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Senate Unanimously Passes Prison Oversight Bill – Update for July 11, 2024

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

We thoroughly enjoyed our week off (our first in several years). Now, we’re back at it…

“ACCOUNTABILITY, IF YOU CAN KEEP IT”

adultsupervision240711The Senate passed legislation yesterday to bring adult oversight to what the Associated Press calls “the crisis-plagued” Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The Federal Prison Oversight Act (S. 1401), sponsored by Sens. Jon Ossoff (D.GA), Mike Braun (R-IN), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Shelley Caputo (R-WV), Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Tim Kaine (D-VA), sailed through the Senate on a unanimous vote.

The House of Representatives passed the same legislation as H.R. 3019 last May by a lopsided 392-2 vote. The bill now goes to President Joe Biden for signature.

The bill provides for the appointment of an ombudsman within the Dept of Justice who will investigate the health, safety, welfare, and rights of incarcerated people and staff. The ombudsman would establish a secure hotline and online form for family members, friends, and representatives of incarcerated people to submit complaints and inquiries. The measure prohibits BOP retaliation against those who complain or institute any investigation or inspection under this bill.

inspector240711FPOA also requires the DOJ Inspector General to conduct risk-based inspections of all 122 federal prisons, identify deficiencies, recommend changes to address shortcomings and assign each facility a risk score. Higher-risk facilities would then receive more frequent inspections. The IG must report its findings and recommendations to Congress and the public, and the BOP will be required to respond to inspection reports with a corrective action plan within 60 days.

The Associated Press — whose reporters Michael Balsamo and Michael Sisak deserve kudos for their relentless reporting on BOP peccadillos — said that the bill comes “in the wake of rampant sexual abuse and other criminal misconduct by staff, chronic understaffing, escapes and high-profile [inmate] deaths.”

Ossoff, Durbin, and Braun launched the Senate Bipartisan Prison Policy Working Group in February 2022. That group’s efforts resulted in the bill’s passage in the Senate. Reps Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) and Lucy McBath (D-GA) backed the House version of the bill.

“We applaud today’s actions by the Senate in passing this landmark bill, which paves the way to ensuring conditions in prisons are safer and more humane for staff and incarcerated people alike,” Heather Rice-Minus, president and CEO of Prison Fellowship, said in a statement. Prison Fellowship, a Christian nonprofit serving currently and formerly incarcerated people and their families, blitzed Capitol Hill three weeks ago with a “Day of Action,” during which over 40 Prison Fellowship employees, most of which were formerly incarcerated, visited 29 congressional offices to urge passage of FPOA.

Benjamin Franklin famously answered a question posed to him by Elizabeth Willing Powel – who asked him after the Constitutional Convention in 1789 whether the document delivered a republic or a monarchy – with the response, “A republic, if you can keep it.”

The FPOA establishes within the DOJ a mechanism intended to make the BOP accountable for its management of the custody of 158,646 inmates. True, under Director Colette Peters, we eschew “inmate” for the “woker” term “Adult in Custody.”

BOPsexharassment191209Catchy name (and we all love acronyms). However, those AICs continue to suffer sexual abuse, harassment, gross mistreatment, and denial of their statutory right to release and placement in community programs. It brings to mind a pseudo-Franklin quip (that is actually just a line in the Broadway plan-turned-movie musical “1776”): It “is like calling an ox a bull. He’s thankful for the honor, but he’d much rather have restored what’s rightfully his.”

Calling inmates “AICs” so far has been both the most visible and the most hollow change ordered by Director Peters. It has not moved the needle on the treatment of the AICs (although the female inmates being bussed from FCI Dublin would probably have preferred being called “AICs” to being called “bitches.”

Congress may figure that FPOA solves its federal prison problem, but asking the DOJ – the same folks who have permitted the situation at its component agency BOP to fester and continue to impede judicial efforts to address BOP misconduct – to exercise “oversight” hardly ensures accountability.

We now may have BOP accountability. If we can keep it.

