I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2737 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish an Office of Correctional 

Public Health. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 26, 2005 

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

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. BROWN of Ohio, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. 

PAYNE, Mr. MCDERMOTT, and Mr. GRIJALVA) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish an 

Office of Correctional Public Health. 

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 ‘‘Office of Correctional 

5 Public Health Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDING. 

7 The Congress finds as follows: 

8 (1) Approximately 2.1 million people are incar9 cerated in the United States. 
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1 (2) The number of inmates held in Federal, 

2 State, and private correctional facilities rose 28 per3 cent between midyear 1995 and 2000. 

4 (3) The offender population in jails turns over 

5 between 20 and 25 times each year. 

6 (4) At least 95 percent of those currently incar7 cerated will be released from custody. 

8 (5) Offender populations enter correctional fa9 cilities with a higher rate of infection of chronic and 

10 communicable diseases, including asthma, diabetes, 

11 hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis, than is 

12 present in the general population. 

13 (6) The prevalence of mental illness in correc14 tional facilities is rising. Estimates are that between 

15 14 and 20 percent of jail inmates in 1996 had some 

16 type of anxiety disorder. In State prison facilities, it 

17 is estimated that between 22 and 30 percent have an 

18 anxiety disorder. 

19 (7) The prevalence of AIDS among inmates is 

20 3.5 times higher than among the general population. 

21 (8) An estimated 98,500 to 145,500 HIV-posi22 tive inmates were released from prisons and jails in 

23 1996. 

24 (9) According to estimates, between 12 and 15 

25 percent of all individuals in the United States with 
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1 chronic or current hepatitis B infection in 1996 

2 spent time in a correctional facility that year. 

3 (10) Between 1.3 and 1.4 million inmates re4 leased from prison or jail in 1996 were infected with 

5 hepatitis C. The prevalence of hepatitis C among in6 mates is between 9 and 10 times higher than the es7 timated hepatitis C prevalence in the Nation’s popu8 lation as a whole. In the United States, about 30 

9 percent of the total population with hepatitis C virus 

10 are former prisoners or have a history of incarcer11 ation. 

12 (11) In 1996, an estimated 35 percent of all 

13 those in America who had tuberculosis had served 

14 time in a correctional facility. 

15 (12) According to estimates, substance abuse is 

16 a major characteristic of incoming prisoners. Sev17 enty-five percent of State prisoners, and 80 percent 

18 of Federal prisoners, may be characterized as alco19 hol-involved or drug-involved offenders. 

20 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF CORRECTIONAL 

21 PUBLIC HEALTH. 

22 Title XVII of the Public Health Service Act (42 

23 U.S.C. 300u et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

24 the following section: 
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1 ‘‘OFFICE OF CORRECTIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH

2 ‘‘SEC. 1711. (a) IN GENERAL.—There is established 

3 within the Office of Public Health and Science an office 

4 to be known as the Office of Correctional Public Health 

5 (in this section referred to as the ‘Office’), which shall be 

6 headed by a director appointed by the Secretary. The Sec7 retary shall carry out this section acting through the Di8 rector of the Office. 

9 ‘‘(b) GENERAL DUTIES.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall carry 

11 out public health activities regarding individuals who 

12 are employees in Federal, State, or local penal or 

13 correctional institutions or who are incarcerated in 

14 such institutions (which activities regarding such in15 dividuals are referred to in this section as ‘correc16 tional health activities’, and which individuals are so 

17 referred to collectively as ‘correctional populations’). 

18 Correctional health activities that may be carried out 

19 under the preceding sentence include activities re20 garding disease prevention, health promotion, service 

21 delivery, research, and health professions education. 

22 ‘‘(2) CERTAIN TYPES OF INSTITUTIONS.—The 

23 types of penal or correctional institutions with re24 spect to which this section is authorized to be car25 ried out include facilities in which individuals are 
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1 held pending judicial proceedings (including individ2 uals who are minors), facilities in which individuals 

3 are held pending administrative proceedings of the 

4 Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to citi5 zenship and immigration services, and facilities in 

6 which individuals who are minors are held pursuant 

7 to judicial proceedings in which such individuals are 

8 found, as minors, to have engaged in violations of 

9 law. 

