I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8131 

To improve the oversight of inmate accounts, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 26, 2024 

Mr. GOODEN of Texas (for himself, Mr. TIFFANY, and Mr. WEBER of Texas) 

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the 

Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Financial Services, for 

a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To improve the oversight of inmate accounts, 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 ‘‘Bureau of Prisons In5 mate Trust Fund Accountability Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PRISON INMATE FUNDS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 303 of title 18, United 

8 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 4044 

9 the following: 


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1 ‘‘§ 4044A. Oversight of inmate funds 

2 ‘‘(a) CENTRALIZATION AND DIGITIZATION.—Not 

3 later than September 30, 2025, the Director of the Bu4 reau of Prisons, in coordination with the Director of the 

5 Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, shall centralize 

6 access to and digitize covered inmate accounts. 

7 ‘‘(b) MONITORING.—Not later than September 30, 

8 2025, and every 6 months thereafter, the Director of the 

9 Bureau of Prisons, in coordination with the Director of 

10 the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, shall monitor 

11 covered inmate accounts to deter and report illicit finan12 cial activity. 

13 ‘‘(c) MONTHLY ACCOUNT INFORMATION TRANS14 FERS.—Not later than September 30, 2025, and every 

15 month thereafter, the Director of the Bureau of Prisons 

16 shall transfer any pertinent account information, including 

17 deposits and withdrawals, to the Treasury Offset Program 

18 of the Department of Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal 

19 Service and the Office of Child Support Enforcement of 

20 the Department of Health and Human Services. 

21 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION OF TOP TO PRISONER TRUST

22 FUNDS.—Covered inmate accounts shall be subject to the 

23 Treasury Offset Program, operated by the Department of 

24 the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service, with respect 

25 to any funds exceeding $500 for a fiscal year. 


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1 ‘‘(e) DEBT COLLECTION.—In carrying out subsection 

2 (d), the following shall apply: 

3 ‘‘(1) PRIORITIZATION.—Payments shall be 

4 prioritized as follows: 

5 ‘‘(A) Victim restitution. 

6 ‘‘(B) Child support. 

7 ‘‘(C) Other outstanding debts. 

8 ‘‘(2) MANAGEMENT.—Appropriate efforts shall 

9 be made to assist the inmate in making reasonable 

10 payments to satisfy the debts of the inmate. 

11 ‘‘(f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

12 ‘‘(1) COVERED INMATE ACCOUNTS.—The term 

13 ‘covered inmate accounts’ means each inmate ac14 count in the following trust funds: 

15 ‘‘(A) Funds of Federal prisoners. 

16 ‘‘(B) Commissary funds, Federal prisons. 

17 ‘‘(2) DIRECTOR OF THE BUREAU OF PRIONS.— 

18 The term ‘Director of the Bureau of Prisons’ means 

19 the Attorney General, acting through the Director of 

20 the Bureau of Prisons. 

21 ‘‘(3) DIRECTOR OF THE FINANCIAL CRIMES EN22 FORCEMENT NETWORK.—The term ‘Director of the 

23 Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’ means the 

24 Secretary of the Treasure, acting through the Direc25 tor of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.’’. 


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

2 for chapter 303 of title 18, United States Code, is amend3 ed by inserting after the item related to section 4044 the 

4 following: 

‘‘4044A. Oversight of inmate funds.’’. 

5 SEC. 3. BUREAU OF PRISONS SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY RE6 PORTS. 

7 Section 5318(g) of title 31, United States Code, is 

8 amended— 

9 (1) by redesignating paragraph (11) as para10 graph (12); and 

11 (2) by inserting after paragraph (10) the fol12 lowing: 

13 ‘‘(11) REPORTING BY THE BUREAU OF PRIS14 ONS.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The requirement to 

16 report a suspicious transaction under this sub17 section shall apply to the Attorney General (act18 ing through the Director of the Bureau of Pris19 ons), with respect to transactions in a covered 

20 trust fund, to the same extent as such require21 ment applies to financial institutions. 

22 ‘‘(B) COVERED TRUST FUND DEFINED.— 

23 In this paragraph, the term ‘covered inmate ac24 counts’ means each inmate account in the fol25 lowing trust funds: 


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1 ‘‘(i) Funds of Federal prisoners. 

2 ‘‘(ii) Commissary funds, Federal pris3 ons.’’. 

4 SEC. 4. TASK FORCE. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General (in con6 sultation with the Director of the Bureau of Prisons and 

7 the Director of the Executive Office for United States At8 torneys), the Director of the Administrative Office of the 

9 United States Courts, the Secretary of Health and Human 

10 Services (in consultation with the Commissioner of the Of11 fice of Child Support Enforcement), the Secretary of the 

12 Treasury, and the Director of the United States Marshals 

13 Service, shall establish a joint task force (referred to in 

14 this section as the ‘‘Inmate Financial Accountability Task 

15 Force’’)— 

16 (1) to develop a strategic plan to improve the 

17 criminal and civil debt collection process and estab18 lish an effective coordination mechanism among each 

19 entity involved in such process; and 

20 (2) to develop a strategic plan to improve over21 sight of Bureau of Prison Inmate Trust Fund Ac22 counts for detecting and deterring illicit financial ac23 tivity and money laundering. 


