treatment or its equivalent until a qualified health care professional directs
otherwise upon individualized consideration.

Standard 23-6.6

Adequate facilities, equipment, and resources

Health care areas in a correctional facility should be safe and sanitary,
(a)
should include appropriately private areas for examination and treatment, and should be
designed so that prisoners can hold confidential discussions with health care personnel.
(b)
A correctional facility should have equipment necessary for routine health
care and emergencies, and an adequately supplied pharmacy. Specialized equipment may
be required in larger facilities and those serving prisoners with special medical needs.
Smaller facilities should be permitted to provide for prisoners’ health care needs by
transferring them to other facilities or health care providers, but should have equipment
that is reasonably necessary in light of its preexisting transfer arrangements.
(c)
Hospitals and infirmaries operated by or within correctional facilities
should meet the licensing standards applicable to similar, non-prison hospitals or
infirmaries.

32

(d)
Vehicles used to transport prisoners to and from medical facilities should
be adequately equipped with emergency medical equipment and provisions for prisoners
with special needs.

Standard 23-6.7

Quality improvement

A correctional health care system should include an ongoing evaluation process to
assess and improve the health care provided to prisoners and to enable health care staff to
institute corrective care or other action as needed. The evaluation process should include
mechanisms by which prisoners can provide both positive and negative comments about
their care.

Standard 23-6.8
(a)

Health care records and confidentiality
Prisoners’ health care records should:
(i)
be compiled, maintained, and retained in accordance with accepted
health care practice and standards;
(ii)
not include criminal or disciplinary records unless a qualified
health care professional finds such records relevant to the
prisoner’s health care evaluation or treatment;
(iii) be maintained in a confidential and secure manner, separately from
non-health-care files;
(iv)
accompany a prisoner to every facility to which the prisoner is
transferred; and
(v)
be available to the prisoner who is the subject of the records,
absent an individualized finding of good cause.

(b)
Information about a prisoner’s health condition should not be disclosed to
other prisoners. No prisoner should have access to any other prisoner’s health care
records.
(c)
Information about a prisoner’s health condition should be shared with
correctional staff only when necessary and permitted by law, and only to the extent
required for:
(i)
the health and safety of the prisoner or of other persons;
(ii)
the administration and maintenance of the facility or agency;
(iii) quality improvement relating to health care; or
(iv)
law enforcement purposes.
(d)
Health care personnel or correctional authorities should provide
information about a prisoner’s health condition to that prisoner’s family or other persons
designated by the prisoner if the prisoner consents to such disclosure or, unless the
prisoner has previously withheld consent, if the prisoner’s condition renders the prisoner
unable to consent or if the prisoner has died.

33

Standard 23-6.9

Pregnant prisoners and new mothers

(a)
A pregnant prisoner should receive necessary prenatal and postpartum
care and treatment, including an adequate diet, clothing, appropriate accommodations
relating to bed assignment and housing area temperature, and childbirth and infant care
education. Any restraints used on a pregnant prisoner or one who has recently delivered a
baby should be medically appropriate; correctional authorities should consult with health
care staff to ensure that restraints do not compromise the pregnancy or the prisoner’s
health.
(b)
A prisoner in labor should be taken to an appropriate medical facility
without delay. A prisoner should not be restrained while she is in labor, including during
transport, except in extraordinary circumstances after an individualized finding that
security requires restraint, in which event correctional and health care staff should
cooperate to use the least restrictive restraints necessary for security, which should not
interfere with the prisoner’s labor.
(c)
Governmental authorities should facilitate access to abortion services for a
prisoner who decides to exercise her right to an abortion, as that right is defined by state
and federal law, through prompt scheduling of the procedure upon request and through
the provision of transportation to a facility providing such services.
(d)
Governmental authorities should ensure that no birth certificate states that
a child was born in a correctional facility.
(e)
Governmental and correctional authorities should strive to meet the
legitimate needs of prisoner mothers and their infants, including a prisoner’s desire to
breastfeed her child. Governmental authorities should ordinarily allow a prisoner who
gives birth while in a correctional facility or who already has an infant at the time she is
admitted to a correctional facility to keep the infant with her for a reasonable time,
preferably on extended furlough or in an appropriate community facility or, if that is not
practicable or reasonable, in a nursery at a correctional facility that is staffed by qualified
persons. Governmental authorities should provide appropriate health care to children in
such facilities.
(f)
If long-term imprisonment is anticipated, a prisoner with an infant should
be helped to develop necessary plans for alternative care for the infant following the
period described in subdivision (e) of this Standard, in coordination with social service
agencies. A prisoner should be informed of the consequences for the prisoner’s parental
rights of any arrangements contemplated. When a prisoner and infant are separated, the
prisoner should be provided with counseling and other mental health support.

34

Standard 23-6.10

Impairment-related aids

Prisoners whose health or institutional adjustment would otherwise be adversely
affected should be provided with medical prosthetic devices or other impairment-related
aids, such as eyeglasses, hearing aids, or wheelchairs, except when there has been an
individualized finding that such an aid would be inconsistent with security or safety.
When the use of a specific aid believed reasonably necessary by a qualified medical
professional is deemed inappropriate for security or safety reasons, correctional
authorities should consider alternatives to meet the health needs of the prisoner.

Standard 23-6.11

Services for prisoners with mental disabilities

(a)
A correctional facility should provide appropriate and individualized
mental health care treatment and habilitation services to prisoners with mental illness,
mental retardation, or other cognitive impairments.
(b)
Correctional officials should implement a protocol for identifying and
managing prisoners whose behavior is indicative of mental illness, mental retardation, or
other cognitive impairments. In addition to implementing the mental health screening
required in Standard 23-2.1 and mental health assessment required in Standard 23-2.5,
this protocol should require that the signs and symptoms of mental illness or other
cognitive impairments be documented and that a prisoner with such signs and symptoms
be promptly referred to a qualified mental health professional for evaluation and
treatment.
(c)
A correctional facility should provide prisoners diagnosed with mental
illness, mental retardation, or other cognitive impairments appropriate housing
assignments and programming opportunities in accordance with their diagnoses,
vulnerabilities, functional impairments, and treatment or habilitation plans. A
correctional agency should develop a range of housing options for such prisoners,
including high security housing; residential housing with various privilege levels
dependent upon treatment and security assessments; and transition housing to facilitate
placement in general population or release from custody.
(d)
When appropriate for purposes of evaluation or treatment, correctional
authorities should be permitted to separate from the general population prisoners
diagnosed with mental illness, mental retardation, or other cognitive impairments who
have difficulty conforming to the expectations of behavior for general population
prisoners. However, prisoners diagnosed with serious mental illness should not be
housed in settings that may exacerbate their mental illness or suicide risk, particularly in
settings involving sensory deprivation or isolation.

35

Standard 23-6.12

Prisoners with chronic or communicable diseases

(a)
Correctional officials should provide for the voluntary medically
appropriate testing of all prisoners for widespread chronic and serious communicable
diseases and for appropriate treatment, without restricting the availability of treatment
based on criteria not directly related to the prisoner’s health.
(b)
Correctional authorities should not discriminate against a prisoner in
housing, programs, or other activities or services because the prisoner has a chronic or
communicable disease, including HIV or AIDS, unless the best available objective
evidence indicates that participation of the prisoner poses a direct threat to the health or
safety of others. When medically necessary, correctional authorities should be permitted
to place a prisoner with a readily transmissible contagious disease in appropriate medical
isolation or to restrict such a prisoner in other ways to prevent contagion of others.
(c)
Any accommodation made to address the special needs or risks of a
prisoner with a communicable disease should not unnecessarily reveal that prisoner’s
health condition.

Standard 23-6.13

Prisoners with gender identity disorder

A prisoner diagnosed with gender identity disorder should be offered appropriate
treatment. At a minimum, a prisoner who has begun or completed the medical process of
gender reassignment prior to admission to a correctional facility should be offered
treatment necessary to maintain the prisoner at the stage of transition reached at the time
of admission, unless a qualified health care professional determines that such treatment is
medically inadvisable for the prisoner.

Standard 23-6.14

Voluntary and informed consent to treatment

Correctional officials should implement a policy to require voluntary and
(a)
informed consent prior to a prisoner’s health care examination, testing, or treatment,
except as provided in this Standard. A prisoner who lacks the capacity to make decisions
consenting or withholding consent to care should have a surrogate decision-maker
designated according to applicable law, although that decision-maker’s consent should
not substitute for the protections specified in Standard 23-6.15. A competent prisoner
who refuses food should not be force-fed except pursuant to a court order.

