tal health screen and referral program and their ar-
rest, arraignment, and incarceration rates. 
(e) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.—Grant funds awarded 
under the Program may only be used to: 
(1) Develop and administer a brief mental 
health screening survey as required under subsection 
(f). 
(2) Develop any technology necessary for a pris-
on or jail to provide the survey under paragraph (1). 
(3) Hire any staff necessary for a prison or jail 
to provide the survey under paragraph (1). 
(4) Establish an outreach team pursuant to 
subsection (g) to refer an individual, if their re-
sponses to the survey indicate severe mental illness, 
to a local mental healthcare provider for further as-
sessment and outreach, admission (when necessary), 
and support for that individual in re-establishing ties 
with a mental health provider. 
(5) Pay the salary or overtime pay of an out-
reach team as established pursuant to subsection 
(g), including providing direct funding to a prison, 
jail, or mental health center to compensate staff 
members. 
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(f) BRIEF MENTAL HEALTH SCREENING SURVEY.— 
The mental health screening survey developed and admin-
istered under subsection (e) shall: 
(1) Be composed of 5 to 10 questions. 
(2) Be based on the questions and content of 
the Brief Jail Mental Health Screen (BJMHS). 
(3) Seek to identify severe mental illnesses, in-
cluding schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major 
depression. 
(4) Ask individuals about the symptoms of se-
vere mental illness they may be experiencing or have 
experienced and any prior use of mental health-re-
lated medications or inpatient care. 
(5) Identify the individual’s place of residence. 
(6) Be administered by a trained staff member 
at the jail or prison to all entering individuals who 
are incarcerated in the jail or prison and to all in-
carcerated individuals who entered the jail or prison 
before the survey was implemented. 
(g) OUTREACH TEAM.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—A referral to a mental 
healthcare provider, as described in subsection (e), 
shall be made by a mental health outreach team that 
is composed of— 
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(A) mental healthcare professionals and 
clinicians from mental healthcare centers local 
to the prison or jail; 
(B) staff from the jail or prison, when ap-
plicable; and 
(C) a mental health liaison staff member 
who shall oversee the outreach team. 
(2) ALERT.—If an individual has been deter-
mined to need a referral to a mental healthcare pro-
vider, the mental health outreach team shall be noti-
fied immediately by jail or prison staff and in-
formed, when applicable, of the individual’s release 
date from such jail or prison and the individual’s 
trial date. 
(3) CONTACT ATTEMPTS REQUIRED.— 
(A) IN GENERAL.—A mental health out-
reach team member shall first attempt to con-
tact an individual that has been determined to 
need a referral to a mental healthcare provider 
in person at the jail or prison, before such indi-
vidual is released. If in person contact was not 
made before such individual was released from 
prison or jail, the outreach team member shall 
attempt to contact via telephone such individual 
within 24 hours, and at the latest within 48 
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hours, of their release from jail or prison for 
the purpose of making the mental health refer-
ral. The mental health outreach team member 
shall not need to contact the individual via tele-
phone after release if such contact was made in 
person. 
(B) ADDITIONAL
CONTACTS.—A mental 
health outreach team member shall make at 
least three attempts at telephone contact for 
each individual that has been determined to 
need a referral to a mental healthcare provider 
if in person contact before release was not 
made. If phone contact is unsuccessful, a men-
tal health outreach team member shall attempt 
to contact the individual in person at their 
place of residence, as provided on the mental 
health survey. 
SEC. 3. BUREAU OF PRISONS. 
Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Director of the Bureau of Prisons 
shall establish a program that is substantially similar to 
the Program established under section 2 to implement and 
administer mental health screenings to individuals at in-
take into an eligible detention center and refer such indi-
viduals to mental healthcare providers before or imme-
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diately after exit from an eligible detention center, as ap-
plicable. 
SEC. 4. ADVISORY BOARD ON PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 60 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney Gen-
eral shall establish an Advisory Board to manage and ad-
minister the Program under section 2, with the responsi-
bility to: 
(1) Evaluate and approve the plans submitted 
by a State or locality as required under section 2 
and to ensure that grant funding is used as specified 
under section 2. 
(2) Monitor plans submitted by the Bureau of 
Prisons and advise the Attorney General on compli-
ance to ensure that funding to the Bureau of Pris-
ons is used as specified under section 2. 
(3) Provide technical assistance to a State or 
locality to help with the implementation and admin-
istration of mental health screening and referral pro-
grams that maximize impact on reducing crime rates 
and improving employment and wage rates for indi-
viduals released from prison or jail, and to assist a 
State or locality’s coordination with the Attorney 
General in implementing the Program. 
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(4) Publish a database of completed evaluations 
of the impact of a Program, as specified under sec-
tion 5. 
(5) 
Create 
a 
working 
group 
of 
mental 
healthcare providers, jail and prison administrators, 
law enforcement officials, and operators of existing 
mental health screening and referral programs, as of 
the creation of the working group, to share best 
practices on how to create and implement mental 
health screening and referral programs that have the 
largest impact on reducing crime rates and improv-
ing employment and wage rates for individuals re-
leased from prison or jail. 
(6) Work in coordination with mental health 
outreach teams as established under section 2, to en-
sure that the Program is operating as required. 
