[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



 
                            OVERSIGHT OF THE
                       FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               BEFORE THE

                   SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME, TERRORISM,
                         AND HOMELAND SECURITY

                                 OF THE

                       COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY

                     U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEETH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION

                               __________

                       THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2022

                               __________

                           Serial No. 117-53

                               __________

         Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary
         
         
         
 [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]  
 


               Available via: http://judiciary.house.gov
               
               
                          ______

             U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 
47-550          WASHINGTON : 2022 
              
               
               
               
                       COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY

                    JERROLD NADLER, New York, Chair
                MADELEINE DEAN, Pennsylvania, Vice-Chair

ZOE LOFGREN, California              JIM JORDAN, Ohio, Ranking Member
SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas            STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
STEVE COHEN, Tennessee               LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas
HENRY C. ``HANK'' JOHNSON, Jr.,      DARRELL ISSA, California
    Georgia                          KEN BUCK, Colorado
THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida          MATT GAETZ, Florida
KAREN BASS, California               MIKE JOHNSON, Louisiana
HAKEEM S. JEFFRIES, New York         ANDY BIGGS, Arizona
DAVID N. CICILLINE, Rhode Island     TOM McCLINTOCK, California
ERIC SWALWELL, California            W. GREG STEUBE, Florida
TED LIEU, California                 TOM TIFFANY, Wisconsin
JAMIE RASKIN, Maryland               THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington          CHIP ROY, Texas
VAL BUTLER DEMINGS, Florida          DAN BISHOP, North Carolina
J. LUIS CORREA, California           MICHELLE FISCHBACH, Minnesota
MARY GAY SCANLON, Pennsylvania       VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
SYLVIA R. GARCIA, Texas              SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
JOE NEGUSE, Colorado                 CLIFF BENTZ, Oregon
LUCY McBATH, Georgia                 BURGESS OWENS, Utah
GREG STANTON, Arizona
VERONICA ESCOBAR, Texas
MONDAIRE JONES, New York
DEBORAH ROSS, North Carolina
CORI BUSH, Missouri

         AMY RUTKIN, Majority Staff Director and Chief of Staff
              CHRISTOPHER HIXON, Minority Staff Director 
                                 ------                                

        SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME, TERRORISM, AND HOMELAND SECURITY

                    SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas, Chair
                    CORI BUSH, Missouri, Vice-Chair

KAREN BASS, California               ANDY BIGGS, Arizona, Ranking 
VAL DEMINGS, Florida                     Member
LUCY McBATH, Georgia                 STEVE CHABOT, Ohio
MADELEINE DEAN, Pennsylvania         LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas
MARY GAY SCANLON, Pennsylvania       W. GREGORY STEUBE, Florida
DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island        TOM TIFFANY, Wisconsin
TED LIEU, California                 THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky
J. LUIS CORREA, California           VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
VERONICA ESCOBAR, Texas              SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
STEVE COHEN, Tennessee               BURGESS OWENS, Utah

                      KEENAN KELLER, Chief Counsel
                    JASON CERVENAK, Minority Counsel
                    
                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              

                       Thursday, February 3, 2022

                                                                   Page

                           OPENING STATEMENTS

The Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, Chair of the Subcommittee on 
  Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security from the State of Texas     2
The Honorable Andy Biggs, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee 
  Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security from the State of 
  Arizona........................................................    31

                                WITNESS

Michael Carvajal, Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons
  Oral Testimony.................................................    48
  Prepared Statement.............................................    50

           STATEMENTS, LETTERS, MATERIALS, ARTICLES SUBMITTED

Materials submitted by the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, Chair of 
  the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security 
  from the State of Texas, for the record
  A letter from Alison Guernsey, Clinical Associate Professor, 
    Iowa College of Law..........................................     6
  A statement from Homer Venters, Adjunct Faculty, NYU School of 
    Global Public Health.........................................    38
A collection of letters of experiences of 17 women across five 
  federal facilities provided by the National Council for 
  Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, 
  submitted by the Honorable Cori Bush, Vice-Chair of the 
  Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security from 
  the State of Missouri, for the record..........................    88
Materials submitted by the Honorable Ted Lieu, a Member of the 
  Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security from 
  the State of California, for the record
  An article entitled, ``Bureau Of Prisons Special Tactical Force 
    Under Scrutiny For Use In DC Protests And Training Mishaps,'' 
    Forbes.......................................................   108
  An article entitled, ``The Story Behind Bill Barr's Unmarked 
    Federal Agents,'' Politico...................................   113
An article entitled, ``Man is 16th to die from COVID-19 at Fort 
  Worth prison; cases spike at women's facility,'' Fort Worth 
  Star-Telegram, submitted by the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, 
  Chair of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland 
  Security from the State of Texas, for the record...............   132

                                APPENDIX

Materials submitted by the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, Chair of 
  the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security 
  from the State of Texas, for the record
  A statement from Jesselyn McCurdy, Managing Director of 
    Government Affairs and Sakira Cook, Senior Director, Justice 
    Program of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human 
    Rights.......................................................   138
  An article entitled, ``Flaws plague a tool meant to help low-
    risk federal prisoners win early release,'' NPR..............   145
  An article entitled, ``Fatal Gang Fight Spurs Nationwide 
    Lockdown of Federal Prison System,'' The New York Times......   152
  A report entitled, ``Reducing Jail and Prison Populations 
    During the Covid-19 Pandemic,'' Brennan Center for Justice...   153
  A report entitled, ``Cases spike at Fort Worth prison; 
    whistleblower complaint says top staff have no COVID plan,'' 
    Fort Worth Star-Telegram.....................................   203
  An article entitled, ``Stroke Victim `Dumped' By Prison Guards 
    At Bus Stop, Massive Search Launched: Attorney,'' Baltimore 
    Daily Voice..................................................   209

                 QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES FOR THE RECORD

Questions to Michael Carvajal, Director, Federal Bureau of 
  Prisons, submitted by the Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, Chair 
  of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security 
  from the State of Texas, for the record........................   214


                            OVERSIGHT OF THE

                       FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS

                              ----------                              


                       Thursday, February 3, 2022

                        House of Representatives

        Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security

                       Committee on the Judiciary

                             Washington, DC

    The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:05 a.m., via 
Zoom, Hon. Sheila Jackson Lee [Chair of the Subcommittee] 
presiding.
    Members present: Representatives Jackson Lee, Bass, 
Demings, McBath, Dean, Scanlon, Bush, Cicilline, Lieu, Cohen, 
Biggs, Chabot, Steube, Tiffany, Massie, and Fitzgerald.
    Staff present: John Doty, Senior Advisor and Deputy Staff 
Director; David Greengrass, Senior Counsel; Cierra Fontenot, 
Chief Clerk; John Williams, Parliamentarian and Senior Counsel; 
Merrick Nelson, Digital Director; Keenan Keller, Chief Counsel 
for Crime; Mauri Gray, Deputy Chief Counsel for Crime; Nicole 
Banister, Counsel for Crime; Veronica Eligan, Professional 
Staff Member/Legislative Aide for Crime; Jason Cervenak, 
Minority Chief Counsel for Crime; Ken David, Minority Counsel; 
Kiley Bidelman, Minority Clerk; and Carter Robertson, Minority 
USSS Detailee.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Good morning. I just had the privilege of 
attending the Nation's Prayer Breakfast and so as I look at the 
hearing that we held last week, I am committed that we will 
have not only justice accountability, but that we will look to 
prison reform and have restoration. I have the faith that this 
will happen. I hope this hearing will bring us to that point.
    The Subcommittee will now come to order. Without objection, 
the Chair is authorized to declare recesses of the Committee at 
any time.
    Good morning, again, and welcome to today's Oversight 
Hearing of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. I would like to 
remind the Members that we have established an email address 
and distribution lists to circulate exhibits, motions, or other 
written materials that the Members might want to offer as part 
of our hearing today. If you would like to submit materials, 
please send them to the email address that has been previously 
distributed to your offices, and we will circulate the 
materials to the Members and staff as quickly as we can.
    I would also ask all the Members to please mute your 
microphones when you are not speaking. This will help prevent 
feedback and other technical issues. You may unmute yourself 
any time you seek recognition.
    I now recognize myself for an opening statement. Today's 
hearing on Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Prisons is a 
follow up to the hearing the Subcommittee held on January 21, 
2022.
    It was our commitment to our Members that they would have 
the actual representative at this time of the Federal Bureau of 
Prisons to be able to hear directly from the leadership and to 
secure answers.
    The hearing last week probed the Bureau's implementation of 
the First Step Act, the impact of COVID-19 on BOP, the Bureau's 
response to the pandemic, and the implementation used of 
compassionate release within the Bureau among other topics, 
very crucial topics in the line of justice and accountability.
    During that hearing, many questions were raised and many of 
our Members thought it best to speak directly to the Director 
of BOP. Therefore, I am pleased to have Director Michael 
Carvajal here today so that we may delve deeply into many 
issues faced by the Bureau. Two years into the pandemic, COVID-
19 remains the most pressing and impactful issue facing the 
Bureau of Prisons as the virus continues to wreak havoc among 
many of the Bureau's facilities. I am uncomfortable as to 
whether or not they have met the challenge and met the task.
    From the outset, the virus has had exacerbated the 
increased health risks for people living or working in confined 
spaces which is especially true for prison systems where social 
distancing must be balanced with a need to ensure safety and 
security.
    We continue to hear horror stories of BOP facilities 
struggling to contain the virus. For instance, we heard last 
week from Senator Chris Murphy that approximately 40 percent of 
inmates at the Danbury Federal Correctional Institution in 
Connecticut were in either isolation or quarantined with only 
80 correctional officers available for service which means that 
every officer on duty is responsible for three prison units. We 
in the Congress must collaborate to ensure that the remnants of 
the past can be corrected by this Administration that has a new 
approach, new commitment to the reformation of this system.
    Then on Monday, we learned that Federal Medical Center, 
Carswell, the women's facility in Fort Worth in Texas, my 
state, has the fourth highest COVID positive numbers of any 
group facility in the country with 248 inmates and 46 members 
who are COVID positive. Eight women have died of COVID-19 at 
FMC, Carswell, since the beginning of the pandemic, while 18 
inmates have died of COVID at Fort Worth male facility.
    In the past two weeks, the number of COVID-19 positives in 
the BOP system has fluctuated between 6,000 and 9,000 inmates.
    In that same two-week period, five more inmates in BOP 
custody have died of COVID-19, bringing the number of inmates 
to die of COVID-19 related illnesses to 284. It appears that 
there are just too many inmates in the Bureau's custody to 
control and successfully reduce the spread of COVID-19 and it 
appears that there has been a slow and ineffective utilization 
of compassionate release which should be complied with 
discretion that the Bureau has.
    The Bureau of Prisons has several mechanisms within the 
authority to reduce the number of inmates in its custody, 
compassionate release, the CARES Act, and the First Step Act, 
modified even by then Attorney General Barr. Although using 
overly-restrictive criteria, BOP released thousands of prisons 
under the CARES Act who have reestablished themselves with 
their families and in their communities and importantly, have 
not re-offended. The Bureau and DOJ should be commended for 
their decision to rescind the previous Administration's opinion 
that would have called many of these individuals back into 
custody unnecessarily.
    I think it is important to note that these individuals that 
had been released were more released on their application for 
compassionate release as opposed to the BOP assisting their 
prisoners and determining that they could be released which 
causes the problems that we have now.
    However, thousands of prisoners continue to test positive 
for COVID-19 and others die, BOP has failed to effectively 
utilize its authority to request compassionate release for 
inmates. I think they are just waiting. Some may die.
    From January 1, 2020-January 30, 2021, during the height of 
the pandemic, the Bureau of Prisons filed less than one percent 
of the total compassionate release motions filed throughout the 
entire country. In an attempt to respond to this issue and to 
help alleviate the rise of spreading COVID, we have expanded 
compassionate release, and later expanded compassionate release 
again to allow inmates to file their own motions 30 days after 
they first made a request with their warden. Notably, as few as 
one fourth of 284 inmates who died in custody of COVID-related 
illnesses, actually filed a motion for compassionate release, 
raising questions about efficiency and efficacy of the process.
    One is left to wonder how justice was served by the process 
for the 62 inmates who filed for compassionate release 
themselves or through counsel and whose preexisting medical 
conditions were cited by the Bureau after they died of COVID-
related illness while in custody. Why couldn't there be a 
response? The Bureau not only grapples with inmate infections 
and deaths, but also with staff member infections and death.
    In the last two weeks, the number of COVID-19 positive 
staff members have ranged from 900 to almost 2,000 and 7 staff 
members have died of COVID-related illnesses. While staffing 
shortages have long been a problem for the Bureau of Prisons 
has made a bad situation even worse. Statistics do not hold 
well for the State of operations for Bureau facilities across 
the country.
    As staff members become infected or are required to 
quarantine due to exposure, COVID-19 directly affects the 
remaining staff's ability to provide safety, security, general, 
and COVID-related medical services, and recidivism-reducing 
programming to inmates.
    I do want to take this moment as I conclude my remarks to 
be able to give appreciation to the corrections officers and 
staff that operate with compassion, hopefully sensitivity, and 
strength as they work every single day. Ninty-eight facilities 
remain at Level 3 of the modified operational levels which 
includes social distancing in all areas of Bureau facilities. 
As of Monday, all Federal prisons are under a national lock 
down as two inmates died during a fight involving multiple 
inmates at U.S. Penitentiary Beaumont, including those in 
gangs. Although details are not forthcoming due to the on-going 
FBI investigation, this incident raises concern about the 
safety and security of the facility, particularly in my 
backyard, Beaumont, which has been compromised by longstanding 
staffing shortages.
    The consequences of staffing shortages at BOP have been 
witnessed time and time again. The death of Jeffrey Epstein was 
linked in part to the hours of overtime that officers guarding 
him were required to work and augmentation which required an 
employee who was not a corrections officers to guard him. I 
went to that facility. I saw the needs, the freezing cold, and 
the needs of those employees that were there. They begged for 
help and did not get it. Epstein's death precipitated the 
closing of the Metropolitan Corrections office. Our Chair has 
worked very hard on this issue.
    So, I hope as we go forward that we will listen to the 
issues. We know some issues are being investigated by the OIG. 
We understand that the conditions at many of the prisons are 
not what they should be. We know that the PATTERN risk 
assessment tool which is at the core of the implementation of 
the First Step Act and other programs has not been effectively 
utilized. We hope to answer that question on the PATTERN 
program that indicates that the National Institute of Justice 
identified errors in PATTERN Version 1 that I understand are 
being addressed to revise the version of PATTERN. Inmates who 
were assessed under the current version of the tool were 
disadvantaged by those errors. They must be reassessed under 
the new version.
    Prison is a place of accountability and punishment, but it 
should also be a place of redemption, restoration, service, and 
certainly a place that is decent for staff to work at. I look 
forward to this discussion with our Director, and I look 
forward to continuing to try and restore the Federal Prison 
Bureau in the way that it should perform.
    Without objection, I will submit into the record the 
following documents, written testimony submitted by Alison K. 
Guernsey for the January 21, 2022, Subcommittee hearing 
entitled ``The First Step Act, The Pandemic, and Compassionate 
Release: What Are the Next Steps for the Federal Bureau of 
Prisons?'' A letter from Alison K. Guernsey, dated February 1, 
2022, and two accompanying attachments; written statements 
submitted by Dr. Homer Venters for the January 21, 2022, 
Subcommittee hearing, ``The First Step Act, The Pandemic, and 
Compassionate Release: What Are the Next Steps for the Federal 
Bureau of Prisons?''
    [The information follows:]



