HB 6541 Summary

• Prohibits confinement in segregation for prisoners who are members of vulnerable populations (age 21 or younger, age 65 or older, those with mental illness, developmental disabilities, serious medical conditions, pregnancy-related conditions, or LGBTQI+ individuals), requiring therapeutic mental health services instead.

• Requires qualified mental health professionals to evaluate prisoners in segregation within 24 hours if confined longer than 12 hours and recommend removal if the prisoner shows signs of mental health deterioration, traumatic brain injury, or suicide risk.

• Limits out-of-cell housing in segregation to maximum 20 hours daily for most prisoners; requires minimum 4 hours out-of-cell unless prisoner committed an assault (then minimum 2 hours out-of-cell plus 2 hours in-cell programming).

• Restricts segregation confinement to no more than 20 days in any 60-day period and requires safe space cells for vulnerable populations who voluntarily segregate to avoid threats, with access to phone calls, visits, and commissary.

• Mandates the department develop plans to eliminate hog-tying restraint techniques and create safe space cells using a therapeutic mental health service model developed in consultation with neuroscience and mental health experts.