I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8397 

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 individuals in prison or jail. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 14, 2024 

Ms. SHERRILL 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 individuals in prison or jail. 

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 ‘‘Improving Mental 

5 Healthcare in the Re-Entry System 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 04:53 Jun 25, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8397.IH H8397

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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 individuals at intake into an eligible 

4 detention center and refer such individuals to mental 

5 healthcare providers before or immediately after exit from 

6 an eligible detention center, as applicable. 

7 (b) GRANT AUTHORITY.—In carrying out the Pro8 gram, the Attorney General may award a grant on a com9 petitive basis to an eligible recipient in accordance with 

10 this section. 

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

12 a grant under the Program to a State or locality, deter13 mined by the Attorney General to carry out a project de14 scribed in subsection (d). 

15 (d) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS.— 

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

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

18 hire a mental health liaison staff member for each 

19 eligible detention center under its jurisdiction. If an 

20 eligible detention center has a small enough popu21 lation, subject to approval by the Advisory Board, 

22 one mental health liaison staff member may cover 

23 multiple detention centers. The mental health liaison 

24 staff member shall be responsible for— 


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1 (A) coordinating efforts between the prison 

2 or jail and mental health providers in the local 

3 region to help individuals currently or formerly 

4 in prison or jail access mental healthcare; 

5 (B) coordinating with the Advisory Board 

6 to ensure that the Program is operating in ac7 cordance with this section; and 

8 (C) overseeing and coordinating activities 

9 of the outreach team (as described in subsection 

10 (g)). 

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

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

13 the Advisory Board explaining how the Program es14 tablished shall meet the criteria under subsection 

15 (e). 

16 (3) RELEVANT DATA.—To be eligible for a 

17 grant under the Program, a State or locality shall 

18 partner with the Advisory Board and an independent 

19 research organization to evaluate the impact of their 

20 program as a condition of receiving a grant, and are 

21 also required to share relevant data with the Advi22 sory Board and the research organization contracted 

23 with by the Attorney General as specified by section 

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1 tal health screen and referral program and their ar2 rest, arraignment, and incarceration rates. 

3 (e) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—Grant funds awarded 

4 under the Program may only be used to: 

5 (1) Develop and administer a brief mental 

6 health screening survey as required under subsection 

7 (f). 

8 (2) Develop any technology necessary for a pris9 on or jail to provide the survey under paragraph (1). 

10 (3) Hire any staff necessary for a prison or jail 

11 to provide the survey under paragraph (1). 

12 (4) Establish an outreach team pursuant to 

13 subsection (g) to refer an individual, if their re14 sponses to the survey indicate severe mental illness, 

15 to a local mental healthcare provider for further as16 sessment and outreach, admission (when necessary), 

17 and support for that individual in re-establishing ties 

18 with a mental health provider. 

19 (5) Pay the salary or overtime pay of an out20 reach team as established pursuant to subsection 

21 (g), including providing direct funding to a prison, 

22 jail, or mental health center to compensate staff 

23 members. 


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1 (f) BRIEF MENTAL HEALTH SCREENING SURVEY.— 

2 The mental health screening survey developed and admin3 istered under subsection (e) shall: 

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

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

6 the Brief Jail Mental Health Screen (BJMHS). 

7 (3) Seek to identify severe mental illnesses, in8 cluding schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major 

9 depression. 

10 (4) Ask individuals about the symptoms of se11 vere mental illness they may be experiencing or have 

12 experienced and any prior use of mental health-re13 lated medications or inpatient care. 

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

15 (6) Be administered by a trained staff member 

16 at the jail or prison to all entering individuals who 

17 are incarcerated in the jail or prison and to all in18 carcerated individuals who entered the jail or prison 

19 before the survey was implemented. 

20 (g) OUTREACH TEAM.— 

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

22 healthcare provider, as described in subsection (e), 

23 shall be made by a mental health outreach team that 

24 is composed of— 


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1 (A) mental healthcare professionals and 

2 clinicians from mental healthcare centers local 

3 to the prison or jail; 

4 (B) staff from the jail or prison, when ap5 plicable; and 

6 (C) a mental health liaison staff member 

7 who shall oversee the outreach team. 

