wishes to all of you. >> longworth house office building presidents recorded conversations in office. hear those conversations on c-span's new podcast. >> season one focuses on the presidency of lyndon johnson. you hear about the civil rights act, the presidential campaign the gulf of tonkin incident, the march on selma and the war in vietnam. not everyone knew they were being recorded. >> johnson's secretaries new because they were tasked with transcribing those conversations. they made sure the conversations were taped as johnson would signal through open door between his office and there's. >> it will your blunt talk. >> the number of people signed the day he died, the numbers --

if i can't ever go to the bathroom in my own building i won't go anywhere but stay behind these gates. >> reporter: presidential recording's, find on the c-span now mobile apps or wherever you get your podcast. >> live on c-span the house is back at 9 am eastern to take a bill to block foreigners from entering the us who violated internationally recognized human rights against lgbt q individuals, the senate returns at 10 am to consider executive nominations for the international development finance corporation and assist -- assistant secretary of the army. at 10:00 am on c-span 3 a confirmation hearing for the commissioner of the federal

communications commission was you can watch live on c-span.org or on the go with our c-span now video apps. >> now oversight of federal prisons. the director of the federal bureau of prisons testifies before house judiciary somebody on the response to the pandemic, vaccine mandates for prison employees and other topics. this is about two hours. >> the subcommittee will come to order. the chair is authorized to declare recess at any time. welcome to the oversight hearing of the federal bureau of prisons. we have established an email address, distribution list to circulate motions or other written material members might want to offer as part of our hearing today. please send materials to the email address previously distributed to your offices and we will circulate materials to members and staff as quickly as

we can. i ask all members to make your microphones, mute your microphones when you are not speaking to prevent feedback and technical issues, you may unmute your self to seek recognition. i recognize myself or an opening statement. the hearing on oversight of the federal bureau of prisons is a follow-up to the meeting held on february the 21st 2022 and commitment to our members, the actual representative at this time to hear directly from the leadership and secure answers. the hearing probed the bureau's implementation on the bureau's response to the pandemic and implementation within the bureau among other topics in

the line of justice and accountability. many members thought it would be best to speak directly to the director, here today to deal in many issues in the bureau, two years and the pandemic covid 19 is the most impactful issue facing the bureau as the virus continues to wreak havoc among the bureau's facility. i'm uncomfortable as to whether they met the challenge and facts. from the outset, the increased health risks for people living or working in confined spaces which is true for prison systems where social distancing must be balanced with the need to assure safety and security. we hear horror stories, last week from chris murphy, 40% of

inmates at the danbury correctional facility in isolation of quarantine, every officer on duty is responsible for three units. we and congress must collaborate to ensure remnants of the past can be corrected by the administration, a new commitment to the system. on monday we learned federal medical centers in fort worth in texas, my state has the fourth highest covid positive numbers of any facility in the country, 46 members who are covid positive. eight women have died since the beginning of the pandemic while 18 inmates died of covid at fort worth's mail facilities. the number of covid 19 positives has fluctuated between 6000, and 9000 inmates.

they died of covid 19 bringing the number of inmates who died, to 284. there are too many inmates to reduce the spread of covid 19 and it appears there has been a slow utilization which should be complied with with discretion. the bureau of prisons has an idea to reduce the number of inmates, in the first step act modified by attorney general bar, using overly restrictive criteria they released from the cares act, reestablishing themselves and their communities but not re-offended. the decision to rescind, many of these individuals back into

custody unnecessarily. it is important that these individuals released in this application as opposed to determining they could be released which causes problems they have now but they continue to test positive, they failed to effectively utilize its authority, they are just waiting. january 1st, 2022, january 32,021, they filed one% of the total compassionate release throughout the country in an attempt to alleviate the rise of spreading covid, to allow inmates to file their own motion after they made the request, 284 inmates died in custody of covid related

illnesses, raising questions about efficiency, efficacy of the process. one is left to wonder how justice was served by release themselves through counsel and preexisting medical conditions cited by the bureau after they died of covid related illness, why could there be a response? they grapple with inmates and infections and deaths. the last two weeks the number of covid 19 this range to 2000 and to 2007 steph evers died of covid related illnesses. it has been a problem for the bureau of prisons. statistics don't go well for facilities, asked staff numbers become infected, corn team due to exposure, quarantine affects

