WASHINGTON (WV News) — Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., wants answers about allegations of “unethical, illegal and almost criminal treatment” of inmates in the federal prison at Hazelton.

Capito, during her weekly briefing Thursday, said she hopes the letter that she and a group of congressional colleagues recently sent to the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Prisons will spark an immediate investigation into assertions made by whistleblowers about the high-security federal prison in Preston County.

“Hopefully, we’ll get some answers rather quickly,” Capito said. “Some of the allegations, which I can’t really speak to, are very, very serious.”

The letter, which was sent to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters, details a number of the allegations:

• A group of inmates escaped from the prison camp, and supervisory staff attempted to cover it up.

• Supervisory staff at FCC Hazelton falsified documents, encouraged inmate abuse and covered up alleged abuse and escapes of incarcerated individuals.

• Staff members used restrictive housing punitively against incarcerated individuals in violation of Bureau of Prisons policy, and staff engaged in a pattern of physical abuse of inmates residing in Special Housing Units.

• Staff repeatedly directed racial slurs against minorities, toward other staff members and incarcerated individuals.

• Staff urinated on prisoner property.

• Staff forced incarcerated individuals to urinate and defecate on themselves as a condition of being released from restrictive custody.

• Staff assaulted an incarcerated person, breaking the individual’s ribs.

Capito said she has had numerous conversations with individuals who work at FCC Hazelton and with those who live in the communities surrounding it who “expressed, over time, concerns” about conditions at the prison.

“We have talked over the years with the Bureau of Prisons and emphasized to them what a deep problem that we think this is,” she said. “Then this comes to light, which shows me that they haven’t been addressing the problems and they’re not taking the security of that prison seriously enough if these allegations are true.”

The letter is an attempt to formalize these concerns and show they have bipartisan support, Capito said.

“We need to get answers for the people who live there. We need to get answers for the people who work there. And, quite honestly, we need to get answers for people who are incarcerated there,” she said. “That’s the direction we’re moving.”