The U.S. Senate voted unanimously to send the Federal Prison Oversight Act to President Biden’s desk on Wednesday evening. The move follows overwhelming passage in the House in May, and comes amid months of investigations that have revealed shocking human rights abuses in federal prison facilities across the nation. 

With more than 30 bipartisan co-sponsors, the bill, which passed 392-2 Tuesday evening, would establish an ombudsman within the DOJ who would be tasked with handling complaints from incarcerated individuals, corrections staff and others, as well as provide for risk-based assessments of federal prison facilities. The House action marks the first major bipartisan floor action on broad bipartisan criminal justice reform legislation this Congress. The bill cleared the House Oversight Committee by a vote of 41-1 last month.