The Senate Judiciary Committee plans to question the head of the federal prison system Wednesday after a scathing watchdog report found systemic and operational failures contributed to scores of prisoner deaths.
The Justice Department’s inspector general reviewed hundreds of inmate deaths and found serious issues at the Bureau of Prisons that created unsafe conditions. The report criticized the agency’s emergency response to inmate deaths, raised doubts about its ability to properly assess inmate mental health and detailed failures in the agency’s efforts to root out contraband drugs and weapons.
Chronic problems within the bureau also were contributing factors to inmate deaths, the report stated, as it pointed to staffing shortages, an ineffective staff disciplinary process and an out-of-date security camera system.