8 (2) ALERT.—If an individual has been deter9 mined to need a referral to a mental healthcare pro10 vider, the mental health outreach team shall be noti11 fied immediately by jail or prison staff and in12 formed, when applicable, of the individual’s release 

13 date from such jail or prison and the individual’s 

14 trial date. 

15 (3) CONTACT ATTEMPTS REQUIRED.— 

16 (A) IN GENERAL.—A mental health out17 reach team member shall first attempt to con18 tact an individual that has been determined to 

19 need a referral to a mental healthcare provider 

20 in person at the jail or prison, before such indi21 vidual is released. If in person contact was not 

22 made before such individual was released from 

23 prison or jail, the outreach team member shall 

24 attempt to contact via telephone such individual 

25 within 24 hours, and at the latest within 48 


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1 hours, of their release from jail or prison for 

2 the purpose of making the mental health refer3 ral. The mental health outreach team member 

4 shall not need to contact the individual via tele5 phone after release if such contact was made in 

6 person. 

7 (B) ADDITIONAL CONTACTS.—A mental 

8 health outreach team member shall make at 

9 least three attempts at telephone contact for 

10 each individual that has been determined to 

11 need a referral to a mental healthcare provider 

12 if in person contact before release was not 

13 made. If phone contact is unsuccessful, a men14 tal health outreach team member shall attempt 

15 to contact the individual in person at their 

16 place of residence, as provided on the mental 

17 health survey. 

18 SEC. 3. BUREAU OF PRISONS. 

19 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact20 ment of this Act, the Director of the Bureau of Prisons 

21 shall establish a program that is substantially similar to 

22 the Program established under section 2 to implement and 

23 administer mental health screenings to individuals at in24 take into an eligible detention center and refer such indi25 viduals to mental healthcare providers before or immeVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Jun 25, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8397.IH H8397

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1 diately after exit from an eligible detention center, as ap2 plicable. 

3 SEC. 4. ADVISORY BOARD ON PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION. 

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

5 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney Gen6 eral shall establish an Advisory Board to manage and ad7 minister the Program under section 2, with the responsi8 bility to: 

9 (1) Evaluate and approve the plans submitted 

10 by a State or locality as required under section 2 

11 and to ensure that grant funding is used as specified 

12 under section 2. 

13 (2) Monitor plans submitted by the Bureau of 

14 Prisons and advise the Attorney General on compli15 ance to ensure that funding to the Bureau of Pris16 ons is used as specified under section 2. 

17 (3) Provide technical assistance to a State or 

18 locality to help with the implementation and admin19 istration of mental health screening and referral pro20 grams that maximize impact on reducing crime rates 

21 and improving employment and wage rates for indi22 viduals released from prison or jail, and to assist a 

23 State or locality’s coordination with the Attorney 

24 General in implementing the Program. 


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1 (4) Publish a database of completed evaluations 

2 of the impact of a Program, as specified under sec3 tion 5. 

4 (5) Create a working group of mental 

5 healthcare providers, jail and prison administrators, 

6 law enforcement officials, and operators of existing 

7 mental health screening and referral programs, as of 

8 the creation of the working group, to share best 

9 practices on how to create and implement mental 

10 health screening and referral programs that have the 

11 largest impact on reducing crime rates and improv12 ing employment and wage rates for individuals re13 leased from prison or jail. 

14 (6) Work in coordination with mental health 

15 outreach teams as established under section 2, to en16 sure that the Program is operating as required. 

17 (7) Determine if a grant awarded by the Pro18 gram is not meeting the requirements of the Pro19 gram and mandate necessary changes and reduce 

20 funding if such changes are not made. 

21 (8) Oversee the completion of required program 

22 evaluations as described under section 5, by— 

23 (A) contracting with one or more inde24 pendent research organizations to carry out an 

25 evaluation of the impact of each grant awarded 


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1 under the Program on arrest, arraignment, and 

2 incarceration rates, employment and wage 

3 rates, and mental healthcare utilization rates of 

4 individuals who have been administered mental 

5 health screening; and 

6 (B) working with the Bureau of Prisons, 

7 States, and localities to ensure that the evalua8 tion is successfully completed. 

9 (b) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Advisory Board 

10 shall provide technical assistance to the Bureau of Pris11 ons, States, and localities in setting up and administering 

12 the Program and shall identify evidence-backed models for 

13 the administration of mental health screening and referral 

14 programs that the Bureau of Prisons, States, and local15 ities can look to when designing their own programs. 

