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As Introduced
136th
General Assembly
Regular
Session
H. B. No. 796
2025-2026
Representative Williams
To
amend sections 751.08, 5120.10, and 5120.16 of the Revised Code
to
ensure that jail inmates, city infirmary inmates, and prisoners under
control of the department of rehabilitation and correction are housed
in accordance with their biological sex.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section
1.
That
sections 751.08, 5120.10, and 5120.16 of the Revised Code be amended
to read as follows:
Sec.
751.08.
The
director of public safety shall see that the inmates of a city
infirmary are comfortably provided for and kindly treated, and
he
the
director of public safety
may provide for the care and support of the males and females in
separate buildings, or in separate departments of the same building.
For purposes of this section, "males and females" refers to
biological sex, as defined in section 3129.01 of the Revised Code.
Sec.
5120.10.
(A)(1)
Except as provided in this division, the director of rehabilitation
and correction, by rule, shall promulgate minimum standards for jails
in Ohio, including minimum security jails dedicated under section
341.34 or 753.21 of the Revised Code. Whenever the director files a
rule or an amendment to a rule in final form with both the secretary
of state and the director of the legislative service commission
pursuant to section 111.15 of the Revised Code, the director of
rehabilitation and correction promptly shall send a copy of the rule
or amendment, if the rule or amendment pertains to minimum jail
standards, by ordinary mail to the political subdivisions or
affiliations of political subdivisions that operate jails to which
the standards apply. The director shall not adopt any rule requiring
support staff in a jail to obtain an occupational license as defined
in section 4798.01 of the Revised Code.
(2)
The rules promulgated in accordance with division (A)(1) of this
section shall serve as criteria for the investigative and supervisory
powers and duties vested by division (D) of this section in the
division of parole and community services of the department of
rehabilitation and correction or in another division of the
department to which those powers and duties are assigned.
(3)
Notwithstanding any rule promulgated in accordance with division
(A)(1) of this section, a political subdivision or affiliate of a
political subdivision that operates a jail shall ensure that jail
inmates are separated by biological sex, as defined in section
3129.01 of the Revised Code.
(B)
The director may initiate an action in the court of common pleas of
the county in which a facility that is subject to the rules
promulgated under division (A)(1) of this section is situated to
enjoin compliance with the minimum standards for jails or with the
minimum standards and minimum renovation, modification, and
construction criteria for jails.
(C)
Upon the request of an administrator of a jail facility, the chief
executive of a municipal corporation, or a board of county
commissioners, the director of rehabilitation and correction or the
director's designee shall grant a variance from the minimum standards
for jails in Ohio for a facility that is subject to one of those
minimum standards when the director determines that strict compliance
with the minimum standards would cause unusual, practical
difficulties or financial hardship, that existing or alternative
practices meet the intent of the minimum standards, and that granting
a variance would not seriously affect the security of the facility,
the supervision of the inmates, or the safe, healthful operation of
the facility. If the director or the director's designee denies a
variance, the applicant may appeal the denial pursuant to section
119.12 of the Revised Code.
(D)
The following powers and duties shall be exercised by the division of
parole and community services unless assigned to another division by
the director:
(1)
The investigation and supervision of county and municipal jails,
workhouses, minimum security jails, and other correctional
institutions and agencies;
(2)
The review and approval of plans submitted to the department of
rehabilitation and correction pursuant to division (E) of this
section;
(3)
The management and supervision of the adult parole authority created
by section 5149.02 of the Revised Code;
(4)
The review and approval of proposals for community-based correctional
facilities and programs and district community-based correctional
facilities and programs that are submitted pursuant to division (B)
of section 2301.51 of the Revised Code;
(5)
The distribution of funds made available to the division for purposes
of assisting in the renovation, maintenance, and operation of
community-based correctional facilities and programs and district
community-based correctional facilities and programs in accordance
with section 5120.112 of the Revised Code;
(6)
The performance of the duty imposed upon the department of
rehabilitation and correction in section 5149.31 of the Revised Code
to establish and administer a program of subsidies to eligible
municipal corporations, counties, and groups of contiguous counties
for the development, implementation, and operation of community-based
corrections programs;
(7)
Licensing halfway houses and community residential centers for the
care and treatment of adult offenders in accordance with section
2967.14 of the Revised Code;
(8)
Contracting with a public or private agency or a department or
political subdivision of the state that operates a licensed halfway
house or community residential center for the provision of housing,
supervision, and other services to parolees, releasees, persons
placed under a residential sanction, persons under transitional
control, and other eligible offenders in accordance with section
2967.14 of the Revised Code.
Other
powers and duties may be assigned by the director of rehabilitation
and correction to the division of parole and community services. This
section does not apply to the department of youth services or its
institutions or employees.
