[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1392 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1392
To provide funding to the Bureau of Prisons, States, and localities to
carry out mental health screenings and provide referrals to mental
healthcare providers for individuals in prison or jail.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 14, 2025
Ms. Sherrill introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide funding to the Bureau of Prisons, States, and localities to
carry out mental health screenings and provide referrals to mental
healthcare providers for individuals in prison or jail.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Improving Mental Healthcare in the
Re-Entry System Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM.
(a) Establishment.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall establish a grant
program (hereinafter referred to as the ``Program'') to implement and
administer mental health screenings to individuals at intake into an
eligible detention center and refer such individuals to mental
healthcare providers before or immediately after exit from an eligible
detention center, as applicable.
(b) Grant Authority.--In carrying out the Program, the Attorney
General may award a grant on a competitive basis to an eligible
recipient in accordance with this section.
(c) Application.--The Attorney General may award a grant under the
Program to a State or locality, determined by the Attorney General to
carry out a project described in subsection (d).
(d) Eligible Recipients.--
(1) Hiring requirement.--To be eligible for a grant under
the Program, a State or locality shall hire a mental health
liaison staff member for each eligible detention center under
its jurisdiction. If an eligible detention center has a small
enough population, subject to approval by the Advisory Board,
one mental health liaison staff member may cover multiple
detention centers. The mental health liaison staff member shall
be responsible for--
(A) coordinating efforts between the prison or jail
and mental health providers in the local region to help
individuals currently or formerly in prison or jail
access mental healthcare;
(B) coordinating with the Advisory Board to ensure
that the Program is operating in accordance with this
section; and
(C) overseeing and coordinating activities of the
outreach team (as described in subsection (g)).
(2) Plan.--To be eligible for a grant under the Program, a
State or locality shall submit a plan to the Advisory Board
explaining how the Program established shall meet the criteria
under subsection (e).
(3) Relevant data.--To be eligible for a grant under the
Program, a State or locality shall partner with the Advisory
Board and an independent research organization to evaluate the
impact of their program as a condition of receiving a grant,
and are also required to share relevant data with the Advisory
Board and the research organization contracted with by the
Attorney General as specified by section 5(a) regarding
individuals' participation in the mental health screen and
referral program and their arrest, arraignment, and
incarceration rates.
(e) Eligible Projects.--Grant funds awarded under the Program may
only be used to:
(1) Develop and administer a brief mental health screening
survey as required under subsection (f).
(2) Develop any technology necessary for a prison or jail
to provide the survey under paragraph (1).
(3) Hire any staff necessary for a prison or jail to
provide the survey under paragraph (1).
(4) Establish an outreach team pursuant to subsection (g)
to refer an individual, if their responses to the survey
indicate severe mental illness, to a local mental healthcare
provider for further assessment and outreach, admission (when
necessary), and support for that individual in re-establishing
ties with a mental health provider.
(5) Pay the salary or overtime pay of an outreach team as
established pursuant to subsection (g), including providing
direct funding to a prison, jail, or mental health center to
compensate staff members.
(f) Brief Mental Health Screening Survey.--The mental health
screening survey developed and administered under subsection (e) shall:
(1) Be composed of 5 to 10 questions.
(2) Be based on the questions and content of the Brief Jail
Mental Health Screen (BJMHS).
(3) Seek to identify severe mental illnesses, including
schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression.
(4) Ask individuals about the symptoms of severe mental
illness they may be experiencing or have experienced and any
prior use of mental health-related medications or inpatient
care.
(5) Identify the individual's place of residence.
(6) Be administered by a trained staff member at the jail
or prison to all entering individuals who are incarcerated in
the jail or prison and to all incarcerated individuals who
entered the jail or prison before the survey was implemented.
(g) Outreach Team.--
(1) In general.--A referral to a mental healthcare
provider, as described in subsection (e), shall be made by a
mental health outreach team that is composed of--
(A) mental healthcare professionals and clinicians
from mental healthcare centers local to the prison or
jail;
(B) staff from the jail or prison, when applicable;
and
(C) a mental health liaison staff member who shall
oversee the outreach team.
