Inmate Bills
Passed:
HB 111 Inmate Treatment Amendments requires a county or municipal jail to allow the continuation of medication assistance programs for inmates who were active clients prior to incarceration.
HB 259 Suicide Prevention in Correctional Facilities requires the Department of Public Safety to administer the Suicide Deterrence Grant Program to provide suicide barriers in county jails.
HB 368 Inmate Identification Amendments requires the Department of Corrections to assist inmates to obtain State identification cards and other forms of identification so they have them available when paroled.
HB 429 Pregnant and Postpartum Inmate Amendments further limits when restraints can be used on pregnant and postpartum inmates and requires correctional facilities to allow infants to remain with their mother for a minimum of 48 hours. It also creates the Incarcerated Mothers and Infants Program.
SB 188 Inmate Amendments requires the Department of Health and Human Services to establish a pilot program for medical monitoring and requires the notification of an inmate's designated medical contact in certain circumstances.
Failed:
HB 203 Inmate Education Amendments would have directed the Higher Education and Corrections Council to facilitate education for inmates in county jails, required the Utah Board of Higher Education to assign student success advisors to correctional facilities, removed provision requiring inmate to pay 50% of tuition at time of enrollment, and designated the inmate a state resident for tuition purposes. This bill had broad support but ran out of time for a final vote in the Senate.
HB 517 Inmate Program Amendments would have required the Sentencing Commission, the Board of Pardons and Parole, and the Department of Corrections to develop a procedure that would provide the department with the ability to determine an inmate's earliest estimated release date from a correctional facility. This bill would have also clarified inmate program requirements but failed to be assigned a standing committee in the Senate.
SB 145 Higher Education for Incarcerated Youth Program Amendments would have amended the Incarcerated Youth Program to include youth held in detention but was not assigned a standing committee in the House.