We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

IT ONLY TOOK TWO DAYS FOR THE NEW DIRECTOR TO STEP IN IT…

Reason reported last week, “We last saw outgoing BOP Director Michael Carvajal running down a stairwell on July 26. He was trying to get away from some Associated Press reporters who revealed systemic dysfunction and corruption within the federal prison system—an apt ending for his tenure.”

But it seems that rather than being gone but not forgotten, Mr. Carvajal may be forgotten but not gone.

The AP reported last week that the BOP “is keeping its former director on the payroll as an adviser to his successor, rewarding him with an influential new role after concerns about his leadership — including from staff, inmates, Congress and the Biden administration — hastened his exit from the top job.”

Carvajal will stay on through the end of the month as a senior adviser to new director Peters, BOP spokeswoman Kristie Breshears told AP. “Critics say that retaining Carvajal, even for a few weeks, could slow that progress,” Corrections1 said. “Some people involved in the federal prison system say Carvajal lacks credibility and that the decision to let him stay on sends mixed signals about the direction of the agency at a pivotal time.”

“That is unbelievable. Why would we keep an individual that has left this agency in ruins, and who refuses to take ownership of failures of his administration, from staffing to COVID?” said Jose Rojas, a leader in the federal correctional officers’ union. “What a sad state of affairs.”

The announcement did not please Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL). The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said last Friday he plans to hold yet another oversight hearing on the BOP after The Associated Press reported that the agency is keeping Carvajal on the payroll as an adviser to Peters.

Durbin, who demanded Carvajal be fired last November amid myriad failings, told the AP in a statement he was dismayed by continuing misconduct within the agency and by its unwillingness to completely cut ties with the former director.

Reason, Biden’s New Bureau of Prisons Director Won’t be Able To Run Away From the Agency’s Corruption (August 1, 2022)

Corrections1, US keeping ex-prison chief as top adviser after rocky tenure (August 5, 2022)

Associated Press, Senate to hold hearing on crisis-plagued federal prisons (August 5, 2022)

– Thomas L. Root