I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 9929 

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 certain corrections officers. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 4, 2024 

Mrs. MILLER-MEEKS 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 certain 

corrections officers. 

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 ‘‘Corrections Officer 

5 Blake Schwarz Suicide Prevention Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM. 

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 days after 

8 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney GenVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:07 Oct 22, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9929.IH H9929

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1 eral shall establish a grant program (hereinafter referred 

2 to as the ‘‘Program’’) to implement and administer mental 

3 health screenings to corrections officers at an eligible de4 tention center and refer such individuals to mental 

5 healthcare providers, as applicable. 

6 (b) GRANT AUTHORITY.—In carrying out the Pro7 gram, the Attorney General may award a grant on a com8 petitive basis to an eligible recipient in accordance with 

9 this section. 

10 (c) APPLICATION.—The Attorney General may award 

11 a grant under the Program to a State or locality, deter12 mined by the Attorney General to carry out a project de13 scribed in subsection (d). 

14 (d) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS.— 

15 (1) HIRING REQUIREMENT.—To be eligible for 

16 a grant under the Program, a State or locality shall 

17 hire a mental health liaison staff member for eligible 

18 detention centers under its jurisdiction. One mental 

19 health liaison staff member may cover multiple eligi20 ble detention centers. The mental health liaison staff 

21 member shall be responsible for— 

22 (A) coordinating efforts between the eligi23 ble detention center and mental health pro24 viders in the local region to help corrections of25 ficers; 


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1 (B) coordinating with the Advisory Board 

2 to ensure that the Program is operating in ac3 cordance with this section; and 

4 (C) overseeing and coordinating activities 

5 of the outreach team (as described in subsection 

6 (g)). 

7 (2) PLAN.—To be eligible for a grant under the 

8 Program, a State or locality shall submit a plan to 

9 the Advisory Board established under section 4 ex10 plaining how the Program established shall meet the 

11 criteria under subsection (e). 

12 (e) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—Grant funds awarded 

13 under the Program may only be used to: 

14 (1) Develop and administer a brief mental 

15 health screening survey as required under subsection 

16 (f). 

17 (2) Develop any technology necessary for an eli18 gible detention center to provide the survey under 

19 paragraph (1). 

20 (3) Hire any staff necessary for an eligible de21 tention center to provide the survey under paragraph 

22 (1). 

23 (4) Establish an outreach team pursuant to 

24 subsection (g) to refer a correctional officer, if their 

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1 ness, to a local mental healthcare provider for fur2 ther assessment and outreach, admission (when nec3 essary), and support for that officer in re-estab4 lishing ties with a mental health provider. 

5 (5) Pay the salary or overtime pay of an out6 reach team as established pursuant to subsection 

7 (g), including providing direct funding to an eligible 

8 detention center to compensate staff members. 

9 (f) BRIEF MENTAL HEALTH SCREENING SURVEY.— 

10 The mental health screening survey developed and admin11 istered under subsection (e) shall: 

12 (1) Be composed of 5 to 10 questions. 

13 (2) Be based on the questions and content of 

14 the Employee Assistance Program standard mental 

15 health screening or the Bureau of Prisons initial 

16 mental health screening standard. 

17 (3) Seek to identify severe mental illnesses, in18 cluding schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major 

19 depression. 

20 (4) Ask individuals about the symptoms of se21 vere mental illness they may be experiencing or have 

22 experienced and any prior use of mental health-re23 lated medications or inpatient care. 

24 (5) Identify the individual’s place of residence. 


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1 (6) Be administered by a trained staff member 

2 at the eligible detention center to all corrections offi3 cers. 

4 (g) OUTREACH TEAM.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—A referral to a mental 

6 healthcare provider, pursuant to subsection (e), shall 

7 be made by a mental health outreach team that is 

8 composed of— 

9 (A) mental healthcare professionals and 

10 clinicians from mental healthcare centers local 

11 to the eligible detention center; 

12 (B) staff from the eligible detention center, 

13 when applicable; and 

14 (C) a mental health liaison staff member 

15 who shall oversee the outreach team. 

16 (2) ALERT.—If an individual has been deter17 mined to need a referral to a mental healthcare pro18 vider, the mental health outreach team shall be noti19 fied immediately by eligible detention center staff 

20 and informed, when applicable. 

21 SEC. 3. BUREAU OF PRISONS. 

22 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact23 ment of this Act, the Director of the Bureau of Prisons 

24 shall establish a program that is substantially similar to 

25 the Program established under section 2 to implement and 


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1 administer mental health screenings to corrections officers 

2 at eligible detention centers and refer such officers to men3 tal healthcare providers, as applicable. 

4 SEC. 4. ADVISORY BOARD ON PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 60 days after 

6 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney Gen7 eral shall establish an Advisory Board to manage and ad8 minister the Program under section 2, with the responsi9 bility to: 

10 (1) Evaluate and approve the plans submitted 

11 by a State or locality as required under section 2 

12 and to ensure that grant funding is used as specified 

13 under section 2. 

14 (2) Monitor plans submitted by the Bureau of 

15 Prisons and advise the Attorney General on compli16 ance to ensure that funding to the Bureau of Pris17 ons is used as specified under section 2. 