      

                     MS. JACKSON LEE FOR THE RECORD

=======================================================================

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    Ms. Jackson Lee. I now recognize the distinguished Member 
from Arizona, the Ranking Member for his opening statement. 
Thank you and welcome, Mr. Biggs.
    Mr. Biggs. Thank you, Madam Chair, and I first thank you, 
Madam Chair, for holding this hearing and I also thank you for 
bringing in Director of Prisons, Director Carvajal, because I 
think about your swift response to many of us who requested 
that his presence be here and I appreciate your response to 
that, Madam Chair, and we are grateful for that.
    I welcome Director Carvajal as well. Thank you for your 
service, sir. We are glad to have you here today.
    The Federal Bureau of Prisons is tasked with protecting 
society by confining offenders in the controlled environments 
of prisons and community-based facilities. BOP's duty is not 
merely to provide housing, food, and security for Federal 
inmates, but also to help inmates become law-abiding citizens 
upon release.
    All Americans have an interest in BOP's mission because the 
vast majority of Federal inmates, well above 90 percent, will 
someday be released into our communities regardless of our 
efforts to reduce recidivism. BOP's job is not an easy task, 
and it has only become more complicated due to COVID-19. In 
response to COVID-19, BOP undertook a number of steps to 
safeguard the health, safety of inmates, Bureau of Prisons 
staff and the public. BOP prioritized inmates for home 
confinement who did not post significant risk to the public, 
restricted the number of visitors, and limited the movement of 
inmates among detention facilities. These are reasonable 
measures, but my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want 
to go even further. They have tried to use COVID-19 as a reason 
to let more convicted criminals back on to our streets. They 
even wrote Attorney General William Barr, urging him to ``use 
every tool at his disposal to release as many prisoners as 
possible.''
    They even passed legislation in the House that would pay 
states to release inmates in State prisons and local jails. 
Think about that. My colleagues across the aisle want to use 
our tax dollars to incentivize States to put more convicted 
criminals on the streets earlier.
    The consequence of these actions has deadly real-world 
results as we have unfortunately seen. In March of 2021, Eric 
Reinbold was released from BOP custody after being granted 
compassionate release based on COVID vulnerability. By July, 
just four months later, Reinbold was accused and charged with 
murdering his wife. Just a few weeks ago in Oregon, Clifford 
Uptegrove was charged with first degree robbery, first degree 
theft, and felony fleeing and unlawful use of a weapon. 
Uptegrove had been granted compassionate release for COVID-
related reasons the previous year.
    In spite of these innumerous crimes that have been 
committed by inmates released early, my colleagues across the 
aisle are calling for more inmates to be released regardless of 
their crime or prison sentence. Democrats on this Committee 
want to open the jails and defund the police. They are turning 
a public health crisis into a public safety crisis as well.
    I tell you, Director Carvajal, to please pass on our 
appreciation to your officers and employees. They have a tough 
job and I want them to know they have our support. To that end, 
I understand that many BOP officers have voiced concern over 
the Biden vaccine mandate. I strongly oppose any efforts to 
mandate COVID-19 vaccines and have introduced legislation to 
prevent Federal agencies from imposing COVID-19 vaccine 
mandates.
    I look forward to hearing from Director Carvajal today. I 
also request that, Madam Chair, that we soon have the D.C. 
Director of the U.S. Marshals Office in for a hearing as well. 
I think some of the evidence that came out of last week's 
hearing would do well for both sides of the aisle to hear from 
the Marshals Office. I appreciate you again bringing in 
Director Carvajal. It is good to have him here.
    I thank you, Madam Chair, and I yield back the balance of 
my time.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. I thank the Ranking Member for his 
statement. I acknowledge at this time the service of our Chair, 
Mr. Nadler, and the service of our Ranking Member, Mr. Jordan. 
I thank them for their leadership of this Committee.
    It is now my pleasure to introduce today's Witness Michael 
Carvajal, who is the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. 
He began his career with the Bureau of Prisons in 1992 as a 
correctional officer at the Federal Correctional Institute, 
Three Rivers, Texas. He is, in essence, a committed, dedicated 
servant to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He served in position 
of leadership in Texas, Kansas, Louisiana before becoming the 
Regional Director of Northeast Region in 2016.
    Mr. Carvajal became the Assistant Director for the 
Correctional Programs Division in 2018 and held that position 
until he was appointed Director in 2020 in the last 
Administration.
    Let me again take note of his service and as well, the many 
corrections officers that I have had and staff, the privilege 
of meeting throughout the system. As I indicated, our task here 
is to provide a reform and restoration and continue the 
improvement on the institution of the Federal Bureau of 
Prisons. We welcome you, Mr. Carvajal, Director Carvajal, and 
we thank you for your participation.
    I will begin by swearing in our Witness. I ask our Witness 
to turn on your audio and make sure that I can see your face 
and raise your right hand while I administer the oath.
    Do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury that the 
testimony you are about to give is true and correct to the best 
of your knowledge, information, and belief, so help you God?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, I do.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you. Let the record show the Witness 
answered in the affirmative. Thank you. Please note that your 
written statement will be entered into the record in its 
entirety. Accordingly, I ask that you summarize your testimony 
in five minutes. To help you stay within the time frame, there 
is a timing light on your screen. When the light switches from 
green to yellow, you have one minute to conclude your 
testimony. When the light turns red, it signals that your five 
minutes has expired. I now recognize Director Carvajal for five 
minutes. Thank you. You are recognized.

                 STATEMENT OF MICHAEL CARVAJAL

    Mr. Carvajal. Thank you and good morning, Chair Jackson Lee 
and Ranking Member Biggs, other distinguished Members of the 
Committee. It is my honor to speak today on behalf of the 
37,000 Bureau of Prisons correction professionals who worked 
day-in and day-out to support our critical law enforcement 
mission.
    The Bureau's work is incredibly challenging and has been 
exacerbated by the COVID-19 virus. Our management of the 
pandemic has been highly scrutinized despite the fact that we 
have worked in lockstep with the CDC in shaping the guidance 
for the benefit of everyone who works in the corrections 
environment. The Bureau was one of the first Federal agencies 
to offer COVID testing and vaccinations and in January 2021, 
the CDC recognized the Bureau for leading all jurisdictions and 
Federal entities in its rate of vaccination utilization. 
Approximately 80 percent of our staff and 70 percent of our 
inmates have been fully vaccinated and we continue to increase 
those rates.
    After issuance of the CARES Act, the Bureau began screening 
and transferring both vulnerable and eligible inmates to 
residential re-entry centers and home confinement. The Bureau 
has transferred more than 37,000 inmates to community custody 
with more than 9,000 of those transferred pursuant to the CARES 
Act, after review of medically vulnerable inmates for potential 
placement and home confinement continues, based on assessments 
and the balance with our law-enforcement mission.
    Another common criticism is that we are under-staffed. The 
narrative is routinely misrepresented without reference to 
factual data. We have approximately 1,100 correctional officer 
vacancies. However, 7 institutions out of the 121 make up 
almost 40 percent of these vacancies. Increasing and 
maintaining our staffing levels within appropriated funding 
levels remains our priority. Last calendar year, we hired over 
3,000 staff and at one point, advance hired 1,000 staff above 
our funding levels. We have proven that we can hire employees. 
Although hiring is not an issue at the majority of our 
locations, we are routinely outbid by competing State and local 
corrections or law enforcement agencies who pay a higher wage. 
Accordingly, we continue to work with the Department to 
consider the use of additional incentives so we may be more 
competitive.
    Another area of misguided criticism is the implementation 
of the First Step Act. The Bureau worked with the Department on 
the development of the risk and needs assessment system and 
supported the National Institute of Justice who developed the 
approved risk assessment, called PATTERN. Staff were trained on 
the First Step Act including the new PATTERN tool and we worked 
with the union to negotiate policies to support implementation 
of the law. We recomputed the sentences of over 153,000 inmates 
to ensure that they received good conduct time under the new 
law. We are delivering more than 80 different programs based on 
individual inmate assessments. We hired additional staff to 
expand our re-entry program, and we initiated additional 
activities to support inmates about mental health issues, 
disabilities, or other special needs.
    We have expanded programming for female inmates, drug 
treatment, and vocational training. Over 75,000 inmates 
participated in First Step Act programs by the end of 2021 in 
spite of the constraints caused by the pandemic. We are 
modernizing the inmate education platforms to include the use 
of tablets for better program assess ability and we have 
created an online system to directly connect the community 
volunteers to BOP facilities.
    Additionally, we are exploring ways to provide inmates with 
ID cards compatible with State requirements under the REAL ID 
Act. We engaged external experts to evaluate our inmate 
programs and we are working with the NIJ to engage academic 
consultants to review our risk and needs assessment system.
    We are also developing a stronger data analytics platform 
to enhance monitoring and evaluation of our programs and our 
spending. The BOP worked in concert with the Department to 
finalize the role regarding First Step Act time credits. We 
applied the Rule retroactively and immediately released almost 
4,000 inmates from home confinement and RSD. We are releasing 
approximately 1,600 inmates from BOP facilities and 
transferring nearly 2,500 inmates intotpre-release custody. In 
sum, over 8,000 inmates have had their time credits applied 
towards pre-release custody or supervised release.
    The Bureau supports and has always been committed to the 
implementation of the First Step Act and we are statutorily 
compliant. Last year, the Government Accountability Office 
reported highlighted areas where the Bureau needed to improve 
and in response, I established a task force to address these 
identified areas. As a result of the task force's work, eight 
of the priority recommendations identified are now closed. Our 
work in this area continues.
    Chair Jackson Lee, Ranking Member Biggs, and other 
distinguished Members of the Committee, this concludes my 
statement.
    [The statement of Mr. Carvajal follows:]
    
