District of Columbia Code
Subchapter VIII-A - Limitations on the Use of Restraints on Certain Confined Women
§ 24–276.01. Definitions

For the purposes of this subchapter, the term:
(1) “Administrator” means the warden of the penal institution, the director of a facility under the control of the Department of Corrections, or any designees thereof, including medical and correctional staff.
(2) “Confined” means housed, detained, or serving a sentence in a penal institution or other facility under the control of the Department of Corrections.
(3) “Labor” means the period of time before a birth during which contractions are of sufficient frequency, intensity, and duration to bring about effacement and progressive dilation of the cervix and shall include any medical condition in which a woman is sent or brought to a medical facility for the purpose of delivering her baby.
(4) “Medical facility” shall include a hospital, birthing center, or clinic.
(5) “Penal institution” shall have the same meaning as provided in § 22-2603.01(6).
(6) “Postpartum recovery” means a period of recovery following childbirth or miscarriage or termination of a pregnancy as determined by a physician to be medically necessary for healing.
(7) “Restraints” means any device used to control or bind the movement of a person’s body or limbs.
(July 25, 2015, D.C. Law 20-280, § 201, 62 DCR 1495.)