WASHINGTON – On the heels of his recent efforts to conduct oversight of the prison system, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) yesterday questioned Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Director Collette Peters at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. 

Citing security risks, Grassley demanded answers on whether the United States followed through with a commitment – revealed in a newly published Grassley report – to provide drawings of an American correctional facility to Mexican officials with ties to the cartels. Director Peters said “a release of anything like that would be a serious security concern of the Federal Bureau of Prisons” and vowed to update Grassley after she investigates the matter further. 

Grassley additionally urged BOP to address inmate-on-staff sexual misconduct by collecting complete data on its prevalence and taking disciplinary action against perpetrators. This follows two separate oversight efforts he led this week alongside Judiciary Committee chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and their colleagues from West Virginia and Illinois to target widespread wrongdoing in the federal prison system: 

  • At the Federal Correctional Complex (FCC) Hazelton in West Virginia, whistleblowers made protected disclosures about extensive abuse against incarcerated individuals, employee misconduct and document falsification. Read the letter on FCC Hazelton HERE.
  • At United States Penitentiary (USP) Thomson in Illinois, more than 120 incarcerated individuals provided information for a report. Their accounts detail shocking potential criminal rights violations, including abusive use of restraints, dangerous celling practices, inappropriate responses to mental health diagnoses, sexual assaults, racist verbal abuse, and interference with access to counsel and the inmate grievance process. Read the letter to USP Thomson HERE.

The lawmakers are seeking information from BOP and the Justice Department and calling for investigation into these serious allegations. As certain claims have resurfaced over the course of years, they expressed that the issues appear to be systemic at BOP and must be put to an end.

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