36

(b)
Prisoners should be informed of the health care options available to them.
If a prisoner refuses health care examination, testing, or treatment, a qualified health care
professional should discuss the matter with the prisoner and document in the prisoner’s
health care record both the discussion and the refusal; the health care professional should
attempt to obtain the prisoner’s signature attesting to the refusal. Any claim that a
prisoner is refusing treatment for a serious medical or mental health condition should be
investigated by a qualified health care professional to ensure that the refusal is informed
and voluntary, and not the result of miscommunication or misunderstanding. If a
prisoner refuses care in such a situation, health care staff should take steps to involve
other trusted individuals, such as clergy or the prisoner’s family members, to
communicate to the prisoner the importance of the decision.
(c)
A prisoner who refuses testing or treatment for a serious communicable
disease should be housed in a medically appropriate setting until a qualified health care
professional can ascertain whether the prisoner is contagious. Involuntary testing or
treatment should be permitted only if:
(i)
there is a significant risk of the spread of disease;
(ii)
no less intrusive alternative is available; and
(iii)
involuntary testing or treatment would accord with applicable law
for a non-prisoner.

Standard 23-6.15

Involuntary mental health treatment and transfer

(a)
Involuntary mental health treatment of a prisoner should be permitted only
if the prisoner is suffering from a serious mental illness, non-treatment poses a significant
risk of serious harm to the prisoner or others, and no less intrusive alternative is
reasonably available.
(b)
Prior to long-term involuntary transfer of a prisoner with a serious mental
illness to a dedicated mental health facility, the prisoner should be afforded, at a
minimum, the following procedural protections:
(i)
at least [3 days] in advance of the hearing, written, and effective
notice of the fact that involuntary transfer is being proposed, the
basis for the transfer, and the prisoner’s rights under this Standard;
(ii)
decision-making by a judicial or administrative hearing officer
independent of the correctional agency, or by an independent
committee that does not include any health care professional
responsible for treating or referring the prisoner for transfer or any
other correctional staff but does include at least one qualified
mental health professional;
(iii) a hearing at which the prisoner may be heard in person and, absent
an individualized determination of good cause, present testimony
of available witnesses, including the prisoner’s treating mental
health professional, and documentary and physical evidence;

37

(iv)

absent an individualized determination of good cause, opportunity
for the prisoner to confront and cross-examine witnesses or, if
good cause to limit such confrontation is found, to propound
questions to be relayed to the witnesses;
(v)
an interpreter, if necessary for the prisoner to understand or
participate in the proceedings;
(vi)
counsel, or some other advocate with appropriate mental health
care training;
(vii) a written statement setting forth in detail the evidence relied on and
the reasons for a decision to transfer;
(viii) an opportunity for the prisoner to appeal to a mental health care
review panel or to a judicial officer; and
(ix)
a de novo hearing held every [6 months], with the same procedural
protections as here provided, to decide if involuntary placement in
the mental health facility remains necessary.
(c)
In an emergency situation requiring the immediate involuntary transfer of
a prisoner with serious mental illness to a dedicated mental health facility because of a
serious and imminent risk to the safety of the prisoner or others, the chief executive of a
correctional facility should be authorized to order such a transfer, but the procedural
protections set out in subdivision (b) of this Standard should be provided within [7 days]
after the transfer.
(d)
Prior to involuntary mental health treatment of a prisoner with a serious
mental illness, the prisoner should be afforded, at a minimum, the procedural protections
specified in subdivision (b) of this Standard for involuntary mental health transfers,
except that:
(i)
decision-making in the first instance and on appeal should be by a
judicial or administrative hearing officer independent of the
correctional agency, or by an neutral committee that includes at
least one qualified mental health professional and that may include
appropriate correctional agency staff, but does not include any
health care professional responsible for treating or referring the
prisoner for transfer;
(ii)
the notice should set forth the mental health staff’s diagnosis and
basis for the proposed treatment, a description of the proposed
treatment—including, where relevant, the medication name and
dosage—and the less-intrusive alternatives considered and
rejected; and
(iii) the de novo hearing held every [6 months] should decide whether
to continue or modify any involuntary treatment, and in reaching
that decision should consider, in addition to other relevant
evidence, evidence of side effects.

38

(e)
In an emergency situation requiring the immediate involuntary medication
of a prisoner with serious mental illness, an exception to the procedural requirements
described in subdivision (d) of this Standard should be permitted, provided that the
medication is administered by a qualified health care professional and that it is
discontinued within 72 hours unless the requirements in subdivision (d) of this Standard
are met.
(f)
Notwithstanding a finding pursuant to subdivision (d) of this Standard that
involuntary treatment is appropriate, mental health care staff should continue attempting
to elicit the prisoner’s consent to treatment.

39

PART VII: PERSONAL DIGNITY
Standard 23-7.1

Respect for prisoners

Correctional authorities should treat prisoners in a manner that respects
(a)
their human dignity, and should not subject them to harassment, bullying, or disparaging
language or treatment, or to invidious discrimination based on race, gender, sexual
orientation, gender identity, religion, language, national origin, citizenship, age, or
physical or mental disability.
(b)
Correctional authorities should implement policies and practices to
prevent any such discrimination, harassment, or bullying of prisoners by other prisoners.

Standard 23-7.2

Prisoners with disabilities and other special needs

(a)
If a prisoner with a disability is otherwise qualified to use a correctional
facility, program, service, or activity, correctional authorities should provide such a
prisoner ready access to and use of the facility, program, service, or activity, and should
make reasonable modifications to existing policies, procedures, and facilities if such
modifications are necessary. Modifications are not required if they would pose an undue
burden to the facility, cause a fundamental alteration to a program, or pose a direct threat
of substantial harm to the health and safety of the prisoner or others. Disabled prisoners’
access to facilities, programs, services, or activities should be provided in the most
integrated setting appropriate.
(b)
To the extent practicable, a prisoner who does not have a disability but
does have special needs that affect the prisoner’s ability to participate in a prison
program, service, or activity should receive programs, services, and activities comparable
to those available to other prisoners. Correctional authorities should assess and make
appropriate accommodations in housing placement, medical services, work assignments,
food services, and treatment, exercise, and rehabilitation programs for such a prisoner.
(c)
A prisoner has the right to refuse proffered accommodations related to a
disability or other special needs, provided that the refusal does not pose a security or
safety risk.
(d)
There should be no adverse consequences, such as loss of sentencing
credit for good conduct, discipline, or denial of parole, for a prisoner who is unable to
participate in employment, educational opportunities, or programming due to a disability
or other special needs that cannot be accommodated. Such a prisoner should have the
opportunity to earn an equal amount of good conduct time credit for participating in
alternative activities.
(e)
Correctional authorities should communicate effectively with prisoners
who have disabling speech, hearing, or vision impairments by providing, at a minimum:

40

(i)

(ii)
(iii)

(iv)

hearing and communication devices, or qualified sign language
interpretation by a non-prisoner, or other communication services,
as needed, including for disciplinary proceedings or other hearings,
processes by which a prisoner may make requests or lodge a
complaint, and during provision of programming and health care;
closed captioning on any televisions accessible to prisoners with
hearing impairments;
readers, taped texts, Braille or large print materials, or other
necessary assistance for effective written communication between
correctional authorities and prisoners with vision impairments,
and when a prisoner with a vision impairment is permitted to
review prison records, as in preparation for a disciplinary or other
hearing; and
fire alarms and other forms of emergency notification that
communicate effectively with prisoners with hearing or vision
impairments.

(f)
Correctional authorities should make reasonable attempts to communicate
effectively with prisoners who do not read, speak, or understand English. This
requirement includes:
(i)
to the extent practicable, the translation of official documents
typically provided to prisoners into a language understood by each
prisoner who receives them;
(ii)
staff who can interpret at all times in any language understood by a
significant number of non-English-speaking prisoners; and
(iii) necessary interpretive services during disciplinary proceedings or
other hearings, for processes by which a prisoner may lodge a
complaint about staff misconduct or concerns about safety, and
during provision of health care.

Standard 23-7.3
(a)
of religion.

