WASHINGTON, D.C. - In an exclusive release to Law Enforcement Today, U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) announced Tuesday that they are introducing the Prison Staff Safety Enhancement Act to address "increasingly pervasive sexual assault and harassment of Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) employees by inmates."
The bipartisan bill was developed in response to a 2023 report from the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General (DOJ OIG) that revealed a shocking 40% of 7,000 BOP staff indicated that they had been either sexually harassed or sexually assaulted by an inmate. That's a staggering 2,571 incidents of sexual harassment. The costs to settle these incidents incurred by the taxpayers are almost equally stunning with $31.7 Million being paid to victims from 2016-2020.
Sen. Blackburn explained, “Last year, nearly half of surveyed Bureau of Prisons staff stated they had been sexually harassed or assaulted by an inmate. This statistic is appalling and unacceptable. No federal employee or law enforcement officer should have to fear for their safety when they show up to work, and the Prison Staff Safety Enhancement Act would be an important step forward in ending sexual abuse of prison staff who are simply trying to do their jobs."
The report soundly condemned the BOP for a sheer lack of data with which to proceed in correcting the issue saying, "Because the BOP has inadequate data and cannot fully identify the prevalence and scope of inmate-on-staff sexual harassment BOP-wide, the BOP’s mitigation actions cannot fully address the associated problems.
"The BOP’s inability to effectively mitigate inmate-on-staff sexual harassment in turn has negative effects on both the BOP and its staff that can result in significant financial costs to the BOP, lead to unsafe work environments, and cause staff emotional and physical stress. Until the BOP has a full understanding of the scope of the issue, the BOP will continue to lack a complete understanding of the risks and consequences to its staff and institutions posed by inmate-on-staff sexual harassment. These include the detrimental effect these incidents have on staff morale and safety, which continue to lead to increased staff turnover, loss of institutional knowledge, and the potential for steep legal settlements."
Sens. Blackburn and Ossoff dispatched a congressional letter to BOP Director Colette S. Peters on September 12th expressing their mutual concern and noting that at a single prison: United States Penitentiary Thomson located in northwestern Illinois, which houses 875 inmates, "the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) reported that there had been over 300 incidents of inmate on-staff sexual harassment in 2022 alone."
In a press release published in January 2023, the AFGE called for the removal of USP Thomson Warden Thomas Bergami and described the 321 incidents at the prison. The union revealed, "Many of the incidents involve inmates exposing themselves or masturbating in front of staff."
AFGE Council of Prison Locals National President Shane Fausey was quoted saying, "Ineffective discipline, or the absence of effective disciplinary responses to the most egregious offender misconduct, breeds an atmosphere of resentment and hostility, permits a continuation of criminal conduct, and emboldens the most deviant offenders to an escalation of more violent behaviors. Before an employee is seriously injured or killed, we call upon the senior leadership of the BOP to immediately intervene in the toxic leadership of USP Thomson and effectively protect the employees, by any means necessary.”
In their letter to Director Peters, the Senators observed, "The DOJ OIG report, as well as personal testimony BOP staff has provided to my office, strongly suggest that BOP’s reporting and corrective procedures for inmate-on-staff sexual assault/harassment are inadequate, creating an institutional culture that lacks accountability and endangers BOP employees."
The two directed Peters to answer a series of thirteen questions on reporting procedures, correctional procedures, and staff assistance by no later than October 4th.
Among these, they ask "How does BOP track inmate-on-staff incidents?" and "What protections are in place to protect staff who report abuse by inmates from retaliatory action?", as well as, "Has BOP taken action to address inconsistencies in 'identifying the gender of the victim, whether the victim is an inmate or staff member, and the specific inmate behavior within its prohibited act codes' when reporting incidents?"
The proposed bill would provide the answers the OIG report calls for and require that the DOJ OIG carry out "a comprehensive statistical review and analysis of the incidence and effects of sexual harassment and assault perpetrated by federal inmates against BOP staff."
The US Attorney General would then be required to present the OIG finding to Congress and take action to "promulgate a rule adopting national standards for prevention, reduction, and punishment of sexual assault and harassment of BOP staff by inmates."
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