Sec. 802. Creating model programs for the care of incarcerated individuals in the prenatal and postpartum periods
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Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General, acting through the Director of the Bureau of Prisons, shall establish, in not fewer than 6 Bureau of Prisons facilities, programs to optimize maternal health outcomes for pregnant and postpartum individuals incarcerated in such facilities. The Attorney General shall establish such programs in consultation with stakeholders such as— relevant community-based organizations, particularly organizations that represent incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals and organizations that seek to improve maternal health outcomes for pregnant and postpartum individuals from demographic groups with elevated rates of maternal mortality, severe maternal morbidity, maternal health disparities, or other adverse perinatal or childbirth outcomes; relevant organizations representing patients, with a particular focus on patients from demographic groups with elevated rates of maternal mortality, severe maternal morbidity, maternal health disparities, or other adverse perinatal or childbirth outcomes; organizations representing maternity care providers and maternal health care education programs; perinatal health workers; and researchers and policy experts in fields related to maternal health care for incarcerated individuals.
Each selected facility shall begin facility programs not later than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act. In carrying out subsection (a), the Director shall give priority to a facility based on— the number of pregnant and postpartum individuals incarcerated in such facility and, among such individuals, the number of pregnant and postpartum individuals from demographic groups with elevated rates of maternal mortality, severe maternal morbidity, maternal health disparities, or other adverse perinatal or childbirth outcomes; and the extent to which the leaders of such facility have demonstrated a commitment to developing exemplary programs for pregnant and postpartum individuals incarcerated in such facility.
The programs established under this section shall be for a 5-year period. Bureau of Prisons facilities selected by the Director shall establish programs for pregnant and postpartum incarcerated individuals, and such programs may— provide access to perinatal health workers from pregnancy through the postpartum period; provide access to healthy foods and counseling on nutrition, recommended activity levels, and safety measures throughout pregnancy; train correctional officers to ensure that pregnant incarcerated individuals receive safe and respectful treatment; train medical personnel to ensure that pregnant incarcerated individuals receive trauma-informed, culturally and linguistically congruent care that promotes the health and safety of the pregnant individuals; provide counseling and treatment for individuals who have suffered from— diagnosed mental or behavioral health conditions, including trauma and substance use disorders; trauma or violence, including domestic violence; human immunodeficiency virus; sexual abuse; pregnancy or infant loss; or chronic conditions; provide evidence-based pregnancy and childbirth education, parenting support, and other relevant forms of health literacy; provide clinical education opportunities to maternity care providers in training to expand pathways into maternal health care careers serving incarcerated individuals; offer opportunities for postpartum individuals to maintain contact with the individual’s newborn child to promote bonding, including enhanced visitation policies, access to prison nursery programs, or breastfeeding support; provide reentry assistance, particularly to— ensure access to health insurance coverage and transfer of health records to community providers if an incarcerated individual exits the criminal justice system during such individual’s pregnancy or in the postpartum period; and connect individuals exiting the criminal justice system during pregnancy or in the postpartum period to community-based resources, such as referrals to health care providers, substance use disorder treatments, and social services that address social determinants maternal of health; or establish partnerships with local public entities, private community entities, community-based organizations, Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations (as such terms are defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act ( 25 U.S.C. 5304 )), and Urban Indian organizations (as such term is defined in section 4 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act ( 25 U.S.C. 1603 )) to establish or expand pretrial diversion programs as an alternative to incarceration for pregnant and postpartum individuals.
Such programs may include— evidence-based childbirth education or parenting classes; prenatal health coordination; family and individual counseling; evidence-based screenings, education, and, as needed, treatment for mental and behavioral health conditions, including drug and alcohol treatments; family case management services; domestic violence education and prevention; physical and sexual abuse counseling; and programs to address social determinants of health such as employment, housing, education, transportation, and nutrition.
A selected facility shall be responsible for— implementing programs, which may include the programs described in subsection (e); and not later than 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act, and 6 years after the date of enactment of this Act, reporting results of the programs to the Director, including information describing— relevant quantitative indicators of success in improving the standard of care and health outcomes for pregnant and postpartum incarcerated individuals in the facility, including data stratified by race, ethnicity, sex, gender, primary language, age, geography, disability status, the category of the criminal charge against such individual, rates of pregnancy-related deaths, pregnancy-associated deaths, cases of infant mortality and morbidity, rates of preterm births and low-birthweight births, cases of severe maternal morbidity, cases of violence against pregnant or postpartum individuals, diagnoses of maternal mental or behavioral health conditions, and other such information as appropriate; relevant qualitative and quantitative evaluations from pregnant and postpartum incarcerated individuals who participated in such programs, including measures of patient-reported experience of care; and strategies to sustain such programs after fiscal year 2031 and expand such programs to other facilities.
Not later than 6 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall submit to the Attorney General and to the Congress a report describing the results of the programs funded under this section. Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall award a contract to an independent organization or independent organizations to conduct oversight of the programs described in subsection (e). There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2027 through 2031.
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Sec. 802
Creating model programs for the care of incarcerated individuals in the prenatal and postpartum periods
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