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.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill establishes a competitive grant program for states and localities to implement mental health screenings at prisons and jails, with requirements for hiring liaison staff, forming outreach teams, submitting implementation, requires the Director of the Bureau of Prisons to establish a mental health screening and referral program for federal prisons within 90 days, modeled on the state/local grant program, and establishes an Advisory Board under the Attorney General to manage and administer the grant program, evaluate state/locality plans, provide technical assistance, oversee compliance, create a working group. It relies on compliance mandates, reporting requirements, grants, and appropriations. The main policy areas are Criminal Justice, Healthcare, and Finance.
Who Benefits and How
State governments operating prisons could gain revenue opportunities, Local governments operating jails could gain revenue opportunities, and Bureau of Prisons could gain revenue opportunities.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Bureau of Prisons would take on compliance duties, Department of Justice / Attorney General would take on compliance duties, and State and local corrections facilities would take on compliance duties.
Key Provisions
- Establishes a competitive grant program for states and localities to implement mental health screenings at prisons and jails, with requirements for hiring liaison staff, forming outreach teams, submitting implementation...
- Requires the Director of the Bureau of Prisons to establish a mental health screening and referral program for federal prisons within 90 days, modeled on the state/local grant program.
- Establishes an Advisory Board under the Attorney General to manage and administer the grant program, evaluate state/locality plans, provide technical assistance, oversee compliance, create a working group...
- Requires rigorous program evaluations using randomized control trials or quasi-experimental designs to measure impact on recidivism rates, employment outcomes, and mental healthcare utilization.
- Authorizes $600 million in appropriations over 5 years (FY2026-2030), allocating 90% to grants (20% Bureau of Prisons, 20% states, 50% localities), 5% to evaluation activities, and 5% to Advisory Board operations.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
The bill establishes a competitive grant program for states and localities to implement mental health screenings at prisons and jails, with requirements for hiring liaison staff, forming outreach teams, submitting implementation, requires the Director of the Bureau of Prisons to establish a mental health screening and referral program for federal prisons within 90 days, modeled on the state/local grant program, and establishes an Advisory Board under the Attorney General to manage and administer the grant program, evaluate state/locality plans, provide technical assistance, oversee compliance, create a working group.
Key Policy Areas
Criminal Justice, Healthcare, Finance
Primary Purpose
The bill establishes a competitive grant program for states and localities to implement mental health screenings at prisons and jails, with requirements for hiring liaison staff, forming outreach teams, submitting implementation, requires the Director of the Bureau of Prisons to establish a mental health screening and referral program for federal prisons within 90 days, modeled on the state/local grant program, and establishes an Advisory Board under the Attorney General to manage and administer the grant program, evaluate state/locality plans, provide technical assistance, oversee compliance, create a working group.
Policy Domains
Mental Health Screening and Referral Grant Program
Identified Gains
- State governments operating prisons
- Local governments operating jails
- Bureau of Prisons
- State and local governments operating prisons and jails
- Independent research organizations
Identified Costs
- Bureau of Prisons
- Department of Justice / Attorney General
- State and local corrections facilities
- State Departments of Public Safety
- State Departments of Labor
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMs. Sherrill introduced the following bill; which was referred to …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Local governments operating jails, State Departments of Labor, State Departments of Public Safety
Positive-direction: Local governments operating jails, State and local governments operating prisons and jails, State governments operating prisons
Negative-direction: State Departments of Labor, State Departments of Public Safety
Advisory Board, Bureau of Prisons, Department of Justice / Attorney General
Bureau of Prisons faces effects in multiple directions
Positive-direction: Advisory Board
Negative-direction: Department of Justice / Attorney General
Mental healthcare providers near federal prisons, Mental healthcare providers near prisons and jails, Mental healthcare providers participating in working group
Federal prison inmates with mental illness, Formerly incarcerated individuals with mental illness
Prison and jail administrators, State and local corrections facilities
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_director"
- → Director of the Bureau of Prisons
- "the_advisory_board"
- → Advisory Board established under Section 4
- "the_attorney_general"
- → Attorney General of the United States
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands
Any city, county, township, town, borough, parish, village, or other general purpose political subdivision of a State
One or more mental, behavioral, or emotional disorders that results in serious functional impairment and substantially interferes with or limits major life activities
An entity not operated or controlled by a governmental body that conducts high-quality experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations
Any prison or jail administered by the Bureau of Prisons or a State, or any jail administered by a State or locality
A fully-licensed professional or group of professionals who diagnose mental health conditions and provide treatment, operating near the relevant jail or prison
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology