A bipartisan bill to strengthen federal prison oversight is now officially law.
President Biden on Thursday signed into law the bipartisan Federal Prison Oversight Act, prison reform legislation to overhaul independent oversight of the Federal Bureau of Prison’s 122 facilities nationwide by mandating routine inspections of all facilities by the DOJ Inspector General and establishing a new ombudsman to investigate the health, safety, welfare and rights of incarcerated people and staff.
“Our bipartisan, bicameral Federal Prison Oversight Act is historic legislation that will truly improve safety and accountability in all federal prison facilities for both staff and inmates,” said Senator Joe Manchin, I-W.Va. “Following serious accounts of abuse, staff shortages, and dangerous conditions at federal prisons in West Virginia and across the nation, it is even more critical that this commonsense legislation is swiftly implemented. I am grateful to my bipartisan colleagues who worked together to get it across the finish line, and I look forward to seeing its positive impacts on our prison systems.”
“I was proud to work alongside my colleagues to get the Federal Prison Oversight Act through Congress and now signed into law,” said US Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va. “Investigations into our federal prisons produced shocking and alarming findings, and reports of misconduct, abuse, and inadequate facilities are unacceptable. The state and condition of our federal prisons is something I have frequently discussed with constituents, families, and corrections officers, and it’s a positive development that needed oversight will soon be implemented.
Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., first introduced the bipartisan bill in 2022 after leading multiple bipartisan Senate investigations into corruption, abuse, and misconduct within the federal prison system, uncovering a lack of oversight of the federal prison system that led to long-term failures likely contributing to loss of life; jeopardizing the health and safety of incarcerated people and staff; and undermining public safety and civil rights, according to his office.
The bipartisan Federal Prison Oversight Act will require the Department of Justice’s Inspector General (IG) 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.