16 (c) PROCESS EVALUATION ACTIVITIES.—Not later 

17 than one year after the Program begins, the Advisory 

18 Board shall conduct a process evaluation for a grant 

19 awarded under the Program, in which the implementation 

20 of the surveys and referrals in each prison or jail is mon21 itored and evaluated to ensure that they are being carried 

22 out as specified in the plan submitted to the Advisory 

23 Board. 

24 (d) MEMBERSHIP.— 


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

2 appoint members to serve on the Advisory Board es3 tablished under subsection (a) who have expertise 

4 with respect to— 

5 (A) designing and administering mental 

6 health screenings and providing referrals for 

7 those incarcerated in prisons or jails, or for 

8 those who have recently left such facilities; 

9 (B) mental healthcare within prisons or 

10 jails; or 

11 (C) program evaluation using rigorous ex12 perimental and quasi-experimental statistical 

13 methods. 

14 (2) NUMBER OF MEMBERS.—The Attorney 

15 General shall appoint as many members to the Advi16 sory Board established under subsection (a) as 

17 deemed necessary by the Attorney General. 

18 SEC. 5. EVALUATION ACTIVITIES. 

19 (a) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS.— 

20 The Attorney General shall provide funding directly to the 

21 Advisory Board for the purpose of contracting with one 

22 or more independent research organizations, in partner23 ship with the Bureau of Prisons, States, and localities, to 

24 carry out an evaluation to determine whether each grant 


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1 awarded under the Program is being implemented effec2 tively and to measure the impact of such programs. 

3 (b) IMPACT EVALUATION ACTIVITIES.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 

5 after a recipient of a grant awarded under the Pro6 gram receives an award they shall conduct an im7 pact evaluation for its program, in which the surveys 

8 and referrals in each prison or jail will be evaluated 

9 for their effect on the criminal justice and economic 

10 outcomes of individuals who receive the survey. Such 

11 impact evaluation shall be conducted by an inde12 pendent research organization, with oversight from 

13 the Advisory Board and include an analysis of the 

14 impact of the survey and referral on participant 

15 crime rates, including arrest, arraignment, and in16 carceration rates, participant employment and wage 

17 rates, and participant mental healthcare utilization 

18 rates for one year, three years, five years, and ten 

19 years after the participant has completed the survey 

20 and referral program. These analyses will use ad21 ministrative data collected by each State’s depart22 ment of public safety, for the crime rate data, and 

23 each State’s Department of Labor, for the employ24 ment and wage rate data. States shall provide this 

25 data to the independent research organization. For 


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1 the mental health utilization data, data from mental 

2 health providers and, if necessary, from outreach to 

3 the individuals who participated in the survey and 

4 referral program shall be utilized. 

5 (2) EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN.—Program impact 

6 evaluations under paragraph (1) shall use random7 ized control experimental or quasi-experimental re8 search designs. Randomized control experimental de9 signs are preferred and the Advisory Board will pro10 vide the independent research organization, in part11 nership with the Bureau of Prisons, State, or Local12 ity, additional resources to carry out a randomized 

13 control experimental evaluation. 

14 (c) DATABASE.—Once evaluations become available, 

15 the Advisory Board will be required to keep an updated 

16 database of the impact of programs funded under the 

17 grant program and how those programs were implemented 

18 and administered, with the goal of creating a repository 

19 of evidence regarding what drives impact on crime rates 

20 and employment and wage rates to guide policymakers 

21 and program operators in the future. 

22 SEC. 6. FUNDING. 

23 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—There is authorized to be ap24 propriated to the Attorney General to carry out this Act— 

25 (1) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2025; 


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1 (2) $110,000,000 for fiscal year 2026; 

2 (3) $120,000,000 for fiscal year 2027; 

3 (4) $130,000,000 for fiscal year 2028; and 

4 (5) $140,000,000 for fiscal year 2029. 

