Ossoff Press

U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is working across the aisle to strengthen Federal oversight and accountability of the Federal prison system.

Today, Sen. Ossoff launched a push to pass the bipartisan Federal Prisons Accountability Act of 2025, legislation he co-sponsored to make the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Director a U.S. Senate-confirmed position with a single 10-year term, following a nomination from the President of the United States. The bipartisan bill was recently introduced by Senators Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Rand Paul (R-KY), James Lankford (R-OK), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), and Dr. Bill Cassidy (R-LA).

Sens. Ossoff and McConnell previously introduced the bill last Congress.

Currently, the BOP Director is appointed by U.S. Attorney General (AG) and not subject to Senate confirmation, despite having significant authority over taxpayer dollars and over 30,000 Federal employees.

“In 2022, my bipartisan investigations as chair of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations revealed the depth of chaos and dysfunction that has undermined security and civil rights in the Bureau of Prisons for over a decade. This bill asserts the Senate’s authority to confirm nominees for BOP’s leadership and hold them to the highest standards,” Sen. Ossoff said.

Sen. Ossoff continues to work to reform the Federal prison system.

Last month, Sen. Ossoff warned AG Pam Bondi and BOP Associate Deputy Director Kathleen Toomey that their efforts to reduce pay for prison staff threaten the safety and security of prisons amid pre-existing staffing shortages.

In February, Sens. Ossoff and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced the bipartisan Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati Stopping Prison Contraband Act, which would crack down on the smuggling of contraband cellphones into Federal prisons by upgrading the charge of smuggling of a contraband cellphone into a Federal prison from a misdemeanor offense to a felony.

Last year, President Biden signed into law Sen. Ossoff’s bipartisan Federal Prison Oversight Act, historic prison reform legislation to overhaul independent oversight of the Federal Bureau of Prison’s 122 facilities nationwide by mandating routine inspections of all facilities by the DOJ Inspector General and establishing a new Ombudsman to investigate the health, safety, welfare, and rights of incarcerated people and staff.

Sen. Ossoff also passed into law his bipartisan Prison Camera Reform Act to reduce violence and civil rights abuses in America’s prisons.

Click here to read the bipartisan Federal Prisons Accountability Act of 2025.