Bill Text: VA HB836 | 2012 | Regular Session | Prefiled

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Bill Title: Pregnant prisoners; prohibits use of restraints by any correctional facility.

Sponsorship: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 2-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-02-14 - House: Left in Militia, Police and Public Safety [HB836 Detail]

Download: Virginia-2012-HB836-Prefiled.html

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12102750D
HOUSE BILL NO. 836 Offered January 11, 2012 Prefiled January 11, 2012 A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Article 1 of Chapter 1 of Title 53.1 a section numbered 53.1-1.1:1, relating to pregnant prisoners; use of restraints. ---------- Patron-- Hope ---------- Referred to Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety ----------

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1.  That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding in Article 1 of Chapter 1 of Title 53.1 a section numbered 53.1-1.1:1 as follows:

§53.1-1.1:1. Restraint of certain prisoners.

No state, regional, local, or juvenile correctional facility shall use restraints on any prisoner who is pregnant during labor, transport to a medical facility, delivery, or postpartum recovery unless the warden, superintendent, or jailor finds there is a compelling reason to believe that the prisoner poses serious harm to herself or others, is a flight risk, or cannot be reasonably restrained by other means. Such facility shall use the least restrictive restraints necessary on any inmate in the second or third trimester of pregnancy.