A. The State Department of Health shall inspect at least once each year all city and county jails to ensure compliance with the standards promulgated pursuant to the provisions of this section. The standards shall provide provision for:

1. Uniform admission and release procedures;

2. Uniform, safe, and sensible security measures;

3. Proper, fit, and sanitary conditions;

4. Inmates to be fed a wholesome and adequate diet;

5. Inmates to have adequate clothing and a useable bed. Such facility shall have showers with hot and cold running water, toilets, and water basins provided in the ratio of not less than one to every twenty prisoners. Counties may build barracks-style jails, single or double cell, to meet the security needs of the county for minimum security prisoners. These jails shall meet all the minimum requirements set forth in this section or any other provision of law. Except as otherwise provided in this section, all facilities under this section shall have showers with hot and cold running water, toilets and water basins provided in the ratio of not less than one to every twenty prisoners. Counties may also build tent jails, which shall be temporary in nature, to meet the security needs of the county for minimum security prisoners. The temporary tent jails shall not be required to meet the minimum requirements set forth in this section or any other provision of law. The State Board of Health shall promulgate minimum standards for temporary tent jails, which standards shall be designed to specifically address and take into consideration the temporary status of the inmate housing needs of the county;

6. Inmates to be properly advised of rules of the facility in which they are detained;

7. Staff members to receive training in order to assist them in performing their assigned tasks, such training to be provided through a program approved by the State Department of Health. All employees who work in direct contact with inmates after the first year of employment shall receive, at a minimum, four (4) hours' review of material as required by the State Department of Health and at a maximum, eight (8) hours of detention officer training per year after the first year of employment;

8. Proper steps to be taken to ensure the safety and segregation of women, the infirm, and minors;

9. Adequate medical care, provided such medical care shall be limited to illnesses or injuries incurred during the time beginning with the arrest and throughout the time of incarceration. This shall not prevent an inmate from applying for assistance and receiving assistance, provided the inmate meets or exceeds established requirements;

10. No person to be confined without twenty-four-hour supervision; and

11. At least one designated exit in the facility that will permit prompt evacuation of inmates and staff in an emergency. A facility in existence on November 1, 1985, shall not be required to construct additional exits if it has one exit which is deemed adequate by the State Fire Marshal.

In the event such inspection shall reveal to the State Department of Health the commission of a crime or crimes incidental to the operations of a city or county jail facility, it shall be the duty of the Department to initiate a complaint with the appropriate district attorney, and to cooperate in the prosecution of the alleged offender in the event an information is filed pursuant to such complaint.

B. Any county, city, or town may operate a holding facility for the incarceration of persons under arrest who are to be charged with a crime, which holding facility shall not be required to meet the standards established in this section for jails, as long as no person is held therein for a period longer than twelve (12) hours and as long as an employee of the county, city, or town is available to render aid to or to release any person so confined in the event aid or release is required because of a health or life-endangering emergency.

C. Notwithstanding any other provision of law or rule, any county or municipality that operates a jail facility which houses forty or fewer prisoners at all times which:

1. Provides twenty-four-hour supervision of prisoner activity that is conducted either by direct observation or electronically by closed-circuit television; and

2. Provides an intercommunication system that terminates in a location that is staffed twenty-four (24) hours a day and is capable of providing an emergency response,

shall not be required to have more than one detention officer or dispatcher on-site to provide for the security, custody, and supervision of prisoners.

D. Any county or municipality that operates a jail facility which houses more than forty and less than seventy-five prisoners at all times which:

1. Provides twenty-four-hour supervision of prisoner activity that is conducted either by direct observation or electronically by closed-circuit television; and

2. Provides an intercommunication system that terminates in a location that is staffed twenty-four (24) hours a day and is capable of providing an emergency response,

shall be required to have more than one detention officer or one detention officer and at least one other basic CLEET-certified person on the same premises as the jail facility to provide for the security, custody, and supervision of prisoners.

Within ninety (90) days after June 9, 1994, the State Board of Health shall promulgate new rules governing square footage requirements, double-celling of prisoners and the ratio of showers, toilets, and water basins to prisoners. The rules so promulgated shall be governed by the guidelines enumerated in this section, and shall be designed to carry out the intent and purpose of the guidelines. Each city or county jail facility in this state shall be in compliance with the rules so promulgated on or before January 1, 1995.

E. The State Department of Health shall employ inspectors and other personnel as necessary and specifically authorized by the Legislature in order to carry out the provisions of this section and may rent or purchase premises or equipment in order to assist inspectors in the performance of their functions.

Added by Laws 1977, c. 137, § 1, eff. Oct. 1, 1977. Amended by Laws 1978, c. 244, § 38, eff. July 1, 1978; Laws 1983, c. 116, § 1, operative July 1, 1983; Laws 1985, c. 62, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 1985; Laws 1986, c. 77, § 1, emerg. eff. April 2, 1986; Laws 1994, c. 367, § 8, emerg. eff. June 9, 1994; Laws 1995, c. 1, § 32, emerg. eff. March 2, 1995; Laws 2004, c. 154, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2004; Laws 2005, c. 180, § 1, eff. July 1, 2005; Laws 2007, c. 51, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2007; Laws 2014, c. 322, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2014; Laws 2018, c. 71, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2018.

NOTE: Laws 1994, c. 368, § 2 repealed by Laws 1995, c. 1, § 40, emerg. eff. March 2, 1995.