As Introduced

136th General Assembly

Regular Session H. B. No. 796

2025-2026

To amend sections 751.08, 5120.10, and 5120.16 of the Revised Code to ensure that jail inmates, city infirmary inmates, and prisoners under control of the department of rehabilitation and correction are housed in accordance with their biological sex.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:

Section 1. That sections 751.08, 5120.10, and 5120.16 of the Revised Code be amended to read as follows:

Sec. 751.08. The director of public safety shall see that the inmates of a city infirmary are comfortably provided for and kindly treated, and hethe director of public safety may provide for the care and support of the males and females in separate buildings, or in separate departments of the same building. For purposes of this section, "males and females" refers to biological sex, as defined in section 3129.01 of the Revised Code.

Sec. 5120.10. (A)(1) Except as provided in this division, the director of rehabilitation and correction, by rule, shall promulgate minimum standards for jails in Ohio, including minimum security jails dedicated under section 341.34 or 753.21 of the Revised Code. Whenever the director files a rule or an amendment to a rule in final form with both the secretary of state and the director of the legislative service commission pursuant to section 111.15 of the Revised Code, the director of rehabilitation and correction promptly shall send a copy of the rule or amendment, if the rule or amendment pertains to minimum jail standards, by ordinary mail to the political subdivisions or affiliations of political subdivisions that operate jails to which the standards apply. The director shall not adopt any rule requiring support staff in a jail to obtain an occupational license as defined in section 4798.01 of the Revised Code.

(2) The rules promulgated in accordance with division (A)(1) of this section shall serve as criteria for the investigative and supervisory powers and duties vested by division (D) of this section in the division of parole and community services of the department of rehabilitation and correction or in another division of the department to which those powers and duties are assigned.

(3) Notwithstanding any rule promulgated in accordance with division (A)(1) of this section, a political subdivision or affiliate of a political subdivision that operates a jail shall ensure that jail inmates are separated by biological sex, as defined in section 3129.01 of the Revised Code.

(B) The director may initiate an action in the court of common pleas of the county in which a facility that is subject to the rules promulgated under division (A)(1) of this section is situated to enjoin compliance with the minimum standards for jails or with the minimum standards and minimum renovation, modification, and construction criteria for jails.

(C) Upon the request of an administrator of a jail facility, the chief executive of a municipal corporation, or a board of county commissioners, the director of rehabilitation and correction or the director's designee shall grant a variance from the minimum standards for jails in Ohio for a facility that is subject to one of those minimum standards when the director determines that strict compliance with the minimum standards would cause unusual, practical difficulties or financial hardship, that existing or alternative practices meet the intent of the minimum standards, and that granting a variance would not seriously affect the security of the facility, the supervision of the inmates, or the safe, healthful operation of the facility. If the director or the director's designee denies a variance, the applicant may appeal the denial pursuant to section 119.12 of the Revised Code.

(D) The following powers and duties shall be exercised by the division of parole and community services unless assigned to another division by the director:

(1) The investigation and supervision of county and municipal jails, workhouses, minimum security jails, and other correctional institutions and agencies;

(2) The review and approval of plans submitted to the department of rehabilitation and correction pursuant to division (E) of this section;

(3) The management and supervision of the adult parole authority created by section 5149.02 of the Revised Code;

(4) The review and approval of proposals for community-based correctional facilities and programs and district community-based correctional facilities and programs that are submitted pursuant to division (B) of section 2301.51 of the Revised Code;

(5) The distribution of funds made available to the division for purposes of assisting in the renovation, maintenance, and operation of community-based correctional facilities and programs and district community-based correctional facilities and programs in accordance with section 5120.112 of the Revised Code;

(6) The performance of the duty imposed upon the department of rehabilitation and correction in section 5149.31 of the Revised Code to establish and administer a program of subsidies to eligible municipal corporations, counties, and groups of contiguous counties for the development, implementation, and operation of community-based corrections programs;

(7) Licensing halfway houses and community residential centers for the care and treatment of adult offenders in accordance with section 2967.14 of the Revised Code;

(8) Contracting with a public or private agency or a department or political subdivision of the state that operates a licensed halfway house or community residential center for the provision of housing, supervision, and other services to parolees, releasees, persons placed under a residential sanction, persons under transitional control, and other eligible offenders in accordance with section 2967.14 of the Revised Code.

Other powers and duties may be assigned by the director of rehabilitation and correction to the division of parole and community services. This section does not apply to the department of youth services or its institutions or employees.

