II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1352 

To provide grants to States for improved workplace and community transition 

training for incarcerated youth offenders. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 30, 2005 

Mr. SPECTER (for himself, Mr. KENNEDY, and Mr. JEFFORDS) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL

To provide grants to States for improved workplace and 

community transition training for incarcerated youth offenders.

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 ‘‘Improved Workplace 

5 and Community Transition Training for Incarcerated 

6 Youth Offenders Act of 2005’’. 
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1 SEC. 2. GRANTS TO STATES FOR IMPROVED WORKPLACE 

2 AND COMMUNITY TRANSITION TRAINING FOR 

3 INCARCERATED YOUTH OFFENDERS. 

4 Section 821 of the Higher Education Amendments of 

5 1998 (20 U.S.C. 1151) is amended to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 821. GRANTS TO STATES FOR IMPROVED WORKPLACE 

7 AND COMMUNITY TRANSITION TRAINING FOR 

8 INCARCERATED YOUTH OFFENDERS. 

9 ‘‘(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find10 ings: 

11 ‘‘(1) Almost 60 percent of the prison population 

12 in 2002 was less than 35 years old. 

13 ‘‘(2) Less than 32 percent of State prison in14 mates have a high school diploma or a higher level 

15 of education, compared to 82 percent of the general 

16 population. 

17 ‘‘(3) Approximately 38 percent of inmates who 

18 completed 11 years or less of school were not work19 ing before entry into prison. 

20 ‘‘(4) The percentage of State prisoners partici21 pating in educational programs has decreased by 

22 more than 8 percent over the period 1991–1997, de23 spite growing evidence of how educational program24 ming while incarcerated reduces recidivism. 

25 ‘‘(5) Among inmates released from prison in 

26 1999, the average time served in prison for the cur-
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1 rent offense was 29 months, compared with 22 

2 months served by those released from prison in 

3 1990. Time spent in prison provides a unique oppor4 tunity for education and training. 

5 ‘‘(6) At least 95 percent of all State prisoners 

6 will be released from prison at some point. 

7 ‘‘(7) In 2001, 592,000 offenders were released 

8 from State prison, a 46 percent increase over the 

9 405,400 offenders that were released in 1990. 

10 ‘‘(8) The average age of prisoners released to 

11 parole increased from 31 years in 1990 to 34 years 

12 in 1999. 

13 ‘‘(9) Approximately 62 percent of State pris14 oners will be rearrested within 3 years, with 41 per15 cent returning to prison or jail. 

16 ‘‘(10) The recidivism rate for those inmates 

17 that participate in education programs while incar18 cerated is approximately 10 percent lower than non19 participants. 

20 ‘‘(11) Even with quality education and training 

21 provided during incarceration, a period of intense 

22 supervision, support, and counseling is needed upon 

23 release to ensure effective reintegration of youth of24 fenders into society. 
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1 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION.—For purposes of this section, the 

2 term ‘youth offender’ means a male or female offender 

3 under the age of 35, who is incarcerated in a State prison, 

4 including a prerelease facility. 

5 ‘‘(c) GRANT PROGRAM.—The Secretary of Education 

6 (in this section referred to as the ‘Secretary’)— 

7 ‘‘(1) shall establish a program in accordance 

8 with this section to provide grants to the State cor9 rectional education agencies in the States, from allo10 cations for the States under subsection (i), to assist 

11 and encourage youth offenders to acquire functional 

12 literacy, life, and job skills, through— 

13 ‘‘(A) the pursuit of a postsecondary edu14 cation certificate, or an associate or bachelor’s 

15 degree while in prison; and 

16 ‘‘(B) employment counseling and other re17 lated services which start during incarceration 

18 and end not later than 1 year after release from 

19 confinement; and 

20 ‘‘(2) may establish such performance objectives 

21 and reporting requirements for State correctional 

22 education agencies receiving grants under this sec23 tion as the Secretary determines are necessary to as24 sess the effectiveness of the program under this sec25 tion. 
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1 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—To be eligible for a grant under 

2 this section, a State correctional education agency shall 

3 submit to the Secretary a proposal for a youth offender 

4 program that— 

5 ‘‘(1) identifies the scope of the problem, includ6 ing the number of youth offenders in need of post7 secondary education and vocational training; 

8 ‘‘(2) lists the accredited public or private edu9 cational institution or institutions that will provide 

10 postsecondary educational services; 