the remaining facility for safety, security, general and covid related services and recidivism reduced for inmates. i want to take a moment as i conclude my remarks to be able to give appreciation to corrections officers and staff who operate with compassion, sensitivity and strength as they work every day. 98 facilities at the operational level like social distancing and all areas of their facilities which as of monday all federal prisons are under a national lockdown involving multiple inmates including those in gangs the details are not forthcoming due to the fbi mitigation this raises concern about the safety of the facility particularly in my backyard which is compromised by staffing shortages.

they've been witness time and again, jeffrey epstein was linked through overtime, required to work, required employees to guard him. i went to that facility, saw the needs of those employees who were there. they begged for help and did not get it. epstein's death precipitates the next corrections officer. the chairman worked hard on this issue. i hope we listen to the issues, we know some issues are being investigated. we understand conditions in many prisons are not what they should be and the risk assessment at the core of the implementation of the first step act and other programs were not effectively utilized, that indicates the national

institutes of justice, i understand address the version of patterns. inmates under the current version of the two, under the new version. prison is a place of accountability and punishment but should also be a place of restoration and a place decent for staff to work. i look forward to this discussion with the director and look forward to restoring the federal prison bureau. i will submit the following documents, the subject committee hearing. what are the next steps, 122,

attachments, written statement submitted for the january 21, 2022, subcommittee hearing. i now recognize the distinguished member from arizona for his opening statement. >> i think the madam chair for holding this hearing. i think your swift response to many of us, appreciate your response, grateful for that. thank you for your service, glad to have you here today. the federal bureau of prisons

finding contenders in a controlled environment in community-based facilities. this is not ministered by housing, food insecurity for federal inmates but also to help become law-abiding citizens on release. all-americans have interest in the mission because the vast majority of federal inmates, 90% regardless of efforts to reduce recidivism. it has only become more complicated due to covid 19, for the health, safety of inmates, bureau offers and staff and the public. significant risk to the public, restricted the number of visitors and inmates in facilities. these are reasonable measures with colleagues on the other

side want to go further, using covid 19 to let more convicted criminals back onto our streets. using every tool at his disposal to release as many prisoners as possible. even passed legislation for local jails. think about that. they want to use tax dollars to put criminals on the streets earlier. the consequence of these actions, in march of 2021, eric rheingold was released based on covid vulnerability. he was charged with murdering his wife. a few weeks ago in oregon, charged with first-degree robbery, first-degree theft and felony and unlawful use of a

weapon. compassionate release than previous years. permitted by inmates earlier, across the aisle, regardless of their crime, of prison sentence. others want to open the jails and defund the police turning of public health crisis into a public safety crisis as well. please pass on appreciation to your officers and employees, tough job. i want them to know they have support. many officers have voiced concern about the mandates which i suppose the mandates for covid 19 vaccine this, opposing vaccine mandates.

i look forward to hearing from you today. i request we soon have the dc director of the us market's office. some of the evidence would do well in the marshall's office. appreciate it. thank you, i yield back the balance of my time. >> i thank the ranking member. acknowledge the service of the chairman and mister jordan. i thank them for leadership of this committee. i introduced today's witness. the director of the federal bureau of prisons began his career in 1992 as a correctional officer at the

correctional institute. he is in essence a committee dedicated servant for the federal bureau of prisons serving in positions of leadership in texas, kansas, louisiana before becoming director of the northeast region in 2016, the assistant director in 2018, held the position until he was appointed in 2020. let me take note of his service, the many corrections officers and staff, the privilege of meeting through the system. our task is to perform a restoration and continued improvement on institution of the federal bureau of prisons.

thank you for your participation. i ask the witness to turn on your audio and make sure i can see your face and raise your right hand while i administer, do you swear or affirm under penalty of perjury the testimony you are about to give is true and correct to the best of your knowledge? >> yes i do. >> let the record show the witness answered in the affirmative. please note your statement will be entered in its entirety. i ask the you summarize in 5 minutes to stay within the timeframe. there is a tiny light on your screen. when it switches cream to yellow you have one minute to conclude your testimony. when the light turns red it signals your 5-minute have expired.

