Substitute Senate Bill No. 459 Summary

• Establishes a 9-member Correction Advisory Committee to recommend candidates for the Correction Ombuds position and meet quarterly to review the Ombuds' services and recommendations.

• Creates an independent Office of the Correction Ombuds within the Office of Governmental Accountability to investigate complaints from incarcerated persons and evaluate correctional facility conditions.

• Prohibits isolated confinement for persons under 18 years of age and limits isolated confinement to no more than 15 consecutive days or 30 total days within any 60-day period for all incarcerated persons.

• Requires the Department of Correction to provide incarcerated persons in isolated confinement with at least 4 hours out of cell daily (increasing to 5 hours by April 1, 2023), medical and mental health evaluations, daily therapist check-ins, and at least 3 showers per week.

• Mandates the Department of Correction to submit annual reports in disaggregated format detailing isolated confinement use, lockdowns, incidents, use of force, grievances, programs, and work assignments broken down by facility and incarcerated person demographics.