Reports

Conduct a thorough assessment of single-celling policies and processes, including those applicable to inmates housed in quarantine and medical isolation units and to inmates vulnerable to suicide.

Assess how to improve staff and inmate compliance with healthcare protective equipment measures at its facilities and issue clear guidance to facilities about the importance of compliance.

Ensure that actions, including any policy revisions, the BOP takes to close the two open recommendations from our 2017 restrictive housing report that reference single-celling also apply to single-celling during quarantine and medical isolation.

Explore options for permanent changes to facility infrastructures that would allow for better implementation of social distancing and other infection control measures.

Immediately update guidance regarding (1) when staff should notify the families of inmates who become seriously ill or die, including a specific timeframe, and (2) uniform criteria for what constitutes a serious illness.

Ensure that inmate family information, or the inmate emergency contact form, is updated according to policy and readily available for BOP staff who need to notify next of kin in cases of inmate serious illness or death.