government
Nonsexual touch at prison visits gets a clearer shield
AB 1645 spells out the kinds of contact covered, including kissing, linking arms and parents holding minor children. The bill also says visit rules should not be excessive or unnecessarily punitive.
In California, prison visits would get a clearer legal framework under AB 1645. The bill would push corrections policy toward preserving family ties, while setting limits on how far prison rules can go in restricting ordinary contact.
- AB 1645 would give prison visitation more legal weight in California.
- Existing law already links visits to safety, family ties and rehabilitation.
- The bill is named the HUGS Act.
- Recorded votes show it cleared a floor vote.
- In California, Assembly Bill 1645, the Corrections: Humanizing and Uniting Generations Safely, or HUGS, Act of 2026, would push prison visitation closer to the center of corrections policy
In California, Assembly Bill 1645, the Corrections: Humanizing and Uniting Generations Safely, or HUGS, Act of 2026, would push prison visitation closer to the center of corrections policy. The state already tells prison regulators to treat visits as a way to improve safety, preserve family and community ties and support successful release. This bill would add more requirements to the rules that govern those visits, giving that connection more legal force inside the prison system.
A thread that runs past the prison gate
That change matters well beyond the prison walls. For people who are incarcerated, a visit can be one of the few steady links to home. For families, it can be the difference between staying connected through years of separation and watching a relationship fray under distance, costs and uncertainty.
Children with a parent in prison are part of that picture too. So are relatives who keep showing up, and staff who see whether family contact helps cool tensions and make facilities easier to manage.
A firmer place in the corrections code
Assemblymember Mark González introduced the bill, with Assemblymember Bryan and other Democrats listed as coauthors. The measure would amend Penal Code Section 6400 and add Section 6406, building on an existing framework rather than starting from scratch.
Recorded votes show the bill cleared a floor vote. The larger point is not the tally, though, but the message: California is treating visitation less like a courtesy and more like part of how prisons function.
The part that lasts after release
That framing reaches into reentry, too. A person coming home is more likely to have something to return to when family contact has not been cut off or pushed to the edges. The bill does not spell out every operational detail in the broad strokes available here, but it clearly aims to make visitation harder to dismiss as optional.
For families who have built their lives around waiting for a call, a drive, or a few hours together, the difference is real. The HUGS Act says that connection belongs inside the corrections system, not beside it.