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FORMER BOP INMATE NOW BOP DEPUTY DIRECTOR
Some cynical Bureau of Prisons inmates have quipped before that certain BOP employees are “only a uniform change away” from being inmates, an aphorism occasionally proven by convictions of BOP staff for sexual abuse of inmates, bribery, introducing contraband, or general mayhem.
Last week, the cliché was turned on its head… but in a very good way. Joshua J. Smith, a former federal inmate who President Trump pardoned in 2021 for drug trafficking crimes committed more than two decades before, just swapped prison khakis from 20 years ago for a suit and corner office as the BOP’s Deputy Director.
Yeah, I know… a Trump pardon based on merit. That alone is amazing. But who would have ever predicted that someone would be involved with the BOP on both sides of the fence?
Last Thursday, BOP Director William K. Marshall III announced that he was naming Smith, a Tennessee businessman who founded inmate advocacy and rehabilitation nonprofit Fourth Purpose Foundation, as his second in command.
“Josh brings to this role something our agency has never had before at this level, a perspective shaped by lived experience, proven innovation and national impact,” Marshall said in a staff memo. “His firsthand understanding of our facilities — of the tension, the risk and the importance of trust — makes him uniquely positioned to advocate for the resources and reforms front-line staff need to do their jobs safely and effectively.”
Smith entered the BOP as an inmate “at age 21 as an 11th-grade dropout with no plans to exit it any differently than how he entered,” Walter Pavlo wrote in Forbes last week. Smith served five years at FCI Manchester, Kentucky, being released in 2003.
The Fourth Purpose website says Smith “saw the system from the inside, its challenges, its blind spots, and its unrealized potential. While incarcerated, something began to shift. He found faith, discipline, and most importantly, he found a sense of purpose. For Josh, prison wasn’t just a consequence, it became a transformative experience. When he was released in 2003, he walked out determined not to waste a second chance he had been given. He created a plan to stay out of the system. But that sense of purpose followed him. Reentry wasn’t easy, but it shaped his empathy. It helped him understand the barriers people face on the outside and planted the seed of a deeper mission.”
When he was pardoned in January 2021, a Knoxville TV station reported, “Smith started a multi-million dollar company and a non-profit to help former inmates transform their lives.” The residential service company he started, Master Service Companies, grew into a $30 million enterprise with more than 180 employees, many of whom were ex-offenders.
Rabbi Moshe Margaretten, President of the nonprofit Tzedek Association, told Pavlo, “Director Marshall couldn’t have made a better choice. Josh Smith brings a deep moral clarity and transformative vision to the Bureau — grounded in lived experience and a passion for redemption and human dignity. His leadership on reentry is exactly what this moment demands.”
Pavlo wrote, “Smith realizes that real change is only going to occur if he has buy-in from the staff and that may be a challenge. Former Director Colette Peters, also an outsider to the BOP, found change difficult though she did manage to improve hiring and made a number of strides in implementing the First Step Act.”
Nevertheless, Pavlo cheered Smith’s appointment. “The BOP needs change and they need reform. Nothing says reform louder than bringing in someone like Josh Smith who has seen life on both sides of the fence.”
NBC, Former federal inmate pardoned by Trump tapped as Bureau of Prisons deputy director (June 6, 2025)
WBIR-TV, Knoxville businessman Josh Smith awarded Presidential Pardon (Jan 20, 2021)
Forbes, Meet Joshua Smith, New Deputy Director of Bureau of Prisons (June 6, 2025)
– Thomas L. Root