Religious freedom
Correctional authorities should recognize and respect prisoners’ freedom

(b)
Correctional authorities should permit prisoners to pursue lawful religious
practices consistent with their orderly confinement and the security of the facility.
Correctional facility policies should not significantly burden a prisoner’s ability to
engage in a practice motivated by a sincerely held religious belief, even by imposition of
a facially neutral rule or policy, absent a compelling institutional interest and a
determination that there are no less restrictive means of furthering that interest.

41

(c)
As required by subdivision (b) of this Standard, correctional authorities
should provide prisoners with diets of nutritious food consistent with their sincerely held
religious beliefs. Prisoners should be entitled to observe special religious practices,
including fasting and special dining hours.
(d)
Correctional authorities should not require prisoners to engage in religious
activities or programs. Prisoners should not receive as a direct result of their
participation in a religious activity or program any financial or other significant benefit,
including improved housing, additional out-of-cell time, extra sentencing credit for good
conduct, or improved chances for early release, unless prisoners not participating in
religious activities or programs are afforded comparable opportunities for such benefits.
(e)
Correctional authorities should allow prisoners to follow religiously
motivated modes of dress or appearance, including wearing religious clothing, headgear,
jewelry, and other symbols, subject to the need to maintain security and to identify
prisoners.
(f)
Correctional officials should, to the extent reasonable, make resources and
facilities available for religious purposes to all religious groups and prisoners following
sincerely held religious beliefs within a correctional facility, and should not show
favoritism to any religion.

Standard 23-7.4

Prisoner organizations

Prisoners should be permitted to form or join organizations whose purposes are
lawful and consistent with legitimate penological objectives. Correctional officials
should allow reasonable participation by members of the general public in authorized
meetings or activities of such organizations, provided the safety of the public or the
security or safety of persons within the facility are not thereby jeopardized.

Standard 23-7.5

Communication and expression

Governmental authorities should allow prisoners to produce newspapers
(a)
and other communications media for the dissemination of information, opinions, and
other material of interest, and to distribute such media to the prisoner population and to
the general public. To the extent practicable, funding, space, and institutional support
should be provided for such efforts, and prisoners should be allowed to establish and
operate independently-funded publications.
(b)
Correctional officials should be permitted to require that prior to
publication of an internal newspaper all material be submitted for review by a designated
official, and to prohibit the publication or dissemination of material that is obscene or that
constitutes a substantial threat to institutional security or order or to the safety of any
person. Correctional authorities should be permitted to censor material if it could be

42

censored in publications sent to prisoners through the mail. Officials should provide a
clear rationale in writing for any censorship decision, and should afford prisoners a
timely opportunity to appeal the decision to a correctional administrator.
(c)
Subject to the restrictions in Standard 23-8.6, correctional authorities
should allow prisoners to produce works of artistic expression and to submit for
publication books, articles, creative writing, art, or other contributions to media outside
the facility under their own names.
(d)
Correctional authorities should not subject prisoners to retaliation or
disciplinary action based on their constitutionally protected communication and
expression.

Standard 23-7.6

Personal appearance

Correctional authorities should allow prisoners a reasonable choice in the
selection of their own hair styles and personal grooming, subject to the need to identify
prisoners and to maintain security and appropriate hygienic standards.

Standard 23-7.7

Records and confidentiality

Where consistent with applicable law, correctional authorities should be
(a)
permitted to release without a prisoner’s consent basic identifying information about the
prisoner and information about the prisoner’s crime of conviction, sentence, place of
incarceration, and release date. All other information should be disclosed only upon the
prisoner’s written consent unless:
(i)
a government official specifies in writing the particular
information desired, the official’s agency is authorized by law to
request that information, and the disclosure of the information is
appropriately limited to protect the prisoner’s privacy;
(ii)
the material is sought only for statistical, research, or reporting
purposes and is not in a form containing the prisoner’s name,
number, symbol, or other information that might identify the
prisoner;
(iii)
the disclosure is made pursuant to a valid court order or subpoena,
or is otherwise required by law; or
(iv)
the prisoner is dead, and disclosure is authorized by the prisoner’s
next of kin or by the administrator of the prisoner’s estate if one
has been appointed.
(b)
A correctional agency should allow a prisoner to examine and copy
information in the prisoner’s file, challenge its accuracy, and request its amendment.
Correctional officials should be permitted to withhold:

43

(i)
(ii)

(iii)
(iv)

information that constitutes diagnostic opinion that might disrupt
the prisoner’s rehabilitation;
sources of information obtained upon a promise of confidentiality,
including as much of the information itself as risks disclosing the
source;
information that, if disclosed, might result in harm, physical or
otherwise, to any person; and
any other information reasonably believed to jeopardize
institutional security if disclosed.

(c)
Information given by a prisoner to any employee of the correctional
authority in a designated counseling relationship under a representation of confidentiality
should be privileged, except if the information concerns a contemplated crime or
disclosure is required by law. Exceptions to confidentiality should be explained to a
prisoner prior to any conversation or course of counseling in which confidentiality is
promised, explicitly or implicitly.

Standard 23-7.8

Searches of facilities

(a)
Correctional authorities should conduct all searches of prisoner living
quarters and belongings so as to minimize damage to or disorganization of prisoner
property and unnecessary invasions of privacy. When practicable and consistent with
security, a prisoner should be permitted to observe any search of personal property
belonging to that prisoner. Correctional authorities should not conduct searches in order
to harass or retaliate against prisoners individually or as a group.
(b)
When practicable, correctional authorities should prevent prisoners from
observing searches and shakedowns of other prisoners’ cells and property.
(c)
A record should be kept of all facility searches, including documentation
of any contraband that is found. The record should identify the circumstances of the
search, the persons conducting the search, any staff who are witnesses, and any
confiscated materials. When any property is confiscated, the prisoner should be given
written documentation of this information.

Standard 23-7.9

Searches of prisoners’ bodies

In conducting a search of a prisoner’s body, correctional authorities should
(a)
strive to preserve the privacy and dignity of the prisoner. Correctional authorities should
use the least intrusive appropriate means to search a prisoner. Searches of prisoners’
bodies should follow a written protocol that implements this Standard.

44

(b)
Except in exigent situations, a search of a prisoner’s body, including a patdown search or a visual search of the prisoner’s private bodily areas, should be conducted
by correctional staff of the same gender as the prisoner.
(c)
Pat-down searches and other clothed body searches should be brief and
avoid unnecessary force, embarrassment, and indignity to the prisoner.
(d)
Visual searches of a prisoner’s private bodily areas, whether or not
inspection includes the prisoner’s body cavities, should:
(i)
be conducted only by trained personnel in a private place out of the
sight of other prisoners and of staff not involved in the search,
except that a prisoner should be permitted to request that more than
one staff member be present; and
(ii)
be permitted only upon individualized reasonable suspicion that
the prisoner is carrying contraband, unless the prisoner has recently
had an opportunity to obtain contraband, as upon admission to the
facility, upon return from outside the facility or a work assignment
in which the prisoner has had access to materials that could present
a security risk to the facility, after a contact visit, or when the
prisoner has otherwise had contact with a member of the general
public; provided that a strip search should not be permitted without
individualized reasonable suspicion when the prisoner is an
arrestee charged with a minor offense not involving drugs or
violence and the proposed strip search is upon the prisoner’s
admission to a correctional facility or before the prisoner’s
placement in a housing unit.
(e)
Any examination of a transgender prisoner to determine that prisoner’s
genital status should be performed in private by a qualified medical professional, and
only if the prisoner’s genital status is unknown to the correctional agency.
(f)
Except as required by exigent circumstances, a digital or instrumental
search of the anal or vaginal cavity of a prisoner should be conducted only pursuant to a
court order. Any such search should be conducted by a trained health care professional
who does not have a provider-patient relationship with the prisoner, and should be
conducted in a private area devoted to the provision of medical care and out of the sight
of others, except that a prisoner should be permitted to request that more than one staff
member be present.
(g)
A record should be kept documenting any digital or instrumental anal or
vaginal cavity search and any other body search in which property is confiscated. The
record should identify the circumstances of the search, the persons who conducted the
search, any staff who are witnesses, and any confiscated materials. The prisoner should
be given written documentation of this information.