(E) No plan for any new jail, workhouse, or lockup, and no plan for a substantial addition or alteration to an existing jail, workhouse, or lockup, shall be adopted unless the officials responsible for adopting the plan have submitted the plan to the department of rehabilitation and correction for approval, and the department has approved the plan as provided in division (D)(2) of this section.

Sec. 5120.16. (A) Persons sentenced to any institution, division, or place under the control of the department of rehabilitation and correction are committed to the control, care, and custody of the department and shall be housed in accordance with their biological sex, as defined in section 3129.01 of the Revised Code, while under the control of the department. Subject to division (C) of this section, the director of rehabilitation and correction or the director's designee may direct that persons sentenced to the department, or to any institution or place within the department, shall be conveyed by the sheriff initially to an appropriate facility established and maintained by the department, or committed electronically in accordance with division (B) of this section, for reception, examination, observation, and classification of the persons so sentenced. Prior to removal of an individual on an out of jurisdiction detainer, the sheriff shall convey the sentenced person to the department of rehabilitation and correction or electronically commit the sentenced person in accordance with division (B) of this section.

If a presentence investigation report was not prepared pursuant to section 2947.06 or 2951.03 of the Revised Code or Criminal Rule 32.2 regarding any person sentenced to the department or to any institution or place within the department, the director or the director's designee may order the department's field staff to conduct an offender background investigation and prepare an offender background investigation report regarding the person. The investigation and report shall be conducted in accordance with division (A) of section 2951.03 of the Revised Code and the report shall contain the same information as a presentence investigation report prepared pursuant to that section.

When the examination, observation, and classification of the person have been completed by the facility and a written report of the examination, observation, and classification is filed with the commitment papers, the director or the director's designee, subject to division (B) of this section, shall assign the person to a suitable state institution or place maintained by the state within the director's department or shall designate that the person is to be housed in a county, multicounty, municipal, municipal-county, or multicounty-municipal jail or workhouse, if authorized by section 5120.161 of the Revised Code, there to be confined, cared for, treated, trained, and rehabilitated until paroled, released in accordance with section 2929.20, 2967.26, 2967.28, or 5120.036 of the Revised Code, or otherwise released under the order of the court that imposed the person's sentence. No person committed by a probate court, a trial court pursuant to section 2945.40, 2945.401, or 2945.402 of the Revised Code subsequent to a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity, or a juvenile court shall be assigned to a state correctional institution.

If a person is sentenced, committed, or assigned for the commission of a felony to any one of the institutions or places maintained by the department or to a county, multicounty, municipal, municipal-county, or multicounty-municipal jail or workhouse, the department, by order duly recorded and subject to division (B) of this section, may transfer the person to any other institution, or, if authorized by section 5120.161 of the Revised Code, to a county, multicounty, municipal, municipal-county, or multicounty-municipal jail or workhouse.

(B) An agreement may be entered into between a court of common pleas and the department of rehabilitation and correction under which persons may be electronically committed to the department of rehabilitation and correction.

(C) If the case of a child who is alleged to be a delinquent child is transferred for criminal prosecution to the appropriate court having jurisdiction of the offense pursuant to section 2152.12 of the Revised Code, if the child is convicted of or pleads guilty to a felony in that case, if the child is sentenced to a prison term, as defined in section 2901.01 of the Revised Code, and if the child is under eighteen years of age when delivered to the custody of the department of rehabilitation and correction, all of the following apply regarding the housing of the child:

(1) Until the child attains eighteen years of age, subject to divisions (C)(2), (3), and (4) of this section, the department shall house the child in a housing unit in a state correctional institution separate from inmates who are eighteen years of age or older.

(2) The department is not required to house the child in the manner described in division (C)(1) of this section if the child does not observe the rules and regulations of the institution or the child otherwise creates a security risk by being housed separately.

(3) If the department receives too few inmates who are under eighteen years of age to fill a housing unit in a state correctional institution separate from inmates who are eighteen years of age or older, as described in division (C)(1) of this section, the department may house the child in a housing unit in a state correctional institution that includes both inmates who are under eighteen years of age and inmates who are eighteen years of age or older and under twenty-one years of age.

(4) Upon the child's attainment of eighteen years of age, the department may house the child with the adult population of the state correctional institution.

(D) The director or the director's designee shall develop a policy for dealing with problems related to infection with the human immunodeficiency virus. The policy shall include methods of identifying individuals committed to the custody of the department who are at high risk of infection with the virus and counseling those individuals.

Arrangements for housing individuals diagnosed as having AIDS or an AIDS-related condition shall be made by the department based on security and medical considerations and in accordance with division (C) of this section, if applicable.

Section 2. That existing sections 751.08, 5120.10, and 5120.16 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.