Bill Text: IL SB2257 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Provides that the Act may be referred to as the Nelson Mandela Act. Creates the Isolated Confinement Restriction Act. Provides that, except for a committed person in protective custody who opts out of that status by providing informal, voluntary, written refusal of that status, the use of isolated confinement in correctional institutions is restricted to isolated confinement of no more than 10 consecutive days or no more than 10 days in any 180-day period. Provides that The Department of Corrections shall post on the Department's official website quarterly reports on the use of isolated confinement. Amends the Unified Code of Corrections to make conforming changes. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-04-16 - Added as Co-Sponsor Sen. Karina Villa [SB2257 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-SB2257-Introduced.html

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103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2023 and 2024 SB2257 Introduced 2/10/2023, by Sen. Robert Peters SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
New Act
730 ILCS 5/3-8-7 from Ch. 38, par. 1003-8-7
Provides that the Act may be referred to as the Nelson Mandela Act. Creates the Isolated Confinement Restriction Act. Provides that, except for a committed person in protective custody who opts out of that status by providing informal, voluntary, written refusal of that status, the use of isolated confinement in correctional institutions is restricted to isolated confinement of no more than 10 days in any 180-day period or no more than 10 days in any 180-day period. Amends the Unified Code of Corrections to make conforming changes. Effective immediately.
LRB103 28776 RLC 55160 b
A BILL FOR
SB2257 LRB103 28776 RLC 55160 b
AN ACT concerning criminal law.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 1. Short title; referral.
(a) This Act may be cited as the Isolated Confinement
Restriction Act.
(b) This Act may be referred to as the Nelson Mandela Act.
Section 5. Findings.
(a) The General Assembly honors the legacy of Nelson
Mandela, the first and former President of South Africa, and
recognizes that after release from 27 years of imprisonment,
much of which was spent in isolated confinement, he became a
world leader in his commitment to democracy and international
human rights.
(b) Mandela was repeatedly subjected to isolated
confinement.
(c) Mandela's isolation began with 23 hours a day of
isolated confinement with just 2 thirty-minute exercise
periods allowed per day. Such hours were spent in a cell
measuring 8 feet by 7 feet, with walls of concrete, without
windows, and furnished with a single light bulb to substitute
natural light.
(d) Mandela described isolated confinement as "the most

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forbidding aspect of prison life", with no end and no
beginning.
(e) After 27 years of incarceration under the South
African government, Mandela went on to receive a Nobel Peace
Prize and numerous other honors as a global icon of democracy
and social justice.
(f) In an attempt to ensure that no one else would be
subjected to the inhumane treatment Mandela survived, the
United Nations adopted the Mandela Rules establishing Standard
Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, on December 17,
2015. Those rules finalize a set of principles that provide
all people who are in prison with respect and protection from
torture, and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatments or
punishments.
(g) Rule 1 of the Mandela Rules sets the guiding principle
for these standards, requiring that: "All prisoners shall be
treated with the respect due to their inherent dignity and
value as human beings"; and
(h) The Mandela Rules provide that: "the prison system
shall not, except as incidental to justifiable separation or
the maintenance of discipline, aggravate the suffering
inherent in … a situation" involving the deprivation of
liberty; and
(i) As a result of these requirements and recognizing the
horrific consequences of Mandela's prolonged isolation, the
Mandela Rules specifically prohibit prolonged placement in a

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cell.
(j) Rule 44 of the Mandela Rules specifically states:
"Rule 44: For the purpose of these rules, solitary confinement
shall refer to the confinement of prisoners for 22 hours or
more a day without meaningful human contact. Prolonged
solitary confinement shall refer to solitary confinement for a
time period in excess of 15 consecutive days.
(k) Nelson Mandela stated: "[N]o one truly knows a nation
until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be
judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest
ones.
(l) To be judged as a worldwide leader, Illinois must
recognize the horrific consequences that Nelson Mandela and
other incarcerated individuals have experienced from being
confined to a cell for prolonged periods and comply with the
international mandates required by the Mandela Rules.
(m) It is therefore in Illinois' best interests to operate
its prisons in compliance with internationally recognized
minimum standards.
(n) The Nelson Mandela Act is hereby enacted.
Section 10. Definitions. In this Act:
"Correctional facility" means any State correctional
facility or county correctional facility, and any State,
county, or private facility detaining persons under any
intergovernmental service agreement or other contract with any