Associated Press, Congress OKs bill overhauling oversight of troubled federal Bureau of Prisons (July 10, 2024)

Federal Prison Oversight Act (S.1401)

Sen Jon Ossoff, Senate Passes Sens. Ossoff, Braun, & Durbin, Rep. McBath & Armstrong’s Bipartisan Federal Prison Oversight Act (July 10, 2024)

Federal Prison Oversight Act (HR 3019)

Prison Fellowship, Prison Fellowship Applauds U.S. Senate for Passing the Federal Prison Oversight Act (July 10, 2024)

– Thomas L. Root

Is Senate Fed Up With BOP? – Update for July 13, 2023

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

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, SENATORS MAY BE TELLING BOP

Phineas T. Barnum reputedly said, “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.” But P.T. Barnum never served as Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

badpublicity230714It’s been a rough ride. First, the Dept. of Justice Inspector General has issued a scathing report of BOP mismanagement and maladministration that led to the suicide of high-value celebrity prisoner Jeffrey Epstein and the murder of Whitey Bulger. There has been a steady stream of death-of-a-thousand-cuts reports of BOP employees being convicted of everything from inmate sexual abuse to cellphone smuggling to COVID fraud. The Washington Post fumed last week that “regardless of the offense, any unnatural death in custody is a failure of the prison system.”

This week has seen well-loathed U.S. Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar – serving an endless string of life sentences for an endless string of revolting assaults of women gymnasts – stabbed multiple times at USP Coleman by attackers unknown. BOP employees promptly blamed the attack on a short-staffed facility.

It wasn’t long before the Associated Press reported that Nassar was attacked inside his cell, “a blind spot for prison surveillance cameras that only record common areas and corridors.” The AP said, “In federal prison parlance, because of the lack of video, it is known as an ‘unwitnessed event.’”

It isn’t clear that even full implementation of the Prison Camera Reform Act (Pub.L. 117-321), hardly prevented Capitol Hill from finally having had enough of the BOP follies.

Enough is more than enough. After several half-hearted attempts to address BOP management weaknesses, a bipartisan group of senators yesterday announced the introduction of the Federal Prison Accountability Act of 2023 (no bill number assigned yet), intended to increase oversight at federal prisons.

FPAA would require the president to seek Senate advice and consent when appointing the BOP director, who would be appointed to a single, 10-year term. Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said requiring Senate confirmation of the BOP director would “bring badly needed transparency and accountability to the federal prison system.”

“The Director of the Bureau of Prisons leads thousands of employees and expends a massive budget,” Grassley said in a press release. “It’s a big job with even bigger consequences should mismanagement or abuse weasel its way into the system.”

sexualassault211014It took awhile to get here. Following an 8-month investigation last year that revealed rampant sexual abuse of female prisoners and a failure to prevent recurring sexual abuse, Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) introduced the Federal Prison Oversight Act (S.4988) late last year. The bill – which would have required the DOJ Inspector General to conduct inspections of the BOP’s 122 correctional facilities, provide recommendations to problems and assign each facility a risk score – was window-dressing, a political statement with no chance of passage in the waning days of the 117th Congress.

Three months ago, however, Ossoff introduced a revised version of FPOA (S.1401), with Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA) filing a companion bill in the House (H.R.3109). The new FPOA would have, among other actions, created a hotline for prisoners to report misconduct.

mismanagement210419Now, three months later, the latest effort to reform federal prisons would subject the BOP director to the same congressional scrutiny as other law enforcement agency chiefs such as the director of the FBI, which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said is needed. “The Director of the Bureau of Prisons oversees more than 34,000 employees and a multi-billion dollar budget, and should be subject to Senate review and confirmation as well,” McConnell said.

Grassley introduced FPAA along with McConnell and Sens Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), Rand Paul (R-KY), Mike Lee (R-UT), John Cornyn (R-TX), Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Mike Braun (R-IN) and Ossoff. With that kind of legislative horsepower behind it – not to mention black eyes like Jeffrey Epstein, Whitey Bulger and Larry Nasser – it’s safe to predict that Director Colette Peters may be the last BOP Director to not be approved by the Senate.

The Hill, Bipartisan senators introduce bill to increase federal prison oversight (July 13, 2023)

Sen. Charles Grassley, Senators Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Increase Accountability at Federal Prisons (July 13, 2023)

Associated Press, Larry Nassar was stabbed in his cell and the attack was not seen by prison cameras, AP source says (July 11, 2023)

Associated Press, Former federal prison guard sent to prison for violating civil rights of injured inmate (July 11, 2023)

Washington Post, Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide reveals grave failures of U.S. prisons (July 10, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

BOP Oversight Bill Resurrected – Update for May 4, 2023

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

BILL TO ESTABLISH BOP OVERSIGHT RE-INTRODUCED

A bipartisan group of congressional lawmakers introduced legislation last week to establish a new oversight system for the BOP.

adult220225The Federal Prison Oversight Act (no bill number yet) is sponsored by Senators Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Mike Braun (R-IN), and Richard Durbin (D-IL), in the Senate and Representatives Lucy McBath (D-GA) and Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) in the House. The same legislators sponsored the same legislation when it was introduced last fall, but the measures died at the end of the 117th Congress.

