Improving Mental Healthcare in the Re-Entry System Act of 2025

This bill would fund mental health screening and quick referrals to care for people in jails and prisons. The Justice Department would run competitive grants so states and local communities can screen people at intake and connect those with serious mental illness to nearby providers before release or right after. Each jail or prison getting a grant must hire a mental health liaison to coordinate care and oversee an outreach team. Small facilities may share one liaison if approved. The screening is a short 5–10 question survey, based on the Brief Jail Mental Health Screen, to spot conditions like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression. It must be given by trained staff to everyone entering—and to those already incarcerated when the program starts. If someone needs help, the outreach team tries to meet them in person before release; if not possible, they must call within 24–48 hours after release, make at least three call attempts, and, if needed, try an in‑person visit at the person’s home.

A new advisory board would be set up to guide and monitor the grants, help prisons and jails put programs in place, and publish results. It must be created within 60 days of the law taking effect, and the Bureau of Prisons must launch a similar program within 90 days. Independent researchers will study results at 1, 3, 5, and 10 years—looking at arrests, incarceration, jobs and wages, and use of mental health care—using strong research methods, including randomized trials when possible.

Key points

• Who is affected: People in jail or prison; local mental health providers; state, local, and federal prison/jail systems.
• What changes: Short mental health screening for all; quick referrals for those who need care; required liaison and outreach teams; data sharing for independent evaluations to see what works and to guide future programs .
• When: Advisory board within 60 days; grant program and federal prison program within 90 days of the law taking effect.
• Funding: Authorizes $100M in 2026, rising to $140M in 2030. Of all funds, 90% go to grants (20% federal prisons, 20% states, 50% local jails), 5% to evaluations, and 5% to technical help and operations.

The program is designed to help people get care during re‑entry and to test whether that lowers crime and improves work outcomes after release .