thank you, you are recognized. >> good morning, chairwoman jackson-lee and other members of the committee. my honor to speak on behalf of the corrections professionals who work day in and day out to support critical law enforcement. the bureau's work is challenging and exacerbated by covid 19. our management has been scrutinized despite the fact we worked in lockstep with the cdc shaking guidance for the benefit of everyone. the bureau is one of the first agency to offer testing and vaccinations, january of 2021 the cdc recognized federal entities and rate of vaccination utilizations. 80% of staff, 70% of inmates will be vaccinated. we increase those rates. after issuance of the cares act the bureau began transferring

vulnerable inmates to home confinement. the bureau transferred 37,000 inmates into custody with 9000 of them pursuant to the cares act. after review of vulnerable inmates in home confinement for 10 years based on the balance with law enforcement, another common criticism is we are understaffed, without reference to factual data. we have 1100 correctional officers but 7 institutions out of 121 makeup 40% of them. maintaining staffing levels is our priority. last year we hired 3000 staff and at one point hired 1000 staff at funding numbers. we can hire employees and hiring is not an issue at the majority of our locations but we are outbid by state and

local corrections and law enforcement agencies to pay a higher wage. we work to consider the use of additional incidents. another area of misguided criticism is the first step act. the bureau worked on the development of risk and needs assessment system and supported the national institute of justice to improve risk adjustment. staff are trained on the new pattern tool and we worked to negotiate implementation of the law. we computed 150,000 inmates to make sure they receive their conduct, delivering 80 different programs based on made assessments and hired additional staff on reentry programs with additional activities with mental health issues and facilities and other special needs and expanded

programs for drug treatment and vocational training, 75,000 inmates participated in the first step act program despite constraints by the pandemic, modernizing and made education platforms for better program accessibility and creating online system to connect volunteers. additionally explored ways to provide inmates compatible with state requirements. we engaged to evaluate the programs, working to engage with risk and needs assessments developing a stronger data response to enhance evaluation of the program. is worked in concert with the department to finalize the role regarding first of act and apply the role retroactively

released 4000 inmates from home confinement releasing 1600 inmates and transferring 2500 inmates. over 8000 inmates fly towards pre-release custody or supervised release. the bureau's support for the implementation of the first step act and we are compliant. the government accountability office in highlighted areas where the bureau needed to improve and establishing a task force. as a result 8 of the priority recommendations are closed. our work in this area continues. distinguished members of the committee, this is -- my favorite. >> madam chair, i think you are

still on mute. >> it doesn't seem to want to open up. let me try to hit it real hard. let me do something a little different. is it on? >> i am here. >> i will yield to you at this time and follow. thank you. you are recognized for 5 minutes. >> thank you, madam chair. i am glad to have you before the committee and i am sure you are aware the sub committee held a meeting on the bureau of prisons. i was glad to hear from several experts on these topics but i

have a few questions. let me thank you for your service and acknowledge by your quick response on several occasions when i reached out with specific situations. one of the ways the act addressed the covid epidemic was in the prison system by providing additional authority to grant release for incarcerated persons who met criteria to demonstrate low risk of re-offense as opposed to the way it was described, democrats asking prison doors to be opened up indiscriminately. tell me how many people were granted early release under this program and i want to know for those were granted how many were reassembled. there have been individual

cases but i want to know if you have any numbers or percentages of how many people were re-incarcerated for technical violations or released that are unaccounted for. how many offended again with violent crimes. >> appreciate the opportunity to make some distinctions. there's confusion and i want to clarify as i stated in my opening remarks we transferred 37,000 under the cares act. compassionate release is a separate entity. they don't really someone from custody until current policy make a recommendation, the court makes the final decision, not the bureau of prisons. we don't take a motion on it,

and policy criteria to evaluate that each individual is under the circumstances fully considered. we take into account public safety and victim impact but we don't independently do that and the court makes the final decision. we don't track data for compassionate release. the inmate receives a reduction. i can answer the other part of the question. of the 37,000 we transferred, 9000 were specific to the cares act, 320 committed violations and brought back to secure custody. eight that i am aware of, one was a serious crime, don't have details. >> you said 320.