45

Standard 23-7.10

Cross-gender supervision

Correctional authorities should employ strategies and devices to allow
correctional staff of the opposite gender to a prisoner to supervise the prisoner without
observing the prisoner’s private bodily areas. Any visual surveillance and supervision of
a prisoner who is undergoing an intimate medical procedure should be conducted by
correctional officers of the same gender as the prisoner. At all times within a correctional
facility or during transport, at least one staff member of the same gender as supervised
prisoners should share control of the prisoners.

Standard 23-7.11

Prisoners as subjects of behavioral or biomedical research

(a)
Subject to the provisions of this Standard, prisoners should not be
prohibited from participating in therapeutic behavioral or biomedical research if the
potential benefits to prisoners outweigh the risks involved. For biomedical research that
poses only a minimal risk to its participants or for behavioral research, prisoner
participation should be allowed only if the research offers potential benefits to prisoners
either individually or as a class. For biomedical research that poses more than a minimal
risk to its participants, prisoner participation should be allowed only if the research offers
potential benefits to its participants, and only if it has been determined to be safe for
them. Except in unusual circumstances, such as a study of a condition that is solely or
almost solely found among incarcerated populations, at least half the subjects involved in
any behavioral or biomedical research in which prisoner participation is sought should be
non-prisoners. No prisoner should receive preferential treatment, including improved
living or work conditions or an improved likelihood of early release, in exchange for
participation in behavioral or biomedical research, unless the purpose of the research is to
evaluate the outcomes associated with such preferential treatment.
(b)
Adequate safeguards and oversight procedures should be established for
behavioral or biomedical research involving prisoners, including:
(i)
Prior to implementation, all aspects of the research program,
including design, planning, and implementation, should be
reviewed and approved, disapproved, or modified as necessary by
an established institutional review board that complies with
applicable law and that includes a medical ethicist and a prisoners’
advocate.
(ii)
Research studies should not be the sole avenue for prisoners to
receive standard treatment for any medical or mental health
condition.
(iii) The institutional review board should ensure that mechanisms exist
to closely monitor the progress of the study to detect and address
adverse events or unanticipated problems. Correctional staff,
health care staff, and the researchers should promptly report all
adverse events involving prisoner study subjects to the institutional
review board’s chair and the prisoners’ advocate.

46

(iv)

(v)

(vi)

Provision should be made for appropriate health care for adverse
medical or mental health conditions or reactions resulting from
participation.
No prisoner should be allowed to participate in behavioral or
biomedical research unless that prisoner has given voluntary and
informed consent in writing in accordance with an approved
protocol which requires that the prisoner be informed and express
understanding of:
A.
the likely risks, including possible side effects, of any
procedure or medication;
B.
the likelihood and degree of improvement, remission,
control, or cure resulting from any procedure or
medication;
C.
the uncertainty of the benefits and hazards of any procedure
or medication and the reasonable alternatives;
D.
the fact that a decision to participate or to decline
participation will not affect the conditions of the prisoner’s
confinement;
E.
the ability to withdraw from the study at any time without
adverse consequences unrelated to any physical or
psychological results of such withdrawal; and
F.
the contact information for a person to whom questions
about the study can be posed and problems reported.
All consent forms should be reviewed and approved by the
institutional review board before they are presented to the prisoner.

47

PART VIII: REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION
Standard 23-8.1

Location of facilities

Governmental authorities should strive to locate correctional facilities near the
population centers from which the bulk of their prisoners are drawn, and in communities
where there are resources to supplement treatment programs for prisoners and to provide
staff for security, programming, and treatment.

Standard 23-8.2

Rehabilitative programs

(a)
For the duration of each prisoner’s confinement, the prisoner—including a
prisoner in long-term segregated housing or incarcerated for a term of life imprisonment
—should be engaged in constructive activities that provide opportunities to develop
social and technical skills, prevent idleness and mental deterioration, and prepare the
prisoner for eventual release. Correctional authorities should begin to plan for each
prisoner’s eventual release and reintegration into the community from the time of that
prisoner’s admission into the correctional system and facility.
(b)
After consultation with each prisoner, correctional authorities should
develop an individualized programming plan for the prisoner, in accordance with which
correctional authorities should give each prisoner access to appropriate programs,
including educational opportunities, mental health and substance abuse treatment and
counseling, vocational and job readiness training, personal financial responsibility
training, parenting skills, relationship skills, cognitive or behavioral programming, and
other programs designed to promote good behavior in the facility and reduce recidivism.
(c)
Correctional authorities should afford every prisoner an opportunity to
obtain a foundation in basic literacy, numeracy, and vocational skills. Correctional
authorities should offer prisoners expected to be incarcerated for more than six months
additional educational programs designed to meet those prisoners’ individual needs.
Correctional authorities should offer high school equivalency classes, post-secondary
education, apprenticeships, and similar programs designed to facilitate re-entry into the
workforce upon release. While on-site programs are preferred, correctional authorities
without resources for on-site classes should offer access to correspondence courses,
online educational opportunities, or programs conducted by outside agencies.
Correctional authorities should actively encourage prisoner participation in appropriate
educational programs.
(d)
A correctional facility should have or provide adequate access to a library
for the use of all prisoners, adequately stocked with a wide range of both recreational and
educational resources, books, current newspapers, and other periodicals. Prisoners
should also have regular access to a variety of broadcast media to enable them to remain
informed about public affairs.

48

(e)
Correctional officials should provide programming and activities
appropriate for specific types of prisoners, including female prisoners, prisoners who face
language or communication barriers or have physical or mental disabilities, prisoners
who are under the age of eighteen or geriatric, and prisoners who are serving long
sentences or are assigned to segregated housing for extended periods of time.
(f)
Correctional authorities should permit each prisoner to take full advantage
of available opportunities to earn credit toward the prisoner’s sentence through
participation in work, education, treatment, and other programming.

Standard 23-8.3

Restorative justice

(a)
Governmental and correctional authorities should facilitate programs that
allow crime victims to speak to groups of prisoners, and, at the request of a crime victim
and with the consent of the prisoner, appropriate meetings or mediation between
prisoners and their victims.
(b)
Consistent with security needs, correctional officials should provide
opportunities for prisoners to contribute to the community through volunteer activities.

Standard 23-8.4

Work programs

Each sentenced prisoner should be employed substantially full-time unless
(a)
there has been an individualized determination that no work assignment for that prisoner
is consistent with security and safety. Substantial educational or rehabilitative programs
can substitute for employment of the same duration. Whenever practicable, pretrial
detainees should also be offered opportunities to work. Correctional authorities should
be permitted to assign prisoners to community service; to jobs in prison industry
programs; or to jobs useful for the operation of the facility, including cleaning, food
service, maintenance, and agricultural programs. Prisoners’ work assignments, including
community service assignments, should teach vocational skills that will assist them in
finding employment upon release, should instill a work ethic, and should respect
prisoners’ human dignity. To promote occupational training for prisoners, work release
programs should be used when appropriate.
(b)
Prisoners’ job assignments should not discriminate on the basis of race,
national origin, ethnicity, religion, or disability. Correctional authorities should make
reasonable accommodations for religion and disability with respect to job requirements
and sites. Correctional authorities should provide female prisoners job opportunities
reasonably similar in nature and scope to those provided male prisoners.

49

(c)
Prisoners should work under health and safety conditions substantially the
same as those that prevail in similar types of employment in the free community, except
to the extent that security requires otherwise. No prisoner should be shackled during a
work assignment except after an individualized determination that security requires
otherwise. Prisoners should not be required to work more than 40 hours each week, and
should be afforded at least one rest day each week and sufficient time apart from work for
education and other activities.
(d)
Prisoners employed by a correctional facility should be compensated in
order to create incentives that encourage work habits and attitudes suitable for postrelease employment.
(e)
Correctional officials should be permitted to contract with private
enterprises to establish industrial and service programs to employ prisoners within a
correctional facility, and goods and services produced should be permitted to freely enter
interstate commerce. If such enterprises are for-profit firms, prisoners should be paid at
least minimum wage for their work.