10 ‘‘(c) CERTAIN ACTIVITIES.—In carrying out correc11 tional health activities under subsection (b), the Secretary 

12 shall— 

13 ‘‘(1) coordinate all correctional health programs 

14 within the Department of Health and Human Serv15 ices; 

16 ‘‘(2) provide technical support to State and 

17 local correctional agencies on correctional health 

18 issues; 

19 ‘‘(3) cooperate with other Federal agencies car20 rying out correctional health programs to ensure co21 ordination of such programs; 

22 ‘‘(4) consult with, and provide outreach to, 

23 State directors of correctional health and providers 

24 of correctional health care; 
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1 ‘‘(5) facilitate the exchange of information re2 garding correctional health activities; and 

3 ‘‘(6) facilitate collaboration between correctional 

4 facilities and State and local health departments. 

5 ‘‘(d) GRANTS REGARDING HEPATITIS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consulta7 tion with the Director of the Centers for Disease 

8 Control and Prevention, may make grants to States 

9 for the purpose of providing for correctional popu10 lations screenings, immunizations, and treatment for 

11 hepatitis A, B, and C. 

12 ‘‘(2) DISCRETION OF GRANTEE REGARDING

13 SCOPE OF PROGRAM.—A State receiving a grant 

14 under paragraph (1) may expend the grant for any 

15 or all of the activities authorized in such paragraph. 

16 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENT OF MATCHING FUNDS.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—With respect to the 

18 costs of the program to be carried out under 

19 paragraph (1) by a State, the Secretary may 

20 make a grant under such paragraph only if the 

21 State agrees to make available (directly or 

22 through donations from public or private enti23 ties) non-Federal contributions toward such 

24 costs in an amount not less than 20 percent of 
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1 such costs ($1 for each $4 of Federal funds 

2 provided in the grant). 

3 ‘‘(B) DETERMINATION OF AMOUNT CON4 TRIBUTED.—Non-Federal contributions re5 quired in subparagraph (A) may be in cash or 

6 in kind, fairly evaluated, including plant, equip7 ment, or services. Amounts provided by the 

8 Federal Government, or services assisted or 

9 subsidized to any significant extent by the Fed10 eral Government, may not be included in deter11 mining the amount of such non-Federal con12 tributions. 

13 ‘‘(4) CERTAIN EXPENDITURES OF GRANT.—The 

14 Secretary may make a grant under paragraph (1) 

15 only if, with respect to the activities to be carried 

16 out with the grant pursuant to paragraph (2), the 

17 State agrees that a portion of the grant will be ex18 pended to carry out such activities at penal or cor19 rectional institutions that are not facilities in which 

20 individuals serve terms of imprisonment, including 

21 facilities in which individuals are held pending judi22 cial proceedings. 

23 ‘‘(e) ANNUAL REPORT.—The Secretary shall annu24 ally submit to the Congress a report describing the correc25 tional health activities carried out under this section. The 
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1 report shall include a description of the status of correc2 tional health activities in the United States. 

3 ‘‘(f) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION REGARDING AGENCY

4 JURISDICTION.—With respect to correctional health pro5 grams that are carried out by agencies of the Public 

6 Health Service and were in operation as of the day before 

7 the date of the enactment of the Office of Correctional 

8 Public Health Act of 2005, this section may not be con9 strued as requiring the Secretary to transfer jurisdiction 

10 for the programs from such agencies to the office estab11 lished in subsection (a). 

12 ‘‘(g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For the purpose of car14 rying out this section, other than subsection (d), 

15 there are authorized to be appropriated such sums 

16 as may be necessary for each of the fiscal years 

17 2006 through 2010. 

18 ‘‘(2) GRANTS REGARDING HEPATITIS.—For the 

19 purpose of carrying out subsection (d), there are au20 thorized to be appropriated $15,000,000 for each of 

21 the fiscal years 2006 through 2008, and $5,000,000 

22 for each of the fiscal years 2009 and 2010.’’. 

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