(7) Determine if a grant awarded by the Pro-
gram is not meeting the requirements of the Pro-
gram and mandate necessary changes and reduce 
funding if such changes are not made. 
(8) Oversee the completion of required program 
evaluations as described under section 5, by— 
(A) contracting with one or more inde-
pendent research organizations to carry out an 
evaluation of the impact of each grant awarded 
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under the Program on arrest, arraignment, and 
incarceration rates, employment and wage 
rates, and mental healthcare utilization rates of 
individuals who have been administered mental 
health screening; and 
(B) working with the Bureau of Prisons, 
States, and localities to ensure that the evalua-
tion is successfully completed. 
(b) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Advisory Board 
shall provide technical assistance to the Bureau of Pris-
ons, States, and localities in setting up and administering 
the Program and shall identify evidence-backed models for 
the administration of mental health screening and referral 
programs that the Bureau of Prisons, States, and local-
ities can look to when designing their own programs. 
(c) PROCESS EVALUATION ACTIVITIES.—Not later 
than one year after the Program begins, the Advisory 
Board shall conduct a process evaluation for a grant 
awarded under the Program, in which the implementation 
of the surveys and referrals in each prison or jail is mon-
itored and evaluated to ensure that they are being carried 
out as specified in the plan submitted to the Advisory 
Board. 
(d) MEMBERSHIP.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 
appoint members to serve on the Advisory Board es-
tablished under subsection (a) who have expertise 
with respect to— 
(A) designing and administering mental 
health screenings and providing referrals for 
those incarcerated in prisons or jails, or for 
those who have recently left such facilities; 
(B) mental healthcare within prisons or 
jails; or 
(C) program evaluation using rigorous ex-
perimental and quasi-experimental statistical 
methods. 
(2) NUMBER
OF
MEMBERS.—The Attorney 
General shall appoint as many members to the Advi-
sory Board established under subsection (a) as 
deemed necessary by the Attorney General. 
SEC. 5. EVALUATION ACTIVITIES. 
(a) INDEPENDENT RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS.— 
The Attorney General shall provide funding directly to the 
Advisory Board for the purpose of contracting with one 
or more independent research organizations, in partner-
ship with the Bureau of Prisons, States, and localities, to 
carry out an evaluation to determine whether each grant 
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awarded under the Program is being implemented effec-
tively and to measure the impact of such programs. 
(b) IMPACT EVALUATION ACTIVITIES.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than one year 
after a recipient of a grant awarded under the Pro-
gram receives an award they shall conduct an im-
pact evaluation for its program, in which the surveys 
and referrals in each prison or jail will be evaluated 
for their effect on the criminal justice and economic 
outcomes of individuals who receive the survey. Such 
impact evaluation shall be conducted by an inde-
pendent research organization, with oversight from 
the Advisory Board and include an analysis of the 
impact of the survey and referral on participant 
crime rates, including arrest, arraignment, and in-
carceration rates, participant employment and wage 
rates, and participant mental healthcare utilization 
rates for one year, three years, five years, and ten 
years after the participant has completed the survey 
and referral program. These analyses will use ad-
ministrative data collected by each State’s depart-
ment of public safety, for the crime rate data, and 
each State’s Department of Labor, for the employ-
ment and wage rate data. States shall provide this 
data to the independent research organization. For 
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the mental health utilization data, data from mental 
health providers and, if necessary, from outreach to 
the individuals who participated in the survey and 
referral program shall be utilized. 
(2) EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN.—Program impact 
evaluations under paragraph (1) shall use random-
ized control experimental or quasi-experimental re-
search designs. Randomized control experimental de-
signs are preferred and the Advisory Board will pro-
vide the independent research organization, in part-
nership with the Bureau of Prisons, State, or Local-
ity, additional resources to carry out a randomized 
control experimental evaluation. 
(c) DATABASE.—Once evaluations become available, 
the Advisory Board will be required to keep an updated 
database of the impact of programs funded under the 
grant program and how those programs were implemented 
and administered, with the goal of creating a repository 
of evidence regarding what drives impact on crime rates 
and employment and wage rates to guide policymakers 
and program operators in the future. 
SEC. 6. FUNDING. 
(a) AUTHORIZATION.—There is authorized to be ap-
propriated to the Attorney General to carry out this Act— 
(1) $100,000,000 for fiscal year 2026; 
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(2) $110,000,000 for fiscal year 2027; 
(3) $120,000,000 for fiscal year 2028; 
(4) $130,000,000 for fiscal year 2029; and 
(5) $140,000,000 for fiscal year 2030. 
(b) DISTRIBUTION
OF FUNDS.—Of the amounts 
made available under subsection (a), the Attorney General 
shall use— 
(1) 90 percent of such amount for a grant pro-
gram under sections 2 and 3, as applicable, of 
which— 
(A) 20 percent shall go to the Bureau of 
Prisons for screening and referral implementa-
tion activities at Federal prisons; 
(B) 20 percent shall go to States as com-
petitive grants to carry out screening and refer-
ral implementation activities at State prisons; 
and 
(C) 50 percent shall go to localities as 
competitive grants to carry out screening and 
referral implementation activities at locally-ad-
ministered jails; 
(2) 5 percent of such amount to carry out eval-
uation activities under section 5; and 
(3) 5 percent of such amount for the Advisory 
Board to provide technical assistance to the Bureau 
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