Committee Markup of Bipartisan Prison Oversight Bill is a Promising Step Towards Federal Transparency, Accountability

McBath-sponsored Prison Oversight effort “critically needed in light of mounting evidence of human rights abuses in federal facilities”: Justice Action Network

Washington, DC – The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability held a markup of H.R. 3019,  the Federal Prison Oversight Act, on Wednesday. With 30 bipartisan co-sponsors, the bill, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, would establish an ombudsman within the DOJ who would be tasked handling complaints from incarcerated individuals, corrections staff and others,  as well as provide for risk-based assessments of federal prison facilities. 

The hearing follows a February report that showed the majority of non-medical deaths in federal prisons were preventable, and amid frequent news reports of on-going abuses in prisons across the country. 

“People who have committed crimes above all require rehabilitation, and that cannot be accomplished when they are subjected to neglect and abuse in federal facilities without recourse or oversight,” said JC Hendrickson, Federal Affairs Director for Justice Action Network, following the hearing, “The Federal Prison Oversight Act is critically needed in light of mounting evidence of human rights abuses in federal facilities and on-going staff shortages that put both existing corrections staff and the incarcerated people they oversee at risk. The Oversight Committee’s passage of the bill is a promising sign of bipartisan progress in an otherwise contentious Congress, and this bill should be brought before the full House without delay.”