| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to female inmates who are parents of minor |
| 3 | children; providing legislative findings and intent with |
| 4 | respect to the importance of a female inmate maintaining a |
| 5 | relationship with her minor child; requiring the |
| 6 | Department of Corrections to collect certain information |
| 7 | concerning the children of female inmates in the state |
| 8 | correctional system; requiring the department to analyze |
| 9 | the institutional assignment of each female inmate who is |
| 10 | a parent and determine the inmate's proximity to her minor |
| 11 | child; providing an exception if the court has restricted |
| 12 | a female inmate's contact with her child; amending s. |
| 13 | 944.17, F.S.; requiring the department to consider a |
| 14 | female inmate's proximity to her minor child when |
| 15 | transferring the inmate; amending s. 944.24, F.S.; |
| 16 | requiring that a female inmate be assigned to a facility |
| 17 | as near as possible to her minor child; providing an |
| 18 | exception if the court has restricted the inmate's contact |
| 19 | with the child; amending s. 944.8031, F.S.; revising |
| 20 | legislative findings with respect to the benefit of |
| 21 | fostering relationships between a female inmate and her |
| 22 | minor children; providing an effective date. |
| 23 |
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| 24 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 25 |
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| 26 | Section 1. Female inmates who are parents of minor |
| 27 | children; legislative findings and intent; institutional |
| 28 | assignments; data collection.- |
| 29 | (1) The Legislature finds that it is important that each |
| 30 | female inmate in the state correctional system maintain contact |
| 31 | with her minor children through visitation in order to prepare |
| 32 | the inmate to be reunited with her family upon release. Although |
| 33 | the Department of Corrections may limit the activities of an |
| 34 | inmate, the inmate may fulfill parental responsibilities through |
| 35 | visits and telephone and mail communication with her family. The |
| 36 | Legislature also finds that the support provided by an inmate's |
| 37 | family can be an important resource in combating crime and |
| 38 | reducing recidivism. |
| 39 | (2) It is the intent of the Legislature that each female |
| 40 | inmate be assigned, whenever possible, to a correctional |
| 41 | facility that is located in close proximity to the residence of |
| 42 | the inmate's children. |
| 43 | (3)(a) The Department of Corrections shall collect |
| 44 | information concerning the minor children of female inmates |
| 45 | committed to the state correctional system. At a minimum, the |
| 46 | information must include: |
| 47 | 1. The number of minor children of each inmate. |
| 48 | 2. The date of birth of each minor child. |
| 49 | 3. The residential address for each minor child. |
| 50 | 4. The custodial status of each minor child. |
| 51 | (b) The department shall annually analyze the |
| 52 | institutional assignments of female inmates to determine whether |
| 53 | each female inmate who is the parent of a minor child is being |
| 54 | housed in an institution that is located in close proximity to |
| 55 | the residence of the minor child. The analysis must include |
| 56 | mapping and distance calculations. |
| 57 | (4) The department need not reassign a female inmate to an |
| 58 | institution located in close proximity to the residence of the |
| 59 | inmate's minor child if the court has restricted the inmate's |
| 60 | contact with her minor child. |
| 61 | Section 2. Subsection (7) of section 944.17, Florida |
| 62 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 63 | 944.17 Commitments and classification; transfers.- |
| 64 | (7) Pursuant to such regulations as it may provide, the |
| 65 | department may transfer prisoners from one institution to |
| 66 | another institution in the correctional system and classify and |
| 67 | reclassify prisoners as circumstances may require. In |
| 68 | transferring a female prisoner from one institution to another, |
| 69 | the department shall consider, in addition to security and |
| 70 | medical considerations, whether the prisoner would benefit from |
| 71 | being housed in close proximity to her minor child. |
| 72 | Section 3. Subsection (7) is added to section 944.24, |
| 73 | Florida Statutes, to read: |
| 74 | 944.24 Administration of correctional institutions for |
| 75 | women.- |
| 76 | (7) Each female inmate who has a minor child shall, |
| 77 | whenever possible, be assigned to a correctional facility that |
| 78 | is in close proximity to the child. This subsection does not |
| 79 | apply if the court has restricted the inmate's contact with her |
| 80 | child. |
| 81 | Section 4. Subsection (1) of section 944.8031, Florida |
| 82 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 83 | 944.8031 Inmate's family visitation; legislative intent; |
| 84 | minimum services provided to visitors; budget requests.- |
| 85 | (1) The Legislature finds that maintaining an inmate's |
| 86 | family and community relationships, and fostering the |
| 87 | relationship between a female inmate and her minor child, |
| 88 | through enhancing visitor services and programs and increasing |
| 89 | the frequency and quality of the visits is an underused |
| 90 | underutilized correctional resource that can improve an inmate's |
| 91 | behavior in the correctional facility and, upon an inmate's |
| 92 | release from a correctional facility, will help to reduce |
| 93 | recidivism. |
| 94 | Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010. |