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    Mr. Biggs. Madam Chair, I think you are still on mute.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. That is because of my very delicate 
fingers. I pressed it and it doesn't seem to want to open up, 
so try to hit it real hard.
    Let me do something a little different, if I might, and I 
am not sure if Ms. Bass here on?
    Ms. Bass. Yes, yes. I am here.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Ms. Bass, I am going to yield to you for 
beginning at this time and I will follow. Thank you so very 
much.
    Ms. Bass is recognized for five minutes.
    Ms. Bass. Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
    Good morning, Director Carvajal. I am glad to have you here 
before the Committee today and I am sure you are aware that two 
weeks ago, this Subcommittee held a hearing on matters 
pertaining to the Bureau of Prisons, the First Step Act, and 
the COVID epidemic. I was glad to hear from several experts on 
these topics, but I am afraid I am still left with a few 
questions, questions that I believe you might be the one to 
answer.
    Let me just take a minute to thank you for your service to 
BOP and then also to acknowledge your quick responsiveness on 
several occasions when I reached out with particular specific 
situations.
    One of the ways the CARES Act attempted to address the 
COVID epidemic within our prison system was by providing the 
BOP with additional authority to grant compassionate release 
for incarcerated persons who met a number or criteria to 
demonstrate a low risk of re-offense as opposed to the way it 
was described a few minutes ago, Democrats asking for the 
prison doors to just be opened indiscriminately.
    Can you tell me how many people within the BOP have been 
granted early release under this program? I wanted to know for 
those people that were granted, how many re-offended?
    I know there have been individual cases, but I want to know 
if you have numbers overall or percentages of how many people 
were re-incarcerated due to a technical violation such as 
missing a curfew or a phone call? Or how many people were 
released and are unaccounted for? How many people offended 
again with violent crimes?
    Mr. Carvajal. Thank you, Congresswoman Bass, and I 
appreciate the opportunity to make some distinctions here. I 
think that there is often confusion. I am going to try to 
clarify while I am up here. First, as I stated in my opening 
remarks, we released over--or transferred over 37,000 under the 
CARES Act to home confinement and community placement.
    Compassionate release is a separate entity. The BOP does 
not have the authority to independently release someone from 
our custody. Under the statute and our current policy, we make 
a recommendation to the court. The court makes the final 
decision, not the Bureau of Prisons. The Bureau of Prisons 
doesn't take a position on the motion in and of itself. As you 
stated, there is criteria.
    We use our policy criteria to evaluate and ensure that each 
individual case is compelling and--extraordinary and compelling 
circumstances that they are fully considered. These are 
individualized cases. We also take into account public safety 
and victim impact, but I stress that we do not independently do 
that, and the court makes the final decision.
    We do not track data. I don't have it in front of me for 
compassionate release because when the inmate receives a 
reduction in sentence, they are no longer in our custody.
    I can answer the other part of your question of the 37,000 
that we transferred to home confinement in the community, 
approximately 9,000 of those were specific to the CARES Act. 
Three hundred twenty, approximately 320 that I am aware of have 
committed violations have been brought back to secure custody. 
Eight of those were new crimes that I am aware of. One was a 
serious crime. I don't have the details in front of you. I am 
sure that we can get them for you.
    Ms. Bass. You said again 320, could you repeat that again?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, 320 of the inmates under CARES Act home 
confinement have re-offended and have been brought back to 
secure custody.
    Ms. Bass. So, you don't know of those 320 how many were 
technical violations that brought them back? You said eight 
committed new crimes. Could I assume that the rest were 
technical or not?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, I can clarify that. I appreciate that, 
Congresswoman Bass. The most common offense, about 160 of the 
320, were for abuse of alcohol or drugs. Some of them were 
escapes. They weren't where they were supposed to be. Most of 
them were violations of that nature, some with misconduct. 
Eight of those were new crimes committed. The rest were 
technical violations.
    Ms. Bass. Can you talk about, in my remaining seconds, 
vaccine distribution, (1) among staff, how many staff have been 
vaccinated, and (2) the inmates?
    Mr. Carvajal. Sure, our staff, we have approximately 80 
percent of our staff, which is about 30,000 staff that are 
fully vaccinated. We have about 95,000 inmates, 93,000-95,000 
inmates, it is a moving target, changes constantly, that is 
about 70 percent of our population. We continue to offer the 
vaccine and the booster to all inmates and of course, people 
can change their mind at any time if they choose to come back 
and get it, we make the vaccine available.
    Ms. Bass. For the 20 percent of the staff that are not 
vaccinated, what protocols do you have in place? Do they have 
to get tested weekly or what is in place?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, prior to the mandate, we were offering 
weekly testing. It was voluntary. Obviously, when the mandate 
came out, we mandated weekly testing for unvaccinated. There 
was a preliminary injunction issued in January by a judge. We 
are observing that. We ceased enforcement of the vaccine 
mandate and all processes with it, but we continue to encourage 
staff and inmates to become vaccinated, and as I say, that is a 
moving target, but we average about 80 percent staff, 70 
percent inmates.
    Ms. Bass. Thank you. My time has expired.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. My fingers are now working, Ranking Member 
Biggs, and it is my pleasure to yield to you your five minutes 
for your questioning of the Director. Thank you very much.
    Mr. Biggs. Thank you, Madam Chair. Director Carvajal, 
again, thanks for being here today. A Federal court issued an 
injunction to block implementation of President Biden's vaccine 
mandate for Federal employees. Were any BOP employees fired for 
not receiving the vaccine prior to the injunction being issued?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congressman, I don't have the exact numbers 
off my head, but we can certainly follow up and get that 
information back to you.
    Mr. Biggs. So, Director, are you saying that, yes, you 
believe some were required, but you don't have the exact 
number?
    Mr. Carvajal. I do believe some were, Congressman, but I do 
not have that information in front of me, and I could certainly 
get it back to you.
    Mr. Biggs. Thank you.
    Do you know if those employees will be rehired?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congressman, again, I will consult with my 
human resource directors. There are processes. So, we are 
observing the processes, and they do have a new process. So, we 
can get back to you with that exact information.
    Mr. Biggs. Thank you very much.
    Other Federal agencies are creating databases to track 
employees who request religious exemptions to President Biden's 
vaccine mandate for Federal employees. Has the BOP created a 
database to track religious exemption requests?
    Mr. Carvajal. Again, Congressman, with the mandate, we were 
exploring and reviewing and approving, as necessary, religious 
and medical exemptions. We have ceased that process because of 
the preliminary injunction, and we are following the guidance 
given to us, and we--
    Mr. Biggs. Okay. I just want to make sure I understand 
this. I am sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I just want to 
make sure I understand this. So, you were constructing a 
database and you are not now? Is that what I understood? That 
is what I understood.
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, Congressman, obviously, we track it. We 
have a process to keep track of the information. So, yes, there 
is a database. Along with everything else we do, it is tracked 
for accountability purposes, so that we know what the status is 
and things of that nature. We have since ceased the enforcement 
of that.
    Mr. Biggs. Okay. I appreciate Ms. Bass' line of questioning 
because I have a lot of the similar-type questions. In my 
opening statement, I mentioned a couple of examples of 
individuals released from BOP custody because of COVID-19, and 
they committed serious crimes afterwards. Is BOP tracking 
recidivism rates to see if individuals who have been released 
because of COVID-19 have committed crimes after their release?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congressman, the recidivism data that we use, 
our recidivism rate for the Bureau of Prisons is 43 percent. 
The States actually own the recidivism data. We work with them. 
I don't know that enough time has elapsed since the passage of 
the CARES Act, but I would have to ask specific questions about 
that. Again, there is a difference between someone we release 
and tracking them and someone who is still in our custody in 
home confinement.
    Mr. Biggs. So, I understand that the court makes the final 
determination on a compassionate release petition. Are you 
tracking those who have been released on compassionate release 
for recidivism rates?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congressman, I don't want to misspeak. Again, 
when we release someone from our custody, we do not, the Bureau 
of Prisons does not track them. They are released from our 
custody. They are returning citizens. The State, again, owns 
the recidivism data. We work with them and other entities to 
get that, but I can have my staff get back with you. I, 
obviously, don't know the exact procedures, but we can get that 
information for you.
    Mr. Biggs. So, okay. I appreciate that. I wish you would 
and reach out to my staff.
    In particular, for instance, I want to make sure I 
understand this. So, in Arizona, if someone is given a 
compassionate release, you guys don't track it, but the Arizona 
law enforcement, Department of Corrections, maybe the 
Department of Public Safety, somebody is tracking it and gives 
you data? Is that your understanding?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, Congressman. It is a collaboration of us 
working with the State and other law enforcement entities. 
There are a lot of moving parts here. Again, it is way above my 
head, but, yes, that data, obviously, being tracked.
    Mr. Biggs. Yes, and I guess I have been asking about 
compassionate release, and I would assume the First Step Act, 
the same thing under a recidivism issue?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes. Obviously, there is interest in our 
First Step Act data, and we are working with NIJ and outside 
consultants to review data and things like that. We are working 
on a platform. I know one of the criticisms early on is that we 
didn't have that data. Again, there is a lot of moving parts. 
It isn't because we don't want to track it. There is a lot of 
entities here. We have to collaborate with other local, State, 
and Federal law enforcement agencies to appropriately do that.
    Mr. Biggs. Well, Director, I hope that we can get that 
information sooner rather than later. Whatever we can do to 
help facilitate that, please let me know. I will have my office 
reach out to you, and if you would have yours reach out to 
mine. I think this information is critical because I think 
everybody wants to understand that.
    Thanks again for being here.
    Madam Chair, my time has expired. I yield back.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. I thank the Ranking Member very much. I 
will now yield myself the customary 5 minutes.
    My time is short, Mr. Carvajal. Thank you so very much. I 
appreciate your respect of that.
    Following the deaths of two inmates in the U.S. 
Penitentiary in Beaumont, Texas, on Monday, all BOP facilities 
have had a lockdown. Can you explain the decision to institute 
the lockdown, the national lockdown, and how long are inmates 
confined to their cells during the 24-hour period? If you can 
just give a brief answer on that, we will take a longer one in 
writing. Director?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, Congresswoman, a decision to lockdown 
the entire agency is a serious one. We did it because we felt 
we needed to find out what is going on. I won't get into 
specific operational things, but the groups involved, there are 
approximately 2,500 in our custody spread throughout the 
agency. We need to make sure that we separate them and secure 
them. I am hoping that the lockdown will be short-lived. We do 
not like keeping inmates, again, in their cells, and we will do 
our best to get them out quickly but keeping the safety of 
everyone in mind.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you.
    If you would give this Committee an update on the moment 
that the lockdown stops, we would appreciate it, for all the 
Members.
    Following up, Beaumont Low in Texas, a low-security 
facility, currently has 10 infected inmates; 942 inmates have 
recovered from COVID--that seems very high--out of 1,974 total 
inmates, including the camp and the correctional institution, 
which includes low-offense individuals. That is almost half of 
the inmate population that has been infected with COVID-19. 
Twenty staff are COVID-positive right now and 40 have 
recovered.
    How many inmates were placed into home confinement from FCI 
Beaumont Low? How many inmates were released on the 
compassionate release from FCI Beaumont Low? Are old inmates at 
low-security facilities such as FCI Beaumont Low given priority 
to be assessed for release under the CARES Act compassionate 
release or First Step Act? If so, what age inmates are given 
priority? If not by age, are any inmates at FCI Beaumont Low 
given priority to be assessed for release? You can answer the 
last question first, please. Director?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, Congresswoman. I don't have the exact 
data for every specific institution like Beaumont Low. We could 
certainly get you that data. I know we have it; I just don't 
have it off the top--
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you. Do you use the CARES Act? Is 
that ongoing to be utilized today since it is still operable in 
law? Do you use that?
    Mr. Carvajal. Absolutely. We continue to screen inmates for 
the appropriate placement under the CARES Act.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Under the CARES Act, with your discretion, 
individuals do not have to meet the 50 percent time of their 
sentence, is that correct?
    Mr. Carvajal. That is one of the criteria, along with 
others. There are only four hard criteria.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. It is correct--right, but they do not have 
to meet a 50 percent incarceration rate of their sentence?
    Mr. Carvajal. In instances like that, we do have the 
discretion. There usually is a higher-level review. If the 
staff at the institution feel that it is appropriate outside of 
the CARES Act, we have procedures in place to review cases such 
as that.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Yes, but you have that authority. Mr. 
Manafort and Mr. Cohen, to your knowledge, did not have 50 
percent of their sentence, is that correct?
    Mr. Carvajal. I am not going to talk about individual 
specific cases, Congresswoman, but we have procedures in place. 
We have a Committee that reviews them. I can certainly go 
through that process if you would like.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you. I would appreciate it if you 
could provide us in writing, if you are not going to discuss it 
on the individuals released under the 50 percent rule.
    Let me ask you, what are you doing to prevent more COVID-19 
deaths in the BOP facilities?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congresswoman, we have been in lockstep with 
the CDC and other entities from day one. We are doing the same 
thing that everyone else in the country and the world is doing. 
We are learning how to mitigate this virus. As stated earlier, 
it is hard to social distance inside a prison. We have learned 
from that. That is why we appreciate the ability under the 
CARES Act to transfer people out, because we were able to lower 
