Inmates: visitation.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill text does not provide specific information about visitor searches beyond denying contact visits if consent is refused, but it allows for noncontact visits.

Inmates: Visiting Rules

This law sets rules for inmate visitation, including how often prisons must allow visits, who can visit inmates, and what happens during visits.

What This Bill Does

• Requires each prison to be open for visiting at least three days a week.
• Prohibits prisons from denying visitation based on sex, race, or criminal history.
• Allows all visits to be contact visits unless the inmate is in restricted housing.
• Doesn't let prisons take away visitation rights if the inmate breaks rules unrelated to visiting.
• Requires prisons to give visitors a chance to fix small problems and continue visiting up to one hour before the end of the visiting period.

Who It Names or Affects

• Inmates
• People who want to visit inmates

Terms To Know

Contact visits

Visits where the visitor can touch or hug the inmate.

Restricted housing unit

A special area in a prison for inmates who have broken rules.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify what happens if someone refuses to be searched.
• It's unclear how the new rules will affect security at prisons.

Official Summary Text

AB 2434, as amended, Bonta.
Inmates: visitation.
Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, when amending or adopting regulations that may impact the visitation of inmates, to recognize and consider the value of visiting as a means to improve prison safety, the important role of inmate visitation in maintaining connection with family and community, and the role of inmate visitation in preparing for successful release.
This bill would
prohibit a facility, as defined,
require each facility, as defined, to be open for visitation at least 3 days per week. The bill would prohibit a facility
from denying visitation on the basis of specified characteristics or factors, including, among
others, sex, race, and criminal history. The bill would require a facility to allow all visits with an incarcerated person to be contact visits unless the incarcerated person is housed in a restricted housing unit, as specified. The bill would prohibit a facility from denying, revoking, suspending, limiting, or interfering with visitation privileges for a disciplinary matter or rule violation unrelated to visitation. The bill would require facility staff to take specified actions with regard to correctable issues with a visitation, including, among other things, allowing the visitor a reasonable opportunity to correct the issue and return to visiting up to one hour before the end of the visiting period. The bill
would,
would prohibit denial of visitation
if a visitor has traveled more than 100 miles to attend a visit,
or has not visited within 30 days,
require
unless there has been a finding of
a credible and documented security
threat for the visit to be denied by the facility.
threat.
The bill would prohibit a facility from searching visitors without their voluntary, informed, and written consent. The bill would authorize a facility to respond to refusal of that search only with denial of contact visiting for that day, and would require the facility to offer a noncontact visit on the same day. The bill would require other restrictions and procedures for searches of visitors, as specified. The bill
would require data regarding searches, alerts, and resulting denials to be collected and published annually by the department in aggregate form.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF