House To Consider Treating Pregnant Inmates With Basic Human Decency

What a step forward for human rights in America.

This week, according to a Dear Colleagues memo from House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, the House is set to take up two pretty great criminal justice related bills aimed at making our carceral and post-carceral situations slightly less horrifying.

The first bill, H.R. 3372, the One Stop Community Reentry Program Act, was introduced by California Democratic Rep. Karen Bass and would authorize the Department of Justice to provide grants to community-based nonprofits that wish to create reentry programs and provide other resources for formerly incarcerated people. These things are kind of important, since it's probably a bad idea to just let people out of prison with no ability to survive on the outside.

These reentry programs help formerly incarcerated people find jobs, housing, mentorship and skill-training, and get support for mental health and substance abuse issues. Research has repeatedly shown that they have had a positive impact on the reentry experience.

Over 600,000 people are released from prison each year, and about half of those people will not be able to find employment. This is bad, since we know that those who do find employment are far less likely to reoffend. With the way we currently do things, a quarter of those people end up back in prison within a year, and three quarters end up back there within three years. Given this, it seems fairly obvious that ensuring successful reentry into society would be a far more efficient use of our money than just cleaning up the mess afterwards when reentry does not go well.

The bill would also authorize the DOJ "to make grants for states, Indian tribes, and local governments to operate reentry services assistance hotlines," which also seems like a better use for our tax money than prisons.

Yet, as obviously helpful as this common sense bill would be, there are only 19 co-sponsors (13 Democrats and six Republicans).

The second bill, H.R. 6878, the Pregnant Women in Custody Act, was also introduced by Karen Bass. Yay, Karen Bass! This bill would improve the objectively horrifying treatment of incarcerated pregnant people in the United States prison system and end the barbaric practice of shackling them while they are in labor. This bill has 36 sponsors (33 Democrats, three Republicans).

“By sending the Pregnant Women In Custody Act to the House floor, we take another step towards providing the basic necessities for tens of thousands of women in our criminal justice system," Rep. Bass said in a statement earlier this year. “By providing safeguards and establishing a national standard of care for pregnant women in prison, we will decrease barriers to accessing appropriate medical care. I am proud of our work in the Judiciary Committee in voting to send this bipartisan bill to the House floor, and will continue to advocate for reexamining our country’s practice of incarcerating pregnant women.”

The bill would create a standard of care for pregnant inmates and their babies, including prenatal and post-delivery care, which currently does not exist, and which would:  

- Limit the use of restrictive housing on federal prisoners who are pregnant or who have given birth within the last eight weeks.

- Establish minimum standards for healthcare for pregnant women, fetuses, and newborns in federal custody, and require the DOJ to develop training programs and guidelines for federal correctional officers and US marshals, in consultation with healthcare professionals.

- Require prenatal education, counseling, and birth support services be provided by a qualified trainer.

- Require appropriate evaluations such as screening for substance use disorders or mental health conditions related to pregnancy, birth, or postpartum.

- Require screening and appropriate care for high-risk pregnancies.

- Require reporting on the use of restraints and restrictive housing on any incarcerated individual while pregnant, in labor, or recovering from childbirth to the agency director. Each year, a summary of these reports must be submitted by the agency director to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees

That would sure be nice!

Bass introduced a similar law in 2018, which did not receive a vote. 

One would think that, given their great love of babies and birth-giving, Republicans would be all over this, but yet again, only three of them have signed on. Hell, one might even think that Ms. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is a known fan of fetal Americans, and whose heart has just been breaking all over the place over the suffering of the January 6 prisoners, would be interested. But no. Guess she only cares about the suffering of prisoners who share her political beliefs.

Both bills have been given a two percent chance of passing by Skopos Labs . Hopefully we can do better than that, no?

[ Steny Hoyer ]

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