our population in those low-security facilities, as the one you 
described, who it is harder to maintain. We are following CDC 
guidance. We do everything in collaboration with them. Frankly, 
our pandemic plan actually assisted in writing the correctional 
guidance for the pandemic.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you. Thank you, Director. I will get 
the rest in writing. Thank you very much.
    Are you aware of the racially disparate impact of the 
PATTERN risk assessment tool, and that inmates of color may be 
more likely to be scored as high risk than white? With this in 
mind, have you considered revising the threshold cutoff between 
risk categories, which would enable more individuals to earn 
credits for an early release and maximize the benefits of the 
First Step Act, and take away the racial disparity that we see 
very clearly? Director?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, Congresswoman, I want to stress one 
thing. The PATTERN tool, the BOP did not develop it. It is 
developed by NIJ and approved by the Attorney General. We are 
aware of changes. We appropriately make those adjustments and 
rescore inmates anytime there is a change. We work with the 
Department to do that. We are the end user of that tool; we did 
not create it.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Finally, do you think it would help 
inmates on the compassionate release if BOP filed the motions 
rather than the inmates?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congresswoman, as I stated earlier, we don't 
have the authority to independently release someone. We work 
with the Department of Justice, and we make recommendations to 
the court. The judiciary makes the final decision. We do make 
staff available to gather documents. We work with the 
attorneys. We work with the public defenders and the courts to 
ensure that all the documents are available, so that we can 
go--it is just not a quick process. That is what people need to 
understand. The compassionate release process is a difficult 
one, and it has to be done individually. Each individual case 
has to be fully considered under its unique circumstances. It 
is not a fast process.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you. My time has expired. Thank you 
very much. We will pursue that with you.
    I now yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. 
Chabot.
    Mr. Chabot. Thank you, Madam Chair.
    I want to thank you, Director Carvajal, for being here with 
the Committee today.
    Before coming to Congress over a quarter century ago now, I 
served as a local elected official on the Cincinnati City 
Council and on the County Commission, Hamilton County, Ohio. In 
those two capacities, I was very involved with our 
incarceration at the local level--things like double-celling 
inmates to help with the overcrowding situation that we had, 
and then, work release programs, where we got inmates out 
picking up trash on the highways, cutting down weeds, two-for-
one-type programs, and those types of things.
    So, when I got here to Congress and onto this Committee, 
the Judiciary Committee, I wanted to continue in that effort. 
One of the closest things was prison industries are now UNICOR, 
which I wanted to discuss here in a second.
    I also got involved and worked with, for example, former 
Representative Rob Portman, who is now a United States Senator. 
He was one of the principals moving forces for the Second 
Chance Act, which we worked with him on, and then, the First 
Step Act, which we passed some time ago. I worked with Adam 
Schiff in a bipartisan manner on the Justice Reinvestment 
Initiative, to make sure that Members--we have sent out letters 
over the years urging Members to support funding for that 
particular program.
    So, before I ask you about UNICOR Prison Industries, I just 
wanted to say that most of the inmates we have at the Federal 
level--this is certainly the case at the local level as well--
these inmates, whereas, most of them, for the most part, do 
need to be removed from society because they have committed a 
crime, and, yes, punishment is involved. The fact is the vast 
majority of these folks are going to be out on our streets 
someday. So, we are a lot better off as a society if we 
recognize that and, if possible, reform some of them and get 
them job skills that they can actually work in the private 
sector someday, to keep them from coming back. Now, it doesn't 
work perfectly, but it can work. I strongly support those and 
will continue to do that.
    Back to prison industries, which, then, transformed into 
UNICOR, this is the program that we have where the prisoners at 
the Federal level actually are in work programs. So, they are 
learning a skill that they will, hopefully, be able to carry 
over into the private sector, which should help recidivism 
rates, which means that people don't come back to prison. The 
recidivism rates are far too high, as we know; people do tend 
to come back. This is one where the rates tend over time to 
better when you actually give these people a skill. Oftentimes, 
we might think of a stereotype of people are making license 
plates, or something, but it could be furniture; it could be a 
whole range of things.
    So, I would just like to give you a little time here, if 
you could, to tell us how that program is going; what your 
experience has been. How has it affected recidivism rates? Is 
it a positive thing, those types of things, Mr. Director?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, thank you, Congressman.
    UNICOR absolutely is a benefit to the agency. It was 
established by Congress in 1934. The sole mission of UNICOR is 
to train and employ inmates, for exactly what you said, and 
give them a skill to return as productive members of society.
    The last recidivism review they did on UNICOR, which is 
several years old, 24 percent of inmates that worked for 
Federal Prison Industries were less likely to recidivate; 16 
percent of them were more likely to be gainfully employed upon 
release. So, it is a good program. We like to say it is one of 
our No. 1, if not the No. 1, evidence-based programs because it 
teaches the skills you spoke of. You are correct, approximately 
95 percent of people in our custody are going to return to 
society. So, it is important to do that.
    We have a board of directors. They take their statutory 
responsibilities very seriously. They do minimize the impact to 
any given industry. Certainly, we do that through public 
comment, board hearings, things of that nature. For those that 
think we are taking from local industry, there are procedures 
in place to stay compliant with that.
    Mr. Chabot. Thank you very much.
    I don't have a lot of time left. So, just let me ask one 
other thing. I know that one of the greatest challenges that 
you all have when inmates are there, they are criminals, so 
they have got there because they committed a crime. They can 
prey on each other, or they can make it very dangerous for the 
guards. So, a program like prison industries, is that also a 
mechanism for a tool for maintaining kind of good behavior and 
making sure that it is a less dangerous environment than it 
otherwise might be?
    Mr. Carvajal. Absolutely, Congressman. One of the biggest 
things that we battle in a prison is idle minds. So, anything 
we can do to keep people productive and learning a trade or a 
skill is our goal.
    Mr. Chabot. Thank you very much. I think my time has 
expired, Madam Chair. So, I yield back.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. The gentleman's time has expired. Let me 
for a moment thank the Members who are here today. I will yield 
to Ms. Demings in a moment, but I want to acknowledge 
Congresswoman Dean, Congresswoman Scanlon, Congressman 
Cicilline, Congressman Lieu, Congressman Cohen, Congressman 
Biggs, Congressman Chabot, Congressman Steube, Congressman 
Tiffany, Congressman Massie, Congresswoman Spartz, Congressman 
Fitzgerald, and Congressman Owens. Thank you for your presence 
here today.
    It is my pleasure now to yield 5 minutes to the gentlelady 
from Florida. You are now recognized, Ms. Demings. Thank you so 
very much for your service.
    Ms. Demings. Well, good morning, and thank you so much, 
Madam Chair. Thank you for the exceptional work that you are 
doing in this particular area.
    Director Carvajal, it is great to see you, and thank you 
for joining us.
    I just want to, first, just make it quite clear that we all 
understand that there are some people who need to be locked up, 
but we also understand that many of them will integrate back 
into society, and it is incumbent upon us to make sure that 
they have the training, tools, techniques that they need to be 
successful. We all understand that.
    Director, you spoke a little bit about UNICOR and how 
successful it has been. Could you just talk a little bit more 
about that program and how we can even improve upon the success 
of that program? How can Congress be a better partner in 
helping those that will be coming back into society?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, I appreciate that, Congresswoman. I 
think speaking about it and being able to support the program, 
in and of itself--oftentimes, we are criticized that we are 
taking jobs from the local communities. As I stated earlier, we 
have a Board of Directors who oversees that. It is a great 
program--the more that we can keep inmates, teaching them the 
trades and working.
    The other thing that I think that hits home is that we are 
teaching them the soft skills of re-entry. Some of these folks 
have never had an actual job in a factory and punched a clock, 
so to speak. They are also earning a decent living for being 
incarcerated. Part of that is paying their financial 
responsibility. A lot of them are able to help support their 
families. Again, teaching that soft skill, which is 50 percent 
of our mission, re-entry.
    I have to stress that we want the same thing. We want 
people to go back to society as productive members of society, 
and we are committed to doing that. Half of our mission is 
keeping people safe and secure. The other half, which we are 
equally committed to, is making sure that they get the skills 
to go back and be productive members of the community.
    Ms. Demings. Director, thank you for that.
    You also talked about in your opening statement some of the 
challenges that you have in terms of needing staff and 
requirements, that you are being outbidded by other State and 
local organizations or agencies. I am certainly sensitive to 
that.
    Could you talk a little bit more about what--look, 
increased salaries are probably ``the answer,'' but could you 
talk about some of the other maybe creative ways that you are 
looking to not only recruit COs, but to retain them?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes. Thank you, Congresswoman. Very much a 
priority for us. It always has been. Again, I stated earlier 
that there is a narrative out there that we can't hire. That is 
not true. We have proved we can hire.
    We have several locations that are chronically difficult to 
staff. In those places, as you stated, we have a hard time 
competing with local industry or other correctional agencies. 
We don't set the pay bands for that. OPM does that. We are 
working with the Department on other types of incentives. We 
use recruitment and retention incentives. We use relocation 
incentives. All of those are things that we work with to get 
approval from the Department and support going to OPM to be 
able to look at these areas.
    Some of the hard-to-staff places, as the Congresswoman 
stated earlier, are Beaumont. Beaumont, as the rest of the U.S. 
pay scale, it is really hard to compete with local industry 
there, when they, frankly, can get paid more working down the 
street. That is one of the challenges. Beaumont is a great 
facility. I spent four years of my career there. So, it is not 
the facility; it is us being able to compete with the location.
    Ms. Demings. Director, finally, I remember hearing some 
concerns about or centered around officer safety because of 
staffing shortages, where personnel that weren't necessarily 
trained as correctional officers, if you will, were being 
utilized in that capacity. Could you talk a little bit more 
about that? If that is just a rumor, set all of us at ease 
about it.
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, Congresswoman, I absolutely appreciate 
the opportunity to set the record straight here. First, we 
would not put untrained people in there. We are very fortunate, 
as a correctional agency--it is one of the things we pride 
ourselves on--that all our staff are correctional-trained 
correctional workers. They receive the same training regardless 
of where they work. We have uniformed staff that are 
correctional officers, and the nurses, the food service people, 
the teachers, everyone goes through the exact same training. 
That gives us the ability to utilize these staff safely, Okay? 
So, that narrative is inaccurate when you hear it.
    We are challenged with staffing. I will tell you that we 
are funded at 90 percent. During my tour as Director, our 
priority has been staffing. We have funded all the positions 
that we get money for. As I mentioned earlier, at one point, I 
hired 1,000 over. My staff went 1,000 over. We are able to do 
that because our human resources know our attrition rate. So, 
we try to get ahead of it, but it is a constant challenge. 
There is a lot of moving parts. It is a very large 
organization. Thirty-eight thousand staff is a lot of people to 
keep track of. Ms. Demings. Thank you so much, Director.
    Madam Chair, I am out of time. I yield back. Thank you.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. The gentlelady yields back. Her time has 
expired. Thank you so very much.
    My pleasure to yield now 5 minutes to Congressman Steube. 
You are recognized.
    Mr. Steube. Thank you, Madam Chair.
    Director, thanks for being here. Obviously, the Committee 
has a lot of questions, and we appreciate your attendance 
today.
    On July 1st of last year, I wrote a letter to both you and 
the Director of the D.C. Department of Corrections about the 
treatment of the January 6th suspects. Your office responded on 
July 21st. The D.C. Department of Corrections has so far 
refused to answer, and we are almost a year after the fact that 
I sent the letter.
    Director, I recognize that many of the most egregious 
examples of mistreatment of January 6th inmates happened not in 
your system, but in the D.C. Jail. It has reported that January 
6th inmates in the D.C. Jail who are not vaccinated for COVID-
19 are forced into solitary confinement for 14 days after 
meeting with their attorneys. Yes or no, does BOP have the same 
policy in your facilities?
    Mr. Carvajal. No, Congressman, we do not.
    Mr. Steube. Well, I am glad to hear that, and that also 
highlights how out of step and illegal the policies are of the 
D.C. Jail regarding January 6th inmates.
    It has also been reported that January 6th inmates in the 
D.C. Jail have not been allowed haircuts or to attend religious 
services unless they are vaccinated for COVID-19. Yes or no, 
does BOP have the same policy?
    Mr. Carvajal. No, Congressman, we treat all people in our 
custody--everybody has equal access and is treated with dignity 
and has access to everything equally, regardless of--
    Mr. Steube. Thank you for your response. This further shows 
how egregious the D.C. Jail's mistreatment are of January 6th 
inmates.
    It has further been reported that January 6th inmates in 
the D.C. Jail have been denied medical treatment. This was 
largely the basis for a Federal judge finding the warden in 
contempt. In your experience as a career law enforcement 
officer and a prison official, is this acceptable conduct by a 
correctional institution to deny medical treatment?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congressman, I am not going to comment on 
what another correctional agency does without knowing all the 
information. I just stress to you that, in the BOP, which is 
who I represent, everyone has equal access to medical care 
programs, community placement, things of that nature. I would 
refer you to D.C. Corrections.
    Mr. Steube. Well, I did, and they are not answering my 
questions. So, I am just highlighting the differences in how 
you run your agency and how they are running theirs.
    Additionally, I would like to ask for an update on the 
statistics provided to me in your office's response to that 
July 1st letter. If you know the answers offhand, that would be 
great, but I understand if you don't have that in front of you 
or you don't know. I would like your commitment today to follow 
up with my office on the following:

