I

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 663

To amend the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994

to prevent luxurious conditions in prisons.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JANUARY 24, 1995

Mr. ZIMMER (for himself, Mr. STUMP, Mrs. MYRICK, and Mr. Rohrabacher)

introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the

Judiciary

A BILL

To amend the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement

Act of 1994 to prevent luxurious conditions in prisons.

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 ‘‘No Frills Prison Act’’.

5 SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF LUXURIOUS PRISON CONDITIONS.

6 (a) STATES.—Section 20102(a) of the Violent Crime

7 Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 is amended—

8 (1) by inserting ‘‘(A)’’ after ‘‘(1)’’;

9 (2) by redesignating existing paragraph (2)

10 as subparagraph (B);
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1 (3) by redesignating existing subpara2 graphs (A) through (D) as clauses (i) through

3 (iv) respectively;

4 (4) by redesignating existing clauses (i)

5 and (ii) as subclauses (I) and (II);

6 (5) by striking the period at the end and

7 inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

8 (6) by adding at the end the following:

9 ‘‘(2) provides living conditions and opportuni10 ties to prisoners within its prisons that are not more

11 luxurious than those conditions and opportunities

12 the average prisoner would have experienced if such

13 prisoner were not incarcerated, and does not provide

14 to any such prisoner—

15 ‘‘(A)(i) earned good time credits;

16 ‘‘(ii) less than 40 hours a week of work

17 that either offsets or reduces the expenses of

18 keeping the prisoner or provides resources to19 ward restitution of victims;

20 ‘‘(iii) unmonitored phone calls, except when

21 between the prisoner and the prisoner’s imme22 diate family or legal counsel;

23 ‘‘(iv) in-cell television viewing;

24 ‘‘(v) the viewing of R, X, or NC–17 rated

25 movies, through whatever medium presented;
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1 ‘‘(vi) possession of any pornographic mate2 rials;

3 ‘‘(vii) any instruction (live or through

4 broadcasts) or training equipment for boxing,

5 wrestling, judo, karate, or other martial art, or

6 any bodybuilding or weightlifting equipment of

7 any sort;

8 ‘‘(viii) except for use during required work,

9 the use or possession of any electric or elec10 tronic musical instrument, or practice on any

11 musical instrument for more than one hour a

12 day;

13 ‘‘(ix) use of personally owned computers or

14 modems;

15 ‘‘(x) possession of in-cell coffee pots, hot

16 plates, or heating elements;

17 ‘‘(xi) any living or work quarters into

18 which the outside view is obstructed;

19 ‘‘(xii) food exceeding in quality or quantity

20 that which is available to enlisted personnel in

21 the United States Army;

22 ‘‘(xiii) dress or hygiene, grooming and ap23 pearance other than those allowed as uniform

24 or standard in the prison; or
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1 ‘‘(xiv) equipment or facilities at public ex2 pense for publishing or broadcasting content

3 not previously approved by prison officials as

4 consistent with prison order and prisoner dis5 cipline; and

6 ‘‘(B) in the case of a prisoner who is serving a

7 sentence for a crime of violence which resulted in se8 rious bodily injury to another—

9 ‘‘(i) housing other than in separate cell

10 blocks intended for violent prisoners and de11 signed to emphasis punishment rather than re12 habilitation;

13 ‘‘(ii) less than 9 hours a day of physical

14 labor, with confinement to cell for any refusing

15 to engage in that labor, but a prisoner not

16 physically able to do physical labor may be as17 signed to alternate labor;

18 ‘‘(iii) any temporary furlough, leave, excur19 sion, or other release from the prison for any

20 purpose, unless the prisoner remains at all

21 times under physical or mechanical restraints,

22 such as handcuffs, and under the constant es23 cort and immediate supervision of a least one

24 armed correctional officer;

25 ‘‘(iv) any viewing of television;
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1 ‘‘(v) any inter-prison travel for competitive

2 sports, whether as a participant or spectator;

3 ‘‘(vi) more than one hour a day spent in

4 sports or exercise; or’’.

5 ‘‘(vii) possession of personal property ex6 ceeding 75 pounds in total weight or that can7 not be stowed in a standard size United States

8 military issue duffel bag.’’.

9 (b) FEDERAL.—

10 (1) GENERALLY.—The Attorney General shall

11 by rule establish conditions in the Federal prison

12 system that, as nearly as may be, are the same as

13 those conditions required in State prisons under sec14 tion 20102(a) of the Violent Crime Control and Law

15 Enforcement Act of 1994 as amended by this

16 section.

17 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 3624

18 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by strik19 ing subsection (b).

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