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House Resolution Regarding Prison Security and Successful Inmate Reentry (converted from a joint resolution per JR4-5-104)
2026 GENERAL SESSION
STATE OF UTAH
Chief Sponsor: Melissa G. Ballard
LONG TITLE
General Description:
This resolution encourages Congress to support policies or programs that assist with
successful inmate reentry and enhance security within correctional facilities.
Highlighted Provisions:
This resolution:
calls upon Congress to vote in favor of the 2025 Second Chance Reauthorization Act and
restore eliminated funding of the Act;
encourages Congress to support policies and programs that provide inmates with
affordable health care prior to reentry;
urges Congress to vote in favor of the 2025 Cell Phone Jamming Reform Act;
requests that Congress criminalize the flying of drones over correctional facilities; and
asks Congress to allow law enforcement and correctional agencies to implement a pilot
program to mitigate drones that fly over critical infrastructure.
Money Appropriated in this Bill:
None
Other Special Clauses:
None
Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the state of Utah:
WHEREAS, an incarcerated individual's success upon re-entry is impacted by the
incarcerated individual's ability to access resources like education, housing, transportation, and
affordable health care;
WHEREAS, the Second Chance Act and the Act's reauthorizations are vital to successful
re-entry because the Act enables states, through grants, to implement programs and resources
for incarcerated individuals re-entering the community;
WHEREAS, the United States Department of Justice reported that since 2008, when the
Second Chance Act was passed, more than 386,000 individuals received services funded by
the Act's grants;
WHEREAS, two examples of how the Second Chance Act funded re-entry programs
include Arizona, where grants were used to train community correctional officers on best
practices for supporting supervised offenders, and Ohio, where grants were used to provide
housing vouchers to formerly incarcerated individuals;
WHEREAS, the Council of State Governments Justice Center found that since the Second
Chance Act passed in 2008, reincarceration has decreased, with 27% of individuals being
reincarcerated within three years after re-entry in 2019, as opposed to 35% who were
reincarcerated within three years after re-entry in 2008;
WHEREAS, health care services like Medicaid are key to the successful re-entry of
incarcerated individuals and, without access to affordable health care, incarcerated individuals
may not seek medical care upon release;
WHEREAS, federal law has historically prohibited states from delivering Medicaid
services to incarcerated individuals unless they are a patient at a medical institution;
WHEREAS, new opportunities such as the Medicaid Re-entry Justice Involved Waiver
have provided states with new opportunities to leverage the Medicaid program to provide
critical care to incarcerated individuals up to 90 days pre-release;
WHEREAS, as of August 2024, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services had
approved Medicaid re-entry waivers for 11 states with 13 other states pending proposals;
WHEREAS, a 2018 National Survey of Correctional Contraband found that of 301 prisons
across six states, cell phones were the second most common item of contraband, with an
average of 31 cell phones retrieved per 1,000 individuals;
WHEREAS, contraband cell phones used by incarcerated individuals enable the
continuance of crime such as drug trafficking and sexual exploitation;
WHEREAS, correctional officers have been convicted of providing cell phones and other
contraband to incarcerated individuals in exchange for bribes;
WHEREAS, the Urban Institute reported that more than 85% of correctional administrators
from 20 state prisons feel that contraband cell phones jeopardize the safety of incarcerated
individuals and correctional staff;
WHEREAS, the National Institute of Justice identified drones as a concern for correctional
facilities because drones can smuggle drugs, cell phones, weapons, GPS trackers, and other
contraband into facilities;
WHEREAS, drones may not only be used to smuggle in contraband but may also be used
for video surveillance of correctional facilities to aid incarcerated individuals in escaping;
WHEREAS, after the Federal Bureau of Prisons adopted a formal reporting process in
2018, reports of drones increased by 87%, with the Department of Justice reporting 130 drone
incidents in federal correctional facilities between 2015 and 2019; and
WHEREAS, federal law does not currently prohibit drones from flying over correctional
facilities, but does, through a general prohibition, prohibit correctional facilities from being
able to control, capture, or destroy drones flying over facilities:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the state of
Utah supports the 2025 Second Chance Reauthorization Act as a vital component for states to
implement re-entry programming, and calls upon Congress to vote in favor of the 2025 Second
Chance Reauthorization Act and restore any eliminated funding so that states can continue to
provide services to help individuals successfully re-enter into society.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives acknowledges that
incarcerated individuals who will soon re-enter the community need access to affordable
health care, and encourages Congress to support state policies and programs that provide
incarcerated individuals with access to health care prior to release from a correctional facility.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives urges Congress to vote in
favor of implementing the 2025 Cellphone Jamming Reform Act to prevent further criminal
activity in correctional facilities and communities.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives asks Congress to
criminalize the flying of drones over correctional facilities and prioritize the prosecution of
such incidents.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Representatives supports allowing law
enforcement and correctional facility agencies to mitigate drones that fly over critical
infrastructure and requests that Congress permit a pilot program that enables law enforcement
and correctional facility agencies to mitigate drones that fly over critical infrastructure.
3-12-26 4:08 PM