30:4-82.11 Regulations.

7. In accordance with the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), the commissioner shall promulgate regulations to effectuate the provisions of this act. The regulations shall include but not be limited to:

a. establishing less restrictive interventions to isolated confinement, including separation from other inmates; transfer to other correctional facilities; and any non-isolated confinement sanction authorized by Department of Corrections regulations; restrictions on religious, mail, and telephone privileges, visit contacts, or outdoor and recreation access shall only be imposed as is necessary for the safety of the inmate or others, but shall not restrict access to food, basic necessities, or legal access;

b. requiring training of disciplinary staff and all staff working with inmates in isolated confinement and requiring that this training include:

(1) assistance from appropriate professionals to periodically train all staff working with inmates in isolated confinement;

(2) standards for isolated confinement, including that it shall be limited to when an inmate commits an offense involving violence, escapes or attempts to escape, or poses a threat to institutional safety; that the maximum penalties for each offense shall be based on the seriousness of the offense; and available less restrictive interventions; and

(3) the identification of developmental disabilities, and the symptoms of mental illness, including trauma disorders, and methods of safe responses to people in distress;

c. requiring documentation of all decisions, procedures, and reviews of inmates placed in isolated confinement;

d. requiring monitoring of compliance with all rules governing cells, units, and other places where inmates are placed in isolated confinement;

e. requiring posting on the official website of the Department of Corrections of quarterly reports on the use of isolated confinement, without revealing any personal identifying information, by age, sex, gender identity, ethnicity, incidence of mental illness, and type of confinement status, at each facility, including a county correctional facility; these reports shall include the population on the last day of each quarter and a non-duplicative cumulative count of people exposed to isolated confinement for each fiscal year. These inmate reports also shall include the incidence of emergency confinement, self-harm, suicide, and assault in any isolated confinement unit. These reports shall not include personally identifiable information regarding any inmate; and

f. modifying the New Jersey Administrative Code for consistency with the provisions of this act and to require appropriate alternative placements for vulnerable populations in county correctional facilities.

L.2019, c.160, s.7.