The chief of the Federal Bureau of Prisons spoke before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday about her efforts to fix the nation’s troubled prison system, and she responded the questions from Republicans about transgender inmates.
there’s been ‘visible change’ in the system the Head of the Federal Bureau of Prisons insists to Senate panel (Photo: NBC News)
“Developing meaningful change throughout the agency is not something that happens in a moment,” said Colette Peters, director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, in her opening remarks.
In the recent published article by IOWA Capital Dispatch, the chief of the Federal Bureau of Prisons Collette Peters stated that she had visited over 20 facilities in the last year to address employee misconduct and “hold those who engage in misconduct accountable.”
The chief of the Federal Bureau of Prisons Collette Peters testified before the same committee about a year ago. During that hearing, the chief stated that staffing concerns and sexual harassment in facilities would be top goals for her agency’s leadership.
Wednesday’s hearing also came a day after several senators, including both West Virginia senators, Joe Manchin III, a Democrat, and Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican, wrote to Peters and Attorney General Merrick Garland, requesting that they investigate serious allegations of staff misconduct and inmate mistreatment at a federal prison in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia.
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Democrats focused on what improvements BOP has made, particularly in light of investigations that indicated detained persons were sexually assaulted by personnel, and what resources the agency is providing for incarcerated people, such as prenatal care, during the Senate session.
According to IOWA Capital Dispatch, as per to the chief of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, there are approximately 1,700 jailed transgender individuals. She claims there are fewer than ten transgender women confined in facilities with incarcerated women. According to BOP statistics, there are almost 158,000 inmates detained in BOP facilities.
Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Ted Cruz of Texas, and Mike Lee of Utah were among the Republicans who questioned Peters about detained transgender women.
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