Sec. 4. Improving environmental monitoring and reporting at Federal carceral facilities
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Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Director, the Director of the United States Marshals Service, the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in coordination with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, shall make publicly available, including on a publicly accessible website, data on the prevalence of, and exposure to, environmental stressors at Federal carceral facilities, including— the ambient air quality of outdoor recreational space and how levels of carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen oxides, ground-level ozone, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide compare to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards of the Environmental Protection Agency; the indoor air quality of spaces in which incarcerated people are held or to which incarcerated people have access; how the indoor air quality of spaces described in subparagraph
(B)compares to— thresholds defined by the Air Quality Index; and action levels issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, including the radon action level; how the indoor air quality infrastructure compares to standards promulgated and guidance issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers; the presence of asbestos; the quality of water that incarcerated people receive to drink, use for sanitary purposes, or otherwise consume relative to— primary drinking water regulations or secondary drinking water regulations (as those terms are defined in section 1401 of the Safe Drinking Water Act ( 42 U.S.C. 300f )); and the regulatory standards set by the State or Tribal agency that has jurisdiction over the facility; the mean and range of temperatures and heat stress indices, taking into account humidity, to which incarcerated people are exposed in different seasons; the presence of pests, mold, and communicable diseases; access to natural light, light levels conducive to sleep, and green space; the quality of the diets of incarcerated people relative to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans published by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture; the levels of noise in areas where incarcerated people spend or are required to spend significant amounts of time; and how the noise levels described in subparagraph
(K)compare to guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The Director, the Director of the United States Marshals Service, the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs shall ensure that the data published under paragraph (1)— reflect conditions at the point of use or exposure of incarcerated people; abide by the principles of findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability, as commonly defined in scientific literature; are timely and freely available; are published in a machine-readable file format, to support academic research, journalistic investigation, and advocacy; to the extent practicable, are provided in a format and are accompanied by information, such as the number of incarcerated people at the facility and capacity of the facility, that facilitates use by the judicial system in determining sentencing and eligibility for incarceration diversion programs; to the extent practicable, while maintaining anonymity, are disaggregated by facility, State, location, race, ethnicity, immigration status, native language, sexual orientation, sex, gender, educational achievement, age, disability status, pregnancy status, duration of sentence, previous incarceration history, and category of the criminal charge against the person; to the extent practicable, are disaggregated to levels that track exposure at the level of discrete individuals, ensuring that personally identifiable information is removed; and to the extent practicable, include information on economic cost and years of life lost associated with the cumulative exposure of incarcerated people and carceral facility staff to environmental stressors at Federal carceral facilities. Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director, in coordination with the Director of the United States Marshals Service, the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in consultation with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, shall establish and provide resources for an independent advisory panel authorized to— conduct research on environmental health at all Federal carceral facilities; provide recommendations to increase monitoring of environmental stressors at all Federal carceral facilities; provide recommendations for policy interventions to mitigate and adapt to environmental health threats at all Federal carceral facilities; advise on which environmental stressors arise from factors within Federal carceral facilities and which environmental stressors arise from factors external to Federal carceral facilities, and advise on interagency collaborations to mitigate these external factors; and advise on any emergency management protocols established to respond to environmental health threats at facilities. The advisory panel established under paragraph
(1)shall be comprised of public health researchers and experts, currently and formerly incarcerated people, people currently and formerly incarcerated in juvenile justice systems, carceral facility staff, carceral facility staff union leaders, organizations that seek to improve the environmental health of incarcerated people and people incarcerated in juvenile justice systems, and community-based organizations that represent currently and formerly incarcerated people. Not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, and every 5 years thereafter, the Director, in coordination with the Director of the United States Marshals Service, the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees and make publicly available a report detailing, for each Federal carceral facility— applicable recommendations described in subsection (b); the prevalence and quantitative measurements of the environmental stressors described in section 4(a)(1); and compiled narratives or qualitative data provided by incarcerated people, formerly incarcerated people who were released from custody not more than 5 years before the date on which the report is submitted, and carceral facility staff on environmental health conditions. There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out the monitoring and data reporting requirements under this section.
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Sec. 4
Improving environmental monitoring and reporting at Federal carceral facilities
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