Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

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     Councilmember Kenyan R. McDuffie                                    Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau

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     Councilmember Robert C. White, Jr.                                        Councilmember Anita Bonds

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     Councilmember Janeese Lewis George                                     Councilmember Zachary Parker

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     Councilmember Charles Allen

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                                                 A BILL

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                       IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

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   To prohibit segregated confinement in jails; to strictly limit the use of safe cells and require that

          incarcerated people with mental health emergencies receive the care to which they are

          entitled; to require the Department of Corrections to create a plan to eliminate segregated

          confinement and report to the Council the impacts of doing so.

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          BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this

   act may be cited as the “Eliminating Restrictive and Segregated Enclosures (“ERASE”) Solitary

   Confinement Act of 2025”.

          Sec. 2. Definitions.

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        For purposes of this act, the term:

        (a) “Appropriate healthcare” means the right to:

                (1) Timely, responsive, respectful, and dignified attention to a resident’s

 healthcare needs by a qualified health professional;

                (2) Assessment, consultation, and provision of health care consistent with the

 standard of care expected to be provided by a reasonably prudent qualified health professional in

 the professional’s specialty area, and not limited in any way because of status as a detained or

 incarcerated person;

                (3) Have the qualified health professional respect a resident's privacy and

 confidentiality;

                (4) Privacy and protection from inquiry by qualified health professionals

 regarding a resident’s charges, convictions, or duration of sentences unless expressly pertinent to

 the delivery of care;

                (5) Freedom from physical restraints while receiving any form of healthcare,

 unless the treating qualified health professional requests physical restraints to address a specific

 safety concern;

                (6) Obtain, at no cost, at the conclusion of a resident’s visit to a qualified health

 professional providing services outside of a penal institution, copies of all records of the

 resident’s own diagnoses, test results, treatment instructions, recommendations for further

 treatment and evaluation, and other documents that a person who is not detained or incarcerated

 would have a right to obtain from a qualified health professional;

                (7) Obtain, at no cost, full or partial copies of a resident’s own medical records

 that are created by or in the possession of either the Department or the entity providing health

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 care on behalf of the Department, upon the request of a resident, former resident, or a resident or

 former resident’s counsel without having to file a request under the District of Columbia

 Freedom of Information Act, D.C. Code § 2-531;

                 (8) A reasonable opportunity to discuss with a qualified health professional the

 benefits and risks of treatment alternatives, including the risks and benefits of forgoing

 treatment, and guidance about different courses of action;

                 (9) Ask questions about health status or recommended treatment and to have those

 questions answered by a qualified health professional;

                 (10) Make decisions about the care they receive and have those decisions

 respected;

                 (11) Be advised of any conflicts of interest a qualified health professional may

 have with respect to a resident’s care;

                 (12) Obtain a second opinion from a qualified health professional providing

 services outside of the penal institution in the same or similar specialty within a reasonable

 amount of time in cases involving a serious risk of death or serious bodily injury;

                 (13) Coordination and integration of the care provided by a resident’s qualified

 health professionals, including the timely provision of care by a suitable qualified health

 professional outside of the penal institution as necessary; and

                 (14) Visitation with a resident’s “attorney in fact,” as defined in D.C. Code § 21-

 2202.1, for the purpose of healthcare decision making, regardless of any Department policy to

 the contrary;

                 (15) All rights enumerated in the Consumers’ Bill of Rights at D.C. Code § 7-

 1231.04;

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                 (16) Communication pursuant to the DC Language Access Act at D.C. Code § 2

 1901 et seq; and

                 (17) Effective communication pursuant to Title II and Title III of the Americans

 with Disabilities Act at 42 U.S.C. §§ 12131-34 and 12181-89.

          (b) “Chemical restraint” means a medication that is used in addition to or in place of the

 resident’s regular, prescribed drug regimen to control extreme behavior during an emergency,

 but does not include medications that comprise the resident’s regular, prescribed medical

 regimen and that are part of the resident’s treatment, even if the intended purpose is to control

 ongoing behavior;

          (c) “Department” means the Department of Corrections, as defined in D.C. Code § 24-

 211.01;

          (d) “Disciplinary housing” means the separation of a resident from other individuals for

 the purpose of punishing the resident for a violation of the Department’s or penal institution’s

 rules;

          (e) “Health care” means any type of care provided by a person licensed under or

 permitted to practice a health occupation in the District as defined in D.C. Code § 3-1201 et seq.

 Healthcare includes medical care, dental care, vision care, psychiatric care, psychological or

 other treatment for mental or behavioral health conditions, physical therapy, occupational

 therapy, chronic care, and the provision of medication or medical supplies;

          (f) “Medical isolation” means the isolation of a resident consistent with a finding by a

 qualified health professional that the resident has a communicable disease for which the Centers

 for Disease Control and Prevention recommends or authorizes isolation or quarantine, and that

 isolation is medically necessary for that resident’s treatment or to protect other residents or staff

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 from the communicable disease;

        (g) “Minimum out-of-cell time” means at least 8 hours daily, between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.,

 during which a resident is not restricted to their cell and has the opportunity to move around a

 shared space, interact with other residents in a shared space without barriers or physical or

 chemical restraints, participate in programming, shower, or go to the commissary, gym, and

 recreation yard, or participate in other activities normally conducted outside of a resident’s cell;

        (h) “Penal institution” means any penitentiary, prison, jail, or correctional facility owned,

 operated, or controlled by the Department;

        (i) “Physical restraint” means any mechanical device, material, or equipment attached or

 adjacent to the resident’s body, or any manual method, that the resident cannot easily remove

 and which restricts their freedom of movement or normal access to their body;

        (j) “Prolonged confinement” means the denial of minimum out-of-cell time, without a

 resident’s informed written consent;

        (k) “Punitive measures” means the loss of any privilege, including video and phone calls,

 recreation, reading materials, mail, or commissary, that is standardly provided to residents;

        (l) “Qualified health professional” means a person licensed under or permitted to practice

 a health occupation in the District as defined by D.C. Code § 3-1201.08 who is providing

 services or treatment for which the individual is specifically licensed or is permitted to perform

 pursuant to D.C. Code § 3-1201 et seq.;

        (m) “Resident” means any individual detained or incarcerated at a penal institution;

        (n) “Safe cell” means a suicide-resistant housing cell designed to prevent a resident from

 inflicting serious bodily injury upon themselves or used by the Department as a place to hold and

 continuously monitor residents placed on suicide watch;

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        (o) “Serious bodily injury” means a bodily injury or significant bodily injury that

 involves a substantial risk of death, protracted and obvious disfigurement, protracted loss or

 impairment of the function of a bodily member or organ, or protracted loss of consciousness;

        (p) “Suicide precaution” means a measure used to observe a resident who is assessed by a

 qualified health professional and determined to not be actively suicidal, but expresses suicidal

 ideation or has a recent prior history of inflicting or attempting to inflict serious bodily injury

 upon themselves, or a resident who denies suicidal ideation or does not threaten suicide, but

 demonstrates other concerning behavior indicating the potential for inflicting death or serious

 bodily injury upon themselves; and

        (q) “Suicide watch” means a measure used to observe a resident who is assessed by a

 qualified health professional and determined to be actively suicidal, by either threatening or

 engaging in inflicting serious bodily injury upon themselves.

        Sec. 3. Scope.

        This act shall apply to all residents detained or incarcerated at the Central Detention

 Facility, the Correctional Treatment Facility, the Central Cell Block, and any other penal

 institution owned, operated, or controlled by the Department.

        Sec. 4. Limitations on the Use of Prolonged Confinement.

        (a) The Department shall provide appropriate healthcare to all residents, including those

 subject to disciplinary housing, medical isolation, suicide precaution, and suicide watch.

        (b) Except as provided in subsections (c) and (d) of this section, the Department shall not

 use or impose any form of prolonged confinement on any resident for any purpose, including

 discipline, safety, security, administrative convenience, placement on a medical or mental health

 unit, health care need, or the prevention of suicide or self-harm.

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        (c) A resident in medical isolation may be subject to prolonged confinement, but only for

 the time necessary to ensure the resident is no longer contagious or transmitting a communicable

 disease.

        (d) A qualified health professional shall reevaluate whether medical isolation is necessary

 at an interval in accordance with guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and

 Prevention or, at a minimum, every 24 hours.

        (e) When a qualified health professional determines the resident is no longer contagious,

 the resident shall be immediately entitled to minimum out-of-cell time, even if they remain

 housed in a medical isolation unit.

        (f) The removal of personal property items from a resident shall be prohibited absent an

 individualized determination by a qualified health professional that the removal of a particular

 item is necessary to prevent the transmitting of a communicable disease.

        (g) A resident placed on suicide watch may be placed in prolonged confinement, subject

 to the provisions of Section 5 of this Chapter.

        (h) If the Department takes possession of a resident’s personal property when moving the

 resident to or from disciplinary housing, the Department shall return all personal property to the

 resident within 6 hours of taking possession of the property, excluding any contraband as defined

 in D.C. Code § 22-2603.02.

        (i) Punitive measures may only be applied to a resident in response to a disciplinary

 finding.