repeat that again. >> 320 of the inmates under cares act have re-offended and been brought back. >> you don't know how many were technical violations, can i assume the rest were technicals or not? >> i appreciate that. most, 160 of those were for abuse of alcohol or drugs, they were not where they were supposed to be. most were violations of that nature and sore misconduct, the rest were violations. >> can you talk about vaccine distribution how many staff have been vaccinated? >> we have 80% of staff, 30,000

staff fully vaccinated, 95,000 inmates targeting changes, 7% of the population we continue to offer the vaccine and booster to all inmates, people can change their mind at any time, we make the vaccine available. >> for 20% of staff that are not vaccinated what protocols? do they get tested weekly? >> prior to the mandate, testing is voluntary. when we mandate we mandate weekly testing there was preliminary injunction in january by a judge. we ceased enforcement of the vaccine mandate but we encourage staff to be vaccinated. that's a moving target but we average 80%.

>> my time is expired. >> fingers are now working. it's my pleasure to yield your 5 minutes for your questioning of the director, thank you. >> thanks for being here. of federal court issued an injunction of the vaccine mandate for federal employees. or any gop employees were fired prior to the injection being issued? >> i don't have the exact numbers off my head but we could follow and get the information back to you. >> are you saying summer fired but you don't have the numbers? >> some were but i don't have the information in front of me. >> those employees will be rehired.

>> i will consult with my human resource director. we are deserving processes. they have due process. we can get back to you with that information. >> other federal agencies creating databases for religious exemptions to the vaccine mandate. has the bop created a religious exemption request? >> with the mandate we were reviewing religious and medical exemptions. we ceased that process because of pulmonary injunction the following the guidance. >> didn't mean to interrupt. you were constructing a database not now? that is what i understood. >> we track it and keep track

of the information. there is a database along with everything else we do so we know what status isn't ceased enforcement of that. >> appreciate the line of questioning. my opening statement a couple examples, because of covid 19, are we tracking recidivism rates to see if individuals who have been released because of covid 19 committee crimes after their release? >> the recidivism data, age we work with them. don't know if enough time has elapsed but i would have to ask

specific questions. someone still in custody. >> i understand the court makes the final determination on compassionate release. are you tracking those who have been released on compassionate release for recidivism rates? >> i don't want to misspeak. when we really someone from custody the bureau of prisons is not track them. they are released from custody. the state owns recidivism data. my staff can get back to me. i don't know the exact procedures but we can get that information. >> i wish you would.

in particular, in arizona, someone given compassionate release, lot course and, that part of public safety someone gives you data, that is your understanding? >> it is collaboration of working with the state and a lot of moving parts but that data is being tracked. >> i assume the first step act, same thing under recidivism. >> there's interest in the first step act data since the review data working on a platform. one of the criticisms is we didn't have the data. there's a lot of entities we

have to collaborate with, law enforcement agencies that allow us to do that. >> i hope we can get that information sooner rather than later and whatever we can do, this information is critical. thanks for being here. my time is expired and i yield back. >> i thank the ranking member and i will yield five minutes. my time is short, i appreciate your respect of that. following the death of two inmates on monday all facilities had lockdown. explain the decision to institute the national lockdown at how long they will be confined to their souls in a

24-hour period? >> the decision to lockdown the agency is a serious one. we did it because we felt we needed to. to make sure we separate them and make sure the lockdown is short-lived. >> give an update on the moment the lockdown stops. a low security facility has 10 infected inmates, 942 inmates recovered from covid, total

inmates including the camp and correctional institution which includes low offense individuals. that is half of the information, how many inmates were placed in home consignment. with low facilities like beaumont loans given priority under the cares act. what age inmates are given priority, if not by age, the last question firstly. director? >> i don't have the exact data. we can get you that. >> you use the cares act, is that utilized, is that

operable? >> we continue to screen inmates, individuals do not have to meet 50% time of their sentence. is that correct? >> it is criteria. >> a 50% incarceration rate. >> we have discretion, they feel it is appropriate. >> to your knowledge, mister manafort and mister cohen did not have that. >> we have procedures in place

and go through the process. >> i would appreciate it, on the individuals released under the 50% rule. what are you doing to prevent more deaths in those facilities? >> we've been in lockstep with the cdc, the same thing everyone else is doing. learning how to mitigate this virus, we learn from that and appreciate the ability to transfer people out and security facilities that are harder to maintain. we are following cdc guidance and the pandemic plan assisted in the correctional guidance. >> thank you.