Standard 23-8.5

Visiting

(a)
To the extent practicable, a prisoner should be assigned to a facility
located within a reasonable distance of the prisoner’s family or usual residence in order to
promote regular visitation by family members and to enhance the likelihood of successful
reintegration.
(b)
Correctional officials should implement visitation policies that assist
prisoners in maintaining and developing healthy family relationships by:
(i)
providing sufficient and appropriate space and facilities for
visiting;
(ii)
establishing reasonable visiting hours that are convenient and
suitable for visitors, including time on weekends, evenings, and
holidays; and
(iii) implementing policies and programs that facilitate healthy
interactions between prisoners and their families, including their
minor children.
(c)
Correctional authorities should treat all visitors respectfully and should
accommodate their visits to the extent practicable, especially when they have traveled a
significant distance. Prisoners should be allowed to receive any visitor not excluded by
correctional officials for good cause. Visitors should not be excluded solely because of a
prior criminal conviction, although correctional authorities should be permitted to
exclude a visitor if exclusion is reasonable in light of the conduct underlying the visitor’s
conviction. Correctional authorities should be permitted to subject all visitors to
nonintrusive types of body searches such as pat-down and metal-detector-aided searches,
and to search property visitors bring inside a correctional facility.

50

(d)
Visiting periods should be of adequate length. Visits with counsel and
clergy should not be counted as visiting time, and ordinarily should be unlimited in
frequency. Pretrial detainees should be allowed visiting opportunities beyond those
afforded convicted prisoners, subject only to reasonable institutional restrictions and
physical plant constraints.
(e)
For prisoners whose confinement extends more than [30 days],
correctional authorities should allow contact visits between prisoners and their visitors,
especially minor children, absent an individualized determination that a contact visit
between a particular prisoner and a particular visitor poses a danger to a criminal
investigation or trial, institutional security, or the safety of any person. If contact visits
are precluded because of such an individualized determination, non-contact, in-person
visiting opportunities should be allowed, absent an individualized determination that a
non-contact visit between the prisoner and a particular visitor poses like dangers.
Correctional officials should develop and promote other forms of communication
between prisoners and their families, including video visitation, provided that such
options are not a replacement for opportunities for in-person contact.
(f)
Correctional officials should facilitate and promote visiting by providing
visitors travel guidance, directions, and information about visiting hours, attire, and other
rules. If public transportation to a correctional facility is not available, correctional
officials should work with transportation authorities to facilitate the provision of such
transportation.
(g)
Governmental authorities should establish home furlough programs,
giving due regard to institutional security and community safety, to enable prisoners to
maintain and strengthen family and community ties. Correctional officials should allow a
prisoner not receiving home furloughs to have extended visits with the prisoner’s family
in suitable settings, absent an individualized determination that such an extended visit
would pose a threat to safety or security.
(h)
When practicable, giving due regard to security, public safety, and
budgetary constraints, correctional officials should authorize prisoners to leave a
correctional facility for compelling humanitarian reasons such as a visit to a dying parent,
spouse, or child, either under escort or alone.

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Standard 23-8.6

Written communications

(a)
Correctional authorities should allow prisoners to communicate as
frequently as practicable in writing with their families, friends, and representatives of
outside organizations, including media organizations. Indigent prisoners should be
provided a reasonable amount of stationery and free postage or some reasonable
alternative that permits them to maintain contact with people and organizations in the
community. Correctional policies regarding electronic communication by prisoners
should consider public safety, institutional security, and prisoners’ interest in ready
communication.
(b)
Correctional authorities should allow prisoners to receive or access
magazines, soft- or hard-cover books, newspapers, and other written materials, including
documents printed from the Internet, subject to the restrictions in subdivisions (c) and (d)
of this Standard.
(c)
Correctional authorities should be permitted to monitor and restrict both
outgoing and incoming written communications and materials to the extent necessary for
maintenance of institutional order, safety, and security; prevention of criminal offenses;
continuing criminal investigations; and protection of victims of crime. Correctional
officials should be permitted to impose reasonable page limits and limitations on receipt
of bound materials from sources other than their publisher, but should not require that
items be mailed using particular rates or particular means of payment. Correctional
officials should set forth any applicable restrictions in a written policy.
(d)
Correctional authorities should be permitted to open and inspect an
envelope, package, or container sent to or by a prisoner to determine if it contains
contraband or other prohibited material, subject to the restrictions set forth in these
Standards on inspection of mail to or from counsel.
(e)
A prisoner should be informed if correctional authorities deny the prisoner
permission to send or receive any publication or piece of correspondence and should be
told the basis for the denial and afforded an opportunity to appeal the denial to an
impartial correctional administrator. If a publication or piece of correspondence contains
material in violation of the facility’s written guidelines, correctional authorities should
make reasonable efforts to deny only those segregable portions of the publication or
correspondence that present concerns.

52

Standard 23-8.7

Access to telephones

(a)
Correctional authorities should afford prisoners a reasonable opportunity
to maintain telephonic communication with people and organizations in the community,
and a correctional facility should offer telephone services with an appropriate range of
options at the lowest possible rate, taking into account security needs. Commissions and
other revenue from telephone service should not subsidize non-telephone prison
programs or other public expenses.
(b)
Correctional authorities should provide prisoners with hearing or speech
impairments ready access to telecommunications devices for the deaf or comparable
equipment and to telephones with volume control, and should facilitate prisoners’
telephonic communication with persons in the community who have such disabilities.
(c)
Correctional authorities should be permitted to monitor or record
telephonic communications subject to the restrictions set forth in these Standards relating
to communications with counsel and confidential communications with external
monitoring agencies. Correctional authorities should inform prisoners that their
conversations may be monitored, and should not monitor or record conversations for
purposes of harassment or retaliation.

Standard 23-8.8

Fees and financial obligations

(a)
Unless a court orders otherwise in a situation in which a prisoner
possesses substantial assets, correctional authorities should not charge prisoners fees for
any non-commissary services provided them during the period of imprisonment,
including their food or housing or incarceration itself, except that correctional authorities
should be permitted to assess prisoners employed at or above minimum wage a
reasonable portion of their wages in applicable fees.
(b)
In imposing and enforcing financial obligations on prisoners,
governmental authorities, including courts, should consider both the interest served by
the imposition of the obligation and the cumulative effect of financial obligations on a
prisoner’s successful and law-abiding re-entry.

Standard 23-8.9

Transition to the community

Governmental officials should ensure that each sentenced prisoner
(a)
confined for more than [6 months] spends a reasonable part of the final portion of the
term of imprisonment under conditions that afford the prisoner a reasonable opportunity
to adjust to and prepare for re-entry into the community. A correctional agency should
provide community-based transitional facilities to assist in this reintegration process.

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(b)
In the months prior to anticipated release of a sentenced prisoner confined
for more than [6 months], correctional authorities should develop an individualized reentry plan for the prisoner, which should take into account the individualized
programming plan developed pursuant to Standard 23-8.2(b). In developing the re-entry
plan, correctional authorities should involve any agency with supervisory authority over
the prisoner in the community and, with the prisoner’s permission, should invite
involvement by the prisoner’s family. Preparation for re-entry should include assistance
in locating housing, identifying and finding job opportunities, developing a resume and
learning interviewing skills, debt counseling, and developing or resuming healthy family
relationships.
(c)
Correctional authorities should provide each prisoner released to the
community with a written health care discharge plan that identifies medical and mental
health services available to the prisoner in the community. The plan should describe the
course of treatment provided the prisoner in the facility and any medical, dental, or
mental health problems that may need follow-up attention in the community.
(d)
When a prisoner with ongoing medical or mental health care needs is
released to the community, correctional authorities should make reasonable efforts to:
(i)
identify and arrange for community-based health care services,
including substance abuse treatment; and
(ii)
ensure that all health care treatment and medications provided to
the prisoner during the term of imprisonment will continue
uninterrupted, including, if necessary, providing prescription
medication or medical equipment for a brief period reasonably
necessary to obtain access to health care services in the
community; providing initial medically necessary transportation
from the correctional facility to a community health care facility
for continuing treatment; or otherwise addressing the prisoner’s
serious immediate post-release health care needs.
(e)
Correctional authorities should provide each convicted prisoner being
released to the community with:
(i)
specific information about when and how to contact any agency
having supervisory responsibility for the prisoner in the
community;
(ii)
general information about the collateral sanctions and
disqualifications that may apply because of the prisoner’s
conviction, and where to get more details; and
(iii) general information about the process for obtaining relief from
such sanctions and disqualifications, and contact information for
government or nonprofit organizations, if any, offering assistance
to individuals seeking such relief.