          First, the number of January 6th inmates in your, in BOP's 
        custody that are awaiting trial and the number of such inmates 
        who are in special housing units.
          Second, the number of January 6th inmates serving sentences 
        and the number of such inmates who are in special housing 
        units.

    I would ask your commitment today to get me those 
responses.
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, Congressman, I could get you those 
responses. I am aware of we have 19 in our custody. Eight of 
those are pretrial. As to their specific housing today, I don't 
want to misspeak, but I will certainly follow up with that 
information with your staff.
    Mr. Steube. Okay. I would appreciate that.
    You said 19 in custody, and how many in pretrial 
confinement?
    Mr. Carvajal. Nineteen in custody. Eight of those are 
pretrial. I don't know their exact status today. I don't want 
to misspeak.
    Mr. Steube. If you could provide the details of that, not 
just to me, but I am sure the Members of this Committee would 
also be interested in that information.
    I have got a little bit of time left. So, one more 
question. In your office response to my letter, it was noted 
that judges, quote, ``routinely make recommendations to the 
Bureau regarding placement of an inmate at a specific 
institution or enrolled in programs.'' Your office also noted 
that the Bureau's policy requires, and I quote, ``a good-faith 
effort to follow these judicial recommendations.''
    I would point out that such judicial recommendations are 
often very much at the discretion of the judge. While I 
generally have faith in our judiciary to fairly call balls and 
strikes on purely legal matters, on discretionary issues such 
as this, it is obviously possible for personal biases to come 
into play.
    So, my question is this: If a judge makes a recommendation 
on the terms of a January 6th inmate's custody, and that 
recommendation was influenced by the judge's political 
leanings, BOP would be compelled by policy to make a good-faith 
effort to follow the recommendation, is that correct?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congressman, recommendations that are made by 
the judiciary, we certainly respect them and work with them, 
but there is a lot of moving parts inside our agency. We make 
the final determination. It is simply that, a recommendation, 
and we give it the look, but, ultimately, we make those 
decisions based on the best place to quarter and keep people 
safe and secure.
    Mr. Steube. Thank you, Madam Chair. My time is expired.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. The gentleman's time has expired. Thank 
you.
    It is my pleasure to now yield 5 minutes to the gentlelady 
from Pennsylvania, Congresswoman Dean.
    Ms. Dean. I thank you, Madam Chair, for hosting this 
important hearing.
    I thank you, Director Carvajal, for your work.
    I was happy to hear last April before a Senate Judiciary 
Committee that BOP was working to expand mental health 
treatment and vocational training and life skills. I also hope 
the BOP is expanding substance use disorder treatment, recovery 
therapy, and the rest.
    One thing I have in mind, in particular, are educational 
opportunities. We know they make all the difference in helping 
to break this cycle of recidivism and reincarceration, which is 
why I introduced Elijah Cummings' PREP Act, legislation that 
would ensure that incarcerated individuals receive educational 
opportunities they need to successfully re-enter their 
communities, re-enter their lives after completing their 
sentences.
    Can you give us information on the number of people today 
enrolled in your system in educational opportunities?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, Congresswoman. The current information 
is we have over 75,000 inmates enrolled in one of our 80 
Evidence-based Recidivism Reduction Programs and Productive 
Activities. Even since COVID, although we were hindered by the 
pandemic and we had to slow things down, over 151,000 inmates 
completed programming. Of course, the literacy programs, the 
GED, we offer many trades. We have over 200 career technical 
educations. We have done a lot of work with expanding programs 
specifically for the female offenders. We have dedicated staff 
just to make sure that we process that population's special and 
unique needs. We are working with the Department of Labor to 
expand apprenticeship programs because we know that vocational 
trades help people get jobs when they go out.
    Ms. Dean. Some of the things that the PREP Act would do 
would be higher education, college credits. What percentage of 
inmates are enrolled in educational programming?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congresswoman, I don't have the exact numbers 
off the top of my head, but I will certainly follow up. I am 
sure we could get you that information.
    Ms. Dean. Okay. Terrific. If you would share that with the 
Committee, that would be great.
    What programs are in place regarding addiction and 
substance use disorder? What percentage of inmates struggle 
with either mental health or addiction? How many are being 
offered treatment?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congresswoman, we have many drug-abuse 
programs available. We have a Residential Drug Abuse Program 
that is one of our best evidence-based programs. We also, under 
the First Step Act, expanded our MAT treatments. It targets a 
specific subset for people with opioid use disorder. We 
currently work on expanding those treatments.
    I don't know the exact percentage. It is a high amount of 
people that come into our system with drug and alcohol abuse 
programs. I don't have the exact percentages, but we could 
certainly get them to you.
    Ms. Dean. I would really appreciate it if we could get the 
percentages and, also, to understand if treatment is 
universally available throughout the system. We know that there 
is a high correlation of addiction and substance use disorder 
and incarceration.
    On to the solitary confinement in the few minutes that I 
have left. We read reports; we hear from inmates and their 
families on the dangerous side effects of solitary confinement, 
the serious, lasting psychological damage, contrary to the very 
set of questions I just asked you.
    Pre-pandemic, it was conservatively estimated that 60,000 
to 80,000 people were confined to solitary, and we understand 
that solitary may have been used as a substitute during COVID 
for isolation, medically required isolation. Can you give us an 
update on the use of solitary confinement, and importantly, I 
hope on a recognition that it is a failed practice?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, Congresswoman. We average around 9,000 
inmates at any given time in our restrictive housing units. 
About 8,000 of those are for administrative purposes--pending 
placements and conducting investigations. Sometimes there are 
separations for their own safety. There was 1,100 in there 
pending disciplinary action. We try to use alternative 
sanctions. We try to limit the time that someone spends in 
restrictive housing.
    One of the things that we have done to address this issue, 
for just some of the reasons you stated, is that we have 
expanded what we call our Reintegration Housing Unit Program, 
which allows that group of inmates who tend to spend time in 
restricted housing a general-population-type atmosphere, a 
smaller general population, so that we can remove them from 
restricted housing.
    So, that is something that we monitor daily. We are 
committed to ensuring that everyone in there has access to 
programming. They do medical and everything else. We also 
ensure that we make rounds daily and check on the inmates. They 
have constant inmate contact.
    Ms. Dean. Director, I thank you for your answers and I look 
forward to the information coming to the Committee.
    I yield back.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. I thank the gentlelady. Her time is 
expired.
    I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to Mr. Tiffany. Mr. 
Tiffany, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
    Mr. Tiffany. Thank you, and good morning, Madam Chair.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Good morning.
    Mr. Tiffany. First, Director, can those that were fired, 
your staff, as a result of not taking the vaccine, can they get 
their jobs back?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congressman, we have processes for all that, 
and I'm certain that we will follow them and afford us the 
appropriate due process, following OPM guidance and regulations 
and all the rules and laws.
    Mr. Tiffany. Are prison ministries allowed in the Bureau of 
Prisons?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, Congressman, they are.
    Mr. Tiffany. Have they been in during COVID?
    Mr. Carvajal. Well, we had to restrict through our COVID 
operations, obviously, people coming in, for their safety and 
for ours. We don't want to introduce COVID into our 
environments. So, it's been restricted, but we worked on that 
and we have a matrix out there operational.
    The institution CEO, if they fall into that criterion, they 
can make those adjustments daily. So, for any given place, 
Congressman, I can't answer that today, but we can certainly 
get you the information if you're interested in a specific 
location.
    Mr. Tiffany. Please do that. With the explosion in crime in 
the United States in the last couple of years, have you seen an 
increase in the inmate population in the Bureau of Prisons?
    Mr. Carvajal. Actually, Congressman, our population has 
decreased over the last several years.
    Mr. Tiffany. Is part of that as a result of the COVID 
releases that you've done? I think you detailed those numbers 
earlier.
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, Congressman, it is. Please keep in mind 
that we're on the back end of the criminal justice system, so 
it takes time to go through the system. So, I would defer some 
of that information probably to the DOJ. We get them at the 
back end of it.
    Mr. Tiffany. Thank you very much. Whether you're vaccinated 
or unvaccinated, you can still contract COVID-19. Why are we 
still releasing inmates?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congressman, if I understand your 
correction--or your question correctly, under the CARES Act, is 
that what your question is, why are we releasing inmates under 
the CARES Act?
    Mr. Tiffany. Yeah, yes.
    Mr. Carvajal. Because it is a statute, we're following it, 
the guidance that we were given. So, we follow the law, 
Congressman.
    Mr. Tiffany. Do you think we should rethink that, as the 
Congress sets this policy, or can change the policy?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congressman, I would defer to you and the 
Members of Congress to answer that.
    Mr. Tiffany. So, we had the two stabbing deaths down in I 
believe it's the Beaumont facility in Texas. Prior to the 
stabbing incident, if these two people would have had COVID, is 
it possible they could have asked for release under the law?
    Mr. Carvajal. Well, Congressman, I want to make sure I 
paint the right picture here. We're going to appropriately 
review everybody by the criteria, but the level, the security 
level where this incident happened and the fact that these 
individuals were members of a security threat group and at a 
high security, the chances of them being released were probably 
very slim.
    Because one of the criteria is you cannot have a crime of 
violence, and it appears that these individuals were involved 
in violence, precisely why prisons exist. There is a small 
fraction of people, as these, that are going to continue their 
criminal activity.
    Mr. Tiffany. It's not completely ruled out that they could 
have gotten released.
    Mr. Carvajal. Congressman, that's why we have the criteria, 
and we utilize our good discretion and judgment and follow that 
statute.
    Mr. Tiffany. Federal prison inmates are keeping large sums 
of money, as much as $100,000 each in government-run deposit 
accounts, effectively shielded from court orders, including 
people like the pedophile Larry Nasser, the Boston bomber, and 
Mr. Tsarnaev. What's specific plans does the Bureau have in 
place to ensure victims get what they are owed?
    Mr. Carvajal. Hey, Congressman, good question. First, I 
want to stress something that currently the BOP does not have 
the authority to seize funds independently from an inmate 
without their consent. We are working with the Department of 
Justice to change that Rule that will allow us to automatically 
encumber funds or a portion of their funds to pay fines and 
restitution. Our inmate trust fund collections about six 
million annually to make sure that they pay restitution, but I 
stress again that we don't independently have the authority to 
retrieve funds.
    We work with other law enforcement entities. In that case, 
the United States Marshal's Office, the United States 
Attorney's Office, and the courts, in those matters when we 
have to do that.
    Mr. Tiffany. Yeah, I think that's something, Madam Chair, 
that should really be looked at. The other thing that I would 
urge, Madam Chair, we need to hear, after hearing Mr. Steube's 
questioning, and I'm so glad the representative from 
Pennsylvania was concerned about the solitary confinement.
    We need to have a hearing on the January 6th detainees. We 
need to have a full airing of what is going on with those 
January 6th detainees, because they are being submitted to 
conditions that many on this Committee, including the other 
side of the aisle, find reprehensible. It's time to have a 
hearing on January 6th detainees.
    I yield back.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. I thank the gentleman. The gentleman's 
time has expired, and I'm pleased to yield to the gentlelady 
from Pennsylvania, Ms. Scanlon. You're recognized now for five 
minutes.
    Ms. Scanlon. Thank you, Madam Chair, appreciate you having 
this hearing today. Thank you, Director Carvajal, for being 
with us.
    I was hoping you could help me clarify just for a minute 
what the baseline population that we're talking about here, 
sorry. As I understand it, the inmate population for the Bureau 
of Prisons from 1940-1980 was around 24,000. Is that right?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, ma'am. If my memory serves me correctly, 
yes. I don't have that information right in front of me.
    Ms. Scanlon. I'm actually pulling it off your website here. 
Then the population doubled in the '80s to about 58,000, 
doubled again in the '90s to 136,000, and continued to climb 
until 2013, at which point the Bureau of Prisons was housing 
about 217,000 people. Is that right?
    Mr. Carvajal. That is correct.
    Ms. Scanlon. Okay, what is your current census of inmates 
in the Bureau of Prisons?
    Mr. Carvajal. I'm not sure I understand your question, 
Congresswoman.
    Ms. Scanlon. Are you currently housing about 153,000 
inmates?
    Mr. Carvajal. Oh, yes, I'm sorry, I just didn't hear you. 
About 153,000, 134,000 at our 120 Bureau facilities. There's 
about 62,000 in for--private contract facilities, 7,100 in 
RRCs, and the 5,400 I mentioned in home confinement for CARES 
Act.
    Ms. Scanlon. Okay, thank you, I was having trouble figuring 
out where all the numbers were.
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, those are rough estimates, they change 
daily.
    Ms. Scanlon. Okay, I think everyone on the Committee knows 
that by the time we got to 2013, or so we had widespread 
agreement, everyone from the Koch brothers to the Obama Justice 
Department saying we are over-incarcerating people in this 
country and it's a huge financial drain as well as a huge waste 
of human capital and a human rights problem.
    Now, there's been some emphasis on the purpose of the 
Bureau of Prisons to be punishment, but it also has a 
rehabilitative purpose, doesn't it?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, Congresswoman. I'd like to stress 
something, that we're not here for punishment. The taking of 
their time by the courts and the criminal justice system, 
that's the punishment. We're here to house people that are 
remanded to our custody, and more importantly, to prepare them 
to re-enter society, keep them safe while we're here.
    We're not here as punishment, that's not how we look at 
this agency.
    Ms. Scanlon. Okay, I'm particularly interested, as some of 
my colleagues have been, in the rehabilitative function, the 
efforts that are made to ensure that when people are released 
from prison, they're able to successfully re-enter, and that 
they're not worse off than they were before they went in. 
Because that doesn't seem to serve society well either.
    What is the current recidivism rate, to your knowledge, 
from the Federal prisons?
    Mr. Carvajal. It's about 43 percent.
    Ms. Scanlon. Okay, you might want to update the website, 
it's saying 34 percent. Has there been a significant change in 
recent years?
    Mr. Carvajal. No, ma'am, I'll have to have my staff look at 
that website. I've never--I'm not familiar with it being in the 
'30s.
    Ms. Scanlon. It's on the home page.
    Mr. Carvajal. We'll correct that.
    Ms. Scanlon. So, with respect to--my colleague Ms. Dean 
talked a little bit about some of the educational programs. I 
recently had a constituent reach out about a relative's 
participation in the Bureau of Prison's Drug Abuse 
Rehabilitation Program, or RDAP.
    They've encountered problems getting all their earned 
