Senate to review retention of former prisons director

WASHINGTON — The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee plans to hold an oversight hearing on the crisisplagued federal Bureau of Prisons after the Associated Press reported that the agency is keeping its embattled ex-director on the payroll as an adviser to his successor.

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who demanded Michael Carvajal be fired last November amid myriad failings, told the AP in a statement he was dismayed by continuing misconduct within the agency and by its unwillingness to completely cut ties with the former director.

Carvajal submitted his resignation in January but remained in charge of the Bureau of Prisons until the new director, Colette Peters, was sworn in Tuesday following a lengthy search process. On Thursday, the AP reported that Carvajal is staying on through the end of the month as a senior adviser to Peters, the former director of Oregon’s state prison system.

After speaking with Peters this week, Durbin said he’s “hopeful for serious reforms at BOP,” but it is time to move on from Carvajal’s failed leadership.

“It’s no secret that the Bureau of Prisons has been plagued by misconduct,” Durbin said, noting his calls for Carvajal’s ouster last fall. “It’s time to leave the scandals and mismanagement of the Carvajal era in the past and focus on fixing this broken institution.”

Durbin didn’t provide a date for the hearing. The Senate returns from its August recess after Labor Day.

Peters has pledged to overhaul the federal agency, and she has pledged greater transparency and accountability for the Bureau of Prisons, the Justice Department’s largest component with a budget of more than $8 billion.

Carvajal, a Trump administration holdover, submitted his resignation on Jan. 5 amid increasing scrutiny over his leadership in the wake of AP reporting that uncovered widespread problems at the Bureau of Prisons, including rampant sexual assault at a Dublin women’s prison, widespread staff criminal conduct, dozens of escapes, deaths and staffing woes hampering responses to emergencies.

Durbin demanded Carvajal’s firing last November after the AP revealed that more than 100 Bureau of Prisons workers have been arrested, convicted or sentenced for crimes since the start of 2019.