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(f)
Whenever possible, prisoners should be released from a correctional
facility at a reasonable time of day. Each prisoner should have or be provided with
transportation to the prisoner’s reasonable destination and with contact information for all
relevant community service providers. Upon release, each prisoner who was confined for
more than [3 months] should possess or be provided with:
(i)
photographic identification sufficient to obtain lawful employment;
(ii)
clothing appropriate for the season;
(iii) sufficient money or its equivalent necessary for maintenance
during a brief period immediately following release; and
(iv)
a voter registration card or general instructions on how to register
to vote, if eligible to vote upon release.
(g)
When public safety and the interests of justice would not be compromised,
governmental authorities should provide judicial and administrative mechanisms to
accomplish the early release of prisoners in exceptional circumstances, such as terminal
illness, permanent disability that substantially diminishes the ability of the prisoner to
provide self-care within a correctional facility, or exigent family circumstances.
(h)
Governmental authorities should implement policies that allow
government benefits, including health benefits, to be restored to prisoners immediately
upon release, and correctional officials should ensure that correctional authorities or
community service providers assist prisoners—especially prisoners with mental
disabilities or significant health care needs—in preparing and submitting appropriate
benefits applications sufficiently in advance of their anticipated release date to meet this
objective and facilitate continuity of care.

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PART IX: GRIEVANCES AND ACCESS TO COURTS
Standard 23-9.1

Grievance procedures

Correctional administrators and officials should authorize and encourage
(a)
resolution of prisoners’ complaints and requests on an informal basis whenever possible.
(b)
Correctional officials should provide prisoners opportunities to make
suggestions to improve correctional programs and conditions.
(c)
Correctional administrators and officials should adopt a formal procedure
for resolving specific prisoner grievances, including any complaint relating to the
agency’s or facility’s policies, rules, practices, and procedures or the action of any
correctional official or staff. Prisoners should be informed of this procedure pursuant to
Standard 23-4.1, including any applicable timeframes or other bases for rejecting a
grievance on procedural grounds.
(d)
Correctional officials should minimize technical requirements for
grievances and should allow prisoners to initiate the grievance process by describing
briefly the nature of the complaint and the remedy sought. Grievances should be rejected
as procedurally improper only for a reason stated in the written grievance policy made
available to prisoners. If correctional officials elect to require use of a particular
grievance form, correctional authorities should make forms and writing implements
readily available and should allow a grievant to proceed without using the designated
form if it was not readily available to that prisoner.
(e)
A correctional agency’s grievance procedure should be designed to instill
the confidence of prisoners and correctional authorities in the effectiveness of the
process, and its success in this regard should be periodically evaluated. Procedural
protections for prisoners should include, at a minimum:
(i)
access for all prisoners, with safeguards against reprisal;
(ii)
methods for confidential submission of grievances;
(iii) reasonable filing and appeal deadlines;
(iv)
acceptance of grievances submitted or appealed outside the
reasonable deadlines, if a prisoner has a legitimate reason for
delay and that delay has not significantly impaired the agency’s
ability to resolve the grievance;
(v)
written responses to all grievances, including those deemed
procedurally improper, stating the reasons for the decision,
within prescribed, reasonable time limits;
(vi)
shortened time limits for responses to emergencies;
(vii) an appeal process that allows no more than [70 days],
cumulatively, for official response(s) to all levels of appeal
except if a correctional official extends the period upon an
individualized finding of special circumstances;

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(viii) treatment of any grievance or appeal as denied, for purposes of
the prisoner’s subsequent appeal or review, if the prisoner is
not provided a written response within the relevant time limit;
and
(ix)
an appropriate individual and, when appropriate, systemic
remedy if the grievance is determined to be well-founded.

Standard 23-9.2
(a)
process.

Access to the judicial process
Governmental officials should assure prisoners full access to the judicial

(b)
Prisoners’ access to the judicial process should not be restricted by the
nature of the action or the relief sought, the phase of litigation involved, or the likelihood
of success of the action, except if like restrictions, including filing fees, are imposed on
non-prisoners. Prisoners should be entitled to present any judicially cognizable issue,
including:
(i)
challenges to the legality of their conviction, confinement,
extradition, deportation, or removal;
(ii)
assertions of any rights protected by state or federal constitution,
statute, administrative provision, treaty, or common law;
(iii)
civil legal problems, including those related to family law; and
(iv)
assertions of a defense to any action brought against them.
(c)
The handbook required by Standard 23-4.1 should advise prisoners about
the potential legal consequences of a failure to use the institutional grievance procedures.
(d)
A prisoner who files a lawsuit with respect to prison conditions but has not
exhausted administrative remedies at the time the lawsuit is filed should be permitted to
pursue the claim through the grievance process, with the lawsuit stayed for up to [90
days] pending the administrative processing of the claim, after which a prisoner who filed
a grievance during the period of the stay should be allowed to proceed with the lawsuit
without any procedural bar.
(e)
Upon request by a court, correctional authorities should facilitate a
prisoner’s participation—in person or using telecommunications technology—in legal
proceedings.
(f)
A prisoner should be allowed to prepare, receive, and send legal
documents to courts, counsel, and public officials. Correctional officials should not
unreasonably delay the delivery of these legal documents.
(g)
Courts should be permitted to implement rules to protect defendants and
courts from vexatious litigation, but governmental authorities should not retaliate against
a prisoner who brings an action in court or otherwise exercises a legal right.

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Standard 23-9.3

Judicial review of prisoner complaints

(a)
Judicial procedures should be available to facilitate timely resolution of
disputes involving the legality, duration, or conditions of confinement.
(b)
When determining whether a pleading or other court filing has stated a
legally cognizable claim or complied with other requirements, courts should take into
account the challenges faced by pro se prisoners.
(c)
Prisoners should not be required to demonstrate a physical injury in order
to recover for mental or emotional injuries caused by cruel and unusual punishment or
other illegal conduct.
(d)
Courts should have the same equitable authority in cases involving
challenges to conditions of confinement as in other civil rights cases.

Standard 23-9.4

Access to legal and consular services

Correctional authorities should facilitate prisoners’ access to counsel. The
(a)
provisions of this Standard applicable to counsel apply equally to consular officials for
prisoners who are not United States citizens.
(b)
A prisoner with a criminal charge or removal action pending should be
housed in a correctional facility sufficiently near the courthouse where the case will be
heard that the preparation of the prisoner’s defense is not unreasonably impaired.
(c)
Correctional authorities should implement policies and practices to enable
a prisoner’s confidential contact and communication with counsel that incorporate the
following provisions:
(i)
For letters or other documents sent or passed between counsel and
a prisoner:
A.
correctional authorities should not read the letter or
document, and should search only for physical contraband;
and
B.
correctional authorities should conduct such a search only
in the presence of the prisoner to or from whom the letter or
document is addressed.
(ii)
For meetings between counsel and a prisoner:
A.
absent an individualized finding that security requires
otherwise, counsel should be allowed to have direct contact
with a prisoner who is a client, prospective client, or
witness, and should not be required to communicate with
such a prisoner through a glass or other barrier;

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B.

(iii)

counsel should be allowed to meet with a prisoner in a
setting where their conversation cannot be overheard by
staff or other prisoners;
C.
meetings or conversations between counsel and a prisoner
should not be audio recorded by correctional authorities;
D.
during a meeting with a prisoner, counsel should be
allowed to pass previously searched papers to and from the
prisoner without intermediate handling of those papers by
correctional authorities;
E.
correctional authorities should be allowed to search a
prisoner before and after such a meeting for physical
contraband, including by performing a visual search of a
prisoner’s private bodily areas that complies with Standard
23-7.9;
F.
rules governing counsel visits should be as flexible as
practicable in allowing counsel adequate time to meet with
a prisoner who is a client, prospective client, or witness,
including such a prisoner who is for any reason in a
segregated housing area, and should allow meetings to
occur at any reasonable time of day or day of the week; and
G.
the time a prisoner spends meeting with counsel should not
count as personal visiting time.
For telephonic contact between counsel and their clients:
A.
correctional officials should implement procedures to
enable confidential telephonic contact between counsel and
a prisoner who is a client, prospective client, or witness,
subject to reasonable regulations, and should not monitor or
record properly placed telephone conversations between
counsel and such a prisoner; and
B.
the time a prisoner spends speaking on the telephone with
counsel should not count against any applicable maximum
telephone time.

