HB2747ham001 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Rep. Daniel J. Burke

Filed: 4/8/2008

09500HB2747ham001 LRB095 01002 RLC 48990 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 2747

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 2747 by replacing the title with the following:

"AN ACT concerning corrections, which may be referred to as the Access to Religious Ministry Act of 2008."; and

by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"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.

(b) For purposes of this Section, "reasonable access" means the ability to enter the jail facility to visit with and minister to the spiritual and other needs of individual immigration detainees of their respective faith housed at the jail. Such access shall be at any time during the facility's regular visitation hours and other hours as may be appropriate, and shall be no less than the access provided to religious workers at facilities administered by the Illinois Department of Corrections for detainees in criminal custody. A religious worker seeking access to a jail under this Section shall not be required to provide to the jail administration the name of any particular detainee at the jail in order to gain access. Such religions workers shall have the right to an unlimited number of visits to the jail. Such visits 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 facility shall have the right to screen individuals seeking access to immigration detainees at the facility under this Act to ensure that such individuals are in fact bona fide clergy, members of religious orders, lay volunteers, or other representatives of established and reputable religious institutions. Such religious workers shall be encouraged but not required to have obtained training in prison ministry from programs similar to that provided by the Archdiocese of Chicago Kolbe House.

(d) The provisions of this Section shall apply to any county jail established pursuant to this Act, regardless of whether such jail is administered or operated by the county or by private entities that have contracted with the county.".