CHAPTER 522
An Act to direct the Board of Corrections to conduct a review of the standards and requirements governing, and the application and use of, isolated confinement in local correctional facilities.
[H 1284]
Approved March 31, 2020
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. § 1. That the Board of Corrections (the Board) shall, in consultation with a stakeholder work group formed for the purpose of gathering input, conduct a review of the standards and requirements governing, and the application and use of, isolated confinement in local correctional facilities. The stakeholder work group shall comprise interested parties including at least one representative from each of the following groups: sheriffs, regional superintendents, public defenders, formerly incarcerated people, mental health experts, disability rights advocates, and civil liberties advocates. The Board shall report its findings and recommendations to the Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security and the Chairs of the House Committee for Courts of Justice, the House Committee on Public Safety, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, and the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services by December 1, 2020, and publish the report on its website. The Board may thereafter promulgate standards consistent with the findings of the report on the use of isolated confinement in local correctional facilities. For purposes of this act, "isolated confinement" means confinement of a prisoner to a cell, alone or with another prisoner, for 20 or more hours per day.