(2) Alert.--If an individual has been determined to need a
referral to a mental healthcare provider, the mental health
outreach team shall be notified immediately by jail or prison
staff and informed, when applicable, of the individual's
release date from such jail or prison and the individual's
trial date.
(3) Contact attempts required.--
(A) In general.--A mental health outreach team
member shall first attempt to contact an individual
that has been determined to need a referral to a mental
healthcare provider in person at the jail or prison,
before such individual is released. If in person
contact was not made before such individual was
released from prison or jail, the outreach team member
shall attempt to contact via telephone such individual
within 24 hours, and at the latest within 48 hours, of
their release from jail or prison for the purpose of
making the mental health referral. The mental health
outreach team member shall not need to contact the
individual via telephone after release if such contact
was made in person.
(B) Additional contacts.--A mental health outreach
team member shall make at least three attempts at
telephone contact for each individual that has been
determined to need a referral to a mental healthcare
provider if in person contact before release was not
made. If phone contact is unsuccessful, a mental health
outreach team member shall attempt to contact the
individual in person at their place of residence, as
provided on the mental health survey.
SEC. 3. BUREAU OF PRISONS.
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act,
the Director of the Bureau of Prisons shall establish a program that is
substantially similar to the Program established under section 2 to
implement and administer mental health screenings to individuals at
intake into an eligible detention center and refer such individuals to
mental healthcare providers before or immediately after exit from an
eligible detention center, as applicable.
SEC. 4. ADVISORY BOARD ON PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION.
(a) Establishment.--Not later than 60 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall establish an Advisory
Board to manage and administer the Program under section 2, with the
responsibility to:
(1) Evaluate and approve the plans submitted by a State or
locality as required under section 2 and to ensure that grant
funding is used as specified under section 2.
(2) Monitor plans submitted by the Bureau of Prisons and
advise the Attorney General on compliance to ensure that
funding to the Bureau of Prisons is used as specified under
section 2.
(3) Provide technical assistance to a State or locality to
help with the implementation and administration of mental
health screening and referral programs that maximize impact on
reducing crime rates and improving employment and wage rates
for individuals released from prison or jail, and to assist a
State or locality's coordination with the Attorney General in
implementing the Program.
(4) Publish a database of completed evaluations of the
impact of a Program, as specified under section 5.
(5) Create a working group of mental healthcare providers,
jail and prison administrators, law enforcement officials, and
operators of existing mental health screening and referral
programs, as of the creation of the working group, to share
best practices on how to create and implement mental health
screening and referral programs that have the largest impact on
reducing crime rates and improving employment and wage rates
for individuals released from prison or jail.
(6) Work in coordination with mental health outreach teams
as established under section 2, to ensure that the Program is
operating as required.
(7) Determine if a grant awarded by the Program is not
meeting the requirements of the Program and mandate necessary
changes and reduce funding if such changes are not made.
(8) Oversee the completion of required program evaluations
as described under section 5, by--
(A) contracting with one or more independent
research organizations to carry out an evaluation of
the impact of each grant awarded under the Program on
arrest, arraignment, and incarceration rates,
employment and wage rates, and mental healthcare
utilization rates of individuals who have been
administered mental health screening; and
(B) working with the Bureau of Prisons, States, and
localities to ensure that the evaluation is
successfully completed.
(b) Technical Assistance.--The Advisory Board shall provide
technical assistance to the Bureau of Prisons, States, and localities
in setting up and administering the Program and shall identify
evidence-backed models for the administration of mental health
screening and referral programs that the Bureau of Prisons, States, and
localities can look to when designing their own programs.
(c) Process Evaluation Activities.--Not later than one year after
the Program begins, the Advisory Board shall conduct a process
evaluation for a grant awarded under the Program, in which the
implementation of the surveys and referrals in each prison or jail is
monitored and evaluated to ensure that they are being carried out as
specified in the plan submitted to the Advisory Board.
(d) Membership.--
(1) In general.--The Attorney General shall appoint members
to serve on the Advisory Board established under subsection (a)
who have expertise with respect to--
(A) designing and administering mental health
screenings and providing referrals for those
incarcerated in prisons or jails, or for those who have
recently left such facilities;
(B) mental healthcare within prisons or jails; or
(C) program evaluation using rigorous experimental
and quasi-experimental statistical methods.
