Community Groups Withdraw Support for Bill After Amendment Authorizes Solitary Confinement of Pregnant People

Passed by both the California Assembly and Senate, AB 2527, the “Dignified Care of Incarcerated Pregnancy Act,” will soon face a final decision from Governor Gavin Newsom. One significant amendment in the final hours cost the bill the support of more than 60 community groups and advocacy organizations.

AB 2527 includes provisions requiring prisons and jails to provide pregnant people with a minimum of 120 ounces (approximately 3.5 liters) of clean bottled water per day and “daily high-quality and high caloric nutritional meals.” The bill, authored by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, would also require carceral staff to provide pregnant individuals with a written explanation if they are denied access to pregnancy and postpartum-specific programs or if their request to have a support person present during labor is denied. 

In its original form, the bill would have also banned prisons and jails from placing people who are pregnant or up to 12 weeks postpartum into solitary confinement. 

However, negotiations with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation led to final amendments that would allow prisons and jails to lock pregnant and postpartum people in solitary confinement for up to five consecutive days at a time. Lawmakers put this change in place, “over objections of human rights groups across the state,” according to Essie Justice Group, a former co-sponsor of the bill, and an organization whose primary focus is advocating for women and gender expansive people with incarcerated loved ones.

There is no room for compromise on solitary confinement so that the other provisions can be made law, according to the organization.

“Current practice in California jails and prisons results in the solitary confinement of pregnant people whenever, and for however long, a corrections official wishes. Placing an incarcerated pregnant individual in solitary confinement subjects them to a realm of treatment so heinous that even a single stint in solitary confinement increases the risk of premature death,” Essie Justice Group wrote, officially announcing withdrawal of support for the bill. 

If passed, this bill would put into state law — for the first time — an express authorization for placing pregnant people in isolation, according to Essie Justice. “Passing AB 2527 which conveys that solitary confinement of pregnant people is permissible so long as correctional officials do not exceed 5 consecutive days of that abuse, is not a limit but rather an alarming authorization of a violation of fundamental human rights.” 

In another letter to Asm. Bauer-Kahan published by the Davis Vanguard, 63 other groups, including the Los Angeles County Public Defenders Union – Local 148, expressed their opposition to the final bill. “The amendments provide CDCR sole discretion regarding  the placement of pregnant people in solitary, and do not include any third party oversight, or safeguards that exist in legislation passed by other states,” the letter states. 

New York, the organizations point out, abolished solitary confinement for pregnant people across the board, replacing it with a guaranteed amount of out-of-cell time yeach day and trauma-informed care. 

The groups urged Asm. Bauer-Kahan to reject the bill, and work toward legislation that truly offers dignity and protection to incarcerated individuals. “Our respective organizations, along with solitary survivors, will gladly work with your office to develop legislation that is inline with national and international standards on this issue,” they wrote.