The director of corrections and rehabilitation shall:
(1) Establish policies or rules that parent inmates be placed in correctional facilities, consistent with public safety and inmate security, in the best interest of the family, rather than on economic or administrative factors;
(2) Consider as a factor an offender’s capacity to maintain parent-child contact when making prison placements of offenders;
(3) Conduct, coordinate, or promote research that examines the impact of a parent’s incarceration on the well-being of the offender’s child that shall include both direct contact with an offender’s child, as well as reports of caregivers; and
(4) Conduct, coordinate, or promote research that focuses on the relationship of incarcerated fathers with their children and the long-term impact of incarceration on fathers and their children.
