Bill Text: CA SB132 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Amended
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Corrections.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Passed) 2020-09-26 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 182, Statutes of 2020. [SB132 Detail]
Download: California-2019-SB132-Amended.html
NOYES
Local Program:
NO
SECTION 1.
Bill Title: Corrections.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Passed) 2020-09-26 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 182, Statutes of 2020. [SB132 Detail]
Download: California-2019-SB132-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Senate
March 14, 2019 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION
| Senate Bill | No. 132 |
| Introduced by Senator Wiener |
January 14, 2019 |
An act to add Sections 2605 and 2606 to the Penal Code, relating to corrections.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 132, as amended, Wiener.
Corrections.
Existing law establishes the state prisons under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Existing law authorizes a person sentenced to imprisonment in the state prison or a county jail for a felony to be, during the period of confinement, deprived of those rights, and only those rights, as is reasonably related to legitimate penological interests.
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to ensure that transgender people in custody have equal rights and protections and to help protect the human dignity and safety of all people in custody.
This bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to, during initial intake and classification, ask each individual entering into the custody of the department to specify the individual’s gender identity, sex assigned at birth, preferred first name, gender pronoun, honorific, and preferred gender identity of any officer who may conduct a lawful body search of the individual. The bill would require the department to issue identification to the person with a gender marker consistent with the gender identity the individual most recently specified, and would prohibit the department from disciplining a person for refusing to answer or not disclosing complete information in response to these questions. The bill would authorize a person under the jurisdiction of the department to update this information, as specified. The bill would require staff and contractors to consistently use the gender pronoun and honorific an individual has specified in all verbal
and written communications with or regarding that individual that involve the use of a pronoun or honorific.
The bill would additionally require the department, for a person who has a gender identity that differs from their sex assigned at birth, to only conduct a search of that person by an officer of the gender identity of the person’s preference. The bill would additionally require the department to house the person in a correctional facility designated for men or women consistent with the incarcerated individual’s gender identity, except as specified.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee:Bill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) The United States Supreme Court recognized that incarcerated transgender individuals are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse and sexual harassment and that disregarding the known risks to a transgender woman constitutes deliberate indifference in violation of the federal constitution.
(b) In California, a study of the state’s prisons found that the rate of sexual assault for transgender women in those prisons was 13 times higher than for men in the same prisons.
(c) Official data collected by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics confirm that, nationwide, incarcerated transgender individuals experience exceptionally high rates of sexual victimization. In a 2011–12 survey, almost 40 percent of incarcerated transgender individuals reported experiencing sexual victimization while incarcerated compared to 4 percent of all incarcerated individuals.
(d) A congressional study found that
instances of prison rape often go unreported, and that “most prison staff are not adequately trained or prepared to prevent, report or treat inmate sexual assaults.”
(e) Forty percent of transgender women respondents reported harassment from other incarcerated individuals.
(f) Thirty-eight percent reported being harassed by correctional officers or staff.
(g) Correctional officers and other incarcerated people predominantly refer to transgender women as men, using masculine pronouns.
SEC. 2.
Section 2605 is added to the Penal Code, to read:2605.
(a) During the initial intake and classification process, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall ask each individual entering into the custody of the department to specify the individual’s:(1) Gender identity and sex assigned at birth.
(2) Preferred first name,
gender pronoun, honorific.
(3) Preferred gender identity of any officer who may conduct a lawful body search of the individual.
(b) A person incarcerated by the department shall be issued identification reflecting a gender marker consistent with the gender identity the individual has most recently specified.
(c) A person incarcerated by the department may not be disciplined for refusing to answer, or for not disclosing complete information in response to, the questions pursuant to this section.
(d) At any time, a person under the jurisdiction of the department may inform facility staff of their gender identity, and facility staff shall promptly repeat the process of offering the individual an opportunity to specify the gender pronoun and honorific most appropriate for staff to use in reference to that individual, in accordance with subdivision (a).
(e) Staff and contractors of the department shall consistently use the gender pronoun and honorific an individual has specified in all verbal and written communications with or regarding the individual that involve use of a pronoun and honorific.
(f) For
the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) “Gender pronoun” means a third-person singular personal pronoun such as “he,” “she,” or “they.”
(2) “Honorific” means a form of respectful address typically combined with an individual’s surname, such as “Mr.,” “Ms.,” or “Mx.”
SEC. 3.
Section 2606 is added to the Penal Code, to read:2606.
An individual incarcerated by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation who has a gender identity that differs from their sex assigned at birth, with or without a diagnosis of gender dysphoria or any other physical or mental health diagnosis, and regardless of anatomy, shall be:(a) Addressed in a manner consistent with the incarcerated individual’s gender identity.
(b) If lawfully searched, searched by an officer of the gender identity of the incarcerated individual’s preference. If the incarcerated individual’s preference or gender identity cannot be determined, the search shall be conducted by an officer whose gender identity is female.
(c) Housed at a correctional facility designated for men or women consistent with the incarcerated individual’s gender identity, unless the incarcerated individual’s perception of their own health and safety needs requires a different placement, in which case the person shall be housed in accordance with their stated health and safety needs.
(d) (1) Placement in housing within a facility, for example, single cell, double cell, dorm, protective custody, or general population, shall be based on the incarcerated individual’s perception of health and safety except as provided in paragraph (2).
(2) If there are significant security or management concerns with placing an incarcerated individual within a facility based on the individual’s perception of health and safety, the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, or the
secretary’s designee, shall certify in writing a specific and articulable basis as to why a particular placement would present significant security or management concerns prior to housing the incarcerated individual in a manner contrary to the person’s perception of health and safety.
(e) If an incarcerated individual raises concerns for their health or safety at any time, their housing and placement shall be reassessed.
It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to ensure that transgender people in custody have equal rights and protections and to help protect the human dignity and safety of all people in custody.