(E)
No plan for any new jail, workhouse, or lockup, and no plan for a
substantial addition or alteration to an existing jail, workhouse, or
lockup, shall be adopted unless the officials responsible for
adopting the plan have submitted the plan to the department of
rehabilitation and correction for approval, and the department has
approved the plan as provided in division (D)(2) of this section.
Sec.
5120.16.
(A)
Persons sentenced to any institution, division, or place under the
control of the department of rehabilitation and correction are
committed to the control, care, and custody of the department
and shall be housed in accordance with their biological sex, as
defined in section 3129.01 of the Revised Code, while under the
control of the department
.
Subject to division (C) of this section, the director of
rehabilitation and correction or the director's designee may direct
that persons sentenced to the department, or to any institution or
place within the department, shall be conveyed by the sheriff
initially to an appropriate facility established and maintained by
the department, or committed electronically in accordance with
division (B) of this section, for reception, examination,
observation, and classification of the persons so sentenced. Prior to
removal of an individual on an out of jurisdiction detainer, the
sheriff shall convey the sentenced person to the department of
rehabilitation and correction or electronically commit the sentenced
person in accordance with division (B) of this section.
If
a presentence investigation report was not prepared pursuant to
section 2947.06 or 2951.03 of the Revised Code or Criminal Rule 32.2
regarding any person sentenced to the department or to any
institution or place within the department, the director or the
director's designee may order the department's field staff to conduct
an offender background investigation and prepare an offender
background investigation report regarding the person. The
investigation and report shall be conducted in accordance with
division (A) of section 2951.03 of the Revised Code and the report
shall contain the same information as a presentence investigation
report prepared pursuant to that section.
When
the examination, observation, and classification of the person have
been completed by the facility and a written report of the
examination, observation, and classification is filed with the
commitment papers, the director or the director's designee, subject
to division (B) of this section, shall assign the person to a
suitable state institution or place maintained by the state within
the director's department or shall designate that the person is to be
housed in a county, multicounty, municipal, municipal-county, or
multicounty-municipal jail or workhouse, if authorized by section
5120.161 of the Revised Code, there to be confined, cared for,
treated, trained, and rehabilitated until paroled, released in
accordance with section 2929.20, 2967.26, 2967.28, or 5120.036 of the
Revised Code, or otherwise released under the order of the court that
imposed the person's sentence. No person committed by a probate
court, a trial court pursuant to section 2945.40, 2945.401, or
2945.402 of the Revised Code subsequent to a finding of not guilty by
reason of insanity, or a juvenile court shall be assigned to a state
correctional institution.
If
a person is sentenced, committed, or assigned for the commission of a
felony to any one of the institutions or places maintained by the
department or to a county, multicounty, municipal, municipal-county,
or multicounty-municipal jail or workhouse, the department, by order
duly recorded and subject to division (B) of this section, may
transfer the person to any other institution, or, if authorized by
section 5120.161 of the Revised Code, to a county, multicounty,
municipal, municipal-county, or multicounty-municipal jail or
workhouse.
(B)
An agreement may be entered into between a court of common pleas and
the department of rehabilitation and correction under which persons
may be electronically committed to the department of rehabilitation
and correction.
(C)
If the case of a child who is alleged to be a delinquent child is
transferred for criminal prosecution to the appropriate court having
jurisdiction of the offense pursuant to section 2152.12 of the
Revised Code, if the child is convicted of or pleads guilty to a
felony in that case, if the child is sentenced to a prison term, as
defined in section 2901.01 of the Revised Code, and if the child is
under eighteen years of age when delivered to the custody of the
department of rehabilitation and correction, all of the following
apply regarding the housing of the child:
(1)
Until the child attains eighteen years of age, subject to divisions
(C)(2), (3), and (4) of this section, the department shall house the
child in a housing unit in a state correctional institution separate
from inmates who are eighteen years of age or older.
(2)
The department is not required to house the child in the manner
described in division (C)(1) of this section if the child does not
observe the rules and regulations of the institution or the child
otherwise creates a security risk by being housed separately.
(3)
If the department receives too few inmates who are under eighteen
years of age to fill a housing unit in a state correctional
institution separate from inmates who are eighteen years of age or
older, as described in division (C)(1) of this section, the
department may house the child in a housing unit in a state
correctional institution that includes both inmates who are under
eighteen years of age and inmates who are eighteen years of age or
older and under twenty-one years of age.
(4)
Upon the child's attainment of eighteen years of age, the department
may house the child with the adult population of the state
correctional institution.
(D)
The director or the director's designee shall develop a policy for
dealing with problems related to infection with the human
immunodeficiency virus. The policy shall include methods of
identifying individuals committed to the custody of the department
who are at high risk of infection with the virus and counseling those
individuals.
Arrangements
for housing individuals diagnosed as having AIDS or an AIDS-related
condition shall be made by the department based on security and
medical considerations and in accordance with division (C) of this
section, if applicable.
Section
2.
That
existing sections 751.08, 5120.10, and 5120.16 of the Revised Code
are hereby repealed.