        (j) At intake, and any time a resident is placed in prolonged confinement, medical

 isolation, disciplinary housing, or under suicide precaution or suicide watch, the Department

 shall provide the resident educational materials on mental health and substance use disorders, the

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 stigma around mental health and substance use disorders, the mental health and substance use

 disorder treatment options available to residents from the Department, and the law, regulations,

 and policy statements governing the use of prolonged confinement, medical isolation,

 disciplinary housing, and suicide precaution or suicide watch. The Department shall make these

 educational materials available within 2 hours of the intake or placement in written format, both

 hard copy and electronic, and in video format. These educational materials must comply with the

 DC Language Access Act at D.C. Code § 2-1901 et seq.

        (k) The Department shall notify a resident’s counsel of record any time a resident is

 placed in prolonged confinement, medical isolation, disciplinary housing, or under suicide

 precaution or suicide watch. If the resident does not have a counsel of record, the Department

 shall notify the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia.

 Sec. 5. Limitations on the use of prolonged confinement.

        (a) Department staff shall directly observe a resident on suicide precaution at staggered

 intervals not to exceed every 15 minutes and document those observations.

        (b) Department staff shall directly observe a resident on suicide watch continuously and

 without interruption and document those observations every 15 minutes.

        (c) Supervision aids, like cameras, can be utilized as a supplement to, but never as a

 substitute for, direct observation by Department staff of a resident on suicide precaution or

 suicide watch.

        (d) A resident on suicide precaution shall never be placed in a safe cell and shall not be

 subject to prolonged confinement or punitive measures.

        (e) All residents on suicide precaution or suicide watch shall be entitled to attend all court

 or parole hearings unless a qualified health practitioner makes a finding that non-attendance is

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 immediately necessary to prevent a risk of death or serious bodily injury to the resident or

 another person.

        (f) A resident on suicide watch shall reside in the least restrictive setting necessary to

 reasonably assure the safety of the resident and others, as determined by a qualified health

 professional, including housing in the general population, mental health unit, or medical

 infirmary.

        (g) A resident on suicide watch may be placed in a safe cell only if it is immediately

 necessary to prevent death or serious bodily injury.

        (h) A qualified health professional shall directly observe any resident in a safe cell a

 minimum of every 4 hours and shall formally reassess the resident at least every 24 hours.

        (i) Removal of a resident’s clothing shall be prohibited absent an individualized

 determination by a qualified health professional that such removal is necessary to prevent death

 or serious bodily injury. If the individualized determination to remove a resident’s clothing is

 made, the resident shall immediately be provided with alternative safe clothing and blanket, and

 a qualified health professional shall reassess the determination at least every 24 hours. A resident

 shall never be without the clothing and blankets necessary to provide reasonable privacy and

 warmth.

        (j) The Department shall transfer a resident from a safe cell to a local hospital or another

 appropriate healthcare facility as soon as practicable:

                (1) Upon a determination by a qualified health care professional that the

 Department cannot provide the resident with appropriate healthcare;

                (2) If the resident has been held in a safe cell continuously for 48 hours; or

                (3) Upon request of the resident.

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        (k) The Department shall examine any incident involving a completed suicide and any

 incident involving a suicide attempt requiring hospitalization through a morbidity and mortality

 review process, which shall be completed within 30 days of the resident’s death or suicide

 attempt.

        (l) The review, separate and apart from other formal investigations that may be required

 to determine the cause of death, shall include:

                (1) Review of the circumstances surrounding the incident;

                (2) Review of procedures relevant to the incident;

                (3) Review of all relevant training received by involved staff;

                (4) Review of pertinent healthcare services reports involving the resident;

                (5) Review of any possible precipitating factors that may have caused the resident

 to commit suicide or suffer a serious suicide attempt;

                (6) Recommendations, if any, for changes in policy, training, physical plant,

 healthcare services, and operational procedures; and

                (7) A written report detailing the Department’s findings, including whether each

 recommendation was accepted or rejected and a corrective action plan specifying responsible

 parties and timetables for completion.

        (2) Within 5 days of the conclusion of the review process, the Department shall transmit

 the report to the Mayor, the D.C. Council, and the Corrections Information Council.

        (3) The Department shall publish on its website written updates on the status of the

 corrective action plan in 30-day intervals until the plan has been fully implemented.

        (4) All staff involved in the incident should be offered critical incident stress debriefing.

        Sec. 6. Plan and report on the elimination of prolonged confinement

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         (a) Within 90 days after the effective date of this act, the Department shall transmit to

 the Mayor, the Council, and the Corrections Information Council, and publish on its website a

 written report of its plans to effectuate this act.

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