WASHINGTON, D.C – U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) launched a bipartisan inquiry to protect federal prison staff from sexual assault and harassment. Their letter to Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Director Colette Peters follows reports of inmate-on-staff sexual assault and harassment.

According to a February 2023 report by the DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG), 40% of 7,000 BOP surveyed staff stated they had been sexually harassed by an inmate.

“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 Senators wrote.

• As part of their inquiry, the Senators requested that BOP release information about their inmate-on-staff sexual assault and harassment reporting procedures, correctional methods, and staff assistance programs, including statistics and data from FCI Atlanta, formerly USP Atlanta, and federal prison facilities around the country.

• Last year, Senator Blackburn co-sponsored the Federal Prisons Accountability Act to increase federal oversight and accountability of the federal prison system.

• Tennessee houses one federal prison—Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Memphis—in Shelby County.

The full text of the letter is here.