(d)
The right of access to counsel described in subdivisions (a) and (c) of this
Standard should apply in connection with all legal matters, regardless of the type or
subject matter of the representation or whether litigation is pending or the representation
has commenced.
(e)
Governmental authorities should allow a prisoner to engage counsel of the
prisoner’s choice when the prisoner is able to do so.
(f)
Rules governing attorneys fees and their recovery should be the same for
prisoners as for non-prisoners.

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(g)
Government legal services should be available to prisoners to the same
extent they are available to non-prisoners. Government-funded legal services
organizations should be permitted to provide legal services to prisoners without limitation
as to the subject matter or the nature of the relief sought. The relationship between a
prisoner and a person providing legal assistance under this subdivision should be
governed by applicable ethical rules protecting the attorney-client relationship.

Standard 23-9.5

Access to legal materials and information

(a)
A correctional facility should provide prisoners reasonable access to
updated legal research resources relevant to prisoners’ common legal needs, including an
appropriate collection of primary legal materials, secondary resources such as treatises
and self-help manuals, applicable court rules, and legal forms. Access to these legal
resources should be provided either in a law library or in electronic form, and should be
available even to those prisoners who have access to legal services. Correctional
authorities should be permitted to regulate the time, place, and manner of prisoners’
access to these resources for purposes of facility security and scheduling, but prisoners
should have regular and sufficient access, without interference with the prisoners’ ability
to eat meals, work, receive health care, receive visits, or attend required treatment or
educational programming. Prisoners who are unable to access library resources because
of housing restrictions, language or reading skills, or for other reasons, should have
access to an effective alternative to such access, including the provision of counsel, or of
prisoners or non-prisoners trained in the law.
(b)
Prison officials should provide programs for the education and training of
prisoners who can help other prisoners with legal matters.
(c)
Correctional authorities should allow prisoners to purchase or, if they are
indigent, to receive without charge materials to support their communications with
courts, attorneys, and public officials. These materials should include paper, writing
implements, envelopes, and stamps. Correctional authorities should provide access to
copying services, for which a reasonable fee should be permitted, and should provide
prisoners with access to typewriters or word processing equipment.
(d)
Correctional authorities should allow prisoners to acquire personal law
books and other legal research material and to prepare and retain legal documents.
Regulations relating to the storage of legal material in personal quarters or other areas
should be only for purposes of safety or security and should not unreasonably interfere
with access to or use of these materials.

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(e)
Correctional authorities should not read, censor, alter, or destroy a
prisoner’s legal materials. Correctional authorities should be permitted to examine legal
materials received or retained by a prisoner for physical contraband. If correctional
authorities have a reasonable suspicion that a prisoner’s legal materials contain non-legal
material that violates written policy, they should be permitted to read the materials only
to the extent necessary to determine whether they are legal in nature.

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PART X: ADMINISTRATION AND STAFFING
Standard 23-10.1

Professionalism

A correctional agency should have a clear written statement of its mission
(a)
and core values. Established professional standards should serve as the basis for an
agency’s operating policies and procedures.
(b)
Correctional administrators and officials should foster an institutional
culture that helps maintain a safe and secure facility, is conducive to humane and
respectful treatment of prisoners, supports adherence to professional standards, and
encourages ethical conduct.
(c)
To effectuate rehabilitative goals, correctional staff members should have
rehabilitative responsibilities in addition to custodial functions. In their interactions with
prisoners, they should model fair, respectful, and constructive behavior; engage in
preventive problem-solving; and rely upon effective communication.
(d)
If a correctional staff member discovers a breach of security; a threat to
prisoner, staff, or public safety; or some other actual or threatened harm to a prisoner,
staff, or the public, the correctional staff member should report that discovery promptly
to a supervisor. A staff member should report any information relating to corrupt or
criminal conduct by other staff directly to the chief executive officer of the facility or to
an independent government official with responsibility to investigate correctional
misconduct, and should provide any investigator with full and candid information about
observed misconduct.

Standard 23-10.2

Personnel policy and practice

(a)
A correctional agency and facility should be appropriately staffed to
promote safety for all staff and prisoners and allow the full operation of all programs and
services and a reasonable work schedule for each staff member. Salaries and benefits
should be sufficient to attract and retain qualified staff.
(b)
Correctional administrators and officials should implement recruitment
and selection processes that will ensure that staff are professionally qualified,
psychologically fit to work with prisoners, and certified or licensed as appropriate.
(c)
Correctional administrators and officials should strive to employ a work
force at each correctional facility that reasonably reflects the racial and ethnic
demographics of the prisoner population by engaging in outreach and recruiting efforts to
increase the pool of qualified applicants from underrepresented groups and by
implementing appropriate retention policies. Each correctional facility should employ
sufficient numbers of men and women to comply with Standard 23-7.10.

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(d)
Correctional staff should be provided with safe and healthful working
conditions. They should have opportunities to make suggestions and express concerns,
develop innovative practices, and contribute to the agency’s institutional planning
process.

Standard 23-10.3

Training

(a)
For all staff, correctional administrators and officials should integrate
training relating to the mission and core values of the correctional agency with technical
training.
(b)
Correctional administrators should require staff to participate in a
comprehensive pre-service training program, a regular program of in-service training, and
specialized training when appropriate. Training programs should equip staff to:
(i)
maintain order while treating prisoners with respect, and
communicate effectively with prisoners;
(ii)
follow security requirements, conduct searches, and use
technology appropriately;
(iii) use non-force techniques for avoiding and resolving conflicts, and
comply with the agency’s policy on use of force;
(iv)
identify and respond to medical and mental health emergencies,
recognize and report the signs and symptoms of mental disability
and suicide risk, and secure appropriate medical and mental health
services;
(v)
detect and respond to signs of threatened and actual physical and
sexual assault and sexual pressure against prisoners;
(vi)
avoid inappropriate relationships, including sexual contact, with
prisoners;
(vii) understand the legal rights of prisoners relevant to their
professional duties;
(viii) facilitate prisoner use of the grievance process, and understand that
process’s benefits for correctional staff and facilities;
(ix)
maintain appropriate records, including clear and accurate reports;
and
(x)
perform the above functions in a way that promotes the health and
safety of staff.
(c)
Correctional administrators and officials should provide specialized
training to staff who work with specific types of prisoners to address the physical, social,
and psychological needs of such prisoners, including female prisoners, prisoners who
face language or communication barriers or have physical or mental disabilities, prisoners
who are under the age of eighteen or geriatric, and prisoners who are serving long
sentences or are assigned to segregated housing for extended periods of time.

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(d)
Correctional administrators and officials should provide training to
volunteers about how to avoid and report inappropriate conduct.

Standard 23-10.4

Accountability of staff

(a)
A correctional agency should have clear rules of conduct for staff and
guidelines for disciplinary sanctions, including progressive sanctions for repeated
misconduct involving prisoners. The chief executive of the facility or a higher-ranking
correctional administrator should receive reports of all cases in which staff are found to
have engaged in misconduct involving prisoners and should have final responsibility for
determining the appropriate sanction.
(b)
If correctional officials determine that an allegation of serious misconduct
involving a prisoner is credible, the staff member who is the subject of the allegation
should be promptly removed from a position of trust and placed either on administrative
leave or in a position that does not involve contact with prisoners or supervision of others
who have contact with prisoners, pending resolution of the matter. A final determination
of serious misconduct involving a prisoner should result in termination of the
employment of the staff member and should be reported to relevant law enforcement and
licensing agencies.
(c)
Correctional officials should require all correctional staff arrested or
charged with a misdemeanor or felony to report that fact promptly.

Standard 23-10.5

Privately operated correctional facilities

(a)
Contracts with private corporations or other private entities for the
operation of a secure correctional facility should be disfavored. Governmental authorities
should make every effort to house all prisoners in need of secure confinement in publicly
operated correctional facilities.
(b)
Governmental authorities should not enter into a contract with a private
entity for the operation of any correctional facility, secure or not, unless it can be
demonstrated that the contract will result either in improved performance or in substantial
cost savings, considering both routine and emergency costs, with no diminution in
performance.
(c)
A jurisdiction that enters into a contract with a private entity for the
operation of a correctional facility should maintain the ability to house its prisoners in
other facilities if termination of the contract for noncompliance proves necessary. Each
jurisdiction should develop a comprehensive plan, in advance of entering into any
contract, to ensure that this ability remains.

