The No Frills Prison Act is the name of several failed house resolution proposals that never became law in the United States. The earliest version was a

bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Pl ...

introduced in 1995 by Congressman

Dick Zimmer Richard Alan Zimmer (born August 16, 1944) is an American Republican Party politician from New Jersey, who served in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature and in the United States House of Representatives. He was the Republican nominee for ...

banning from

federal prison A federal prison is operated under the jurisdiction of a federal government as opposed to a state or provincial body. Federal prisons are used for people who violated federal law (U.S., Mexico), people considered dangerous (Brazil), or those sen ...

s in-cell

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

; R, X, and NC-17 rated movies; instruction or training in

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

;

weightlifting Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells, barbells or machines. People engage in weightlifting for a variety of different reasons. These can ...

equipment; in-cell coffee pots or

heating element A heating element is a device used for conversion of electric energy into heat, consisting of a heating resistor and accessories. Heat is generated by the passage of electric current through a resistor through a process known as Joule heating. He ...

s; and

electronic musical instrument An electronic musical instrument or electrophone is a musical instrument that produces sound using electronics, electronic circuitry. Such an instrument sounds by outputting an electrical, electronic or digital audio signal that ultimately is ...

s. Nearly identical bills were introduced seven times between 1995 and 2004, but none of these proposals ever gained even a modicum of legislative support and all have died in committee. No variation of this legislation has ever completed its progression through Congress, so these proposals never became law. In February 1995, Congressman Zimmer proposed a much more vague codification, in the form o
House Amendment 127
t
House Bill 667
part of the Republican initiative commonly termed the "

Contract with America The Contract with America was a legislative agenda advocated by the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party during the 1994 United States House of Representatives elections, 1994 congressional election campaign. Written by Newt Gingri ...

" crime bill. This bill, as amended, passed in the House of Representatives; but on reaching the Senate, the bill was read twice, and then referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it also died in committee. Despite the fact that this bill never became law, it has in effect been selectively adopted by certain Federal correctional facilities. For example, th
inmate orientation brochure
for MDC Brooklyn informs inmates that the facility does not allow for weightlifting and other amenities, and specifically, albeit erroneously, attributes these facility rules to the requirements of the "Zimmer Amendment." Meanwhile, th
inmate orientation brochure
for FCI Englewood indicates that weightlifting and other facility recreational amenities are available throughout most waking hours of each day, provided that inmates do not use the weightlifting equipment to perpetrate acts of violence against facility staff. The issue of prison reform, and the original version of the bill, were the subject of a 1995 article in ''The New York Times''.''Cutting Down on Amenities To Achieve No-Frills Jails''
Iver Peterson, New York Times, July 10, 1995.

References

United States proposed federal criminal legislation Proposed legislation of the 107th United States Congress Proposed legislation of the 108th United States Congress {{US-prison-stub