Relating to the privacy and safety of inmates of a correctional facility, establishing a private cause of action, and including effective date provisions

The correctional facility must ensure that all restrooms and changing rooms provide users with privacy from members of the opposite sex. The bill provides that each sleeping quarter within a correctional facility that is designated for the use of incarcerated individuals and that is accessible by multiple individuals at the same time shall be designated for use only by members of one sex. No incarcerated individual shall be housed in a sleeping quarter that is designated for one sex unless the incarcerated individual is a member of that sex. The bill does not apply to an incarcerated individual who enters a restroom, changing room, or sleeping quarter designated for the opposite sex for any of the following circumstances: for custodial or maintenance purposes; to provide medical assistance; during a natural disaster, emergency, or when necessary to prevent a serious threat to good order or safety; or on a temporary basis, which shall not include overnight housing, at the direction of the correctional facility. The bill provides that an incarcerated individual who, while accessing a restroom or changing room designated for use by the incarcerated individual’s sex, encounters an individual of the opposite sex in that restroom or changing room for a reason not allowed under the bill, has a private cause of action for declaratory and injunctive relief against the correctional facility if the correctional facility gave the individual of the opposite sex permission to enter a restroom or changing room of the opposite sex, or if the correctional facility failed to take reasonable steps to prohibit the individual of the opposite sex from entering the restroom or changing room of the opposite sex. The bill provides that an incarcerated individual who is required by the correctional facility to share sleeping quarters with an individual of the opposite sex has a private cause of action for declaratory and injunctive relief against the correctional facility. The bill provides that all civil actions brought pursuant to the bill must be initiated within two years after the violation occurred. An individual who prevails in court may recover reasonable attorney fees and costs from the offending correctional facility. The bill provides definitions. The bill takes effect upon enactment.