Washington, DC — Congresswoman Lucy McBath’s Federal Prison Oversight Act is now law. Today, President Biden signed H.R. 3019, legislation to establish new, independent oversight of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). Representatives Lucy McBath (D-GA-07) and Kelly Armstrong (R-ND-AL) led the Federal Prison Oversight Act in the House. Senators Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Mike Braun (R-IN), and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, led the companion bill in the Senate.
“My teenage son Jordan was shot and killed by a man now serving a life sentence in prison,” Rep. Lucy McBath said. “Those incarcerated and the staff who work in our prisons every day deserve an environment free from unnecessary dangers. With the signing of our bill, H.R.3019, into law, greater accountability to protect staff and incarcerated individuals is now in place for our federal prison system. I’m grateful to President Biden and for the partnership of Congressman Armstrong and Senators Ossoff, Durbin, and Braun. This is one more example of what is possible when Democrats and Republicans join together to deliver common-sense solutions.”
“This is a big moment for criminal justice reform,” said Congressman Kelly Armstrong (N.D. At-Large). “The Federal Prison Oversight Act moves our prison system into the 21st century, works across agencies, creates accountability structures, and requires risk assessments for our prisons. I want to thank Congresswoman Lucy McBath for introducing this crucial legislation with me in the House. I also want to thank Senators Jon Ossoff, Mike Braun, and Dick Durbin for moving H.R. 3019 across the finish line in the Senate and I would like to thank President Biden for signing this needed legislation into law. The Federal Bureau of Prisons has an obligation to ensure the health and safety of incarcerated individuals, employees, and visitors in its facilities, and for decades they have let that responsibility lapse. Today, we made a difference for so many, and most importantly, we added a little bit more accountability to the criminal justice system.”
“The human rights crisis behind bars in the United States is a stain on America’s conscience. I’m grateful to Senator Braun, Chairman Durbin, Congresswoman McBath, Congressman Armstrong, and our Senate and House co-sponsors for joining me in authoring and passing this bill to overhaul Federal prison oversight,” Sen. Ossoff said. “The United States Congress will no longer tolerate the ongoing and widespread abuse of those who are in Federal Bureau of Prisons’ custody.”
“Restoring integrity to the Bureau of Prisons and addressing mismanagement in correctional facilities is a top priority of the Senate Judiciary Committee. This bipartisan law will improve prison oversight and ensure the Bureau is fulfilling its duty to provide safe and humane conditions of confinement to prepare incarcerated individuals for a successful return to society. I'm glad to be part of this reform and thank President Biden for signing it into law,” said U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The bipartisan law is backed by civil rights, prison union, and public safety organizations, including the Council of Prison Locals (CPL), Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC), National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Justice Action Network, Due Process Institute, Right on Crime, and Niskanen Center — as well as the Department of Justice’s Inspector General, who will now be charged with carrying out U.S. inspections of BOP facilities.
“I applaud Congress for passing the Federal Prison Oversight Act, and for the overwhelming bipartisan show of support to improve oversight of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Last year, the OIG launched an unannounced inspection program of BOP facilities. The inspections we conducted have identified critical shortcomings in BOP operations, including staff shortages in health and education programs, infrastructure in desperate need of repair, and moldy and rotten food being served to inmates,” said U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz. “This Act recognizes the importance of our inspection program, and we look forward to working with Congress to expand its impact. I would like to recognize the Act’s primary sponsors, Senators Jon Ossoff, Mike Braun, and Dick Durbin and Representatives Lucy McBath and Kelly Armstrong, as well as all the Act’s co-sponsors, for their bipartisan efforts to improve the BOP.”
