Washington, D.C., July 10, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Prison Fellowship, the nation’s largest Christian nonprofit serving currently and formerly incarcerated people and their families and a leading advocate for criminal justice reform, praises the U.S. Senate for passing the Federal Prison Oversight Act (H.R.3019 | S.1401). Led by Senators Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Mike Braun (R-IN), and Dick Durbin (D-IL), the bipartisan bill, which passed in the U.S. House of Representatives in May, will create new tools for regular independent oversight of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
This announcement follows a Day of Action on June 18, where more than 40 Prison Fellowship employees, including 30 who were formerly incarcerated, visited 29 congressional offices to advocate for the bill.
“We applaud today’s actions by the Senate in passing this landmark bill, which paves the way to ensuring conditions in prisons are safer and more humane for staff and incarcerated people alike,” said Heather Rice-Minus, president and CEO of Prison Fellowship. “We’re honored that so many of our formerly incarcerated employees were willing to share their stories in hopes that the Senate would listen and pass the bill. Now that it has passed in both the Senate and the House, we are eager for the bill to become law.”
“Prison conditions must change and allow men and women behind bars to pay their debt to society in humane and secure correctional environments,” said Kate Trammell, Prison Fellowship’s vice president of legal and advocacy. “This issue of agency accountability, human dignity, and transparency in government has cut through the partisan noise of our day. We are glad to see an important step taken toward safer, more constructive federal prisons in America.”
Background:
Under intense scrutiny from various government and watchdog agencies, the BOP incarcerates over 150,000 men and women with a budget of more than $8 billion. In 2023, management of the BOP was added to the GAO’s list of high-risk government programs “vulnerable to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement or in need of transformation”.
The Federal Prison Oversight Act (H.R.3019 | S.1401) would require regular inspections of BOP facilities with an accompanying risk score report that would produce accountability actions by the BOP. The bill also creates an independent Ombudsman office to investigate allegations of unhealthy prison conditions for staff or prisoners. If the Ombudsman believes that a health, safety, welfare, working condition, or rehabilitation issue at a BOP facility remains unaddressed, they will report those findings to the Attorney General and to Congress. The bill includes confidentiality and non-retaliation protections to promote reporting and permit independent review.
Prison Fellowship
Prison Fellowship is the nation’s largest Christian nonprofit equipping the Church to serve currently and formerly incarcerated people and their families, and to advocate for justice and human dignity both inside and outside of prison. With nearly 50 years of experience helping restore men and women behind bars, Prison Fellowship advocates for federal and state criminal justice reforms that transform those responsible for crime, validate victims, and encourage communities to play a role in creating a safe, redemptive, and just society.
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