First on Fox: Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have introduced new legislation to address the alarming rate of inmate sex crimes against federal correctional officers.
The Prison Staff Safety Enhancement Act is a response to a Justice Department inspector general’s report that found that 40% of staff at the Federal Bureau of Prisons said they had been sexually assaulted by an inmate.
“It is unacceptable that nearly half of prison staff experience sexual harassment or assault by inmates. The Bureau of Prisons needs to do more to ensure the safety of correctional officers and hold offenders accountable. should,” said Rep. Laurel Lee, R-Fla. ., who co-sponsored a new bill to fight it. “The Enhancing Prison Staff Protection Act would provide oversight to the federal prison system and combat these abuses.”
The watchdog’s report paints a picture of the Bureau of Prisons in crisis
A security guard checks vehicles entering the Butner Federal Correctional Complex on November 20, 2015 in Butner, North Carolina. (Mandel and/AFP via Getty Images)
The bill was introduced in the House by Reps. Lee, D-Ga., and Hank Johnson, D-Ga. A version of the Senate Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Jon Ossoff, D-Ga. Sponsored by and introduced earlier.
Johnson said incidents, particularly against female officers, had risen to “unacceptable levels”.
The bill would give the Justice Department’s inspector general 180 more days to conduct a statistical review of sexual assaults and harassment of prison guards by inmates in federal prisons, analyze the sentences handed out, and then submit a report. Gives the time of day. Judiciary Committees in each House and Senate.
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Secret Service and prison guards stand on the roof as then-President Barack Obama tours a cell block at the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution on July 16, 2015 in El Reno, Oklahoma. (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Next, the attorney general would need to create new laws to prevent and reduce such cases and standardize punishments for inmates who assault guards.
“Last year, nearly half of the staff surveyed by the Bureau of Prisons reported that they had been sexually harassed or assaulted by an inmate,” Sen. Blackburn said. “These statistics are appalling and unacceptable. No federal employee or law enforcement officer should have to fear for their safety when they come to work, and the Prison Staff Safety Enhancement Act protects against sexual assault on prison staff. There will be an important step towards elimination. Just trying to do your job.”
The proposal is supported by the Fraternal Order of Police.
“The staggering number of documented sexual assault incidents highlights the dangerous environment in which our officers and other staff work,” said FOP President Patrick Use.
United States Penitentiary Maximum Facility in unincorporated Fremont County, Colorado. Known as the Alcatraz of the Rockies, Supermax Prison is home to some of the most notorious inmates in the US federal prison system. (iStock)
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The Bureau of Prisons has been under fire for a number of issues in recent years. A plague of inmate suicides, including that of sex-trafficking financier Jeffrey Epstein, led to a separate IG investigation and the closing of the Manhattan facility where he was held.
Federal agents recently raided another facility in Brooklyn last month, where Sean “Daddy” Combs is being held awaiting trial on his own sex-trafficking charges.
Former Bureau of Prisons Director Michael de Carvajal resigned in 2022 amid reports of widespread crime and corruption at the bureau.
He left months after The Associated Press reported that the Bureau of Prisons was “a hotbed of abuse, corruption and corruption, and that it had turned a blind eye to employees accused of corruption.”
More than 100 BOP workers have been arrested, convicted, or convicted of crimes since 2019, including a warden accused of sexually assaulting an inmate.
Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