i will get the rest in writing. are we aware of the disparate impact of pattern risk assessment to be scored at high risk and have you considered revising risk categories which enable more individuals to maximize benefits of the first step back and take away the racial disparity? >> i want to stress one thing. the gop did not, we are aware, to make those adjustments. we are the end user of that tool. we did not create it. >> will it help inmates on compassionate release if they file emotions rather than with the inmates. >> as i stated earlier we don't

have the authority to independently release someone. the department of justice, we make recommendations of the court and we work with the attorneys and public defenders and the courts to make sure all documents are available. it is not a quick process. it is a difficult one. each individual case fully considered under unique circumstances. >> my time is expired. i now yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from ohio. >> i want to thank you for being here with the committee. before coming to congress a quarter century ago i served as local elected official on city council and county commission

and in those two capacities i was very involved with incarceration at the local level. to help with the overcrowding situation and work release programs where we got inmates out, cutting down weeds, 2-for-1 type programs. when i got to congress and onto this committee, the judiciary committee i wanted to continue in that effort and one of the closest thing, prison industries are uniform but i also got involved and worked with former representative rob portman who is now a united states senator. one of the principal forces that second chance act which we worked with him on in the first step act, and worked with adam

schiff in a bipartisan manner and the justice reinvestment initiative to make sure members who sent out letters over the years urging members to support funding for that program and before i ask about these industries i want to say most of the inmates at the federal level, this is the case at the local level. the duty to remove from society, they committed a crime but the fact is the fast majority of these folks will be out on our streets someday. we are better off if we recognize that and if possible reform some of them and give them job skills we can work in the private sector to keep them from coming back. it doesn't work perfectly but it can work and i support those and will continue to do that.

back to frozen industries which transformed into unitcore. this is the unit where prisoners at the federal level are in the work programs learning a skill they will hopefully carry to the private sector and should help recidivism rates. .. have for the prisoners at the federal level are at a work program. there are learning a skill that they will carry under -- over to the private sector, which should help with recidivism rates. recidivism rates are far too high. as we know. there are we might think of a stereotype of people making license plates. but it can be furniture or a whole range of things. i would like to give you a little time here if you could, tell us how that program is going.

what your experience has been. ho this omission is to trade employ inmates to give in return extra society. the rest recidivism was several years old, 24% inmates work for the industry, 16% or more likely to be gainfully employed but is a good program. it's the number one evidence-based program we can teach. you are correct, possibly 95% of people are going to return to societyit so it is important. we have aon board of directors, they take possibility very seriously minimize the impact and we do this public, for hearings and things about nature. there are procedures in place

for that. directors that take their responsibilities very seriously. for those that think we are taking from local industry, there are procedures in place to stay compliant with that. rep. chabot: thank you very much. i do not have a lot of time left. it is one of the greatest challenges that you will have. they are criminals and they got there because they committed up crime. they could make it very dangerous for the guards. a program like prison industries, is that also a mechanism for maintaining good behavior and making sure it is a less dangerous environment than it otherwise would be? mr. carvajal: absolutely, congressman. one of the biggest things we battle in the prison is idle minds. anything we can do to keep them productive and teach them a

trade or a skill is our goal. rep. chabot: thank you very much. i think my time is expired so i yield back. rep. jackson-lee: i want to my pleasure note to yield five minutes to the gentlelady from florida. you are not recognized, ms. de mmings. >> thank you for the exceptional work you are doing in this particular area. director, it is great to see you, and thank you for joining us. i just want to first of all make it quite clear that we all understand that there are some people who need to be locked up. we also understand 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 unicorp and how successful it has been. could you talk more about that program and how we can improve upon the success of the program? how can congress be a better partner in helping those that will be coming back in society? mr. carvajal: i appreciate that, congresswoman. speaking about it and being able to support the program in and of itself, often times we are criticized that we are taking jobs from the local communities. we have a board of directors that oversee that. it is a great program, the more we can keep inmates teaching them a. the other thing, we are teaching

