Congress orders study of prison books and crime.
H.R. 9986 — Read for Reentry Act of 2026 · Filed by Rick Larsen (D-WA) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 30, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
The bill tells the Government Accountability Office to study prison books in state and federal prisons. The study must finish within one year. It will look at what book services exist and how much money they get. It will check if books connect to lower crime when people leave prison. The study will also collect facts about who uses prison books, such as age, race, and school level.
Who it affects
People in prison who use books are impacted. Congress will get data to decide whether to keep, grow, or cut book funding. Citizens will learn whether prison books help stop crime.
One thing to notice
The bill does not say books work or don't work. It only orders a study to find out what the facts are.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
5 cosponsors: 5 Democrats.
- Jul 30, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jul 30, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- Government Accountability Office — A group that studies how well government programs work.
- crime — An act that breaks the law.
- facts — True information about people or things.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,517 characters) on Aug 12, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,707 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-23.
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