                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

RESTORATIVE HOUSING; RESTRICTIONS ON USE (§ 53.1-39.2)

A. As used in this section:
			&#8220;Facility administrator&#8221; means the superintendent, warden, or
person otherwise in charge of the correctional facility.
			&#8220;Medical evaluation&#8221; 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.
			&#8220;Medical practitioner&#8221; means a physician, physician&#8217;s
assistant, nurse practitioner, or practical nurse licensed in the Commonwealth
or in the jurisdiction where the treatment is to be rendered or withheld.
			&#8220;Mental health evaluation&#8221; means an evaluation that is carried
out by a mental health professional for the purpose of determining the mental
health needs of the incarcerated person and whether it is safe for the person to
be placed in restorative housing.
			&#8220;Mental health professional&#8221; means the same as that term is
defined in &#xA7; 54.1-2400.1 who is trained in mental health evaluations.
			&#8220;Restorative housing&#8221; means special purpose bed assignments
operated under maximum security regulations and procedures and utilized for the
personal protection or custodial management of an incarcerated person.

B. No incarcerated person in a state correctional facility shall be placed in
restorative housing unless (i) such incarcerated person requests placement in
restorative housing with informed voluntary consent, (ii) such incarcerated
person needs such confinement for his own protection, (iii) there is a need to
prevent an imminent threat of physical harm to the incarcerated person or
another person; or (iv) such person&#8217;s behavior threatens the orderly
operation of the facility, provided that:

   1. When an incarcerated person makes a request to be placed in restorative
   housing for his own protection, the facility shall bear the burden of
   establishing a basis for refusing the request;

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

   3. An incarcerated person placed in restorative housing for his own protection
   (i) shall receive similar opportunities for activities, movement, and social
   interaction, taking into account his safety and the safety of others, as are
   provided to incarcerated persons in the general population of the facility and
   (ii) shall have such placement reviewed for assignment into protective
   custody;

   4. An incarcerated person who has been placed in restorative housing for his
   own protection and is subject to removal from such confinement, not by his own
   request, shall be provided with a timely and meaningful opportunity to contest
   the removal; and

   5. An incarcerated person who has been placed in restorative housing shall be
   offered a minimum of four hours of out-of-cell programmatic interventions or
   other congregate activities per day aimed at promoting personal development or
   addressing underlying causes of problematic behavior, which may include
   recreation 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.

C. If an incarcerated person is placed in restorative housing pursuant to
subsection B, (i) such placement shall be reviewed once a week and the reason
why a less restrictive setting could not be utilized shall be recorded in
writing by the facility administrator and placed in the incarcerated
person&#8217;s institutional file; (ii) the facility administrator shall
document an action plan for transitioning the incarcerated person out of
restorative housing as soon as safely possible; and (iii) the facility
administrator shall document the date and duration of such placement, as well as
the statutory basis under this section for such placement, and include all such
documentation in the incarcerated person&#8217;s institutional file.

D. An incarcerated person may be offered less than four hours of out-of-cell
programmatic interventions or other congregate activities per day only in the
circumstance that the facility administrator determines a lockdown is required
to ensure the safety of the incarcerated persons in the facility.

E. 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, unless such
evaluation was completed within the previous week.

F. The facility administrator shall have a defined and publicly available policy
and procedure for the process of transitioning an incarcerated person placed in
restorative housing out of such restorative housing and back to the general
population of the facility, subject to the approval of the Director.

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

H. The Director shall develop policies and procedures to effectuate the
provisions of this section.

HISTORY: 2023, cc. 392, 393.