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

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

7 shall use— 

8 (1) 90 percent of such amount for a grant pro9 gram under sections 2 and 3, as applicable, of 

10 which— 

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

12 Prisons for screening and referral implementa13 tion activities at Federal prisons; 

14 (B) 20 percent shall go to States as com15 petitive grants to carry out screening and refer16 ral implementation activities at State prisons; 

17 and 

18 (C) 50 percent shall go to localities as 

19 competitive grants to carry out screening and 

20 referral implementation activities at locally-ad21 ministered jails; 

22 (2) 5 percent of such amount to carry out eval23 uation activities under section 5; and 

24 (3) 5 percent of such amount for the Advisory 

25 Board to provide technical assistance to the Bureau 


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1 of Prisons, States, and localities and for general op2 erations as described in section 4. 

3 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act: 

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

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

7 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Is8 lands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Common9 wealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. 

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

11 city, county, township, town, borough, parish, vil12 lage, or other general purpose political subdivision of 

13 a State. 

14 (3) MENTAL HEALTHCARE PROVIDER.—The 

15 term ‘‘mental healthcare provider’’ means a fully-li16 censed professional or group of professionals who di17 agnose mental health conditions and provide mental 

18 health treatment, and who operate near to the rel19 evant jail or prison. Mental healthcare providers may 

20 provide services at hospitals or at private clinics. 

21 (4) MENTAL HEALTHCARE CENTER.— The 

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

23 where one or more mental healthcare providers offer 

24 mental health services, such as a hospital or private 

25 clinic. 


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1 (5) JAIL OR PRISON ADMINISTRATOR.—The 

2 term ‘‘jail or prison administrator’’ means any indi3 vidual who has been appointed to a supervisory posi4 tion in a Federal, State, or local incarceration facil5 ity by the Federal Government, a State, or a local6 ity. 

7 (6) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIAL.—The term 

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

9 entity administered by a locality, State, or the Fed10 eral Government that exists primarily to prevent and 

11 detect crime and enforce criminal laws who is des12 ignated by the leadership of that entity to represent 

13 the entity. 

14 (7) ELIGIBLE DETENTION CENTER.—The term 

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

16 administered by the Bureau of Prisons or a State or 

17 any jail administered by a State or locality. 

18 (8) SEVERE MENTAL ILLNESS.—The term ‘‘se19 vere mental illness’’ means one or more mental, be20 havioral, or emotional disorders that results in seri21 ous functional impairment and substantially inter22 feres with or limits major life activities. 

23 (9) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH ORGANIZA24 TIONS.—The term ‘‘independent research organiza25 tion’’ means an entity that is not operated or conVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Jun 25, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00016 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8397.IH H8397

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1 trolled by a governmental body that conducts high2 quality and rigorous experimental and quasi-experi3 mental evaluations. 

4 (10) RANDOMIZED CONTROL EXPERIMENTAL

5 RESEARCH DESIGN.— The term ‘‘randomized control 

6 experimental research design’’ means a study design 

7 that utilizes a randomized control trial methodology 

8 to determine the impact of the program on partici9 pants, by comparing program outcomes between a 

10 randomly assigned sample population that has re11 ceived the survey and referral and a randomly as12 signed control population that has not received the 

13 survey and referral. 

14 (11) RESPONSES TO THE SURVEY INDICATE SE15 VERE MENTAL ILLNESS.—The term ‘‘responses to 

16 the survey indicate severe mental illness’’ means an 

17 individual answer’s ‘‘yes’’ to multiple questions with 

18 respect to the symptoms of a severe mental illness 

19 or to any question relating to prior use of a mental 

20 health-related medication or inpatient care related to 

21 a mental illness. 

22 (12) QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH DE23 SIGN.—The term ‘‘quasi-experimental research de24 sign’’ means a study design that utilizes a non-ran25 domized methodology and model to determine the 


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1 impact of the program on participants, by com2 paring program outcomes between a non-randomly 

3 assigned sample population that has received the 

4 survey and referral and a non-randomly assigned 

5 control population that is constructed to be statis6 tically identical to the sample population but without 

7 having received the survey and referral. 

Æ 


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