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1 (b) REQUIRED REVIEW OF PROCEDURES.—Not later 

2 than 180 days after the date of enactment of this section, 

3 the Inmate Financial Accountability Task Force shall— 

4 (1) review the long-standing problems in the 

5 collection of outstanding criminal and civil debt, in6 cluding fragmented processes and lack of coordina7 tion; 

8 (2) review and enhance training and examina9 tion procedures to improve the capabilities of crimi10 nal and civil debt reporting and collection by Federal 

11 agencies; 

12 (3) recommend the proper accounting, report13 ing, collecting, and managing of criminal and civil 

14 debt eligible for referral to Treasury for collection 

15 actions; 

16 (4) review and enhance training and examina17 tions procedures to improve the capabilities of anti18 money laundering to detect financial transactions re19 lating to Bureau of Prison Inmate Trust Fund Ac20 counts; 

21 (5) review and enhance procedures for referring 

22 potential cases relating to money laundering and il23 licit financial activity to the appropriate law enforce24 ment agency; and 


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1 (6) determine, as appropriate, whether require2 ments for Bureau of Prisons are sufficient to detect 

3 and deter money laundering relating to Bureau of 

4 Prison Inmate Trust Fund Accounts. 

5 (c) REPORTS.— 

6 (1) CRIMINAL AND CIVIL DEBT COLLECTION

7 REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 

8 the enactment of this section, the Inmate Financial 

9 Accountability Task Force shall submit to the Com10 mittee on Financial Services and the Committee on 

11 the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, the 

12 Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs 

13 and the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate, 

14 a report containing— 

15 (A) an analysis of criminal and civil debt 

16 collection efforts of the United States Govern17 ment; 

18 (B) appropriate legislative, administrative, 

19 and other recommendations to strengthen 

20 criminal and civil debt collection processes; and 

21 (C) required recommendations, including— 

22 (i) feedback from stakeholders, includ23 ing victims of crime advocacy groups, such 

24 as the National Association of Victim As25 sistance Administrators, National AssociaVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 May 15, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8131.IH H8131

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1 tion of Victim Compensation Board Ad2 ministrators, National Child Support En3 forcement Association, National Tribal 

4 Child Support Association, National Attor5 ney General Association, Council of Prison 

6 Locals 33, and financial institutions, on 

7 policy proposals derived from the analysis 

8 conducted by the Inmate Financial Ac9 countability Task Force that would en10 hance the efforts and programs of Federal 

11 and State agencies to improve criminal and 

12 civil debt reporting and collection, includ13 ing any recommended changes to internal 

14 policies, procedures, and controls; 

15 (ii) any recommended changes to ex16 pand information sharing relating to crimi17 nal and civil debt reporting and collection 

18 between financial institutions, appropriate 

19 law enforcement agencies, appropriate 

20 State agencies, and appropriate Federal 

21 agencies; 

22 (iii) any recommended changes to en23 hance the efforts and programs of Federal 

24 and State agencies to improve criminal and 

25 civil debt reporting and collection and exVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:22 May 15, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8131.IH H8131

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1 pand information sharing of the Bureau of 

2 Prison Trust Fund Inmate Trust Fund 

3 Accounts with appropriate law enforcement 

4 agencies; and 

5 (iv) any recommended changes, if nec6 essary, to existing statutes to more effec7 tively report and collect criminal and civil 

8 debt. 

9 (2) ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING REPORT.—Not 

10 later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this 

11 section, the Inmate Financial Accountability Task 

12 Force shall submit to the Committee on Financial 

13 Services and the Committee on the Judiciary of the 

14 House of Representatives, the Committee on Bank15 ing, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the Committee 

16 on the Judiciary of the Senate, a report con17 taining— 

18 (A) an analysis of anti-money laundering 

19 efforts of the United States Government and 

20 United States financial institutions relating to 

21 Bureau of Prison Inmate Trust Fund Accounts; 

22 (B) appropriate legislative, administrative, 

23 and other recommendations to improve anti24 money laundering efforts relating to Bureau of 

25 Prison Inmate Trust Fund Accounts; and 


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1 (C) required recommendations, including— 

2 (i) feedback from Federal agencies on 

3 best practices of successful programs re4 lated to anti-money laundering efforts in 

5 place that may be suitable for broader 

6 adoption by the Director of the Bureau of 

7 Prison; 

8 (ii) feedback from stakeholders, in9 cluding law enforcement agencies and fi10 nancial institutions, on policy proposals de11 rived from the analysis conducted by the 

12 Inmate Financial Accountability Task 

13 Force that would enhance anti-money 

14 laundering efforts and oversight of Bureau 

15 of Prison Inmate Trust Fund Accounts, in16 cluding any recommended changes to inter17 nal policies, procedures, and controls to 

18 improve anti-money laundering efforts; 

19 (iii) any recommended changes to 

20 training programs at the Bureau of Pris21 ons to better equip employees to deter and 

22 detect money laundering relating to Bu23 reau of Prison Inmate Trust Fund Ac24 counts; and 


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1 (iv) recommended changes, if nec2 essary, to existing statute to more effec3 tively detect and deter money laundering 

4 relating to Bureau of Prison Inmate Trust 

5 Fund Accounts. 

6 (d) LIMITATION.—Nothing in this section shall be 

7 construed to grant rulemaking authority to the Task 

8 Force. 

9 (e) BUREAU OF PRISON INMATE TRUST FUND AC10 COUNTS.—In this section, the term ‘‘Bureau of Prison In11 mate Trust Fund Accounts’’ refers to the following trust 

12 funds: 

13 (1) Funds of Federal prisoners. 

14 (2) Commissary funds, Federal prisons. 

Æ 


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