18 (3) Provide technical assistance to a State or 

19 locality to help with the implementation and admin20 istration of mental health screening and referral pro21 grams. 

22 (4) Create a working group of mental 

23 healthcare providers, jail and prison administrators, 

24 law enforcement officials, and operators of existing 

25 mental health screening and referral programs to 


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1 share best practices on how to create and implement 

2 mental health screening and referral programs that 

3 have the largest impact on reducing crime rates and 

4 improving employment and wage rates for individ5 uals released from prison or jail. 

6 (5) Work in coordination with mental health 

7 outreach teams as established under section 2, to en8 sure that the Program is operating as required. 

9 (6) Determine if a grant awarded by the Pro10 gram is not meeting the requirements of the Pro11 gram and mandate necessary changes and reduce 

12 funding if such changes are not made. 

13 (b) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Advisory Board 

14 shall provide technical assistance to the Bureau of Pris15 ons, States, and localities in setting up and administering 

16 the Program and shall identify evidence-backed models for 

17 the administration of mental health screening and referral 

18 programs that the Bureau of Prisons, States, and local19 ities can look to when designing their own programs. 

20 (c) MEMBERSHIP.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 

22 appoint members to serve on the Advisory Board es23 tablished under subsection (a) who have expertise 

24 with respect to— 


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1 (A) designing and administering mental 

2 health screenings and providing referrals for 

3 corrections officers; 

4 (B) mental healthcare within prisons or 

5 jails; or 

6 (C) program evaluation using rigorous ex7 perimental and quasi-experimental statistical 

8 methods. 

9 (2) NUMBER OF MEMBERS.—The Attorney 

10 General shall appoint as many members to the Advi11 sory Board established under subsection (a) as 

12 deemed necessary by the Attorney General. 

13 SEC. 5. FUNDING. 

14 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—There is authorized to be ap15 propriated to the Attorney General to carry out this Act— 

16 (1) $50,000,000 for fiscal year 2025; 

17 (2) $55,000,000 for fiscal year 2026; 

18 (3) $60,000,000 for fiscal year 2027; 

19 (4) $65,000,000 for fiscal year 2028; and 

20 (5) $70,000,000 for fiscal year 2029. 

21 (b) DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.—Of the amounts 

22 made available under subsection (a), the Attorney General 

23 shall use— 


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1 (1) 90 percent of such amount for a grant pro2 gram under sections 2 and 3, as applicable, of 

3 which— 

4 (A) 20 percent shall go to the Bureau of 

5 Prisons for screening and referral implementa6 tion activities at Federal prisons; 

7 (B) 20 percent shall go to States as com8 petitive grants to carry out screening and refer9 ral implementation activities at State prisons; 

10 and 

11 (C) 50 percent shall go to localities as 

12 competitive grants to carry out screening and 

13 referral implementation activities at locally-ad14 ministered jails; 

15 (2) 5 percent of such amount to carry out eval16 uation activities under section 5; and 

17 (3) 5 percent of such amount for the Advisory 

18 Board to provide technical assistance to the Bureau 

19 of Prisons, States, and localities and for general op20 erations as described in section 4. 

21 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

22 In this Act: 

23 (1) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any 

24 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 

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1 lands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Common2 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 

3 (2) LOCALITY.—The term ‘‘locality’’ means any 

4 city, county, township, town, borough, parish, vil5 lage, or other general purpose political subdivision of 

6 a State. 

7 (3) MENTAL HEALTHCARE PROVIDER.—The 

8 term ‘‘mental healthcare provider’’ means a fully-li9 censed professional or group of professionals who di10 agnose mental health conditions and provide mental 

11 health treatment, and who operate near to the rel12 evant jail or prison. Mental healthcare providers may 

13 provide services at hospitals or at private clinics. 

14 (4) MENTAL HEALTHCARE CENTER.— The 

15 term ‘‘mental healthcare center’’ means any facility 

16 where one or more mental healthcare providers offer 

17 mental health services, such as a hospital or private 

18 clinic. 

19 (5) JAIL OR PRISON ADMINISTRATOR.—The 

20 term ‘‘jail or prison administrator’’ means any indi21 vidual who has been appointed to a supervisory posi22 tion in a Federal, State, or local incarceration facil23 ity by the Federal Government, a State, or a local24 ity. 


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1 (6) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.—The term 

2 ‘‘law enforcement official’’ means any officer of an 

3 entity administered by a locality, State, or the Fed4 eral Government that exists primarily to prevent and 

5 detect crime and enforce criminal laws who is des6 ignated by the leadership of that entity to represent 

7 the entity. 

8 (7) CORRECTIONS OFFICERS.—Any officer or 

9 employee of any prison, jail, or other detention facil10 ity, operated by, or under contract to, a Federal gov11 ernmental agency, whose job responsibilities include 

12 providing for the custody of incarcerated individuals. 

13 (8) ELIGIBLE DETENTION CENTER.—The term 

14 ‘‘eligible detention center’’ means any prison or jail 

15 administered by the Bureau of Prisons or a State or 

16 any jail administered by a State or locality. 

17 (9) SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESS.—The term ‘‘se18 vere mental illness’’ means one or more mental, be19 havioral, or emotional disorders that results in seri20 ous functional impairment and substantially inter21 feres with or limits major life activities. 

Æ 


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