I

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 569

To authorize the National Institute of Corrections to make grants to States

to carry out family unity demonstration projects; and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 25, 1993

Mr. WASHINGTON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To authorize the National Institute of Corrections to make

grants to States to carry out family unity demonstration

projects; 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 TITLE I—GENERAL PROVISIONS

4 SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE.

5 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Family Unity Dem6 onstration Project Act of 1993’’.

7 SEC. 102. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

8 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:

9 (1) An increasing number of children are be10 coming separated from their primary caretaker par-
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1 ents due to the incarceration of such parents in pris2 ons and jails.

3 (2) This separation of children from their pri4 mary caretaker parents can cause irreparable harm

5 to the children’s psychological well-being and hinder

6 their growth and development.

7 (3) A significant number of children are born

8 shortly before or during the incarceration of their

9 mothers and are then quickly separated from their

10 mothers, preventing the parent-child bonding that is

11 crucial to developing in children a sense of security

12 and trust.

13 (4) Maintaining close relationships with their

14 children provides a powerful incentive for prisoners

15 to participate in and successfully benefit from reha16 bilitative programs.

17 (5) Maintaining strong family ties during im18 prisonment has been shown to decrease recidivism,

19 thereby reducing prison costs.

20 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

21 (1) to create demonstration projects designed to

22 alleviate the harm to children and primary caretaker

23 parents caused by separation due to the incarcer24 ation of such parents,
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1 (2) to promote development of policies to assign

2 prisoners whenever possible to correctional facilities

3 for which they qualify closest to their family homes,

4 (3) to reduce prison populations,

5 (4) to reduce recidivism rates of prisoners by

6 encouraging strong and supportive family relation7 ships, and

8 (5) to reduce the cost of providing correctional

9 services and maintaining traditional correctional fa10 cilities by decreasing recidivism and maintaining

11 community correctional facilities at lower cost.

12 SEC. 103. DEFINITIONS.

13 For purposes of this Act:

14 (1) ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The term ‘‘Attorney

15 General’’ means the Attorney General of the United

16 States.

17 (2) CHILD.—The term ‘‘child’’ means an indi18 vidual who is less than 6 years of age.

19 (3) COMMUNITY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY.—

20 The term ‘‘community correctional facility’’ means a

21 residential facility that—

22 (A) is used only for eligible prisoners and

23 their children,

24 (B) is neither physically part of, nor in the

25 vicinity of, a jail or prison,
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1 (C) is located in a nonrural area,

2 (D) has a maximum capacity of 25 pris3 oners in addition to their children, and

4 (E) provides to residents—

5 (i) a safe, wholesome, stable, caring,

6 and stimulating environment for children,

7 under the supervision of child development

8 professionals,

9 (ii) pediatric and adult medical care

10 consistent with medical standards,

11 (iii) culturally sensitive programs to

12 improve the stability of the parent-child re13 lationship, including educating parents re14 garding—

15 (I) child development, and

16 (II) household management,

17 (iv) alcoholism and drug addiction

18 treatment for prisoners and age-appro19 priate substance abuse education for their

20 children,

21 (v) programs and support services to

22 help residents—

23 (I) to improve and maintain men24 tal and physical health, including ac-
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1 cess to counseling and other commu2 nity services,

3 (II) to obtain adequate housing

4 upon release from State incarceration,

5 (III) to obtain suitable education,

6 employment, or training for employ7 ment, and

8 (IV) to obtain suitable child care.

9 (4) ELIGIBLE PRISONER.—The term ‘‘eligible

10 prisoner’’ means a primary caretaker parent who—

11 (A) is sentenced to a term of imprisonment

12 of not more than 10 years,

13 (B) is incarcerated currently to serve such

14 sentence,

15 (C) is not eligible currently for probation

16 or parole until the expiration of a period ex17 ceeding 180 days, and

18 (D) has never been convicted of—

19 (i) homicide,

20 (ii) inflicting, or threatening to inflict,

21 serious bodily injury on another individual,

22 for which the term of imprisonment ex23 ceeds 1 year,

24 (iii) kidnapping,
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1 (iv) child neglect or mental, physical,

2 or sexual abuse of a child,

3 (v) forcible rape, or

4 (vi) sodomy or oral copulation, by

5 force.

6 (5) INSTITUTE.—The term ‘‘Institute’’ means

7 the National Institute of Corrections.

8 (6) PRIMARY CARETAKER PARENT.—The term

9 ‘‘primary caretaker parent’’ means—

10 (A) a parent who—

11 (i) has exclusive legal custody of a

12 child, and

13 (ii) before incarceration, assumed re14 sponsibility for the housing (including tem15 porary placement in the home of a respon16 sible adult), health, and safety of such par17 ent’s child, or

18 (B) a woman who gives birth to a child

19 during, or in the 1-year period preceding, the

20 term for which such woman is currently incar21 cerated.

22 (7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of

23 the several States or the District of Columbia.
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1 SEC. 104. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

2 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—There is authorized to be ap3 propriated $8,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 1993,

4 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997 to carry out this Act.

5 (b) AVAILABILITY OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Of the

6 amount appropriated under subsection (a) for any fiscal

7 year—

8 (1) 80 percent shall be available to carry out

9 title II, and

10 (2) 20 percent shall be available to carry out

11 title III.

12 TITLE II—GRANTS TO STATES

13 SEC. 201. AUTHORITY TO MAKE GRANTS.

14 (a) GENERAL AUTHORITY.—The Director of the In15 stitute is authorized to make grants, on a competitive

16 basis, to States to carry out in accordance with this title

17 family unity demonstration projects that enable eligible

18 prisoners to live in community correctional facilities with

19 their children.

