{"id":9886,"date":"2021-10-28T13:12:36","date_gmt":"2021-10-28T17:12:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/?post_type=press-releases&p=9886"},"modified":"2021-10-28T13:12:38","modified_gmt":"2021-10-28T17:12:38","slug":"watch-attorney-general-garland-signals-support-for-sen-ossoffs-efforts-to-reduce-violence-in-american-prisons","status":"publish","type":"press-releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/press-releases\/watch-attorney-general-garland-signals-support-for-sen-ossoffs-efforts-to-reduce-violence-in-american-prisons\/","title":{"rendered":"WATCH: Attorney General Garland Signals Support for Sen. Ossoff\u2019s Efforts to Reduce Violence in American Prisons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Garland committed to swiftly implement Sen. Ossoff\u2019s bipartisan prison reform bill if signed into law<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington, D.C.<\/strong> \u2013\u2013 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is pressing forward on his efforts to reduce violence and civil rights abuses in America\u2019s prisons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today in a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, Attorney General Merrick Garland signaled support for Sen. Ossoff\u2019s efforts to pass his bipartisan Prison Camera Reform Act, <\/em>which passed the Senate<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLast week, the Senate passed legislation that I introduced alongside Chair Durbin and Ranking Member Grassley \u2014 the Prison Camera Reform Act<\/em> \u2014 to reduce violence and civil rights abuses in BOP facilities by overhauling a security camera system that IG Horowitz has found is outdated, unreliable, as well as the means of preserving and recording the footage from those systems,\u201d Sen. Ossoff said.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AG Garland agreed to a swift implementation of Sen. Ossoff\u2019s bipartisan Prison Camera Reform Act<\/em> should it be signed into law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Ossoff also raised the issues of staffing shortages in Federal prisons and an inconsistent policy for the use of solitary confinement in Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AG Garland committed to Sen. Ossoff that the Justice Department would work with him to address concerns regarding staffing shortages and solitary confinement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here to watch Sen. Ossoff\u2019s line of questioning:<\/a><\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sen. Ossoff speaks in a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Please find a transcript of the exchange below<\/u><\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF: \u201c<\/strong>Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Attorney General, nice to see you, thank you for joining us. Last week the Senate passed legislation that I introduced alongside Chair Durbin and Ranking Member Grassley \u2013\u2013 the Prison Camera Reform Act<\/em> \u2013\u2013 to reduce violence and civil rights abuses in BOP facilities by overhauling a security camera system that IG Horowitz has found is outdated, unreliable, as well as the means of preserving and recording the footage from those systems. Do you agree that these reforms are necessary, and should this bill become law, will you commit to prioritizing the implementation of the requirements it imposes upon the BOP?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AG GARLAND<\/strong>: \u201cYes, and yes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF<\/strong>: \u201cThank you, Attorney General. I\u2019d like to discuss with you staffing issues at the Bureau of Prisons. Earlier this year, the GAO, which as you know is a nonpartisan independent watchdog, concluded that BOP lacks a reliable method for assessing the scope of staffing issues or the impact on incarcerated populations and staff of staffing issues at BOP facilities. Do you agree the inability to reliably measure this problem impedes BOP\u2019s ability to address gaps, for example, shortages of medical staff, shortages of personnel who will help implement the First Step Act <\/em>and anti-recidivism programs, as well as makes it more difficult for Congress to respond? And will you commit to working with my office to help identify where there\u2019s gaps in planning or budgeting or personnel management or the authorities that BOP has?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AG GARLAND<\/strong>: \u201cYes, Senator, I met with the Comptroller General about this, about various of his reports and this one, in particular. And I agree this is a serious problem with the Bureau of Prisons. The Deputy Attorney General has been working on this problem for quite some time now. As she has repeat meetings with the Bureau of Prisons to go over this issue with respect to staffing and assessment. And I\u2019d be happy to have somebody on our staff meet with your staff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF<\/strong>: \u201cThank you, Attorney General. The Inspector General has determined that BOP lacks a clear and consistent policy for the use of solitary confinement in BOP facilities. Has BOP, to your knowledge, issued such a policy?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AG GARLAND<\/strong>: \u201cI don\u2019t know the answer to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEN. OSSOFF<\/strong>: \u201cOkay. Will you work with my office to determine whether they have and what may need to be done to ensure that they do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AG GARLAND<\/strong>: \u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

# # #<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Garland committed to swiftly implement Sen. Ossoff\u2019s bipartisan prison reform bill if signed into law Washington, D.C. \u2013\u2013 U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is pressing forward on his efforts to reduce violence and civil rights abuses in America\u2019s prisons. Today in a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, Attorney General Merrick Garland signaled support for Sen. Ossoff\u2019s […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9886","press-releases","type-press-releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/9886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press-releases"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/9886\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9890,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/9886\/revisions\/9890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ossoff.senate.gov\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}