[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2471 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2471

  To amend title 18, United States Code, to improve the compassionate 
   release process of the Bureau of Prisons, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 28, 2018

    Mr. Schatz (for himself, Mr. Lee, and Mr. Leahy) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend title 18, United States Code, to improve the compassionate 
   release process of the Bureau of Prisons, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Granting Release And Compassion 
Effectively Act of 2018'' or the ``GRACE Act''.

SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF AN IMPOSED TERM OF IMPRISONMENT.

    Section 3582 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) in subsection (c)(1)(A), in the matter preceding clause 
        (i), by inserting after ``Prisons,'' the following: ``or, upon 
        motion of the defendant after the defendant has fully exhausted 
        all administrative rights to appeal a failure of the Bureau of 
        Prisons to bring a motion on the defendant's behalf or upon 
        expiration of the 30-day period beginning on the date on which 
        the defendant submitted a request for a sentence reduction 
        under this subsection, whichever is earlier,'';
            (2) by redesignating subsection (d) as subsection (e); and
            (3) by inserting after subsection (c) the following:
    ``(d) Notification Requirements.--
            ``(1) Terminal illness defined.--In this subsection, the 
        term `terminal illness' means a disease or condition with an 
        end-of-life trajectory.
            ``(2) Notification.--The Bureau of Prisons shall--
                    ``(A) in the case of a defendant diagnosed with a 
                terminal illness--
                            ``(i) not later than 72 hours after the 
                        diagnosis, notify the defendant's designated 
                        representatives of the defendant's condition 
                        and inform the defendant's designated 
                        representatives that they may prepare and 
                        submit on the defendant's behalf a request for 
                        a sentence reduction pursuant to subsection 
                        (c)(1)(A);
                            ``(ii) not later than 7 days after the date 
                        of the diagnosis, provide the defendant's 
                        partner and family members (including extended 
                        family) with an opportunity to visit the 
                        defendant in person;
                            ``(iii) upon request from the defendant or 
                        a designated representative of the defendant, 
                        ensure that the Bureau of Prisons employees 
                        assist the defendant in the preparation, 
                        drafting, and submission of a request for a 
                        sentence reduction pursuant to subsection 
                        (c)(1)(A); and
                            ``(iv) not later than 14 days after receipt 
                        of a request for a sentence reduction submitted 
                        by the defendant or on the defendant's behalf 
                        by a designated representative of the 
                        defendant, process the request;
                    ``(B) in the case of a defendant who is physically 
                or mentally unable to submit a request for a sentence 
                reduction pursuant to subsection (c)(1)(A)--
                            ``(i) inform the designated representatives 
                        of the defendant that they may prepare and 
                        submit on the defendant's behalf a request for 
                        a sentence reduction pursuant to subsection 
                        (c)(1)(A);
                            ``(ii) accept and process a request for 
                        sentence reduction that has been prepared and 
                        submitted on the defendant's behalf by the 
                        designated representatives of the defendant 
                        under clause (i); and
                            ``(iii) upon request from the defendant or 
                        a designated representative of the defendant, 
                        ensure that the Bureau of Prisons employees 
                        assist the defendant in the preparation, 
                        drafting, and submission of a request for a 
                        sentence reduction pursuant to subsection 
                        (c)(1)(A); and
                    ``(C) ensure that all the Bureau of Prisons 
                facilities regularly and visibly post, including in 
                prisoner handbooks, staff training materials, medical 
                facilities, and facility law libraries, and make 
                available to prisoners upon demand, notice of--
                            ``(i) a defendant's ability to request a 
                        sentence reduction pursuant to subsection 
                        (c)(1)(A);
                            ``(ii) the procedures and timelines for 
                        initiating and resolving requests described in 
                        clause (i); and
                            ``(iii) the right to appeal a denial of a 
                        request described in clause (i) after all 
                        administrative rights to appeal within the 
                        Bureau of Prisons have been exhausted.
            ``(3) Annual report.--Not later than 1 year after the date 
        of enactment of this subsection, and once every year 
        thereafter, the Director of the Bureau of Prisons shall submit 
        to the Committee on the Judiciary of the Senate and the 
        Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives a 
        report on requests for sentence reductions pursuant to 
        subsection (c)(1)(A), which shall include a description of--
                    ``(A) the number of prisoners granted and denied 
                sentence reductions, categorized by the criteria relied 
                on as the grounds for a reduction in sentence;
                    ``(B) the number of requests initiated by or on 
                behalf of prisoners, categorized by the criteria relied 
                on as the grounds for a reduction in sentence, and the 
                final decision made in each request;
                    ``(C) the number of requests which the Bureau of 
                Prisons employees assisted prisoners in drafting, 
                preparing, or submitting, categorized by the criteria 
                relied on as the grounds for a reduction in sentence, 
                and the final decision made in each request;
                    ``(D) the number of requests that designated 
                representatives of a defendant submitted on the 
                defendant's behalf, categorized by the criteria relied 
                on as the grounds for a reduction in sentence, and the 
                final decision made in each request;
                    ``(E) the number of requests approved by the 
                Director of the Bureau of Prisons and the reasons given 
                for each approval, categorized by the criteria relied 
                on as the grounds for a reduction in sentence;
                    ``(F) the number of requests denied by the Director 
                of the Bureau of Prisons and the reasons given for each 
                denial, categorized by the criteria relied on as the 
                grounds for a reduction in sentence;
                    ``(G) for each request, the time elapsed between 
                the date on which the request was received by the 
                warden and the date on which the final decision was 
                made, categorized by the criteria relied on as the 
                grounds for a reduction in sentence;
                    ``(H) for each request, the number of prisoners who 
                died while their request was pending and, for each, the 
                amount of time elapsed between the date on which the 
                request was received by the warden and the date of 
                death of the prisoner, categorized by the criteria 
                relied on as the grounds for a reduction in sentence;
                    ``(I) the number of the Bureau of Prisons 
                notifications to designated representatives of a 
                defendant of their right to visit the terminally ill 
                defendant as required under paragraph (2)(A)(ii) and, 
                for each, whether a visit occurred and how much time 
                elapsed between the date of the notification and the 
                date of the visit;
                    ``(J) the number of visits to terminally ill 
                prisoners that were allowed under paragraph (2)(A)(ii), 
                but that were denied by the Bureau of Prisons due to 
                security or other concerns, and the reasons given for 
                each denial; and
                    ``(K) the number of motions filed by defendants 
                with the court after all administrative rights to 
                appeal a denial of a sentence reduction had been 
                exhausted, the outcome of each motion, and the amount 
                of time elapsed between the date on which the request 
                was first received by the warden and the date on which 
                the defendant filed the motion with the court.''.
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