I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1392 
To provide funding to the Bureau of Prisons, States, and localities to carry 
out mental health screenings and provide referrals to mental healthcare 
providers for individuals in prison or jail. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 14, 2025 
Ms. SHERRILL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To provide funding to the Bureau of Prisons, States, and 
localities to carry out mental health screenings and pro-
vide referrals to mental healthcare providers for individ-
uals in prison or jail. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Improving Mental 
Healthcare in the Re-Entry System Act of 2025’’. 
SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney Gen-
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eral shall establish a grant program (hereinafter referred 
to as the ‘‘Program’’) to implement and administer mental 
health screenings to individuals at intake into an eligible 
detention center and refer such individuals to mental 
healthcare providers before or immediately after exit from 
an eligible detention center, as applicable. 
(b) GRANT AUTHORITY.—In carrying out the Pro-
gram, the Attorney General may award a grant on a com-
petitive basis to an eligible recipient in accordance with 
this section. 
(c) APPLICATION.—The Attorney General may award 
a grant under the Program to a State or locality, deter-
mined by the Attorney General to carry out a project de-
scribed in subsection (d). 
(d) ELIGIBLE RECIPIENTS.— 
(1) HIRING REQUIREMENT.—To be eligible for 
a grant under the Program, a State or locality shall 
hire a mental health liaison staff member for each 
eligible detention center under its jurisdiction. If an 
eligible detention center has a small enough popu-
lation, subject to approval by the Advisory Board, 
one mental health liaison staff member may cover 
multiple detention centers. The mental health liaison 
staff member shall be responsible for— 
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(A) coordinating efforts between the prison 
or jail and mental health providers in the local 
region to help individuals currently or formerly 
in prison or jail access mental healthcare; 
(B) coordinating with the Advisory Board 
to ensure that the Program is operating in ac-
cordance with this section; and 
(C) overseeing and coordinating activities 
of the outreach team (as described in subsection 
(g)). 
(2) PLAN.—To be eligible for a grant under the 
Program, a State or locality shall submit a plan to 
the Advisory Board explaining how the Program es-
tablished shall meet the criteria under subsection 
(e). 
(3) RELEVANT
DATA.—To be eligible for a 
grant under the Program, a State or locality shall 
partner with the Advisory Board and an independent 
research organization to evaluate the impact of their 
program as a condition of receiving a grant, and are 
also required to share relevant data with the Advi-
sory Board and the research organization contracted 
with by the Attorney General as specified by section 
5(a) regarding individuals’ participation in the men-
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