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State, county, or federal agency, including, but not limited
to, United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"Facility administrator" means the chief operating
officer, senior administrative designee, or warden of a
correctional facility.
"Isolated confinement" means confinement of a committed
person in a correctional facility in a cell or confined living
space, alone or with other inmates, for more than 20 hours in
any 24-hour period.
"Protective custody" means confinement of a committed
person in a cell or confined living space under conditions
necessary to protect the committed person or others.
Section 15. Restrictions on the use of isolated
confinement.
(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), the use of
isolated confinement in correctional facilities in this State
shall be restricted as follows:
(1) A committed person may not be placed in isolated
confinement for more than 10 consecutive days.
(2) A committed person may not be placed in isolated
confinement for more than 10 days in any 180-day period.
(3) While out of cell, committed persons may have
access to activities, including, but not limited to: job
assignments, educational classes, vocational classes,
meals, recreation, yard or gymnasium, day room, bathing

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facilities, medical appointments, visits, and group
therapy.
(b) A committed person in protective custody may opt out
of that status by providing informed, voluntary, written
refusal of that status.
(c) Nothing in this Act is intended to restrict any rights
or privileges a committed person may have under any other
statute, rule, or regulation.
Section 20. Data publication. The Department of
Corrections shall post on the Department's official website
quarterly reports on the use of isolated confinement. Those
reports shall include data on the use of isolated confinement
by age, sex, gender identity, ethnicity, incidence of mental
illness, and type of confinement status, at each facility;
these reports shall include the population on the last day of
each quarter and a non-duplicative cumulative count of persons
exposed to isolated confinement for each fiscal year. These
reports shall include the incidence of emergency confinement,
self-harm, suicide, and assault in any isolated confinement
unit, as well as explanations for each instance of
facility-wide lockdown. These reports shall include data on
the access to health care, including the time it takes for a
confined person to access medical care following a request and
the time between routine mental and physical checkups. These
reports shall not include personally identifiable information

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regarding any committed person.
Section 90. The Unified Code of Corrections is amended by
changing Section 3-8-7 as follows:
(730 ILCS 5/3-8-7) (from Ch. 38, par. 1003-8-7)
Sec. 3-8-7. Disciplinary Procedures.)
(a) All disciplinary action shall be consistent with this
Chapter. Rules of behavior and conduct, the penalties for
violation thereof, and the disciplinary procedure by which
such penalties may be imposed shall be available to committed
persons.
(b)(1) Corporal punishment and disciplinary restrictions
on diet, medical or sanitary facilities, mail or access to
legal materials are prohibited.
(2) (Blank).
(3) (Blank).
(c) Review of disciplinary action imposed under this
Section shall be provided by means of the grievance procedure
under Section 3-8-8. The Department shall provide a
disciplined person with a review of his or her disciplinary
action in a timely manner as required by law.
(d) All institutions and facilities of the Department of
Corrections shall establish, subject to the approval of the
Director, procedures for hearing disciplinary cases except
those that may involve the imposition of disciplinary

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segregation and isolation; the loss of good time credit under
Section 3-6-3 or eligibility to earn good time credit.
(e) In disciplinary cases which may involve the imposition
of disciplinary segregation and isolation, the loss of good
time credit or eligibility to earn good time credit, the
Director shall establish disciplinary procedures consistent
with the following principles:
(1) Any person or persons who initiate a disciplinary
charge against a person shall not determine the
disposition of the charge. The Director may establish one
or more disciplinary boards to hear and determine charges.
(2) Any committed person charged with a violation of
Department rules of behavior shall be given notice of the
charge including a statement of the misconduct alleged and
of the rules this conduct is alleged to violate.
(3) Any person charged with a violation of rules is
entitled to a hearing on that charge at which time he shall
have an opportunity to appear before and address the
person or persons deciding the charge.
(4) The person or persons determining the disposition
of the charge may also summon to testify any witnesses or
other persons with relevant knowledge of the incident.
(5) If the charge is sustained, the person charged is
entitled to a written statement of the decision by the
persons determining the disposition of the charge which
shall include the basis for the decision and the

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disciplinary action, if any, to be imposed.
(6) (Blank).
(f) In disciplinary cases which may involve the imposition
of segregation and isolation, isolated confinement, or
restrictive housing, the Director shall establish disciplinary
procedures consistent with the Isolated Confinement
Restriction Act.
(Source: P.A. 97-1083, eff. 8-24-12.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.