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Laws, policies, administrative rules, standards, and reporting requirements
(d)
applicable to publicly operated correctional facilities of similar security levels in the
contracting jurisdiction, including those applicable to staff qualifications and training,
freedom of information demands and disclosures, and external oversight, should apply in
substance to a privately operated facility either as a matter of statutory law or as
incorporated contract terms.
(e)
Core correctional functions of determining the length and location of a
prisoner’s confinement, including decisions relating to prisoner discipline, transfer,
length of imprisonment, and temporary or permanent release, should never be delegated
to a private entity.
(f)
Any contract by which a private entity operates a correctional facility
should include terms that comport with the following restrictions:
(i)
The contract should state its duration and scope positively and
definitely; incorporate professional standards and require the
provider to meet these Standards; incorporate terms governing the
appropriate treatment of prisoners, conditions of facilities, and
provisions for oversight; and provide a continuum of sanctions for
noncompliance including immediate termination of the contract on
terms with no financial detriment for the government agency.
(ii)
If a contractor is delegated the authority to use force, the scope of
such a delegation should be specified in detail, and should not
exceed the authority granted by agency policy to correctional
authorities in similar facilities with similar prisoner populations.
(iii) If a contractor is delegated the authority to classify prisoners, the
classification system and instrument should be approved and
individual classification decisions reviewed by the contracting
agency.
(iv)
The contract should facilitate the contracting agency’s on- and offsite monitoring by giving the contracting agency access to all the
information it needs to carry out its oversight responsibilities,
including access to all files and records, and to all areas of the
facility and staff and prisoners at all times.
(v)
The private provider should assume all liability for the operation of
the facility, should be prohibited from asserting immunity
defenses, and should provide adequate insurance coverage,
including insurance for civil rights claims.
(g)
Any jurisdiction that enters into a contract with a private corporation or
entity for the operation of a correctional facility should implement procedures to monitor
compliance with that contract systematically, regularly, and using a variety of on- and
off-site monitoring techniques, including reviewing files and records, physically
inspecting the facility, and interviewing staff and prisoners.

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(h)
Except in an emergency, such as a natural disaster, no prisoner of a state
or local correctional agency should be sent out of state to a private facility pursuant to a
contract unless there has been an individualized determination that security of the system
or the prisoner requires it, or that the prisoner and the prisoner’s individualized
programming plan and individualized re-entry plan will not be significantly adversely
affected by the move. A contracting agency should make provision for on-site
monitoring of each location to which prisoners are sent.

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PART XI: ACCOUNTABILITY AND OVERSIGHT
Standard 23-11.1

Internal accountability

A correctional agency should establish an independent internal audit unit
(a)
to conduct regular performance auditing and to advise correctional administrators on
compliance with established performance indicators, standards, policies, and other
internal controls.
(b)
A correctional agency should designate an internal unit, answerable to the
head of the agency, to be responsible for investigating allegations of serious staff
misconduct, including misconduct against prisoners, and for referring appropriate cases
for administrative disciplinary measures or criminal prosecution.
(c)
If a correctional agency contracts for provision of any services or
programs, it should ensure that the contract requires the provider to comply with these
Standards, including Standard 23-9.1 governing grievances. The agency should
implement a system to monitor compliance with the contract, and to hold the contracted
provider accountable for any deficiencies.
(d)
Correctional administrators and officials should seek accreditation of their
facilities and certification of staff from national organizations whose standards reflect
best practices in corrections or in correctional sub-specialties.
(e)
Correctional administrators and officials should regularly review use of
force reports, serious incident reports, and grievances, and take any necessary remedial
action to address systemic problems.
(f)
Correctional administrators should routinely collect, analyze, and publish
statistical information on agency operations including security incidents, sexual assaults,
prisoner grievances, uses of force, health and safety, spending on programs and services,
program participation and outcomes, staffing, and employee discipline.
(g)
Correctional administrators and officials should evaluate short and longterm outcomes of programs provided to prisoners and, where permitted by applicable
law, should make the evaluations and any underlying aggregated data available upon
request to researchers, investigators, and media representatives.
(h)
Correctional agencies should work together to develop uniform national
definitions and methods of defining, collecting, and reporting accurate and complete data.
(i)
Governmental authorities should not exempt correctional agencies from
their jurisdiction’s Administrative Procedure Act, Freedom of Information Act, or Public
Records Act.

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Standard 23-11.2

External regulation and investigation

(a)
Independent governmental bodies responsible for such matters as fire
safety, sanitation, environmental quality, food safety, education, and health should
regulate, inspect, and enforce regulations in a correctional facility. A correctional facility
should be subject to the same enforcement penalties and procedures, including abatement
procedures for noncompliance, as are applicable to other institutions.
(b)
Governmental authorities should authorize and fund an official or officials
independent of each correctional agency to investigate the acts of correctional authorities,
allegations of mistreatment of prisoners, and complaints about conditions in correctional
facilities, including complaints by prisoners, their families, and members of the
community, and to refer appropriate cases for administrative disciplinary measures or
criminal prosecutions.
(c)
When federal or state law authorizes a governmental or non-governmental
agency or organization to conduct an investigation relating to a correctional facility,
correctional officials should allow that agency or organization convenient and complete
access to the facility and should cooperate fully in the investigation.
(d)
When a prisoner dies, correctional officials should promptly notify the
jurisdiction’s medical examiner of the death and its circumstances; the medical examiner
should decide whether an autopsy should be conducted. Where authorized by law, a
correctional official should also be permitted to order an autopsy.
(e)
Correctional officials should encourage and accommodate visits by judges
and lawmakers and by members of faith-based groups, the business community,
institutions of higher learning, and other groups interested in correctional issues.

Standard 23-11.3

External monitoring and inspection

(a)
Governmental authorities should authorize and fund a governmental
agency independent of each jurisdiction’s correctional agency to conduct regular
monitoring and inspection of the correctional facilities in that jurisdiction and to issue
timely public reports about conditions and practices in those facilities. This agency,
which should be permitted to be the same entity responsible for investigations conducted
pursuant to Standard 23-11.2(b), should anticipate and detect systemic problems affecting
prisoners, monitor issues of continuing concern, identify best practices within facilities,
and make recommendations for improvement.
(b)
Monitoring teams should possess expertise in a wide variety of disciplines
relevant to correctional agencies. They should receive authority to:
(i)
examine every part of every facility;
(ii)
visit without prior notice;
(iii) conduct confidential interviews with prisoners and staff; and

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(iv)

review all records, except that special procedures may be
implemented for highly confidential information.

(c)
A correctional agency should be required to respond in a public document
to the findings of the monitoring agency, to develop an action plan to address identified
problems, and to periodically document compliance with recommendations or explain
noncompliance; however, if security requires, the public document should be permitted to
be supplemented by a confidential one.
(d)
The monitoring agency should continue to assess and report on previously
identified problems and the progress made in resolving them until the problems are
resolved.

Standard 23-11.4

Legislative oversight and accountability

(a)
Governmental authorities should enact legislation to implement and fund
compliance with these Standards.
(b)
Legislative bodies should exercise vigorous oversight of corrections,
including conducting regular hearings and visits. Correctional authorities should allow
legislators who sit on correctional oversight committees to speak privately with staff and
prisoners.
(c)
Each state legislature should establish an authority to promulgate and
enforce standards applicable to jails and local detention facilities in the state.
(d)
Governmental authorities should prepare a financial and correctional
impact statement to accompany any proposed criminal justice legislation that would
affect the size, demographics, or requirements of the jurisdiction’s prison and jail
populations, and should periodically assess the extent to which criminal justice legislation
is achieving positive results.

Standard 23-11.5

Media access to correctional facilities and prisoners

Correctional administrators should develop agency media access policies
(a)
and make them readily available to the public in written form. Correctional authorities
should generally accommodate professionally accredited journalists who request
permission to visit a facility or a prisoner, and should provide a process for expeditious
appeal if a request is denied.
(b)
Prisoners should have the right to refuse requests for interviews and
should be notified of that right and given an opportunity to consult with counsel, if they
have counsel, prior to an interview.

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(c)
Correctional authorities should allow professionally accredited journalists
reasonable use of notebooks, writing implements, video and still cameras, and audio
recorders.
(d)
The time, place, and manner of media visits should be reasonably
regulated to preserve the privacy and dignity of prisoners and the security and order of
the facility.
(e)
Correctional authorities should not retaliate against a prisoner for that
prisoner’s lawful communication with a member of the media.

70