them soft skills of the gantry. some of these folks have never had a job in an actual factory and punch a clock. they are earning a decent living. part of that is paying financial responsibility, a lot of them are able to help support their families. teaching that soft skill, which is 50% of our mission, reentry. we want the same thing, we want people to go back as productive members of society and we are committed to doing that. job of our mission is keeping people safe and secure. the other half is making sure people get the skills to be productive members of community. rep. demings: you talk about in your opening statements some of the challenges that you have in terms of meeting staffing requirements, that you are being outbidded by other agencies, i

am sensitive to that. could you talk more about increased salaries is probably the answer, but could you talk about some of the other creative ways you're looking to not only recruit co's but to retain them. mr. carvajal: very much up early for us, it always has been. i stated earlier, there is a narrative out there that we cannot hire. that is not true, we have several locations clinically difficult to staff. we have a hard time competing with local industry or other correctional agencies. we do not set the pay events for that, opm does that. we are working with the department and other types of incentives. we use improvement and retention incentives, relocations incentives to get approval for the department and support going to opm to look at these areas.

some of the hard to staff places, beaumont, 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 years of my career there. rep. demings: finally, i remember hearing some concerns about officer safety because of staffing shortages where personnel that were not necessarily trained as correctional officers, if you will, were then utilized in that capacity. could you talk a little more about that and if that is just a rumor? mr. carvajal: yes, i absolutely appreciate the opportunity to set the record straight on your. first off, we would not put

untrained people in here. we are fortunate as correctional agency, it is one of the things we pride ourselves on and all of our staff are correctional trained. they receive the same training regardless of where they were, so we have uniform staff that are correctional officers, and the nurses, the teachers, everyone goes through the exact same training. that gives us the ability to utilize staff safely. that narrative is inaccurate when you hear it. we are challenged with staffing, and i will tell you we are funded at 90%. our priority has been staffing, we have funded all of the positions that we get money for. at one point i hired 1000 over. we are able to do that. we tried to get ahead of it, but it is a constant challenge, there are a lot of moving parts, a very large organization, 38,000 staff. rep. demings: thank you so much,

director. madam chair, i yield back. rep. jackson-lee: thank you so very much, my pleasure to yield five minutes to congressman stewie. >> thank you, madam chair. obviously the committee as a lot of questions that we appreciate your attendance today. on july 1 of last year i wrote a letter to you and the d.c. department of corrections about the treatment of the january 6 suspects. your office responded on july 21. the d.c. department of corrections has refused to answer. director, i recognize that many of the most egregious samples of january 6 inmates happened not in your system but in the d.c. jail. it has been reported january 6 inmates in the d.c. jail who were not vaccinated for covid-19 are forced into solitary

confinement for 14 days after their attorney. as d.o.b. have the same policy -- does dop have the same policies in your facilities? mr. carvajal: no, congressman, we do not. rep. steube: that highlights out of step the policies are. inmates in the d.c. jail ever not been allowed haircuts or to attend religious services unless they are vaccinated for covid-19. yes or no, it does dop have the same policy? mr. carvajal: no, congressman, everybody has equal access and is treated with dignity and as access to everything equally. rep. steube: thank you for your response. this further shows how egregious the mistreatment of january 6 inmates is. it is for reported generate six

inmates have been denied medical treatment, and this was largely the basis for a federal judge finding the warden in contempt. in your experience as 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 whether another correctional agency does without knowing all the information. i stress you in the dop, which i represent, everyone has equal access. rep. steube: i did, and they are not answering my questions. i am highlighting the differences of how you are in your agency and how they running tears. i would like to ask for an update on the statistics to the july 1 letter. if you know the answers off and, that would be great, but i understand if you do not have that in front of you.

