I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4970 

To restrict the authority of the Attorney General to enter into contracts 

for Federal correctional facilities and community confinement facilities, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 31, 2019 

Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To restrict the authority of the Attorney General to enter 

into contracts for Federal correctional facilities and community confinement facilities, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘End For-Profit Pris5 ons Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF CONTRACTING FOR FEDERAL 

2 CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES AND COMMU3 NITY CONFINEMENT FACILITIES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 301 of title 18, United 

5 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘§ 4015. No contracting out of Federal prison facili8 ties or community confinement facilities 

9 ‘‘(a) FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES GEN10 ERALLY.—Beginning on the date that is 6 years after the 

11 date of the enactment of the End For-Profit Prisons Act 

12 of 2019— 

13 ‘‘(1) all core correctional services at each cor14 rectional facility which is used by the Bureau of 

15 Prisons for the confinement of persons serving sen16 tences of imprisonment for Federal offenses shall be 

17 performed by employees of the Federal Government; 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(2) all core correctional services at each cor20 rectional facility which is used by the United States 

21 Marshals Service for the confinement of persons in 

22 the custody of the United States Marshals Service 

23 shall be performed by employees of the Federal Gov24 ernment, except that the United States Marshals 

25 Service may enter and maintain a contract with a 


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1 facility operated by a State or unit of local govern2 ment if— 

3 ‘‘(A) the core correctional services at such 

4 correctional facility are performed by employees 

5 of such State or unit of local government; and 

6 ‘‘(B) the facility meets all constitutional, 

7 Federal statutory, United States Marshals 

8 Service, and any applicable State or local stand9 ards. 

10 ‘‘(b) FEDERAL COMMUNITY CONFINEMENT FACILI11 TIES.—Beginning on the date that is 8 years after the 

12 date of the enactment of the End For-Profit Prisons Act 

13 of 2019, the Director of the Bureau of Prisons may not 

14 enter into or maintain any contract with any for-profit en15 tity to provide or manage any community confinement fa16 cility. 

17 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

18 ‘‘(1) The term ‘community confinement facility’ 

19 has the meaning given that term in section 115.5 of 

20 title 28, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on 

21 the date of the enactment of the End For-Profit 

22 Prisons Act of 2019). 

23 ‘‘(2) The term ‘core correctional services’ means 

24 the housing, safeguarding, protecting, and disVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:51 Nov 10, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4970.IH H4970

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1 ciplining of individuals charged with or convicted of 

2 an offense.’’. 

3 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

4 at the beginning of chapter 301 of title 18, United States 

5 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 

6 item: 

‘‘4015. No contracting out of Federal prison facilities or community confinement 

facilities.’’. 

7 SEC. 3. TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS. 

8 (a) FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES.—The At9 torney General shall take appropriate action to phase out 

10 existing Bureau of Prisons and United States Marshals 

11 Service contracts for core correctional services which, at 

12 the conclusion of the transition period, will be prohibited 

13 under section 4015 of title 18, United States Code. 

14 (b) FEDERAL COMMUNITY CONFINEMENT FACILI15 TIES.—The Attorney General shall take appropriate ac16 tion to phase out existing Bureau of Prisons contracts for 

17 community confinement facilities which, at the conclusion 

18 of the transition period, will be prohibited under section 

19 4015 of title 18, United States Code. 

20 SEC. 4. REPORT. 

21 Not later than 2 years after the date of the enact22 ment of this Act, and every 2 years thereafter, the Attor23 ney General shall submit to Congress a report which de24 scribes and evaluates the prison population in the custody 


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1 of the Bureau of Prisons. The report shall include infor2 mation regarding the race, gender, age, and nationality 

3 of such persons, as well as the location of the custody of 

4 such persons. 

5 SEC. 5. RESEARCH ON PROGRAMS AND POLICIES THAT RE6 DUCE RECIDIVISM. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall con8 duct research to evaluate the effectiveness at improving 

9 community reintegration of programs operated by, and 

10 policies of, community confinement facilities (as such term 

11 is defined in section 4015 of title 18, United States Code), 

12 and shall develop guidelines based on such research for 

13 the use of such programs and policies at community con14 finement facilities. 

15 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 4 years after the date 

16 of the enactment of this Act, and every 4 years thereafter, 

17 the Attorney General shall submit to Congress a report 

18 which describes the results of the research conducted 

19 under subsection (a), the guidelines developed pursuant to 

20 such research, and how such guidelines are being incor21 porated into any contract for the provision or management 

22 of a community confinement facility to which the Bureau 

23 of Prisons is a party. 


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1 SEC. 6. ANNUAL INSPECTION OF CORRECTIONAL FACILI2 TIES USED FOR THE CONFINEMENT OF PER3 SONS IN THE CUSTODY OF THE UNITED 

4 STATES MARSHALS SERVICE. 

5 Not later than one year after the date of the enact6 ment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the United 

7 States Marshals Service shall conduct a thorough inspec8 tion of each correctional facility which is used by the 

9 United States Marshals Service for the confinement of 

10 persons in the custody of the United States Marshals 

11 Service to ensure that each such facility meets all constitu12 tional, Federal statutory, United States Marshals Service, 

13 and any other applicable standards, including any State 

14 or local standards. 

15 SEC. 7. DUTIES OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL RELATING TO 

16 THE RELEASE OF FEDERAL PRISONERS. 

17 Section 3624 of title 18, United States Code, is 

18 amended by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(h) PROVISION OF INFORMATION AND COUN20 SELING.—The Attorney General shall make rules to as21 sure that each prisoner released from Federal custody 

22 upon the expiration of that prisoner’s term of imprison23 ment for an offense, including a prisoner who resides in 

24 a community confinement facility (as such term is defined 

25 in section 4015), receives information and appropriate 

26 counseling about each of the following: 


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1 ‘‘(1) Any right the prisoner may have to have 

2 the prisoner’s criminal record expunged. 

3 ‘‘(2) The availability of programs to remove em4 ployment barriers. 

5 ‘‘(3) Relevant vocational and educational reha6 bilitation programs that are available to the pris7 oner. 

8 ‘‘(4) A detailed record of participation in edu9 cational, employment, and treatment programs com10 pleted while incarcerated. 

11 ‘‘(5) Assistance with applications for the fol12 lowing: 

13 ‘‘(A) Programs providing nutritional as14 sistance. 

15 ‘‘(B) Medicaid. 

16 ‘‘(C) Social Security. 

17 ‘‘(D) Driver’s license. 

18 ‘‘(E) Registering to vote.’’. 

19 SEC. 8. DUTIES OF BUREAU OF PRISONS REGARDING RE20 LEASED PRISONERS. 

21 Section 4042 of title 18, United States Code, is 

22 amended by adding at the end the following: 

23 ‘‘(e) REQUIREMENTS WITH RESPECT TO RELEASED

24 PRISONERS.—In carrying out the duties set forth in sub25 section (a)(6) and (a)(7), the Director of the Bureau of 


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1 Prisons shall ensure that each prisoner receives informa2 tion and counseling during prerelease procedures regard3 ing each area described in subsection (a)(6) and (a)(7). 

4 The Director of the Bureau of Prisons shall provide each 

5 released prisoner, including a prisoner who resides in a 

6 community confinement facility (as such term is defined 

7 in section 4015), with information regarding fines, assess8 ments, surcharges, restitution, other penalties due from 

9 the prisoner in connection with the conviction, which it 

10 shall be the duty of the appropriate judicial officers to pro11 vide to the Bureau.’’. 

Æ 


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