Governor Brown approved and signed AB 2507 on September 30th, 2018!

AB 2507, Introduced by Assembly Member Jones-Sawyer,  it requires, on or before January 1, 2020, a county sheriff or the administrator of a county jail to develop and implement an infant and toddler breast milk feeding policy for lactating inmates detained in or sentenced to a county jail that is based on currently accepted best practices. The bill requires the policy to include provisions for, among other things, procedures for providing medically appropriate support and care related to the cessation of lactation or weaning and for conditioning an inmate’s participation in the program upon the inmate undergoing drug screening. The bill requires the policy to be posted in the jail, as specified, and to be communicated to all staff persons who interact with or oversee pregnant or lactating inmates. 

Full Bill Text

Resources:

AB 2507 Implementation Workgroup: To support implementation of this bill, the California Breastfeeding Coalition, has convened a workgroup that is developing a sample template policy for counties to adopt. It will have best practices to encourage counties to provide support for lactating inmates that is beyond the basic requirements of the law. If you would like to be part of this workgroup, please contact Robbie at robbiegd.cbc@gmail.com.

Tool/ checklist of requirements and best practices: A Tool to Assess and Reform Policies and Practices.
Pregnancy section starts page 3, and covers topics such as proper restraint/ anti-shackling in addition to lactation accommodations.
Legal requirements are shown in standard typeface; best practices are shown in italics, and all have supporting endnotes.

Know-your-rights document for incarcerated people: KYR Reproductive Health Care in California Jails

For background on this issue in California jails, see pregnancy section (pages 11- 19) of the report by the ACLU of Northern California “Reproductive Health Behind Bars in California“.