I
104TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 667
To control crime by incarcerating violent criminals.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY 25, 1995
Mr. MCCOLLUM introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To control crime by incarcerating violent criminals.
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 ‘‘Violent Criminal Incar-
ceration Act of 1995’’.
TITLE I—TRUTH IN SENTENCING
SEC. 101. TRUTH IN SENTENCING GRANT PROGRAM.
Title V of the Violent Crime Control and Law En-
forcement Act of 1994 is amended to read as follows:
‘‘TITLE V—TRUTH IN
SENTENCING GRANTS
‘‘SEC. 501. AUTHORIZATION OF GRANTS.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General is author-
ized to provide grants to eligible States and to eligible
States organized as a regional compact to build, expand,
and operate space in correctional facilities in order to in-
crease the prison bed capacity in such facilities for the
confinement of persons convicted of a serious violent fel-
ony and to build, expand, and operate temporary or per-
manent correctional facilities, including facilities on mili-
tary bases, for the confinement of convicted nonviolent of-
fenders and criminal aliens for the purpose of freeing suit-
able existing prison space for the confinement of persons
convicted of a serious violent felony.
‘‘(b) LIMITATION.—An eligible State or eligible
States organized as a regional compact may receive either
a general grant under section 502 or a truth-in-sentencing
incentive grant under section 503.
‘‘SEC. 502. GENERAL GRANTS.
‘‘(a) DISTRIBUTION OF GENERAL GRANTS.—50 per-
cent of the total amount of funds made available under
this title for each of the fiscal years 1995 through 2000
shall be made available for general eligibility grants for
each State or States organized as a regional compact that
meets the requirements of subsection (b).
‘‘(b) GENERAL GRANTS.—In order to be eligible to
receive funds under subsection (a), a State or States orga-
nized as a regional compact shall submit an application
to the Attorney General that provides assurances that
such State since 1993 has—
‘‘(1) increased the percentage of convicted vio-
lent offenders sentenced to prison;
‘‘(2) increased the average prison time actually
to be served in prison by convicted violent offenders
sentenced to prison; and
‘‘(3) increased the percentage of sentence to be
actually served in prison by violent offenders sen-
tenced to prison.
‘‘SEC. 503. TRUTH-IN-SENTENCING GRANTS.
‘‘(a) TRUTH-IN-SENTENCING INCENTIVE GRANTS.—
50 percent of the total amount of funds made available
under this title for each of the fiscal years 1995 through
2000 shall be made available for truth-in-sentencing incen-
tive grants to each State or States organized as a regional
compact that meet the requirements of subsection (c).
‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY FOR TRUTH-IN-SENTENCING IN-
CENTIVE GRANTS.—In order to be eligible to receive funds
under subsection (a), a State or States organized as a re-
gional compact shall submit an application to the Attorney
General that provides assurances that each State applying
has enacted laws and regulations which include—
‘‘(1)(A) truth-in-sentencing laws which require
persons convicted of a serious violent felony serve
not less than 85 percent of the sentence imposed or
85 percent of the court-ordered maximum sentence
for States that practice indeterminate sentencing; or
‘‘(B) truth-in-sentencing laws which have been
enacted, but not yet implemented, that require such
State, not later than three years after such State
submits an application to the Attorney General, to
provide that persons convicted of a serious violent
felony serve not less than 85 percent of the sentence
imposed or 85 percent of the court-ordered maxi-
mum sentence for States that practice indeterminate
sentencing, and
‘‘(2) laws requiring that the sentencing or re-
leasing authorities notify and allow the victims of
the defendant or the family of such victims the op-
portunity to be heard regarding the issue of sentenc-
ing and any postconviction release.
‘‘SEC. 504. SPECIAL RULES.
‘‘(a) INDETERMINANT SENTENCING EXCEPTION.—
Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs (1) through
(3) of section 502(b), a State shall be eligible for grants
under this title, if the State, not later than the date of
the enactment of this title—
‘‘(1) practices indeterminant sentencing; and
‘‘(2) the average times served in such State for
the offenses of murder, rape, robbery, and assault
exceed, by 10 percent or greater, the national aver-
age of times served for such offenses.
‘‘(b) EXCEPTION.—The requirements under section
502(b) shall apply, except that a State may provide that
the Governor of the State may allow for the release of
a prisoner over the age of 70 after a public hearing in
which representatives of the public and the prisoner’s vic-
tims have an opportunity to be heard regarding a proposed
release.
‘‘SEC. 505. FORMULA FOR GRANTS.
‘‘To determine the amount of funds that each eligible
State or eligible States organized as a regional compact
may receive to carry out programs under section 502 or
503, the Attorney General shall apply the following
formula:
‘‘(1) $500,000 or 0.40 percent, whichever is
greater shall be allocated to each participating State
or compact, as the case may be; and
‘‘(2) of the total amount of funds remaining
after the allocation under paragraph (1), there shall
be allocated to each State or compact, as the case
may be, an amount which bears the same ratio to
the amount of remaining funds described in this
paragraph as the population of such State or com-
pact, as the case may be, bears to the population of
all the States.
‘‘SEC. 506. ACCOUNTABILITY.
‘‘(a) FISCAL REQUIREMENTS.—A State or States or-
ganized as a regional compact that receives funds under
this title shall use accounting, audit, and fiscal procedures
that conform to guidelines which shall be prescribed by
the Attorney General.
‘‘(b) REPORTING.—Each State that receives funds
under this title shall submit an annual report, beginning
on January 1, 1996, and each January 1 thereafter, to
the Congress regarding compliance with the requirements
of this title.
‘‘(c) ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS.—The adminis-
trative provisions of sections 801 and 802 of the Omnibus
Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 shall apply
to the Attorney General in the same manner as such provi-
sions apply to the officials listed in such sections.
‘‘SEC. 507. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be ap-
propriated to carry out this title—
‘‘(1) $232,000,000 for fiscal year 1995;
‘‘(2) $997,500,000 for fiscal year 1996;
‘‘(3) $1,330,000,000 for fiscal year 1997;
‘‘(4) $2,527,000,000 for fiscal year 1998;
‘‘(5) $2,660,000,000 for fiscal year 1999; and
‘‘(6) $2,753,100,000 for fiscal year 2000.
‘‘(b) LIMITATIONS ON FUNDS.—
‘‘(1) USES OF FUNDS.—Funds made available
under this title may be used to carry out the pur-
poses described in section 501(a).
‘‘(2) NONSUPPLANTING REQUIREMENT.—Funds
made available under this section shall not be used
to supplant State funds, but shall be used to in-
crease the amount of funds that would, in the ab-
sence of Federal funds, be made available from
State sources.
‘‘(3) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—Not more than
three percent of the funds available under this sec-
tion may be used for administrative costs.
‘‘(4) MATCHING FUNDS.—The Federal share of
a grant received under this title may not exceed 75
percent of the costs of a proposal as described in an
application approved under this title.
‘‘(5) CARRY OVER OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Any
funds appropriated but not expended as provided by
this section during any fiscal year shall remain avail-
able until expended.
‘‘SEC. 508. DEFINITIONS.
‘‘As used in this title—
‘‘(1) the term ‘indeterminate sentencing’ means
a system by which—
‘‘(A) the court has discretion on imposing
the actual length of the sentence imposed, up to
the statutory maximum; and
‘‘(B) an administrative agency, generally
the parole board, controls release between
court-ordered minimum and maximum sen-
tence;
‘‘(2) the term ‘serious violent felony’ means—
‘‘(A) an offense that is a felony and has as
an element the use, attempted use, or threat-
ened use of physical force against the person or
property of another and has a maximum term
of imprisonment of 10 years or more,
‘‘(B) any other offense that is a felony and
that, by its nature, involves a substantial risk
that physical force against the person or prop-
erty of another may be used in the course of
committing the offense and has a maximum
term of imprisonment of 10 years or more, or
‘‘(C) such crimes include murder, assault
with intent to commit murder, arson, armed
burglary, rape, assault with intent to commit
rape, kidnapping, and armed robbery; and
‘‘(3) the term ‘State’ means a State of the
United States, the District of Columbia, or any com-
monwealth, territory, or possession of the United
States.’’.
TITLE II—STOPPING ABUSIVE
PRISONER LAWSUITS
SEC. 201. EXHAUSTION REQUIREMENT.
Section 7(a)(1) of the Civil Rights of Institutionalized
Persons Act (42 U.S.C. 1997d) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘in any action brought’’ and in-
serting ‘‘no action shall be brought’’;
(2) by striking ‘‘the court shall’’ and all that
follows through ‘‘require exhaustion of’’ and insert
‘‘until’’; and
(3) by inserting ‘‘are exhausted’’ after ‘‘avail-
able’’.
SEC. 202. FRIVOLOUS ACTIONS.
Section 7(a) of the Civil Rights of Institutionalized
Persons Act (42 U.S.C. 1997d(a)) is amended by adding
at the end the following:
‘‘(3) The court shall on its own motion or on motion
of a party dismiss any action brought pursuant to section
1979 of the Revised Statutes of the United States by an
adult convicted of a crime and confined in any jail, prison,
or other correctional facility if the court is satisfied that
the action fails to state a claim upon which relief can be
granted or is frivolous or malicious.’’.
SEC. 203. MODIFICATION OF REQUIRED MINIMUM STAND-
ARDS.
Section 7(b)(2) of the Civil Rights of Institutionalized
Persons Act (42 U.S.C. 1997d(b)(2)) is amended by strik-
ing subparagraph (A) and redesignating subparagraphs
(B) through (E) as subparagraphs (A) through (D), re-
spectively.
SEC. 204. PROCEEDINGS IN FORMA PAUPERIS.
(a) DISMISSAL.—Section 1915(d) of title 28, United
States Code, is amended—
(1) by inserting ‘‘at any time’’ after ‘‘counsel
and may’’; and
(2) by striking ‘‘and may’’ and inserting ‘‘and
shall’’;