ABA criminal justice standards on the treatment of prisoners adopted by the ABA House of Delegates (February 2010).

• Position: STANDARDS

TABLE OF CONTENTS Standard 23-1.0 Definitions PART I: GENERAL PRINCIPLES Standard 23-1.1 General Principles Governing Imprisonment Standard 23-1.2 Treatment of Prisoners PART II: INTAKE AND CLASSIFICATION Standard 23-2.1 Intake Screening Standard 23-2.2 Classification System Standard 23-2.3 Classification Procedures Standard 23-2.4 Special Classification Issues Standard 23-2.5 Health Care Assessment Standard 23-2.6 Rationales for Segregated Housing Standard 23-2.7 Rationales for Long-Term Segregated Housing Standard 23-2.8 Segregated Housing and Mental Health Standard 23-2.9 Procedures for Placement and Retention in Long-Term Segregated Housing PART III: CONDITIONS OF CONFINEMENT Standard 23-3.1 Physical Plant and Environmental Conditions Standard 23-3.2 Conditions for Special Types of Prisoners Standard 23-3.3 Housing Areas Standard 23-3.4 Healthful Food Standard 23-3.5 Provision of Necessities Standard 23-3.6 Recreation and Out-of-Cell Time Standard 23-3.7 Restrictions Relating to Programming and Privileges Standard 23-3.8 Segregated Housing Standard 23-3.9 Conditions During Lockdown PART IV: RULES OF CONDUCT AND DISCIPLINE Standard 23-4.1 Rules of Conduct and Informational Handbook Standard 23-4.2 Disciplinary Hearing Procedures Standard 23-4.3 Disciplinary Sanctions PART V: PERSONAL SECURITY Standard 23-5.1 Personal Security and Protection from Harm Standard 23-5.2 Prevention and Investigation of Violence Standard 23-5.3 Sexual Abuse Standard 23-5.4 Self-Harm and Suicide Prevention Standard 23-5.5 Protection of Vulnerable Prisoners Standard 23-5.6 Use of Force Standard 23-5.7 Use of Deadly Force Standard 23-5.8 Use of Chemical Agents, Electronic Weaponry, and Canines Standard 23-5.9 Use of Restraint Mechanisms and Techniques PART VI: HEALTH CARE Standard 23-6.1 General Principles Governing Health Care Standard 23-6.2 Response to Prisoner Health Care Needs Standard 23-6.3 Control and Distribution of Prescription Drugs Standard 23-6.4 Qualified Health Care Staff Standard 23-6.5 Continuity of Care Standard 23-6.6 Adequate Facilities, Equipment, and Resources Standard 23-6.7 Quality Improvement Standard 23-6.8 Health Care Records and Confidentiality Standard 23-6.9 Pregnant Prisoners and New Mothers Standard 23-6.10 Impairment-Related Aids Standard 23-6.11 Services for Prisoners with Mental Disabilities Standard 23-6.12 Prisoners with Chronic or Communicable Diseases Standard 23-6.13 Prisoners with Gender Identity Disorder Standard 23-6.14 Voluntary and Informed Consent to Treatment Standard 23-6.15 Involuntary Mental Health Treatment and Transfer PART VII: PERSONAL DIGNITY Standard 23-7.1 Respect for Prisoners Standard 23-7. 2 Prisoners with Disabilities and other Special Needs Standard 23-7.3 Religious Freedom Standard 23-7.4 Prisoner Organizations Standard 23-7.5 Communication and Expression Standard 23-7.6 Personal Appearance Standard 23-7.7 Records and Confidentiality Standard 23-7.8 Searches of Facilities Standard 23-7.9 Searches of Prisoners' Bodies Standard 23-7.10 Cross-Gender Supervision Standard 23-7.11 Prisoners as Subjects of Behavioral or Biomedical Research PART VIII: REHABILITATION AND REINTEGRATION Standard 23-8.1 Location of Facilities Standard 23-8.2 Rehabilitative Programs Standard 23-8.3 Restorative Justice Standard 23-8.4 Work Programs Standard 23-8.5 Visiting Standard 23-8.6 Written Communications Standard 23-8.7 Access to Telephones Standard 23-8.8 Fees and Financial Obligations Standard 23-8.9 Transition to the Community PART IX: GRIEVANCES AND ACCESS TO COURTS Standard 23-9.1 Grievance Procedures Standard 23-9.2 Access to the Judicial Process Standard 23-9.3 Judicial Review of Prisoner Complaints Standard 23-9.4 Access to Legal and Consular Services Standard 23-9.5 Access to Legal Materials and Information PART X: ADMINISTRATION AND STAFFING Standard 23-10.1 Professionalism Standard 23-10.2 Personnel Policy and Practice Standard 23-10.3 Training Standard 23-10.4 Accountability of Staff Standard 23-10.5 Privately Operated Correctional Facilities PART XI: ACCOUNTABILITY AND OVERSIGHT Standard 23-11.1 Internal Accountability Standard 23-11.2 External Regulation and Investigation Standard 23-11.3 External Monitoring and Inspection Standard 23-11.4 Legislative Oversight and Accountability Standard 23-11.5 Media Access to Correctional Facilities and Prisoners 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.

(k) The term "prisoner" means any person incarcerated in a correctional facility.

Other defined terms

(1) 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.

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 fights and dignity of prisoners. No prisoner should be subjected to creel, inhuman, or degrading...