20 (b) PREFERENCE.—For the purpose of making

21 grants under subsection (a), the Institute shall give pref22 erence to any eligible State that includes in the application

23 required by section 202 assurances that if such State re24 ceives such a grant—

25 (1) both the State corrections agency and the

26 State health and human services agency will partici-
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1 pate substantially in, and cooperate closely in all as2 pects of, the development and operation of the fam3 ily unity demonstration project for which such a

4 grant is requested,

5 (2) public and nonprofit private community6 based organizations will be integrally involved in car7 rying out such project, both in an advisory capacity

8 and as contractors,

9 (3) boards made up of community residents,

10 local businesses, corrections officials, former pris11 oners, child development professionals, educators,

12 and maternal and child health professionals will be

13 established to advise the State regarding the oper14 ation of such project,

15 (4) the State will show a commitment to using

16 community placement as an alternative to traditional

17 incarceration, to decrease the prison population and

18 not as an alternative to placement in halfway

19 houses,

20 (5) the State will target economically disadvan21 taged, incarcerated prisoners and their children for

22 participation in such project,

23 (6) the State has in effect a policy that provides

24 for the placement of all prisoners, whenever possible,
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1 in correctional facilities for which they qualify that

2 are located closest to their respective family homes,

3 (7) the State will implement such project not

4 later than 180 days after receiving a grant under

5 subsection (a) and will expend all of such grant dur6 ing a 1-year period, and

7 (8) for the purpose of selecting eligible pris8 oners to participate in such project, the State will—

9 (A) give written notice to a prisoner, not

10 later than 30 days after the State first receives

11 a grant under subsection (a) or 30 days after

12 such prisoner is sentenced to a term of impris13 onment of not more than 10 years (whichever

14 is later), of the proposed or current operation

15 of such project, as the case may be,

16 (B) accept at any time such project is in

17 operation an application by such prisoner to

18 participate in such project if, at the time of ap19 plication, the remainder of the sentence of such

20 prisoner exceeds 180 days,

21 (C) review applications by prisoners in the

22 sequence in which the State receives such appli23 cations,

24 (D) not less than 10 days before reviewing

25 a particular application to participate in such
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1 project, the State will give to the prisoner who

2 submitted such application and to each care3 taker, custodian, or guardian of the child of

4 such prisoner written notice that—

5 (i) the State will review such applica6 tion,

7 (ii) for the purpose of such review,

8 there is a rebuttable presumption that it is

9 in the best interest of such child to resume

10 living with such prisoner if such applica11 tion is approved, and

12 (iii) the State will accept from the re13 cipients of such notice comments with re14 spect to such application, and

15 (E) not more than 40 days after giving

16 such notice—

17 (i) approve or disapprove such appli18 cation, and

19 (ii) give such prisoner and such care20 taker, custodian, or guardian written no21 tice of, and a statement of the reasons for,

22 the approval or disapproval of such appli23 cation.

24 (c) SELECTION OF GRANTEES.—The Institute shall

25 make grants under subsection (a) on a competitive basis,
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1 based on such criteria as the Institute shall issue by rule

2 and taking into account the preference required by sub3 section (b).

4 (d) NUMBER OF GRANTS.—In any fiscal year for

5 which funds are available to carry out this title, the Insti6 tute shall make grants to 5 eligible States geographically

7 dispersed throughout all regions of the United States.

8 SEC. 202. ELIGIBILITY TO RECEIVE GRANTS.

9 To be eligible to receive a grant under section 201(a),

10 a State shall submit to the Institute an application at such

11 time, in such form, and containing such information, as

12 the Institute reasonably may require by rule.

13 SEC. 203. REPORT.

14 Each State that receives a grant under this title shall

15 submit a report to the Institute regarding the family unity

16 demonstration project for which such grant is expended.

17 Such report shall be submitted not later than 90 days

18 after the 1-year period in which such grant is required

19 to be expended. Such report shall—

20 (1) specify the number of prisoners who submit21 ted, in such 1-year period, applications to participate

22 in such project and the number of prisoners who

23 were placed in such project,
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1 (2) specify, with respect to prisoners placed in

2 such project, the number of prisoners who returned

3 from such project to prison or jail,

4 (3) a description of the nature and scope of

5 educational and training activities provided to pris6 oners participating in such project, and

7 (4) specify the number, and describe the scope

8 of, contracts made with public and nonprofit private

9 community-based organizations to carry out such

10 project.

11 TITLE III—FAMILY UNITY DEMONSTRATION

12 PROJECT FOR FEDERAL PRISONERS

13 SEC. 301. AUTHORITY OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.

14 With funds available to carry out this title for the

15 benefit of federal prisoners and acting through the Bureau

16 of Prisons, the Attorney General shall carry out a family

17 unity demonstration project that enables eligible prisoners

18 to live in community correctional facilities with their

19 children.

20 SEC. 302. REQUIREMENTS.

21 For the purpose of carrying out a family unity dem22 onstration project under section 301, the Attorney General

23 shall—

24 (1) comply with the requirements specified in

25 paragraphs (2), (3), (4), (5), (7), and (8) of section
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1 201(b) to the extent a recipient of a grant under

2 section 201(a) is required to comply with such

3 requirements,

4 (2) consult with the Secretary of Health and

5 Human Services regarding the development and op6 eration of such project, and

7 (3) submit to the National Institute of Correc8 tions a report of the kind described, and at the time

9 specified, in section 203 regarding the operation of

10 such project.

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