“The Council of Prison Locals would like to thank Senator Ossoff, Senator Durbin, and Senator Braun, for spearheading this piece of Legislation. This bipartisan bill will bring more transparency to working conditions that our Federal Law Enforcement work in. Also, identifying the inadequacy of staffing within the Bureau of Prisons, including ratio of staff to inmates at each facility, the staff position vacancy rate at each facility, and the use of overtime, mandatory overtime, and augmentation instead of hiring funded positions,” said Steve Markle, National Secretary-Treasurer for the Council of Prison Locals, which represents more than 30,000 Federal law enforcement officers. “The Council of Prison Locals will continue to work with Members of Congress to create legislation that will provide safer prisons for both Law Enforcement and the inmates that are incarcerated within.”
“Congress demonstrated that it can take on big problems in a bipartisan way. By working across party lines, Senators followed the lead of correctional officers and the families of incarcerated people, who came together to lobby for this bill. These groups know better than anyone what’s at stake,” said Kevin Ring, vice president of criminal justice advocacy at Arnold Ventures. “Our nation’s prisons are in crisis, due largely to understaffing and unnecessary incarceration. Our federal prisons are falling apart, and the people who work and live in them are not safe. We hope the legislation approved today is appropriately funded and that enhanced transparency and accountability will lead to greater safety inside our prisons – and, ultimately, in our communities.”
“After all the headlines, scandals, and controversy that have plagued the Bureau of Prisons for decades, we’re very happy to see this Congress take action to bring transparency and accountability to an agency that has gone so long without it,” said Daniel Landsman, Vice President of Policy at Families Against Mandatory Minimums. “Thank you to Sens. Ossoff, Braun, and Durbin for championing this bill and for prioritizing the health and safety of the more than 150,000 people incarcerated in federal prisons, as well as of the tens of thousands of people who work in the same facilities.”
“The ACLU applauds the bipartisan efforts of Sens. Ossoff, Braun, Durbin, and Manchin, and Reps. McBath and Armstrong to provide a common-sense solution to this ongoing crisis,” said Nina Patel, senior policy counsel at the ACLU’s Justice Division. “The act creates oversight and accountability mechanisms that are essential to protect the civil liberties and dignity of individuals who are incarcerated in federal prisons.”
“People who have committed crimes require rehabilitation, and that cannot be accomplished when they are subjected to neglect and abuse in federal facilities without recourse or oversight. The Federal Prison Oversight Act is critically needed in light of mounting evidence of rights abuses and failures in federal facilities, and on-going staff shortages that put both corrections staff and the incarcerated people they oversee at risk. The Senate’s unanimous passage of critical prison reform legislation is a timely reminder that bipartisan public safety policy is not just possible but popular and effective. We congratulate its authors in both the House and Senate, including Representatives McBath and Armstrong, and Senators Ossoff and Braun. Both Congress and the administration should actively pursue other bipartisan solutions to the public safety issues that are top of mind for voters this election season,” said JC Hendrickson, Federal Affairs Director for Justice Action Network.
“Prison conditions must change and allow men and women behind bars to pay their debt to society in humane and secure correctional environments,” said Kate Trammell, Prison Fellowship’s vice president of legal and advocacy. “This issue of agency accountability, human dignity, and transparency in government has cut through the partisan noise of our day. We are glad to see an important step taken toward safer, more constructive federal prisons in America.”
The new law requires the Department of Justice’s Inspector General to conduct comprehensive, risk-based inspections of the BOP’s 122 correctional facilities, provide recommendations to fix problems, and assign each facility a risk score, with higher-risk facilities required to be inspected more often. The IG must also report its findings and recommendations to Congress and the public, and the BOP must respond to all inspection reports within 60 days with a corrective action plan.
The law will also establish an independent Ombudsman to investigate the health, safety, welfare, and rights of incarcerated people and staff. The Ombudsman will create a secure hotline and online form for family members, friends, and representatives of incarcerated people to submit complaints and inquiries.
Click here to read the full text of the bipartisan Federal Prison Oversight Act.
Photo: Rep. Lucy McBath holds a portait of her son, Jordan Davis, in the House Judiciary Committee.