HB 35 — Restorative housing and isolated confinement; restrictions on use.

OFFERED FOR CONSIDERATION 3/06/2026 + +2027 +SESSION + +ENGROSSED + + + 26101905D HOUSE BILL NO.

35 +House +Amendments AMENDMENTin IN[ THE] NATURE- OFFebruary A11, SUBSTITUTE2026 + + (Proposed by the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services + on ________________) + + (Patron Prior to Substitute—Delegate Cole, J.G.) + A BILL to amend and reenact § 53.1-39.2 of the Code of Virginia, relating to restorative housing and isolated confinement;

Be————— itPatron enactedPrior byto theEngrossment—Delegate GeneralCole, AssemblyJ.G. of Virginia:

1.————— Referred to Committee on Public Safety E ————— Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

N 1.

G R A.

"Facility administrator" means the superintendent, warden, or person otherwise in charge of the O correctional facility.

"Isolated confinement" means confinement of an incarcerated person to a cell for 17 hours or more per S day, regardless of the name of the housing unit in which such confinement occurs.

S "Lockdown" means the restriction of movement and privileges for an entire pod, housing unit, or facility, such that all individuals therein are confined to their cells for 20 or more hours per day, and out-of-cell E programmatic interventions are interrupted.

D "Medical evaluation" means an evaluation that is done for the purpose of determining whether the incarcerated person needs medical treatment and shall be done in a manner that is consistent with the signed recommendations of a medical practitioner.

H "Mental health professional" means the same as that term is defined in § 54.1-2400.1 who is trained in B mental health evaluations.

5 "Out-of-cell programmatic interventions" means that the incarcerated person is either in a congregate E setting with other incarcerated persons receiving educational, vocational, rehabilitative, or therapeutic instruction or is individually with one or more staff members who will be offering medical, mental health, or DRAFT OFFERED FOR CONSIDERATION 3/06/2026 some other social service.

"Recreation" means the space and opportunity for meaningful physical activity outside the cell and 35 housing unit.

36 "Restorative housing" means special purpose bed assignments operated under maximum security / 37 regulations and procedures and utilized for the personal protection or custodial management of an 38 incarcerated person.

39 B.

No incarcerated person in a state correctional facility shall be placed in restorative housing or in isolated confinement by any designation,designation for longer than 15 consecutive days, including any investigative time, in any 60-day period, unless (i) such incarcerated person requests placement in restorative housing or isolated confinement with informed voluntary consent,;

NoWhen an incarcerated person inmakes a staterequest correctionalto be placed in restorative housing or isolated confinement for his own protection, the facility shall bebear placedthe burden of establishing a basis for refusing the request;, but before placing an incarcerated person in restorative housing or isolated confinement byof any designation for longerhis thanown 15protection, consecutivethe days,facility administrator shall place an incarcerated person in a less- restrictive setting, including anyby investigativetransfer time,to northe general population of another institution or to a special- purpose housing unit for moreincarcerated thanpersons 15who totalface dayssimilar inthreats, anyunless 60-daythe period;incarcerated person faces a security risk so great that no less-restrictive setting would be sufficient or practicable to ensure the incarcerated person's safety.

however, such placement may be for more than 15 total days in a 60-day period (i) when (a) such incarcerated person requests such placement in restorative housing or isolated confinement with informed voluntary consent;

(b) such incarcerated person needs such placement for his own protection, as determined and documented by the facility head or designee;

or (c) the placement is necessary for medical isolation, as determined and documented by a licensed medical professional, and (ii) provided that such placement is no longer than 15 consecutive days.

An incarcerated person may be placed in an additional period of isolated confinement, not to exceed a single period of 15 consecutive days, only in those situations where a new, documented incident of behavioral misconduct occurs after the completion of the initial period of isolated confinement and such behavioral misconduct creates an imminent threat of physical harm to the incarcerated person or another person and such threat cannot be alleviated through any less restrictive measures.

WhenAn an incarcerated person makeswho ais request to be placed in restorative housing or isolated confinement for his own protection,protection theHB35E facility2 shall bear the burden of establishing3 abased basison forhis refusingrequest theor DRAFTwith OFFEREDhis FORinformed CONSIDERATIONvoluntary 3/06/2026consent request;,may butopt beforeout placingof an incarcerated person in restorative housing or isolated confinement ofby anyvoluntarily designationremoving for his ownconsent protection,to theremain facility administrator shall place an incarcerated person in arestorative less- restrictive setting, including by transfer to the general population of another institution or to a special- purpose housing unit for incarcerated persons who face similar threats, unless the incarcerated person faces a security risk so great that no less-restrictive setting would be sufficient or practicableisolated toconfinement ensureby theproviding incarceratedinformed person'svoluntary safety.refusal;.

2.

3.

An incarcerated person who is in restorative housing or isolated confinement for his own protection based on his request or with his informed voluntary consent may opt out of restorative housing or isolated confinement by voluntarily removing his consent to remain in restorative housing or isolated confinement by providing informed voluntary refusal;.

4.

5.

In any situation in which the facility administrator determines that an incarcerated person shall be placed in isolated confinement to prevent an imminent threat of physical harm to the incarcerated person or another person, the incarcerated person may be placed in isolated confinement for no longer than 15 consecutive days, including any investigative time period.

An incarcerated person may be placed in an additional period of isolated confinement, not to exceed a single period of 15 consecutive days, only in those situations where a new, documented incident of behavioral misconduct occurs after the completion of the initial period of isolated confinement and such behavioral misconduct creates an imminent threat of physical harm to the incarcerated person or another person and such threat cannot be alleviated through any less restrictive measures.

Such programmatic interventions and congregate activities shall be consistent with those offered to the full-privilege general population at other facilities of equal security riskrisk. and shall take place in a congregate setting, unless exceptional circumstances mean that doing so would create significant and unreasonable risk to the safety and security of other incarcerated persons, the staff, or the facility.

Additionally, a minimum of one hour of recreation shall be provided and shall take place in a congregate setting, unless exceptional circumstances mean that doing so would create significant and unreasonable risk to the safety and security of other incarcerated persons, the staff, or the facility.

If an incarcerated person is placed in restorative housing or isolated confinement pursuant to subsection B, (i) such placement shall be reviewed once a week every [ 48 hours two business days ] and the reason why a DRAFT OFFERED FOR CONSIDERATION 3/06/2026 less restrictive setting could not be utilized and the facts and circumstances that necessitated the incarcerated person's placement in restorative housing or any form of isolated confinement shall be recorded in writing by the facility administrator and placed in the incarcerated person's institutional file;

(iii) shall end as soon as that purpose is of 3 served;

(v) shall have a documented DRAFT OFFERED FOR CONSIDERATION 3/06/2026 timeline and standard of completion when lasting more than seven days;

and (vi) may not occur more than once within 30 days without approval from the regional administrator confirming that a new, specific, documented security risk has developed that warrants such extensive lockdowns, including the reasons why security cannot be maintained without additional lockdown time.

Such documentation shall be provided totoy the Director and published on the Department's website.

The facility administrator shall ensure that any incarcerated person placed in restorative housing, for any reason, is provided with a medical evaluation and a mental health evaluation within one workday of such placement,placF. unless such evaluation was completed within the previous week.

F.

N G.

Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent the placement of incarcerated persons in G protective custody settings that do not constitute restorative housing.