II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 3164 

To require non-Federal prison, correctional, and detention facilities holding 

Federal prisoners or detainees under a contract with the Federal Government to make the same information available to the public that Federal 

prisons and correctional facilities are required to make available. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 4, 2021 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, 

Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. CASEY, Ms. WARREN, Mr. MARKEY, Ms. SMITH, and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the following bill; 

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

A BILL 

To require non-Federal prison, correctional, and detention 

facilities holding Federal prisoners or detainees under 

a contract with the Federal Government to make the 

same information available to the public that Federal 

prisons and correctional facilities are required to make 

available. 

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 ‘‘Private Prison Infor5 mation Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act— 

3 (1) the term ‘‘agency’’ has the meaning given 

4 the term in section 551 of title 5, United States 

5 Code; 

6 (2) the term ‘‘applicable entity’’ means— 

7 (A) a nongovernmental entity contracting 

8 with, or receiving funds directly or indirectly 

9 from, a covered agency to incarcerate or detain 

10 Federal prisoners or detainees in a non-Federal 

11 prison, correctional, or detention facility; or 

12 (B) a State or local governmental entity 

13 with an intergovernmental agreement with a 

14 covered agency to incarcerate or detain Federal 

15 prisoners or detainees in a non-Federal prison, 

16 correctional, or detention facility; 

17 (3) the term ‘‘covered agency’’ means an agency 

18 that contracts with, or provides funds to, an applica19 ble entity to incarcerate or detain Federal prisoners 

20 or detainees in a non-Federal prison, correctional, or 

21 detention facility; and 

22 (4) the term ‘‘non-Federal prison, correctional, 

23 or detention facility’’ means— 

24 (A) a privately owned or privately operated 

25 prison, correctional, or detention facility; or 


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1 (B) a State or local prison, jail, or other 

2 correctional or detention facility. 

3 SEC. 3. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT APPLICABLE FOR 

4 CONTRACT PRISONS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—A record relating to a non-Fed6 eral prison, correctional, or detention facility shall be— 

7 (1) considered an agency record for purposes of 

8 section 552(f)(2) of title 5, United States Code, 

9 whether in the possession of an applicable entity or 

10 a covered agency; and 

11 (2) subject to section 552 of title 5, United 

12 States Code (commonly known as the ‘‘Freedom of 

13 Information Act’’), to the same extent as if the 

14 record was maintained by an agency operating a 

15 Federal prison, correctional, or detention facility. 

16 (b) WITHHOLDING OF INFORMATION.—A covered 

17 agency may not withhold information that would otherwise 

18 be required to be disclosed under subsection (a) unless— 

19 (1) the covered agency, based on the inde20 pendent assessment of the covered agency, reason21 ably foresees that disclosure of the information 

22 would cause specific identifiable harm to an interest 

23 protected by an exemption from disclosure under 

24 section 552(b) of title 5, United States Code; or 


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1 (2) disclosure of the information is prohibited 

2 by law. 

3 (c) FORMAT OF RECORDS.—An applicable entity 

4 shall maintain records relating to a non-Federal prison, 

5 correctional, or detention facility in formats that are read6 ily reproducible and reasonably searchable by the covered 

7 agency that contracts with or provides funds to the appli8 cable entity to incarcerate or detain Federal prisoners or 

9 detainees in the non-Federal prison, correctional, or deten10 tion facility. 

11 (d) REGULATIONS.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

13 after the date of enactment of this Act, a covered 

14 agency shall promulgate regulations or guidance to 

15 ensure compliance with this section by the covered 

16 agency and an applicable entity that the covered 

17 agency contracts with or provides funds to incar18 cerate or detain Federal prisoners or detainees in a 

19 non-Federal prison, correctional, or detention facil20 ity. 

21 (2) COMPLIANCE BY APPLICABLE ENTITIES.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—Compliance with this 

23 section by an applicable entity shall be included 

24 as a material term in any contract, agreement, 

25 or renewal of a contract or agreement with the 


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1 applicable entity regarding the incarceration or 

2 detention of Federal prisoners or detainees in a 

3 non-Federal prison, correctional, or detention 

4 facility. 

5 (B) MODIFICATION OF CONTRACT OR

6 AGREEMENT.—Not later than 1 year after the 

7 date of enactment of this Act, a covered agency 

8 shall secure a modification to include compli9 ance with this section by an applicable entity as 

10 a material term in any contract or agreement 

11 described under subparagraph (A) that will not 

12 otherwise be renegotiated, renewed, or modified 

13 before the date that is 1 year after the date of 

14 enactment of this Act. 

15 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 

16 shall be construed to limit or reduce the scope of State 

17 or local open records laws. 

Æ 


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