II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2471 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to improve the compassionate release 

process of the Bureau of Prisons, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2018 

Mr. SCHATZ (for himself, Mr. LEE, and Mr. LEAHY) introduced the following 

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

A BILL 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to improve the 

compassionate release process of the Bureau of Prisons, 

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 ‘‘Granting Release And 

5 Compassion Effectively Act of 2018’’ or the ‘‘GRACE 

6 Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF AN IMPOSED TERM OF IMPRIS8 ONMENT. 

9 Section 3582 of title 18, United States Code, is 

10 amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (c)(1)(A), in the matter pre2 ceding clause (i), by inserting after ‘‘Prisons,’’ the 

3 following: ‘‘or, upon motion of the defendant after 

4 the defendant has fully exhausted all administrative 

5 rights to appeal a failure of the Bureau of Prisons 

6 to bring a motion on the defendant’s behalf or upon 

7 expiration of the 30-day period beginning on the 

8 date on which the defendant submitted a request for 

9 a sentence reduction under this subsection, which10 ever is earlier,’’; 

11 (2) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub12 section (e); and 

13 (3) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(d) NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.— 

16 ‘‘(1) TERMINAL ILLNESS DEFINED.—In this 

17 subsection, the term ‘terminal illness’ means a dis18 ease or condition with an end-of-life trajectory. 

19 ‘‘(2) NOTIFICATION.—The Bureau of Prisons 

20 shall— 

21 ‘‘(A) in the case of a defendant diagnosed 

22 with a terminal illness— 

23 ‘‘(i) not later than 72 hours after the 

24 diagnosis, notify the defendant’s des25 ignated representatives of the defendant’s 


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1 condition and inform the defendant’s des2 ignated representatives that they may pre3 pare and submit on the defendant’s behalf 

4 a request for a sentence reduction pursu5 ant to subsection (c)(1)(A); 

6 ‘‘(ii) not later than 7 days after the 

7 date of the diagnosis, provide the defend8 ant’s partner and family members (includ9 ing extended family) with an opportunity 

10 to visit the defendant in person; 

11 ‘‘(iii) upon request from the defendant 

12 or a designated representative of the de13 fendant, ensure that the Bureau of Prisons 

14 employees assist the defendant in the prep15 aration, drafting, and submission of a re16 quest for a sentence reduction pursuant to 

17 subsection (c)(1)(A); and 

18 ‘‘(iv) not later than 14 days after re19 ceipt of a request for a sentence reduction 

20 submitted by the defendant or on the de21 fendant’s behalf by a designated represent22 ative of the defendant, process the request; 

23 ‘‘(B) in the case of a defendant who is 

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1 quest for a sentence reduction pursuant to sub2 section (c)(1)(A)— 

3 ‘‘(i) inform the designated representa4 tives of the defendant that they may pre5 pare and submit on the defendant’s behalf 

6 a request for a sentence reduction pursu7 ant to subsection (c)(1)(A); 

8 ‘‘(ii) accept and process a request for 

9 sentence reduction that has been prepared 

10 and submitted on the defendant’s behalf by 

11 the designated representatives of the de12 fendant under clause (i); and 

13 ‘‘(iii) upon request from the defendant 

14 or a designated representative of the de15 fendant, ensure that the Bureau of Prisons 

16 employees assist the defendant in the prep17 aration, drafting, and submission of a re18 quest for a sentence reduction pursuant to 

19 subsection (c)(1)(A); and 

20 ‘‘(C) ensure that all the Bureau of Prisons 

21 facilities regularly and visibly post, including in 

22 prisoner handbooks, staff training materials, 

23 medical facilities, and facility law libraries, and 

24 make available to prisoners upon demand, no25 tice of— 


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1 ‘‘(i) a defendant’s ability to request a 

2 sentence reduction pursuant to subsection 

3 (c)(1)(A); 

4 ‘‘(ii) the procedures and timelines for 

5 initiating and resolving requests described 

6 in clause (i); and 

7 ‘‘(iii) the right to appeal a denial of a 

8 request described in clause (i) after all ad9 ministrative rights to appeal within the 

10 Bureau of Prisons have been exhausted. 

11 ‘‘(3) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 1 year 

12 after the date of enactment of this subsection, and 

13 once every year thereafter, the Director of the Bu14 reau of Prisons shall submit to the Committee on 

15 the Judiciary of the Senate and the Committee on 

16 the Judiciary of the House of Representatives a re17 port on requests for sentence reductions pursuant to 

18 subsection (c)(1)(A), which shall include a descrip19 tion of— 

20 ‘‘(A) the number of prisoners granted and 

21 denied sentence reductions, categorized by the 

22 criteria relied on as the grounds for a reduction 

23 in sentence; 

24 ‘‘(B) the number of requests initiated by 

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1 teria relied on as the grounds for a reduction 

2 in sentence, and the final decision made in each 

3 request; 

4 ‘‘(C) the number of requests which the Bu5 reau of Prisons employees assisted prisoners in 

6 drafting, preparing, or submitting, categorized 

7 by the criteria relied on as the grounds for a re8 duction in sentence, and the final decision made 

9 in each request; 

10 ‘‘(D) the number of requests that des11 ignated representatives of a defendant sub12 mitted on the defendant’s behalf, categorized by 

13 the criteria relied on as the grounds for a re14 duction in sentence, and the final decision made 

15 in each request; 

16 ‘‘(E) the number of requests approved by 

17 the Director of the Bureau of Prisons and the 

18 reasons given for each approval, categorized by 

19 the criteria relied on as the grounds for a re20 duction in sentence; 

21 ‘‘(F) the number of requests denied by the 

22 Director of the Bureau of Prisons and the rea23 sons given for each denial, categorized by the 

24 criteria relied on as the grounds for a reduction 

25 in sentence; 


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1 ‘‘(G) for each request, the time elapsed be2 tween the date on which the request was re3 ceived by the warden and the date on which the 

4 final decision was made, categorized by the cri5 teria relied on as the grounds for a reduction 

6 in sentence; 

7 ‘‘(H) for each request, the number of pris8 oners who died while their request was pending 

9 and, for each, the amount of time elapsed be10 tween the date on which the request was re11 ceived by the warden and the date of death of 

12 the prisoner, categorized by the criteria relied 

13 on as the grounds for a reduction in sentence; 

14 ‘‘(I) the number of the Bureau of Prisons 

15 notifications to designated representatives of a 

16 defendant of their right to visit the terminally 

17 ill defendant as required under paragraph 

18 (2)(A)(ii) and, for each, whether a visit oc19 curred and how much time elapsed between the 

20 date of the notification and the date of the visit; 

21 ‘‘(J) the number of visits to terminally ill 

22 prisoners that were allowed under paragraph 

23 (2)(A)(ii), but that were denied by the Bureau 

24 of Prisons due to security or other concerns, 

25 and the reasons given for each denial; and 


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1 ‘‘(K) the number of motions filed by de2 fendants with the court after all administrative 

3 rights to appeal a denial of a sentence reduction 

4 had been exhausted, the outcome of each mo5 tion, and the amount of time elapsed between 

6 the date on which the request was first received 

7 by the warden and the date on which the de8 fendant filed the motion with the court.’’. 

Æ 


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