Public Act 1022 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB4613 Enrolled LRB095 16534 RLC 42565 b

Public Act 095-1022

AN ACT concerning criminal law.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Access to Religious Ministry Act of 2008.

Section 5. The County Jail Act is amended by adding Section 26 as follows:

(730 ILCS 125/26 new)

Sec. 26. Detainees in immigration custody; religious worker access to jails.

(a) Any county jail in the State of Illinois for which an intergovernmental agreement has been entered into with United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for detention of immigration-related detainees shall be required to provide to religious workers reasonable access to such jail. Such access shall be consistent with the safety, security, and the orderly operation of the facility.

(b) For purposes of this Section, "reasonable access" means the ability of the religious worker to enter the jail facility to be available to meet with immigration detainees who wish to consult with the religious worker regarding their spiritual needs. Such access shall be at times set by the sheriff or his or her designee. The facility shall provide advance notice to the immigration detainees of the times during which religious workers shall be available for consultation under this Section, and shall not limit the access of detainees to such religious workers without good cause. Consultations with religious workers under this Section shall not be counted against the visitation time or number of visits to which a detainee is otherwise entitled under the facility's visitation policies.

(c) The sheriff or his or her designee shall have the right to screen and approve individuals seeking access to immigration detainees at the facility under this Act.

Section 97. Severability. The provisions of this Act are severable under Section 1.31 of the Statute on Statutes.