Combating Workplace Discrimination in Correctional Facilities Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3567 To prevent discrimination and retaliation against incarcerated workers, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 22, 2023 Mr. CLEAVER (for himself, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Mr. THOMPSON of Mis- sissippi, Ms. NORTON, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, and Ms. PRESSLEY) in- troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Education and the Work- force, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To prevent discrimination and retaliation against incarcerated workers, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Combating Workplace 4 Discrimination in Correctional Facilities Act of 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jun 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3567.IH H3567 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3567 IH SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF REQUIRED PARTICIPATION IN 1 THE INMATE WORK PROGRAM. 2 (a) UNITED STATES CODE.—Section 4001(b) of title 3 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end 4 the following: 5 ‘‘(3) The Attorney General may not require inmates 6 to participate in a work program.’’. 7 (b) CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS.—The Attor- 8 ney General shall amend sections 545.20 and 545.23 of 9 title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, and any other regu- 10 lations necessary, to comply with the amendment made in 11 paragraph (1). 12 SEC. 3. ELIMINATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE EXHAUSTION 13 REQUIREMENT. 14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7(a) of the Civil Rights 15 of Institutionalized Persons Act (42 U.S.C. 1997e(a)) is 16 amended to read as follows: 17 ‘‘(a) ADMINISTRATIVE EXHAUSTION NOT RE- 18 QUIRED.—A prisoner confined in any jail, prison, or other 19 correctional facility may bring an action with respect to 20 prison conditions under section 1979 of the Revised Stat- 21 utes of the United States (42 U.S.C. 1983) or another 22 Federal law without regard to whether the prisoner has 23 exhausted the administrative remedies that are avail- 24 able.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jun 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3567.IH H3567 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3567 IH (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub- 1 section (a) shall apply with respect to any action that is 2 filed on or after the date of enactment of this Act. 3 SEC. 4. LIMITATIONS ON RETALIATION AND DISCIPLINE 4 FOR REFUSAL TO WORK. 5 (a) PROHIBITION OF RETALIATION FOR REFUSAL TO 6 WORK.—Section 6 of the Civil Rights of Institutionalized 7 Persons Act (42 U.S.C. 1997d) is amended— 8 (1) by striking ‘‘No person’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) 9 REPORTING VIOLATIONS.—No person’’; and 10 (2) by adding at the end: 11 ‘‘(b) REFUSAL TO WORK.—No prisoner (as defined 12 in section 7) shall be subjected to retaliation in any man- 13 ner for refusal to work.’’. 14 (b) LIMITATION ON DISCIPLINE.— 15 (1) UNITED STATES CODE.—Section 4042 of 16 title 18, United States Code, is amended— 17 (A) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub- 18 section (e); and 19 (B) by inserting after subsection (c) the 20 following: 21 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION ON DISCIPLINE.—The Director of 22 the Bureau of Prisons may not discipline a prisoner for 23 refusing to work.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jun 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3567.IH H3567 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3567 IH (2) CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS.—The 1 Attorney General shall amend sections 541.3 and 2 545.24(c) of title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, 3 and any other regulations necessary, to comply with 4 the amendment made in paragraph (1). 5 SEC. 5. NONDISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT AND PUB- 6 LIC SERVICES. 7 (a) CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 701 of the Civil 9 Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e) is amended— 10 (A) in subsection (b), by inserting ‘‘(in- 11 cluding an entity that operates, directly or by 12 contract, a correctional facility, with respect to 13 employment of persons including incarcerated 14 workers)’’ after ‘‘industry affecting commerce’’; 15 (B) in subsection (f), by inserting ‘‘(includ- 16 ing an incarcerated worker)’’ after ‘‘an indi- 17 vidual’’ the first place it appears; and 18 (C) by adding at the end the following: 19 ‘‘(o) The term ‘correctional facility’ means a jail, 20 prison, or other detention facility used to house people who 21 have been arrested, detained, held, or convicted by a crimi- 22 nal justice agency or a court. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jun 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3567.IH H3567 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3567 IH ‘‘(p) In subsections (b) and (f), the term ‘employ’ has 1 the meaning given the term in section 3 of the Fair Labor 2 Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203). 3 ‘‘(q) The term ‘incarcerated worker’ means an indi- 4 vidual, incarcerated or detained in a correctional facility 5 operated by a public agency or by a private entity through 6 a contract with a public agency, who performs labor of- 7 fered or required by or through the correctional facility, 8 including labor associated with prison work programs, 9 work release programs, the UNICOR program, State pris- 10 on industries, public works programs, restitution centers, 11 and correctional facility operations and maintenance.’’. 12 (2) EXCEPTION.—Section 703(a)(2) of the Civil 13 Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e–2(a)(2)) is 14 amended by inserting ‘‘, except that a correctional 15 facility may segregate incarcerated workers into sep- 16 arate facilities by sex if necessary to maintain pri- 17 vacy or institutional order’’ before the period. 18 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 19 717(a) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 20 2000e–16(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 21 following: ‘‘This section shall not apply to a Federal 22 department, agency, or unit that operates, directly 23 or by contract, a correctional facility, with respect to 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jun 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3567.IH H3567 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 3567 IH employment of persons including incarcerated work- 1 ers.’’. 2 (b) AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT OF 1990; 3 REHABILITATION ACT OF 1973.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each agency that operates a 5 correctional facility (directly or by contract with a 6 private entity) shall— 7 (A) provide to each incarcerated worker 8 notice of the worker’s rights under the Ameri- 9 cans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 10 12101 et seq.) and section 504 of the Rehabili- 11 tation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794), with re- 12 spect to the correctional facilities that the agen- 13 cy operates; 14 (B) implement policies and training to en- 15 sure compliance with the Americans with Dis- 16 abilities Act of 1990 and section 504 of the Re- 17 habilitation Act of 1973, with respect to those 18 facilities; 19 (C) annually prepare a report that con- 20 tains an evaluation of the agency’s compliance 21 with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 22 1990 and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act 23 of 1973, with respect to those facilities; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jun 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3567.IH H3567 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 3567 IH (D) submit the report described in sub- 1 paragraph (C) to the Attorney General, who 2 shall make the report publicly available on the 3 website of the Department of Justice. 4 (2) NONCOMPLIANCE.—The Attorney General 5 shall determine, and implement, appropriate rem- 6 edies for the failure of an agency covered by para- 7 graph (1) to submit a report required by paragraph 8 (1). 9 (3) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms 10 ‘‘correctional facility’’ and ‘‘incarcerated worker’’ 11 have the meanings given the terms in section 701 of 12 the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e), as 13 amended by this Act. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:22 Jun 13, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3567.IH H3567 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB