H.R. 2305 — Corrections Officer Blake Schwarz Suicide Prevention Act of 2025

This section establishes a grant program, to be administered by the Attorney General not later than 90 days after enactment, under which states and units of local government may receive grants to implement mental health screenings for corrections officers at eligible detention centers and to refer officers indicating severe mental illness (i.e., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression) to local mental health providers. Grant funds may be used to (1) develop and administer a brief anonymous and confidential mental health screening survey of 5 to 10 questions—based on Employee Assistance Program or Bureau of Prisons standards, administered by trained staff to all corrections officers, and covering symptoms, prior medications or inpatient care, and residence; (2) develop necessary technology for the survey; (3) hire necessary staff; (4) establish an outreach team composed of local mental health professionals, detention center staff, and a mental health liaison to make immediate referrals for further assessment, admission if needed, and support; and (5) pay salaries or overtime for the outreach team. Grantees must submit a project plan and assure hiring of a mental health liaison to coordinate with detention centers, providers, an advisory board, and the outreach team.

This section directs the Director of the Bureau of Prisons, not later than 90 days after the date of enactment, to (1) establish a program to develop and administer mental health surveys to Bureau corrections officers and to establish and maintain an outreach team to refer such officers to mental health care providers, as appropriate; and (2) submit to the Advisory Board a plan for implementing the program.

This section requires the Attorney General to establish an Advisory Board, not later than 60 days after enactment, to manage and administer the grant program under section 2. The board is responsible for (1) evaluating and approving state and local plans under section 2 and ensuring specified uses of grant funding; (2) monitoring Bureau of Prisons plans under section 3 and advising the Attorney General on compliance; (3) providing technical assistance to states and localities for implementing mental health screening and referral programs; (4) creating a working group of mental health providers, jail and prison administrators, law enforcement, and program operators to share best practices for reducing crime and improving post-release employment and wages; (5) coordinating with mental health outreach teams under section 2; (6) enforcing grant requirements, mandating changes, and reducing funding for noncompliance; and (7) developing an anonymous self-reporting process for officers' mental health assistance that protects privacy and addresses impediments such as job or benefit loss. The board must also provide technical assistance to the Bureau of Prisons, states, and localities, including identification of evidence-based program models. The Attorney General appoints members with expertise in mental health screenings and referrals for corrections officers, prison/jail mental health care, or rigorous program evaluation methods, in a number determined appropriate by the Attorney General.

This section authorizes appropriations to the Attorney General of $50 million for FY2026, $55 million for FY2027, $60 million for FY2028, $65 million for FY2029, and $70 million for FY2030 to carry out the Act. Of those amounts, the section requires the Attorney General to allocate (1) 90% to the grant program under section 2 and purposes under section 3, including 20% to the Bureau of Prisons under section 3, 20% to grants to states under section 2, and 50% to grants to units of local government under section 2; (2) 5% to the Advisory Board for evaluation activities under section 4(a); and (3) 5% to the Advisory Board for activities under section 4(b).

This section defines nine terms for purposes of the Act: (1) State (i.e., any state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, or the Northern Mariana Islands); (2) locality (i.e., any city, county, township, town, borough, parish, village, or other general-purpose political subdivision of a State); (3) mental health care provider (i.e., a fully licensed professional or group diagnosing and treating mental health conditions near a jail or prison, at hospitals or private clinics); (4) mental health care center (i.e., any facility such as a hospital or private clinic where mental health services are offered); (5) jail or prison administrator (i.e., any individual appointed to a supervisory position in a federal, state, or local incarceration facility); (6) law enforcement official (i.e., any officer of an entity administered by a locality, state, or federal government primarily to prevent crime and enforce criminal laws); (7) corrections officer (i.e., any officer or employee of a federal, state, or local prison, jail, or detention facility responsible for the custody of incarcerated individuals); (8) eligible detention center (i.e., any prison or jail administered by the Bureau of Prisons, a state, or a locality); and (9) severe mental illness (i.e., one or more mental, behavioral, or emotional disorders resulting in serious functional impairment that substantially interferes with major life activities).