PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

The Director, working with the Director of the National Institute of Corrections, can give grants to support alternatives to regular prison and release programs. The Director can make four grants each fiscal year to public agencies for correctional options (including building costs) that aim to help young offenders who are not career criminals, keep the right level of security, offer diagnosis and treatment plus services like counseling, drug treatment, education, job training and placement help, cut repeat crime and correction costs, and give work experience that builds skills. The Director can also fund private nonprofit groups for the same goals (but not for building), plus for training criminal justice staff, giving technical help to states and local governments, and running demonstration projects likely to work in more than one place. Grants can be made to public agencies to create and run boot camp prisons, and to State courts to improve court security. Grants for the public agency and nonprofit projects are chosen for how well they can develop or test new alternatives to normal incarceration. For boot camp grants, the Director must look at program quality (treatment, drug testing, counseling, literacy, and job training) and give priority to agencies whose prisons cannot hold people convicted of crimes punishable by imprisonment exceeding 1 year. State court grants go first to courts with the greatest need for security. The Director must consult a federal commission that identifies military sites that could be used for these programs.

Title 34, §10171

Navy, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Authority to make grants

The Director, in consultation with the Director of the National Institute of Corrections, may make—

(1)4 grants in each fiscal year, in various geographical areas throughout the United States, to public agencies for correctional options (including the cost of construction) that provide alternatives to traditional modes of incarceration and offender release programs—

(A)to provide more appropriate intervention for youthful offenders who are not career criminals, but who, without such intervention, are likely to become career criminals or more serious offenders;

(B)to provide a degree of security and discipline appropriate for the offender involved;

(C)to provide diagnosis, and treatment and services (including counseling, substance abuse treatment, education, job training and placement assistance while under correctional supervision, and linkage to similar outside services), to increase the success rate of offenders who decide to pursue a course of lawful and productive conduct after release from legal restraint;

(D)to reduce criminal recidivism by offenders who receive punishment through such alternatives;

(E)to reduce the cost of correctional services and facilities by reducing criminal recidivism; and

(F)to provide work that promotes development of industrial and service skills in connection with a correctional option;

(2)grants to private nonprofit organizations—

(A)for any of the purposes specified in subparagraphs (A) through (F) of paragraph (1);

(B)to undertake educational and training programs for criminal justice personnel;

(C)to provide technical assistance to States and local units of government; and

(D)to carry out demonstration projects which, in view of previous research or experience, are likely to be a success in more than one jurisdiction;

in connection with a correctional option (excluding the cost of construction);

(3)grants to public agencies to establish, operate, and support boot camp prisons; and

(4)grants to State courts to improve security for State and local court systems.

(b)Selection of grantees

The selection of applicants to receive grants under paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a) shall be based on their potential for developing or testing various innovative alternatives to traditional modes of incarceration and offender release programs. In selecting the applicants to receive grants under subsection (a)(3), the Director shall—

(1)consider the overall quality of an applicant’s shock incarceration program, including the existence of substance abuse treatment, drug testing, counseling literacy education, vocational education, and job training programs during incarceration or after release; and

(2)give priority to public agencies that clearly demonstrate that the capacity of their correctional facilities is inadequate to accommodate the number of individuals who are convicted of offenses punishable by a term of imprisonment exceeding 1 year.

Priority shall be given to State court applicants under subsection (a)(4) that have the greatest demonstrated need to provide security in order to administer justice.

(c)Consultations

The Director shall consult with the Commission on Alternative Utilization of Military Facilities created by Public Law 100–456 in order to identify military facilities that may be used as sites for correctional programs receiving assistance under this subpart.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Commission on Alternative Utilization of Military Facilities, referred to in subsec. (c), was created by section 2819 of Pub. L. 100–456, which was set out as a note under section 2391 of Title 10, Armed Forces, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 105–261, div. A, title X, § 1031(b), Oct. 17, 1998, 112 Stat. 2123. Codification Section was formerly classified to section 3762a of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.

Prior Provisions

A prior section 515 of Pub. L. 90–351, title I, June 19, 1968, 82 Stat. 207; Pub. L. 91–644, title I, § 7(4), Jan. 2, 1971, 84 Stat. 1887; Pub. L. 93–83, § 2, Aug. 6, 1973, 87 Stat. 213; Pub. L. 94–503, title I, § 124, Oct. 15, 1976, 90 Stat. 2421, provided for functions, powers, and duties of Law

Enforcement

Assistance Administration, prior to the general amendment of title I of Pub. L. 90–351 by Pub. L. 96–157.

Amendments

2008—Subsec. (a)(4). Pub. L. 110–177, § 302(a)(1), added par. (4). Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 110–177, § 302(a)(2), inserted concluding provisions. 1994—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 103–322, in introductory provisions substituted “paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a)” for “subsection (a)(1) and (2)”, and in par. (2) substituted “public agencies” for “States”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Transfer of Functions

Effective Aug. 1, 2000, all functions of Director of Bureau of Justice Assistance, other than those enumerated in section 10142(3) to (6) of this title, transferred to Assistant Attorney General for Office of Justice Programs, see section 1000(a)(1) [title I, § 108(b)] of Pub. L. 106–113, set out as a note under section 10141 of this title.

§10171 Correctional Options Grants