I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1994

To ensure that the incarceration of inmates is not provided by private contractors or vendors and that persons charged or convicted of an offense 

against the United States shall be housed in facilities managed and 

maintained by Federal, State, or local governments. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 6, 2003

Mr. STRICKLAND (for himself, Mr. HOLDEN, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. CUMMINGS, 

Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. MCNULTY, Mr. HOEFFEL, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. RYAN

of Ohio, Mr. SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, and Mr. BROWN

of Ohio) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL

To ensure that the incarceration of inmates is not provided 

by private contractors or vendors and that persons 

charged or convicted of an offense against the United 

States shall be housed in facilities managed and maintained by Federal, State, or local governments.

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 ‘‘Public Safety Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

6 The Congress finds the following: 
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1 (1) The issues of safety, liability, accountability, 

2 and cost are the paramount issues in running cor3 rections facilities. 

4 (2) In recent years, the privatization of facili5 ties for persons previously incarcerated by govern6 mental entities has resulted in frequent escapes by 

7 violent criminals, riots resulting in extensive dam8 age, prisoner violence, and incidents of prisoner 

9 abuse by staff. 

10 (3) In some instances, the courts have prohib11 ited the transfer of additional convicts to private 

12 prisons because of the danger to prisoners and the 

13 community. 

14 (4) Frequent escapes and riots at private facili15 ties result in expensive law enforcement costs for 

16 State and local governments. 

17 (5) The need to make profits creates incentives 

18 for private contractors to underfund mechanisms 

19 that provide for the security of the facility and the 

20 safety of the inmates, corrections staff, and neigh21 boring community. 

22 (6) The 1997 Supreme Court ruling in Richard23 son v. McKnight that the qualified immunity that 

24 shields State and local correctional officers does not 

25 apply to private prison personnel, and therefore ex-
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1 poses State and local governments to liability for the 

2 actions of private corporations. 

3 (7) Additional liability issues arise when in4 mates are transferred outside the jurisdiction of the 

5 contracting State. 

6 (8) Studies on private correctional facilities 

7 have been unable to demonstrate any significant cost 

8 savings in the privatization of corrections facilities. 

9 (9) The imposition of punishment on errant 

10 citizens through incarceration requires State and 

11 local governments to exercise their coercive police 

12 powers over individuals. These powers, including the 

13 authority to use force over a private citizen, should 

14 not be delegated to another private party. 

15 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON USE OF FEDERAL FUNDS. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Funds provided by the Federal 

17 Government to a State or local government for the pur18 pose of providing core correctional services may not be 

19 used to contract with private contractors or vendors to 

20 provide such activities. 

21 (b) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the 

22 term ‘‘core correctional services’’ means the housing, safe23 guarding, protecting, and disciplining of persons charged 

24 or convicted of an offense. 
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1 SEC. 4. ENHANCING PUBLIC SAFETY AND SECURITY IN THE 

2 DUTIES OF THE BUREAU OF PRISONS. 

3 Section 4042(a) of title 18, United States Code, is 

4 amended—

5 (1) by redesignating paragraph (5) as para6 graph (7); 

7 (2) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

8 (4); and 

9 (3) by inserting after paragraph (4) the fol10 lowing: 

11 ‘‘(5) provide that any penal or correctional fa12 cility or institution except for nonprofit community 

13 correctional confinement, such as halfway houses, 

14 confining any person convicted of offenses against 

15 the United States, shall be under the direction of the 

16 Director of the Bureau of Prisons and shall be man17 aged and maintained by employees of Federal, State, 

18 or local governments; 

19 ‘‘(6) provide that the housing, safeguarding, 

20 protection, and disciplining of any person charged 

21 with or convicted of any offense against the United 

22 States, except such persons in community correc23 tional confinement such as halfway houses, will be 

24 conducted and carried out by individuals who are 
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1 employees of Federal, State, or local governments; 

2 and’’.

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