11 ‘‘(3) lists the cooperating agencies, public and 

12 private, or businesses that will provide related serv13 ices, such as counseling in the areas of career devel14 opment, substance abuse, health, and parenting 

15 skills; 

16 ‘‘(4) describes specific performance objectives 

17 and evaluation methods (in addition to, and con18 sistent with, any objectives established by the Sec19 retary under subsection (c)(2)) that the State cor20 rectional education agency will use in carrying out 

21 its proposal, including— 

22 ‘‘(A) specific and quantified student out23 come measures that are referenced to outcomes 

24 for non-program participants with similar de25 mographic characteristics; and 
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1 ‘‘(B) measures, consistent with the data 

2 elements and definitions described in subsection 

3 (e)(1)(A), of— 

4 ‘‘(i) program completion, including an 

5 explicit definition of what constitutes a 

6 program completion within the proposal; 

7 ‘‘(ii) knowledge and skill attainment, 

8 including specification of instruments that 

9 will measure knowledge and skill attain10 ment; 

11 ‘‘(iii) attainment of employment both 

12 prior to and subsequent to release; 

13 ‘‘(iv) success in employment indicated 

14 by job retention and advancement; and 

15 ‘‘(v) recidivism, including such sub16 indicators as time before subsequent of17 fense and severity of offense; 

18 ‘‘(5) describes how the proposed programs are 

19 to be integrated with existing State correctional edu20 cation programs (such as adult education, graduate 

21 education degree programs, and vocational training) 

22 and State industry programs; 

23 ‘‘(6) describes how the proposed programs will 

24 have considered or will utilize technology to deliver 

25 the services under this section; and 
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1 ‘‘(7) describes how students will be selected so 

2 that only youth offenders eligible under subsection 

3 (f) will be enrolled in postsecondary programs. 

4 ‘‘(e) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.—Each State correc5 tional education agency receiving a grant under this sec6 tion shall— 

7 ‘‘(1) annually report to the Secretary regard8 ing— 

9 ‘‘(A) the results of the evaluations con10 ducted using data elements and definitions pro11 vided by the Secretary for the use of State cor12 rectional education programs; 

13 ‘‘(B) any objectives or requirements estab14 lished by the Secretary pursuant to subsection 

15 (c)(2); and 

16 ‘‘(C) the additional performance objectives 

17 and evaluation methods contained in the pro18 posal described in subsection (d)(4) as nec19 essary to document the attainment of project 

20 performance objectives; and 

21 ‘‘(2) expend on each participating eligible stu22 dent for an academic year, not more than the max23 imum Federal Pell Grant funded under section 401 

24 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 for such aca25 demic year, which shall be used for— 
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1 ‘‘(A) tuition, books, and essential mate2 rials; and 

3 ‘‘(B) related services such as career devel4 opment, substance abuse counseling, parenting 

5 skills training, and health education. 

6 ‘‘(f) STUDENT ELIGIBILITY.—A youth offender shall 

7 be eligible for participation in a program receiving a grant 

8 under this section if the youth offender— 

9 ‘‘(1) is eligible to be released within 5 years (in10 cluding a youth offender who is eligible for parole 

11 within such time); and 

12 ‘‘(2) is 35 years of age or younger. 

13 ‘‘(g) LENGTH OF PARTICIPATION.—A State correc14 tional education agency receiving a grant under this sec15 tion shall provide educational and related services to each 

16 participating youth offender for a period not to exceed 5 

17 years, 1 year of which may be devoted to study in a grad18 uate education degree program or to remedial education 

19 services for students who have obtained a secondary school 

20 diploma or its recognized equivalent. Educational and re21 lated services shall start during the period of incarceration 

22 in prison or prerelease, and the related services may con23 tinue for not more than 1 year after release from confine24 ment. 
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1 ‘‘(h) EDUCATION DELIVERY SYSTEMS.—State cor2 rectional education agencies and cooperating institutions 

3 shall, to the extent practicable, use high-tech applications 

4 in developing programs to meet the requirements and 

5 goals of this section. 

6 ‘‘(i) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—From the funds ap7 propriated pursuant to subsection (j) for each fiscal year, 

8 the Secretary shall allot to each State an amount that 

9 bears the same relationship to such funds as the total 

10 number of students eligible under subsection (f) in such 

11 State bears to the total number of such students in all 

12 States. 

13 ‘‘(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

14 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

15 $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2006 and such sums as may 

16 be necessary for each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years.’’.

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