The bills are a response to press reports that exposed systemic corruption in the BOP, several sex abuse scandals involving male BOP staff and female inmates, and increased congressional scrutiny. Ossoff, Braun and Durbin are founding members of the Senate Bipartisan Prison Policy Working Group.

“It’s no secret that BOP has been plagued by misconduct,” Durbin said. “One investigation after another has revealed a culture of abuse, mismanagement, corruption, torture, and death that reaches to the highest levels. And yet it still operates without any meaningful independent oversight.”

investigate170724FOPA would require DOJ to create a prisons ombudsman to field complaints about prison conditions and compel the Department’s Inspector General to evaluate risks and abuses at all 122 BOP facilities. Under the bill, the DOJ Inspector General would conduct risk-based inspections of all federal prison facilities, provide recommendations to address deficiencies and assign each facility a risk score. Higher-risk facilities would then receive more frequent inspections.

The IG would report findings and recommendations to Congress and the public, and the BOP would be required to respond with a corrective action plan within 60 days.

Press Release, Sens. Ossoff, Braun, Durbin Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Overhaul Federal Prison Oversight (April 26, 2023)

The Appeal, Congress Seeks to Create New Independent Federal Prison Oversight Body (April 26, 2023)

ABC News, After investigating abuse in prison system, senators propose new oversight law (April 26, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

Some BOP Tidbits From Last Week – Update for November 8, 2022

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

LAST WEEK IN THE BOP

sexualassault211014Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco told Department of Justice  officials last Wednesday that prosecutors must use “all available tools” to hold BOP employees who sexually abuse women in their custody accountable, including employing a new law that has a maximum sentence of 15 years.

“The Department’s obligation to ensure the safety and wellbeing of those in our custody is enduring,” Monaco wrote. Her memo, obtained by NPR, “follows a high-level review this year that uncovered hundreds of complaints about sexual misconduct by Bureau of Prisons employees over the past five years, but only 45 federal prosecutions during that same period.”

The working group identified weak administrative discipline against some prison workers — and flaws in how prosecutors assessed reports of abuse.

Meanwhile, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, issued a statement that last week’s “DOJ report on pervasive sexual abuse in our nation’s federal prisons is evidence of the desperate need for reform. The new Director, Colette Peters, needs to show resolve and Congress needs to back her efforts to clean up this sorry mess.”

peters220929BOP Director Colette Peters continued her charm offensive last week, sitting for a lengthy interview with Government Executive magazine. Despite the DOJ Inspector General’s report the week before criticizing the BOP for reflexively disbelieving inmates and whitewashing staff misconduct, Peters said, “We are partnering with the inspector general. I’ve met with him multiple times now to ensure that we’re holding individuals accountable. I’ve met with the U.S. attorneys and asked the same thing: that they take these employee cases very seriously, both because those individuals need to be held accountable, but the person working next to that individual needs to know that their work is valued and that when people are making bad choices, that they’ll be held accountable, so that the employee remaining is safe and secure.”

Peters noted that the BOP will fill 40 additional in its Office of Internal Affairs to address sexual assault backlogs.

Peters also told Government Executive, “[T]here’s a huge perception out there that [First Step Act] implementation didn’t happen or didn’t happen when it was supposed to. But as I review the outcomes and the deliverables we’ve delivered, the programming is happening…While there might have been bumps along the way, the agency has been working really hard to ensure that [First Step Act] implementation happens both at headquarters and in the institutions.”

ombudsman221108I reported last month that Sens Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Mike Braun (R-IN) had introduced legislation, the Federal Prison Oversight Act (S. 4988) that would establish an independent DOJ ombudsman to investigate the health, safety, welfare, and rights of BOP inmates and staff and create a hotline for relatives and representatives of inmates to lodge complaints. A companion bill, H.R.9009, was introduced in the House by Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA).

A week ago, Sen. Ossoff told Capital Beat News Service that the bill’s prospects for passage during the Congressional lame-duck session after this week’s mid-term elections “are favorable because it has bipartisan support.”

NPR, Guards who sexually abuse inmates haven’t been punished harshly enough, DOJ memo says (November 3, 2022)

Office of Richard Durbin, Durbin Statement On New Report On Sexual Misconduct By Bureau Of Prisons Staff (November 4, 2022)

Government Executive, We’re Not ‘Shawshank Redemption’: New Federal Prisons Director Tackles the Bureau’s Reputation (November 2, 2022)

Capital Beat News Service, U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff sees ‘signs of improvement’ at Atlanta federal penitentiary (October 26, 2022)

– Thomas L. Root