(2) Number of members.--The Attorney General shall appoint
as many members to the Advisory Board established under
subsection (a) as deemed necessary by the Attorney General.
SEC. 5. EVALUATION ACTIVITIES.
(a) Independent Research Organizations.--The Attorney General shall
provide funding directly to the Advisory Board for the purpose of
contracting with one or more independent research organizations, in
partnership with the Bureau of Prisons, States, and localities, to
carry out an evaluation to determine whether each grant awarded under
the Program is being implemented effectively and to measure the impact
of such programs.
(b) Impact Evaluation Activities.--
(1) In general.--Not later than one year after a recipient
of a grant awarded under the Program receives an award they
shall conduct an impact evaluation for its program, in which
the surveys and referrals in each prison or jail will be
evaluated for their effect on the criminal justice and economic
outcomes of individuals who receive the survey. Such impact
evaluation shall be conducted by an independent research
organization, with oversight from the Advisory Board and
include an analysis of the impact of the survey and referral on
participant crime rates, including arrest, arraignment, and
incarceration rates, participant employment and wage rates, and
participant mental healthcare utilization rates for one year,
three years, five years, and ten years after the participant
has completed the survey and referral program. These analyses
will use administrative data collected by each State's
department of public safety, for the crime rate data, and each
State's Department of Labor, for the employment and wage rate
data. States shall provide this data to the independent
research organization. For the mental health utilization data,
data from mental health providers and, if necessary, from
outreach to the individuals who participated in the survey and
referral program shall be utilized.
(2) Experimental design.--Program impact evaluations under
paragraph (1) shall use randomized control experimental or
quasi-experimental research designs. Randomized control
experimental designs are preferred and the Advisory Board will
provide the independent research organization, in partnership
with the Bureau of Prisons, State, or Locality, additional
resources to carry out a randomized control experimental
evaluation.
(c) Database.--Once evaluations become available, the Advisory
Board will be required to keep an updated database of the impact of
programs funded under the grant program and how those programs were
implemented and administered, with the goal of creating a repository of
evidence regarding what drives impact on crime rates and employment and
wage rates to guide policymakers and program operators in the future.
SEC. 6. FUNDING.
(a) Authorization.--There is authorized to be appropriated to the
Attorney General to carry out this Act--
(1) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2026;
(2) $110,000,000 for fiscal year 2027;
(3) $120,000,000 for fiscal year 2028;
(4) $130,000,000 for fiscal year 2029; and
(5) $140,000,000 for fiscal year 2030.
(b) Distribution of Funds.--Of the amounts made available under
subsection (a), the Attorney General shall use--
(1) 90 percent of such amount for a grant program under
sections 2 and 3, as applicable, of which--
(A) 20 percent shall go to the Bureau of Prisons
for screening and referral implementation activities at
Federal prisons;
(B) 20 percent shall go to States as competitive
grants to carry out screening and referral
implementation activities at State prisons; and
(C) 50 percent shall go to localities as
competitive grants to carry out screening and referral
implementation activities at locally-administered
jails;
(2) 5 percent of such amount to carry out evaluation
activities under section 5; and
(3) 5 percent of such amount for the Advisory Board to
provide technical assistance to the Bureau of Prisons, States,
and localities and for general operations as described in
section 4.
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) State.--The term ``State'' means any State of the
United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
(2) Locality.--The term ``locality'' means any city,
county, township, town, borough, parish, village, or other
general purpose political subdivision of a State.
(3) Mental healthcare provider.--The term ``mental
healthcare provider'' means a fully-licensed professional or
group of professionals who diagnose mental health conditions
and provide mental health treatment, and who operate near to
the relevant jail or prison. Mental healthcare providers may
provide services at hospitals or at private clinics.
(4) Mental healthcare center.--The term ``mental healthcare
center'' means any facility where one or more mental healthcare
providers offer mental health services, such as a hospital or
private clinic.
(5) Jail or prison administrator.--The term ``jail or
prison administrator'' means any individual who has been
appointed to a supervisory position in a Federal, State, or
local incarceration facility by the Federal Government, a
State, or a locality.
(6) Law enforcement official.--The term ``law enforcement
official'' means any officer of an entity administered by a
locality, State, or th