credits counted towards release because the program was paused 
by COVID-19. Eventually this constituent's relative was able to 
get the credits, but they had to go to court, and that's not a 
particularly cost-effective method of dealing with this for 
anyone.
    I know that RDAP was paused at many facilities. Is that 
still the case? If not, is it back up and running at all 
facilities where it was previously offered?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, Congresswoman. As I stated earlier, 
COVID certainly impacts our institutions. We have an 
operational matrix dictates how they operate. We have been 
affected by it. I know that certain inmates have been affected. 
We expect our staff to work with them.
    I'm not familiar with the particular case you're talking 
about, but we can certainly get back with you on that, the 
specifics of that case.
    Otherwise, we go to the point of trying to work with them 
so that they can benefit from home confinement, finishing the 
program, getting their time credits in. The whole goal is for 
them to get the time credits.
    Again, I'd like to stress that we're not trying to keep 
people in except unless they need to be in. If they earn any 
time credits, we want them to go back to society as 
appropriate.
    Ms. Scanlon. Okay, one last question, I'm running out of 
time. I was very interested in the effort to put more 
apprenticeship programs in there so that people have hard 
skills that are going to enable them to become employed when 
they get out. What is the trajectory on that? How many places 
have apprenticeship programs, and what efforts are being made 
to expand that?
    Mr. Carvajal. We're--
    Ms. Jackson Lee. The gentlelady's time has expired. 
Director, I'll allow you to answer the question. Thank you.
    Ms. Scanlon. Thank you.
    Mr. Carvajal. Congresswoman, we can get back to you with 
that specific information. We are working with Department of 
Labor to grow that program.
    Ms. Scanlon. Okay, thank you, appreciate it. Yield back.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank the gentlelady for her questioning.
    Now, it's my privilege to yield five minutes to Mr. Massie. 
The gentleman is recognized for five minutes.
    Mr. Massie. Thank you, Madam Chair.
    I want to thank you, Director Carvajal, for your staff 
being responsive to one of my inquiries about how many 
vaccination exemptions have been granted at the BOP. It looks 
like, as of January 20, there were 4,738 exemptions. Most of 
them were religious exemptions.
    Instead of asking you, I want to inform you that this has 
had a very negative effect on the morale of the officers, that 
fact they are required to live under a vaccine mandate and the 
inmates are not. It's interesting that the inmates have more 
rights than the officers themselves.
    They also resent that they've had to apply for religious 
exemptions when, in fact, they should have been granted a 
medical exemption. At least some of them have been able to get 
the exemptions.
    You may want to check in on whether you completely 
suspended this mandate, because there are officers who are 
still required to do the weekly testing if they're not 
vaccinated, per the mandate, and also to certify that they have 
a religious exemption. Even as of this week they've had to do 
that.
    I appreciate the accommodations that you have made, because 
it will negatively affect morale in recruiting if we do keep 
this vaccine mandate in place.
    I want to ask you how many correctional officers were 
budgeted for the BOP by Congress? I'll give you my number, it's 
not a gotcha. The number I have, I'm just trying to see if it's 
correct, is 20,446.
    Mr. Carvajal. That, yes, Congressman. Again, I appreciate 
the opportunity to clarify that. Specific correctional 
officers, what we call the correctional officer that work those 
posts, is approximately 14,000.
    The 20,000 you're referring to is 6,000 additional support 
positions that fall under the correctional officer series. This 
is a classification issue, and it's often confusing, that 
encumbers other positions that work in correctional services. 
The actual, true correctional officers that we look at is 
approximately 14,000.
    Mr. Massie. Have the 6,000 been hired?
    Mr. Carvajal. We have a currently, Congressman, about 1,100 
correctional officer vacancies right now. Almost half of those 
are at seven locations that are hard to fill.
    Mr. Massie. Okay. There's one facility in my district, 
Ashland FCI, where five years ago they had 130 officers, and 
now they have 100 and they're told they're going to 98, yet 
they've got more inmates. We see that augmentation is being 
used there.
    So, I'm concerned that the inmates are going up and the 
officers are going down. Because I'd like for it to be a safe 
environment, and I think if it's understaffed, it's not safe. 
Also, they're utilizing overtime virtually every day at that 
facility, and it would be cheaper for the taxpayers if we had 
more slots filled.
    I've heard that augmentation is being used there to 
backfill some of those slots. I'm not going to debate whether 
they're trained enough, you've already addressed that, and you 
assured us they are. What is augmentation and where do those 
people come from when they go serve in roles that correctional 
officers might otherwise fill?
    Oh, I think you're muted, Director.
    Mr. Carvajal. Sorry. Augmentation is a necessary tool that 
we use in our agency to make sure that we complete the first 
part of our mission, and that's to keep everyone safe and 
secure, to be able to do the second part of our mission, which 
is give people a chance to return.
    As you stated, we often use, we try not to do it, but it's 
certainly a tool that we have to use, we use people from other 
disciplines, such as teachers, nurses, and things of that 
nature. We try to limit that. Those decisions are based upon a 
roster locally. The CEO makes those determinations.
    I stated earlier we have approximately 1,100 correctional 
officer vacancies. I'd like to stress, Congressman, that we are 
funded at 90 percent. We have 38,884 positions. We are funded 
for 35,161. That's about 3,723 vacancies, about $500 million 
we're short.
    Our correctional official fill rate has got as high as 94 
percent, it's currently 92 percent. So, our goal is to fill 
every single position that we are funded for, but I can't spend 
money we don't have.
    Mr. Massie. Okay. I would for you to look specifically at 
Ashland FCI. My concern about augmentation should be a concern 
we all have, is when you take away from being teachers to being 
guards or other services, then the teaching doesn't happen. 
Then we can see higher recidivism, because we know that 
vocational schools and education correlate to recidivism.
    I would hope that you can get those slots filled, that we 
get more slots. We can rely less on overtime and less on 
pulling those teachers away who are so important and the other 
people who are important for complying with First Step Act.
    Thank you, Madam Chair, for indulging me, and I yield back.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you, the gentleman's time has 
expired. It's my privilege now to yield five minutes to the 
gentlelady from Georgia, and I thank her for her very powerful 
remarks this morning at the National Prayer Breakfast. The 
gentlelady from Georgia, Ms. McBath, is recognized for five 
minutes.
    Ms. McBath. Thank you, Chair Lee, and good afternoon, 
Director Carvajal. I thank you for being here today, and I 
thank you for your service as the Director, as you will soon be 
leaving the Bureau. We just want to thank you for your service.
    During this Subcommittee's last hearing, we had an 
opportunity to review implementation of the First Step Act. At 
the BOP, and the impact that COVID-19 has had on the BOP 
operations.
    I used that opportunity to inquire at that time into the 
BOP's policies addressing the treatment and care of pregnant 
women. Specifically, the BOP's alignment with national guidance 
for the health and safety of pregnant woman.
    Since that time, I was pleased to hear that the BOP has 
taken actions to better align its policies on about five of the 
eight care topics that the GAO found to not fully be aligned 
with the national guidance recommendations.
    I hope that the Bureau will continue to work to ensure that 
all eight of those care topics are met, so that the health and 
wellbeing of pregnant women at the BOP facilities are fully 
protected and cared for.
    Today, however, I do want to examine how BOP is handling 
its re-entry services. The successful re-entry of citizens into 
society is integral to annual recidivism efforts, crime in our 
communities, and the financial health of these offenders' 
rejoining society.
    However, it's difficult to, I guess actually to assess 
recidivism patterns unless you are properly collecting the data 
on it. For example, the last Federal justice statistics 
publication on recidivism of Federal offenders that I was able 
to locate was published in June 2016.
    The latest publication on the employment statuses on 
released Federal offenders was published last December but 
cover Federal inmates released back in 2010. So further, the 
latest, the latest BOP publication on recidivism that I was 
able to find was from 2006.
    Director Carvajal, what steps has the BOP taken to improve 
its data collection to effectively track the progress of 
incarcerated individuals as they transition from prison to re-
entry centers or home confinement?
    Does the BOP have plans to create standard metrics to 
evaluate re-entry outcomes, such as job placement, recidivism, 
so that the BOP facilities can share their best practices?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, Congresswoman. I appreciate your 
interest in this. This is very important to us. It's a very 
complicated process for the gathering of recidivism data. We 
work in conjunction with the States and other law enforcement 
entities. We are not sole owners of that data.
    I will tell you that staff are working with other 
components to set up a platform, and we're committed to working 
on bettering that platform to get that data and to track it.
    Ms. McBath. Sir, then once that is done or initiated and 
completed, could you just please, I'd love, my staff, we would 
love to have what that platform looks like and what it entails, 
if you would.
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, we can do that, Congresswoman.
    Ms. McBath. Thank you. I'm also curious to know how many 
re-entry coordinators did the Board of Prisons have per prison 
or per prisoner? How many vacancies are there for these jobs? 
You've made mention of the number of vacancies that you have, 
but how many vacancies are for these jobs and what steps has 
the Board of Prisons taken to fill these positions?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, Congresswoman. We are committed to 
filling all our vacancies. As I stated earlier, we strive to do 
that. I don't know the exact number of re-entry affairs 
coordinators, but those are positions that we strive to fill, 
as we do all our positions.
    As I stated earlier, we have filled every position we have 
funding for, and we're committed to continue to do that. I can 
get you the exact numbers, I can get back with you on that, I 
don't have them in front of me.
    Ms. McBath. No, we really appreciate that effort. I think 
my colleagues and I would be really interested to have that 
information, and I really appreciate that.
    Well, as has been stated by many of my colleagues before 
me, we're very, very concerned about, actually people say that 
criminals have rights. Yes, they do have rights, just as 
victims have rights.
    We just want to make sure that when those that are 
incarcerated do have the ability to have fair treatment while 
they are incarcerated. Because at the end of the day, they're 
human beings too.
    Thank you so much, Madam Chair, I yield back the balance of 
my time.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. The gentlelady had yielded back, thank 
you. It is my privilege now to yield five minutes to the 
gentleman, Mr. Fitzgerald, you are recognized for five minutes. 
Thank you.
    Mr. Fitzgerald. Thank you, Madam Chair, sorry about that.
    My colleagues on the other side of the aisle introduced 
several pieces of legislation that would eliminate bail in the 
Federal system and make States then utilize bail for pretrial 
release, ineligible for grants under the Edward Byrne Memorial 
Justice Assistance Grant Program.
    These reforms continue to be pushed in the wake of the 
tragic events where violent criminals are released, either on 
bond or when they're involved in some of these terrible crimes, 
of which some of my colleagues have been talking about this 
morning.
    Jurisdictions in California, Maryland, New Jersey, New 
York, and in my own district, which I represent Milwaukee 
County, has modified their bail practices to eliminate or de-
emphasize the use of monetary bail systems.
    Coupled with some of my colleagues' desire, which has been 
going on for a year, discussions about defunding or dismantling 
police department or bail reform efforts, it's troubling. It's 
making some of the communities less safe or it's sending the 
wrong signal or message to some of these individuals that 
ultimately commit these crimes.
    Additionally, the Pretrial Integrity and Safety Act will 
provide grants to States if they eliminate their money bail 
systems. Then things like the Minnesota Freedom Fund, which 
even Vice President Harris was involved in for a period of 
time. So, this fund and others that are similar have 
contributed to this overall concern.
    Then right in my back yard, in the 5th Congressional 
District in Wisconsin, we had the national attention given to 
the Waukesha Christmas parade murders that happened. Darrell 
Brooks, the individual, was released on a $1,000 bond after 
running over a woman with a vehicle. This is prior to the 
parade.
    Then he was released on bail, despite having a lengthy 
criminal history, including a charge for aggravated battery and 
an outstanding warrant in Nevada after skipping bail for a sex-
related crime. Then, as you know, he subsequently drove his car 
through the Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, killing 
six individuals, one of whom was an eight-year-old boy.
    Bail reform policies such as cashless bail that have been 
supported by some of my colleagues actually do more harm than 
help, in what would be consider some of the minority 
communities, that could have benefitted from some of these 
reforms, as we discuss them at the State and Federal level.
    So, Director, I guess crimes that are considered felonies 
are being treated as misdemeanors or civil infractions in 
controlling the criminal and the justice system from the 
perspective of the benefit always goes kind to the criminal, 
what's the fallout? I know you talked about this earlier, but 
under the First Step, the Act calls upon prisons to create 
rules around evidence-based recidivism reduction programs and 
productive activity.
    Can you comment? There must be a relationship between those 
incarcerated and certainly the set of statutes, both at the 
State and Federal level and how they affect that. What's the 
interaction, during your period of time as Director?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congressman, I'm not sure I understand your 
question. We're committed to re-entry. That's 50 percent of our 
mission. That other is keeping people safe and secure. We don't 
control who comes to our custody, that's on the front end of 
the justice system. The courts determine that.
    So, when they come in here, our mission is to keep everyone 
safe, secure, and ensure that they have equal access to 
programming. As I stated before, 95 percent of those people 
return to society.
    Mr. Fitzgerald. Just one more quick one then. One of my 
experiences as a State legislator, as well as in the kind of 
relationship that I've tried to develop with the Federal system 
within the State of Wisconsin, one of the things that's always 
linked is the literacy rate compared to recidivism.
    We find that if an inmate can read at an eighth grade 
level, they're far more likely to recommit. Is that something 
you guys have looked at or checked into, and is it something 
that you monitor?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, Congressman, we have lots of literacy 
programs, a high school equivalency, GED. We encourage inmates, 
that's part of the risk and needs assessment when they come in.
    We assess them and we address their needs. We assign them 
programs to address their needs. That's precisely what the 
First Step Act is for. We were doing that all along. We've had 
a risk and needs assessment, we just formalized it under the 
First Step Act.
    Mr. Fitzgerald. Thank you, Madam Chair, I yield back.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. I thank the gentleman for his questioning.
    Now, I'm pleased to yield to the gentlelady from St. Louis, 
Missouri, Vice Chair of this Committee. Congresswoman Bush, you 
are recognized for five minutes.
    Ms. Bush. St. Louis and I thank you, Chair, for convening 
this important hearing.
    I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the 
experiences of 17 women across five Federal facilities which 
have been provided by the National Council of Incarcerated and 
Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Without objection, so ordered.
    [The information follows:]



