A bill to authorize actions by the Attorney General to redress deprivations of constitutional and other federally protected rights of institutionalized persons.

(Reported to Senate from the Committee on the Judiciary with amendment, S. Rept. 95-1056)

Authorizes the Attorney General to institute a civil action for or in the name of the United States in an appropriate district court whenever he has reasonable cause to believe that a State or its agents are subjecting persons involuntarily confined in any correctional facility, juvenile correction center, mental hospital, or facility for the chronically ill, retarded, or physically handicapped to conditions which deprive such persons of their Federal Constitutional or Statutory rights.

Requires the Attorney General to notify the Governor or other legal officers of the appropriate State of (1) such alleged condition at least 30 days prior to the commencement of a civil action and (2) the available financial and technical assistance from the Federal Government to aid in the correction of such conditions.

Permits the Attorney General to intervene in any action of public importance commenced in a Federal court in which relief is sought from conditions allegedly depriving involuntarily confined persons in State institutions of their Federal rights.