[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3710 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3710

   To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish an Office of 
                      Correctional Public Health.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 1, 2007

  Mr. Holden introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Public Health Service Act to establish an Office of 
                      Correctional Public Health.

    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 ``Office of Correctional Public Health 
Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. FINDING.

    The Congress finds as follows:
            (1) Approximately 2.5 million people are incarcerated in 
        the United States.
            (2) The number of inmates held in Federal, State, and 
        private correctional facilities rose 37 percent between midyear 
        1995 and 2006.
            (3) The offender population in jails turns over between 20 
        and 25 times each year.
            (4) At least 95 percent of those currently incarcerated 
        will be released from custody.
            (5) Offender populations enter correctional facilities with 
        a higher rate of infection of chronic and communicable 
        diseases, including asthma, diabetes, hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, and 
        tuberculosis, than is present in the general population.
            (6) The prevalence of mental illness in correctional 
        facilities is rising. Estimates are that 21 percent of jail 
        inmates in 2004 had a recent history of a mental health 
        problem, while 60 percent reported symptoms that meet the 
        criteria for mania. In State prison facilities, 24 percent 
        reported a mental health problem, and 43 percent reported 
        symptoms of mania.
            (7) At the end of 2004, the prevalence of AIDS among 
        inmates was 3.3 times higher than among the general population.
            (8) An estimated 98,500 to 145,500 HIV-positive inmates 
        were released from prisons and jails in 1996.
            (9) According to estimates, between 12 and 15 percent of 
        all individuals in the United States with chronic or current 
        hepatitis B infection in 1996 spent time in a correctional 
        facility that year.
            (10) In the United States, about 30 percent of the total 
        population with hepatitis C virus are former prisoners or have 
        a history of incarceration. The prevalence of hepatitis C among 
        inmates is between 9 and 10 times higher than the estimated 
        hepatitis C prevalence in the Nation's population as a whole.
            (11) In 1996, an estimated 35 percent of all those in 
        America who had tuberculosis had served time in a correctional 
        facility.
            (12) Substance abuse is a major characteristic of incoming 
        prisoners. In 1997, more than 80 percent of State inmates, and 
        more than 70 percent of Federal inmates, reported past drug 
        use, and 51 percent reported the use of alcohol or drugs while 
        committing their offense.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF CORRECTIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH.

    Title XVII of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300u et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following section:

                 ``office of correctional public health

    ``Sec. 1711.  (a) In General.--There is established within the 
Office of Public Health and Science an office to be known as the Office 
of Correctional Public Health (in this section referred to as the 
`Office'), which shall be headed by a director appointed by the 
Secretary. The Secretary shall carry out this section acting through 
the Director of the Office.
    ``(b) General Duties.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary shall carry out public 
        health activities (referred to in this section as `correctional 
        health activities') regarding individuals (referred to in this 
        section as `correctional populations') who are employed in the 
        field of corrections as employees in Federal, State, or local 
        penal or correctional institutions; are incarcerated in such 
        institutions; are employed as parole or probation officers; or 
        are under parole or probation supervision. Correctional health 
        activities that may be carried out under the preceding sentence 
        include activities regarding disease prevention, health 
        promotion, service delivery, research, and health professions 
        education.
            ``(2) Certain types of institutions.--The types of penal or 
        correctional institutions with respect to which this section is 
        authorized to be carried out include facilities in which 
        individuals are held pending judicial proceedings (including 
        individuals who are minors), facilities in which individuals 
        are held pending administrative proceedings of the Secretary of 
        Homeland Security with respect to citizenship and immigration 
        services, and facilities in which individuals who are minors 
        are held pursuant to judicial proceedings in which such 
        individuals are found, as minors, to have engaged in violations 
        of law.
    ``(c) Certain Activities.--In carrying out correctional health 
activities under subsection (b), the Secretary shall--
            ``(1) coordinate all correctional health programs within 
        the Department of Health and Human Services;
            ``(2) provide technical support to State and local 
        correctional agencies on correctional health issues;
            ``(3) cooperate with other Federal agencies carrying out 
        correctional health programs to ensure coordination of such 
        programs;
            ``(4) consult with, and provide outreach to, State 
        directors of correctional health and providers of correctional 
        health care;
            ``(5) facilitate the exchange of information regarding 
        correctional health activities; and
            ``(6) facilitate collaboration between correctional 
        agencies and State and local health departments.
    ``(d) Grants Regarding Hepatitis and Other Infectious Diseases.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary, in consultation with the 
        Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, may 
        make grants to States for the purpose of providing for 
        correctional populations screenings, immunizations, and 
        treatment for hepatitis A, B, and C and other infectious 
        diseases.
            ``(2) Discretion of grantee regarding scope of program.--A 
        State receiving a grant under paragraph (1) may expend the 
        grant for any or all of the activities authorized in such 
        paragraph.
            ``(3) Requirement of matching funds.--
                    ``(A) In general.--With respect to the costs of the 
                program to be carried out under paragraph (1) by a 
                State, the Secretary may make a grant under such 
                paragraph only if the State agrees to make available 
                (directly or through donations from public or private 
                entities) non-Federal contributions toward such costs 
                in an amount not less than 20 percent of such costs ($1 
                for each $4 of Federal funds provided in the grant).
                    ``(B) Determination of amount contributed.--Non-
                Federal contributions required in subparagraph (A) may 
                be in cash or in kind, fairly evaluated, including 
                plant, equipment, or services. Amounts provided by the 
                Federal Government, or services assisted or subsidized 
                to any significant extent by the Federal Government, 
                may not be included in determining the amount of such 
                non-Federal contributions.
            ``(4) Certain expenditures of grant.--The Secretary may 
        make a grant under paragraph (1) only if, with respect to the 
        activities to be carried out with the grant pursuant to 
        paragraph (2), the State agrees that a portion of the grant 
        will be expended to carry out such activities at penal or 
        correctional institutions that are not facilities in which 
        individuals serve terms of imprisonment, including facilities 
        in which individuals are held pending judicial proceedings.
    ``(e) Annual Report.--The Secretary shall annually submit to the 
Congress a report describing the correctional health activities carried 
out under this section. The report shall include a description of the 
status of correctional health activities in the United States.
    ``(f) Rule of Construction Regarding Agency Jurisdiction.--With 
respect to correctional health programs that are carried out by 
agencies of the Public Health Service and were in operation as of the 
day before the date of the enactment of the Office of Correctional 
Public Health Act of 2007, this section may not be construed as 
requiring the Secretary to transfer jurisdiction for the programs from 
such agencies to the office established in subsection (a).
    ``(g) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            ``(1) In general.--For the purpose of carrying out this 
        section, other than subsection (d), there are authorized to be 
        appropriated such sums as may be necessary for each of the 
        fiscal years 2008 through 2012.
            ``(2) Grants regarding hepatitis and other infectious 
        diseases.--For the purpose of carrying out subsection (d), 
        there are authorized to be appropriated $25,000,000 for each of 
        the fiscal years 2008 through 2010, and $10,000,000 for each of 
        the fiscal years 2011 and 2012.''.
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