      

                        MS. BUSH FOR THE RECORD

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    Ms. Bush. Thank you. In these emails, women in Federal 
custody detail horrifying accounts of not being allowed to get 
out of their beds all day because of COVID lockdowns, being 
forced to eat expired food, having little to no access to 
medical services to treat cancers and other underlying 
conditions, having to pay two dollars to file a sick complaint.
    This is happening under your watch. These are complaints 
coming from not one or not two facilities, but five different 
facilities, which makes clear that these issues are not 
isolated, but they're systemic. These women cannot hold you 
accountable, Mr. Carvajal, they cannot, but we can.
    I would like to use this opportunity to ask you questions 
that they cannot directly ask you out of fear of retaliation. 
Mr. Carvajal, yes or no, are you aware of these complaints 
across so many of your facilities?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congresswoman, I'm not aware of those 
particular complaints, but I'm certainly interested in hearing 
from you or staff so that we can look into them. If that 
happened, I find it unacceptable.
    Ms. Bush. Thank you, thank you. Our staff will be in touch, 
thank you for that.
    Are complaints filed by people in BOP custody being logged 
and am I able to access those logs?
    Mr. Carvajal. We absolutely keep a log of complaints. We 
take all allegations seriously. We have an Office of Internal 
Affairs.
    We follow the process, we work with the Office of Inspector 
General, and when needed other law enforcement agencies, and 
certain the FBI and investigatory agencies. We take all those 
complaints and allegations seriously and we look into them.
    Ms. Bush. Am I able to access the logs?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congresswoman, if you'd like I could have my 
staff reach out to you--
    Ms. Bush. Okay.
    Mr. Carvajal. See, if there is particular information 
you're interested in, and if we can, we will provide that to 
you.
    Ms. Bush. Thank you, thank you. In the midst of a raging 
pandemic that has made incarcerated individuals uniquely 
vulnerable, rather than allowing people to serve their 
sentences from their homes with their families and away from 
the trauma and abuse of the BOP system, the Federal prison 
population has grown. Keeping them in prison is an Act of 
cruelty.
    In April of last year, you told the Senate Judiciary 
Committee that 50-75 percent of those incarcerated have been 
reviewed for home confinement, and that 24,000 out of over 
150,000 people in Federal custody have been placed in home 
confinement.
    As of today, have all those incarcerated been reviewed for 
home confinement now, instead of the 50-75 percent?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congresswoman, we review all eligible inmates 
for home confinement under CARES Act. We did that, we've placed 
over 37,000 inmates. Nine thousands of those, more than 9,000, 
were specific under CARES Act placement. Those are 9,000 
inmates who would not be out in community custody at this point 
in their incarceration.
    Our population is actually reduced, Congresswoman.
    Ms. Bush. Okay, well, we looked at the website earlier 
today, so is the website inaccurate?
    Mr. Carvajal. I'm not certain which information you're 
referring to.
    Ms. Bush. We went to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.
    Two weeks ago, I along with Representative Bonnie Watson 
Coleman, we sent a letter seeking clarification from the Bureau 
on the implementation of the Office of Legal Counsel's new 
guidance for those on home confinement under the CARES Act.
    We asked for a response no later than February 7 of this 
year. Can we get a commitment from you that such a response is 
forthcoming, Mr. Carvajal?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congresswoman, I'm aware of your letter, and 
we are certainly working on answering it. Understand, please, 
that there is a clearance process which I do not control. We 
are committed to getting you a response to your letter.
    Ms. Bush. Thank you. My office will be in contact. I yield 
back.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. The gentlelady yields back. Thank you very 
much. It's my pleasure now to yield to the gentleman from Iowa, 
Mr. Owens, for five minutes. Mr. Owens, you're recognized for 
five minutes.
    We'll then be happy now to move to the gentleman from Rhode 
Island, Mr. Cicilline. We're pleased to yield Mr. Cicilline 
five minutes, you are recognized now.
    Mr. Cicilline. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, 
Director, for being here. I, too, joined the letter that 
Congresswoman Bush just referenced, and very much look forward 
to your response to that.
    We held a hearing on January 21, 2022, to learn more about 
the Bureau of Prison's response to the pandemic and 
specifically discuss compassionate release as a tool to reduce 
prison occupancy and keep people safe.
    My first question is I have a piece of legislation that 
would expand compassionate release availability during a public 
health emergency. Given all the evidence we've seen about 
successful reintegration through compassionate release during 
COVID, it seems to me that it makes sense to fully utilize this 
tool.
    So, my first question is what is the Bureau of Prison's 
current policy for considering compassionate release of 
individuals at high risk of serious illness from COVID-19?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congressman, the compassionate release 
process is sometimes confused with the home confinement, which 
we use. It's a quicker placement.
    The reduction in sentence process is much more difficult. 
It wasn't designed to be a timely process. Each individual has 
to be reviewed and unique, extraordinary, and compelling 
circum-
stances--
    Mr. Cicilline. Director, so is it my understanding, you 
don't use compassionate release or recommend compassionate 
released to people who have a serious risk of illness with 
COVID-19, you don't use that process at all?
    Mr. Carvajal. Under the CARES Act, we review everyone for 
placement on home confinement. Yes, we do, if they file a 
reduction in sentence motion, we do evaluate it and assess it 
under our policy. We just don't independently release someone 
from our custody.
    Mr. Cicilline. No, I know you don't, my question is do you 
use compassionate release of individuals at a high risk of 
serious illness from COVID, and what is your current policy in 
terms of applying compassionate release to such individuals? 
That's not a hard question.
    Mr. Carvajal. If they submit a request, we follow our 
policy in the statute and review it. If it's appropriate, we 
make the motion, and if not, it is denied.
    Mr. Cicilline. Okay. Healthcare workers across the country 
are obviously experiencing incredible burnout after two years 
fighting on the front lines of this pandemic. I presume that 
correctional staff feel similarly, especially during outbreaks 
in the facilities.
    Given the statistics I've seen on overtime and infection 
rates and considering the ongoing risk of COVID-19 and 
continued staffing shortages and BOP's expanded authority to 
release individuals to home confinement, why is BOP not 
utilizing mitigation strategies like compassionate release more 
fully to reduce the number of incarcerated individuals in 
Federal prison?
    Mr. Carvajal. We are utilizing it, Congressman. We make 
recommendations to the court as appropriate. The court makes 
the final decision, not the BOP.
    If the motion is made up, the inmate, under the First Step 
Act, which they can do that after 30 days, we don't take a 
position on the motion. We're not party those cases, it goes 
through the system.
    Mr. Cicilline. Director, my colleague Congresswoman Dean 
raised questions about solitary confinement, and the number she 
referenced I concur with. The number increased 500 percent in 
2020, with about 300,000 people in solitary confinement at any 
one time. The policy of using solitary or restrictive housing 
as a substitute for CDC-recommended medical isolation has 
caused unbelievable harms to incarcerated individuals.
    My question is what steps has the BOP leadership taken to 
ensure that it's following the appropriate guidance, like the 
CDC guidance to place people in medical isolation not solitary 
confinement or restrictive housing during this or in any future 
public health emergency?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congressman, we follow the CDC guidance. In 
some cases, we go above and beyond. I'd like to clarify, 
though, that medical isolation is often confused with solitary 
confinement. There are instances when inmates placed in 
restricted housing are isolated also, medically isolated. In 
those cases, it's appropriate.
    We don't place people from the general population who are 
placed in medical isolation, we don't place them in restricted 
housing. If there's a case where it's an issue where we're out 
of space or something, they're appropriately tacked--there's 
different rules for that.
    Mr. Cicilline. Director, in February 2020, the UN Special 
Rapporteur on Torture issued a statement related to the use of 
solitary confinement in United States prisons, stating that, 
and I quote, ``The severe and often irreparable psychological 
and physical consequences of solitary confinement and social 
exclusion are well-documented and range from progressively 
severe forms of anxiety, stress, and depression to cognitive 
impairment and suicidal tendencies. This deliberate infliction 
of severe mental pain or suffering may well amount to 
psychological torture,'' end quote.
    My question is, is the BOP aware of the mental and physical 
damage of solitary confinement on the individuals in their 
care? Do you have policies in place to try to reduce the use of 
solitary confinement?
    Will you furnish this Committee with all the background and 
supporting documents to reveal to us really the status of the 
use of solitary confinement and your efforts to mitigate it?
    I think you're on mute, Mr. Director.
    Mr. Carvajal. Sorry. Yes, Congressman, that's a lot of 
information. We will certainly get that to you. I will tell you 
that we are committed to continuing to appropriately reduce our 
use of restrictive housing.
    In some cases, there's a reason for it and we do, but we 
have policies in place. Making rounds, making sure that they 
have access to programming and earning time credits. We can get 
you all that information, and we can answer any questions you'd 
like regarding that.
    Mr. Cicilline. I appreciate that. Director, one final 
point. The making rounds is not, the fact, that you check in on 
somebody while they're experiencing what has been described as 
psychological torture isn't sufficient, so I look forward to 
that information.
    I thank the Chair, and I yield back.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you, the gentleman's time has 
expired, thank you. My pleasure now to yield the distinguished 
gentleman from California, among many of our Members on this 
Committee. We yield to you, Mr. Lieu, for five minutes. You're 
now recognized for five minutes.
    Mr. Lieu. Thank you, Chair Sheila Jackson Lee, for holding 
this important oversight hearing. Thank you, Director Carvajal, 
for your public service.
    Approximately how many COVID-19 vaccines did the Bureau of 
Prisons administer?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congressman, we've administered to date over 
292,000 doses to both staff and inmates. Eighty percent of our 
staff, give or take, 80 percent are vaccinated, and about 70 
percent of our inmate population.
    It's a moving target because there's always people coming 
in and out. Every single person is offered the opportunity to 
be vaccinated.
    Mr. Lieu. Did anyone die as a result of getting the COVID-
19 vaccine?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congressman, I do not know that. I would have 
to get you information from a medical doctor. I don't have that 
information in front me.
    Mr. Lieu. Sir, you would have been told if someone died 
after getting COVID-19 vaccine, wouldn't you have?
    Mr. Carvajal. I'm sure I would have, Congressman, I just 
don't have that information in front of me.
    Mr. Lieu. Okay. Why don't you get back to us, but I'm going 
to tell you, you would have been told if that, in fact, 
happened.
    Now, did you see that the CDC recently came out saying that 
if you get a COVID-19 vaccine and a booster shot, you are 97 
times less likely to die than if you're unvaccinated, from 
COVID, are you aware of that?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, Congressman.
    Mr. Lieu. Okay, I want to agree with the former President, 
who said that COVID-19 vaccines are one of the greatest 
achievements of mankind. I want to talk about the religious 
exemptions.
    I happen to be Catholic. The Pope, who is also called the 
Vicar of Christ, has said that getting a COVID-19 vaccine is a 
``moral obligation.'' What I want to know is, was the Bureau of 
Prisons giving any religious exemptions to folks who were 
Catholic, and if so, what possible basis could that be on?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congressman, I don't personally review those 
exemptions. We have processes in place, and I'm certain that we 
can get you that information. We have actually ceased because 
of the preliminary injunction; we've ceased the process of 
religious and medical exemptions for the time being.
    Mr. Lieu. If you could get me that information, that would 
be great.
    Chair Jackson Lee, I'd like to enter two articles for the 
record. The first is from Forbes Magazine, June 19, 2020, it's 
entitled, ``Bureau of Prisons Special Tactical Forces Under 
Scrutiny for Use in DC Protests and Training Mishaps.''
    The second article is entitled, ``The Story Behind Bill 
Barr's Unmarked Federal Agents,'' from Politico, and it's dated 
June 5, 2020.
    [The information follows:]



