[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2488 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2488

To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide appropriate remedies 
                   with respect to prison conditions.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 17, 1995

  Mr. Schiff introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide appropriate remedies 
                   with respect to prison conditions.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Prison Judgment Relief Act of 
1995''.

SEC. 2. APPROPRIATE REMEDIES FOR PRISON CONDITIONS.

    (a) In General.--Section 3626 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended to read as follows:
``Sec. 3626. Appropriate remedies with respect to prison conditions
    ``(a) Requirements for Relief.--
            ``(1) Limitations on prospective relief.--The court shall 
        not grant or approve any prospective relief unless the court 
        finds that there is a violation of a Federal right and that 
        such relief is narrowly drawn and the least intrusive means to 
        remedy the violation of the Federal right. In determining the 
        intrusiveness of the relief, the court shall give substantial 
        weight to any adverse impact on public safety or the operation 
        of a criminal justice system caused by the relief.
            ``(2) Prison population reduction relief.--In any civil 
        action with respect to prison conditions, the court shall not 
        grant or approve any relief whose purpose or effect is to 
        reduce or limit the prison population, unless the plaintiff 
        proves that crowding is the primary cause of the deprivation of 
        the Federal right and no other relief will remedy that 
        deprivation.
    ``(b) Termination of Relief.--
            ``(1) Automatic termination of prospective relief after 4-
        year period.--In any civil action with respect to prison 
        conditions, any prospective relief shall automatically 
        terminate 4 years after the later of--
                    ``(A) the date of entry of the final judgment in 
                which the court found the violation of a Federal right 
                that was the basis for the relief; or
                    ``(B) in the case of a final judgment entered more 
                than 4 years before the date of the enactment of the 
                Prison Judgment Relief Act of 1995, 180 days after the 
                date of the enactment of such Act.
            ``(2) Immediate termination of prospective relief.--In any 
        civil action with respect to prison conditions, a defendant or 
        intervenor shall be entitled to the immediate termination of 
        any prospective relief, if that relief was approved or granted 
        in the absence of a finding by the court that prison conditions 
        violated a Federal right.
    ``(c) Procedure for Motions Affecting Prospective Relief.--The 
court shall promptly rule on any motion to modify or terminate 
prospective relief in a civil action with respect to prison conditions.
    ``(d) Standing.--Any Federal, State, or local official or unit of 
government--
            ``(1) whose jurisdiction or function includes the 
        prosecution or custody of persons in a prison subject to; or
            ``(2) who otherwise is or may be affected by;
any relief whose purpose or effect is to reduce or limit the prison 
population shall have standing to oppose the imposition or continuation 
in effect of that relief and may intervene in any proceeding relating 
to that relief. Standing shall be liberally conferred under this 
subsection so as to effectuate the remedial purposes of this section.
    ``(e) Special Masters.--In any civil action in a Federal court with 
respect to prison conditions, any special master or monitor shall be a 
United States magistrate and shall make proposed findings on the record 
on complicated factual issues submitted to that special master or 
monitor by the court, but shall have no other function. The parties may 
not by consent extend the function of a special master beyond that 
permitted under this subsection.
    ``(f) Attorney's Fees.--No attorney's fee under section 722 of the 
Revised Statutes of the United States (42 U.S.C. 1988) may be granted 
to a plaintiff in a civil action with respect to prison conditions 
except to the extent such fee is--
            ``(1) directly and reasonably incurred in proving an actual 
        violation of the plaintiff's Federal rights; and
            ``(2) proportionally related to the extent the plaintiff 
        obtains court ordered relief for that violation.''.
    ``(g) Definitions.--As used in this section--
            ``(1) the term `prison' means any Federal, State, or local 
        facility that incarcerates or detains juveniles or adults 
        accused of, convicted of, sentenced for, or adjudicated 
        delinquent for, violations of criminal law;
            ``(2) the term `relief' means all relief in any form which 
        may be granted or approved by the court, and includes consent 
        decrees and settlement agreements (except a settlement 
        agreement the breech of which is not subject to any court 
        proceeding which such agreement settled); and
            ``(3) the term `prospective relief' means all relief other 
        than compensatory monetary damages.''
    (b) Application of Amendment.--Section 3626 of title 18, United 
States Code, as amended by this section, shall apply with respect to 
all relief (as defined in such section) whether such relief was 
originally granted or approved before, on, or after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
    (c) Clerical Amendment.--The item relating to section 3526 in the 
table of sections at the beginning of subchapter C of chapter 229 of 
title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking ``crowding'' and 
inserting ``conditions''.
                                 <all>