      

                        MR. LIEU FOR THE RECORD

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    Mr. Lieu. Director Carvajal, I'd like to ask you, were 
Bureau of Prisons personnel used to crack down on protesters, 
and were they, in fact, unmarked?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congressman, we did assist the Department of 
Justice and other law enforcement components during those 
protests. Initially, and I answered this, I was asked this 
question during a press conference, initially, within the first 
few days, our staff were not properly marked.
    In essence, for the people on the civilian side to 
recognize them, they had local institution logos. We corrected 
that within a couple of days. We appropriately marked them to 
show they were Bureau of Prisons personnel.
    It was an oversight, and when it came to our attention, we 
appropriately marked them. They all now, when deployed, if 
deployed, they are appropriately marked to indicate they are 
operating under the Federal Bureau of Prisons if they are 
Federal officers.
    Mr. Lieu. So, for any future occurrences, they will all be 
identified, am I understanding that correctly?
    Mr. Carvajal. They were. We corrected the issue before the 
end of that, and we have deployed them since, and they are all 
appropriately identified as Federal Bureau of Prisons officers.
    Mr. Lieu. There are also allegations that there was 
excessive use of force, that some of them may have used tear 
gas and other actions that were not appropriate. So, my 
question goes to training. These Bureau of Prison folks, 
they're trained to deal with prison issues, but do they also 
get training on dealing with crowds who are exercising their 
First amendment right to free speech?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, Congressman. I know that some of those 
things are under current review, so I don't think it would be 
appropriate for me to comment on them. I can check back with my 
staff and get the status of that, and we can answer your 
questions offline.
    I don't want to misspeak in this forum. If the matter is 
still under review.
    Mr. Lieu. Thank you, if you give that information. It's 
important, because I'm going to introduce a bill with 
Congressman Earl Blumenauer that will prevent the Attorney 
General from randomly deputizing, actually the U.S. Marshals 
from randomly deputizing Bureau of Prison folks and then 
sending them out to cities to crack down on First amendment 
free speech, folks who are exercising that right.
    With that, I yield back.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. That was my fingers again, but thank you 
very much, Mr. Lieu, for your questioning. It's certainly my 
privilege now to yield to another important, distinguished 
Member of this whole body, and that is Mr. Cohen of Tennessee. 
Mr. Cohen of Tennessee, you are recognized for five minutes.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for 
holding this hearing. If I ask any questions that have been 
asked earlier, Mr. Carvajal, let me know, I've been at a 
hearing of the Helsinki Commission. We had the Polish Foreign 
Minister, and very involved in those issues.
    These are important issues as well and I wanted to make 
this hearing, and I'm happy I can. The pandemic has highlighted 
many of the failing of our Federal prison system, and the 
Bureau of Prisons has unfortunately failed to protect the 
health of those within their custody and their staff from 
COVID-19, or address chronic understaffing.
    The BOP has also lacked transparency and vigor in 
implementing important criminal justice reforms, such as the 
First Step Act, Mr. Carvajal. What lessons have you learned 
during your tenure and what advice do you have for your 
successor to address some of these issues that we've seen 
within the Bureau of Prisons? Mr. Carvajal?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congressman, yeah, sorry.
    Mr. Cohen. Yes, sir.
    Mr. Carvajal. Trying to unmute here. Well, if you're asking 
about the lessons learned from the pandemic, first, we followed 
the CDC guidance from day one. We learned that we need to 
protect the most vulnerable, the elderly, isolate the sick, and 
quarantine the exposed, the same lessons that the rest of the 
country and the world have known. Restrict movement, 
communicate better.
    Those are some of the lessons learned. I think that we've 
gotten good processes in place. We work with the CDC; we've 
invited them into our institutions. They have visited us. Our 
pandemic plan is worked in collaboration with the CDC.
    Mr. Cohen. Well, let me ask you about the First Step Act. 
That was one of the few successes Mr. Trump had, that and the 
Operation Warp Speed. I'd say it seemed like it should have 
been pursued with vigor, and it wasn't.
    Why was First Step Act and trying to get individuals that 
should be eligible for release not operation warp speed for the 
Bureau of Prisons?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congressman, I'm not sure I know what you're 
referring to. We are fully compliant, statutory compliant, with 
the First Step Act. We had implemented a risk and needs 
assessment way ahead of the time it was due. We formalized it.
    We've released inmates under the First Step Act, they're 
earning time credits. I'm not certain what you're referring to.
    Mr. Cohen. Was there a date in late January that you needed 
to have a certain report in on folks that would be eligible for 
release? Maybe you got it done, I don't know, but at one point 
it wasn't done.
    Mr. Carvajal. Well, we were awaiting the finalization of 
the rule, that's a process which I don't control. We submitted 
that draft Rule under the last Administration at the end of 
January 2020, and it was finalized in January. We are 
statutorily compliant with the First Step Act, Congressman.
    Mr. Cohen. Excellent, well, that's good. I led a letter 
along with Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman and the Biden 
Administration urging them to avoid the reincarceration of 
those released to home confinement under the CARES Act, 
allowing those released to apply for commutations of their 
sentences.
    In your view, was home confinement under the CARES Act 
successful, number one. Do you agree that those released have 
largely proven their ability to successfully assimilate back 
into their homes, families, and communities?
    Mr. Carvajal. Congressman, we're always committed to 
returning people to society. Ninety-five percent of our people 
will go. We understand this is important to the CARES Act, 
we've done so.
    We've released over 37,000 to home confinement, 9,000 of 
those under the CARES Act. Only 320 of those have reoffended, 
and we follow the statute and the rules. So, we follow the laws 
that are implemented, and we continue to do so.
    Mr. Cohen. The Department of Justice Office of Legal 
Counsel published a memorandum concluding that the Bureau of 
Prisons was not required to return those released to home 
confinement under the CARES Act to prison once the emergency 
period ended.
    Has the Bureau of Prisons under your guidance begun taking 
steps to effectuate the Department of Justice memorandum and 
new interpretation of the law so that the people who are on 
home confinement would be able to remain on home confinement 
and then apply for commutations?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, Congressman, I'm aware of the OLC 
opinion, we're working with the Department. We have not yet 
nailed down the how. When we do that, we will be as transparent 
as possible to make sure that everyone gets the information.
    We certainly take the information and guidance of the 
Attorney General and will continue to follow the laws.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, sir. Let me ask you this: You were 
the head of the Bureau of Prisons, were you not, when Mr. 
Epstein allegedly committed suicide?
    Mr. Carvajal. No, I was not, Congressman.
    Mr. Cohen. You weren't? Okay. You were there, though, when 
Michael Cohen was arrested and brought back and put in solitary 
confinement when he tried to exercise his First amendment 
rights, were you not?
    Mr. Carvajal. I believe that did happen under my tour, yes.
    Mr. Cohen. Did you have--were you asked--did you have 
anything to do with that, were you made aware of it, the desire 
to have him brought back into custody and put into solitary 
confinement?
    Mr. Carvajal. No, Congressman, I was not made aware of that 
prior to. I was briefed on it afterwards because he's a high 
publicity case, as any high publicity. I was not directly 
involved in that decision.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you. Based on Mr.--last question, Madam 
Chair. Since Mr. Epstein committed suicide, and the security 
there was awful, have you seen to it that Ms. Maxwell's had 
better care or supervision to make sure she doesn't do anything 
to end her life?
    Ms. Jackson Lee. I'll let the Director answer the question, 
the gentleman's time has expired. Director, you may answer.
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, Congressman. I don't want to discuss 
specific security issues on any individual, but we 
appropriately ensure that people in our care have the 
appropriate supervision and security.
    Mr. Cohen. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Madam Chair.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you very much. This has been an 
important hearing, insightful approaches by our Members on both 
sides of the aisle.
    As we come to a conclusion, Mr. Biggs, as Ranking Member, 
do you have any additional points that you might want to place 
on the record at this time?
    Mr. Biggs. Thank you, Madam Chair. First, thank you, 
Director, again, for being here. I look forward to the number 
of responses that you indicated to me that you would have your 
staff give to me.
    I look forward to seeing those, and Madam Chair, I'll yield 
back to you.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. I thank the gentleman very much. Director, 
just one final point that comes out of the testimony of Dr. 
Homer Venters, who is an adjunct faculty at the NYU College of 
Global Health, who was with us in our previous hearing.
    His investigation revealed a disturbing lack of access to 
care when a new medical problem is encountered. We've heard 
those questions, line of question, coming from several Members.
    This process called sick call in most carceral setting 
relies on the ability of incarcerated people to submit a 
written or electronic concern and then be seen in a face-to-
face encounter with a day or two.
    In the first BOP facility that he had the time to--had the 
opportunity to visit, as he inspected the Metropolitan 
Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, it quickly became 
apparent that not only were many people reporting that their 
sick call requests, including COVID-19 symptoms, were being 
ignored, but that the facility was actually destroying their 
original request, which violates basic correctional standards.
    As this is an accountability hearing and it is a 
recognition that there should be, if you will, accountability 
in the exercise of punitive measures. We all have concluded 
that these are human beings deserving of restoration and 
dignity, men and women.
    Can you comment on that kind of action?
    Mr. Carvajal. Yes, Congresswoman. I appreciate you allowing 
me to clarify that. First, I am aware of the report. We looked 
into it, and we followed up. I won't discuss that specific 
incident, but I will reassure you that each of our institutions 
has an outpatient care clinic.
    It's overseen by a board, state-certified physician and a 
medical director. We have outside oversight, we have joint 
commission, AAAHC, ACA. We receive the same reviews that any 
outside clinic or nursing home would.
    Our mortalities are reviewed by independent review. So, I'm 
not sure--I mean, we get oversight. If there's a mistake made 
or something of that nature, we're going to investigate it and 
do something about it, correct the issue.
    Ms. Jackson Lee. Thank you, Director. What I would ask 
specifically is some of the questions that may not have been 
answered more thoroughly, our staff will get with you so that 
we can get answers in writing.
    That, in particular, at the Metropolitan Detention Center 
in Brooklyn, New York. Your memory, or it may not come to your 
attention, I want a direct response and answer on that matter. 
I thank you for that.
    I'm also going to suggest that there is a Board of Health 
oversight for the Department of Prisons--Federal Bureau of 
Prisons. I know that you do have a number of other agencies. I 
think one that is specifically focused on helping the Bureau 
going forward will be very helpful.
    Let me finally submit into the record ``Man is 16th to Die 
of COVID-19 at Fort Worth Prison, Cases Spike At Women's 
Facility.''
    [The information follows:]



      

                     MS. JACKSON LEE FOR THE RECORD

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    Ms. Jackson Lee. I conclude, Director, let me say I'm not 
sure of whether or not you'll appear before this Committee or a 
Committee in the other body. Let me take this opportunity to 
show our appreciation from a person who has chosen as his 
career to serve the nation.
    Obviously coming into the Bureau many, many years ago, you 
have continued to make a commitment to serve this nation. It is 
my privilege to be able to say thank you for your service. It 
should go unnoticed you've served under many Administrations, 
Democratic and Republican.
    You've chosen to commit yourself to, hopefully, the lives 
and the ultimate liberty of individuals that we hope will be 
restored and will enter society, and never to return again. I 
hope that is your vision. You've stayed.
    I thank you; I want to make sure that we thank the 
hardworking officers who go by the appropriate mixture of 
reform, accountability, and compassion.
    Thank you again for your testimony this morning and your 
service to the nation. This concludes today's hearing. Thank 
you to our distinguished Witness for attending.
    Without objection, all Members will have five legislative 
days to submit additional written questions for the Witness or 
additional materials for the record. The hearing is now 
adjourned. I hope that was heard. Thank you very much.
    [Whereupon, at 12:03 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]



      

                                APPENDIX

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                 QUESTIONS AND RESPONSES FOR THE RECORD

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