i would like your commitment today to follow-up on my office on the following. the number of january 6 inmates in your custody that are awaiting trial and the number of such inmates who are in special housing units. second, the number of january 6 inmates serving sentences and the number of such inmates in special housing units. i would ask for your commitment to get me those responses. mr. carvajal: i am aware, we have 19 in our custody. eight of those are pretrial. i do not want to misspeak but i will follow up that information with your staff. rep. steube: i appreciate that. you said 19 in custody and how many in pretrial confinement? mr. carvajal: 19 in custody, eight in pretrial. rep. steube: if you could provide the details to that, i am sure the members of this committee would be interested in that information. i have a little bit of time

left, so one more question. judges routinely make recommendations to the bureau regarding placement of an intimate -- intimate. your office also noted the bureau's policy requires a good-faith effort to follow these judicial recommendations. i would point out such recommendations are at the discretion of the judge, and while i generally have faith on a purely legal letters, it is obviously impossible for personal biases to come in to play. my question is this, if a judge makes a recommendation on the terms of a generate six intimate custody and that was influenced by political leanings dop would be making a recommendation. mr. carvajal: recommendations made by the judiciary, we

respect them, but there are a lot of moving parts. we make the final determination. it is simply that, a recommendation. we make a decision based on the best place quarter. rep. steube: thank you, madam chair. my time is expired. rep. jackson-lee: it is my pleasure to yield to the gentlelady from pennsylvania, congresswoman dean. rep. dean: i thank you for hosting this important hearing, and i think you director carbajal -- carvajal for your work. dop was working to expand mental health treatment and life skills. i hope dop is expending substance use disorder treatment , recovery, therapy, and the

rest. one thing i have in mind in particular our original -- educational opportunities. we know they make all the difference in breaking the cycle of recidivism, which is why i introduced an act, legislation that would ensure incarcerated individuals receive educational opportunities, successfully built into their communities, their lives after completing your sentences. can you give us information on the number of people today it will in your system in educational opportunities? mr. carvajal: yes, congresswoman. the current information, we have over 75,000 inmates enrolled, and whatever 80 evidence-based facilities for productive activities. although we were hindered by the pandemic at we had to slow things down, over 151,000

inmates completed the programming. we offer many traits, you have over 200 career technical education's. we have done a lot of work with hispanic programs. we have dedicated staff to ensure that we process that population's special and unique needs. we are working with the department of later -- labor to set up apprenticeship programs. rep. dean: some of the things the act would do would be higher education, college credits. what percentage of inmates are enrolled in educational programs? mr. carvajal: i do not have the exact numbers, but i will follow-up. i'm sure we can get you that information. rep. dean: 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 intimate

struggle with mental health or addiction, and how many are being offered treatment? mr. carvajal: congresswoman, we have many drug abuse programs available. we have our residential drug abuse program that is one of our best evidence-based programs. we extended treatment that targets a specific subset for people with opioid use disorder, and we currently work on expanding those treatments. i do not know the exact percentage, it is a high amount of people to come into our system with drug and alcohol abuse programs. i do not have the exact percentages but we can surely give them to you. rep. dean: i would appreciate that if we can 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, substance abuse disorder and incarceration.

on to the solitary environment in the few minutes that i have left. we read reports, we hear from inmates in families on the dangers of solitary confinement, the serious lasting psychological damage. pre-pandemic it was conservatively estimated that 60,000 to 80,000 people were consigned to solitary, and we understand solitary may have been used as a substitute during covid for medically required isolation. can you give us an update on the use of solitary confinement, and importantly, i hope for the recognition that it is a failed practice. mr. carvajal: congresswoman, we have around 9000 inmates in restricted housing units. a 1000 of those are for administrative purposes pending

placement, effective investigations. there were 1100 pending disciplinary action. we try to use alternative sanctions and we try to limit the time someone has been in restricted housing. one of the things we have done to address this issue is we have expended what we call the reintegration housing program, which allows a group of inmates that tend to spend time in a restrictive housing, a general population type atmosphere, a smaller general population so that we can remove them from restricted housing. that is something we monitor daily. we are committed to ensuring everyone and there is access to grammy, medical, everything else. we ensure that we make rounds daily and check on the inmates. we have constant contact. rep. dean: thank you for your questions and answers, and i yield back. rep. jackson-lee: thank you, her

time is expired. i am pleased yield five minutes to mr. tiffany. >> good morning, first of all, director, can those that were fired as a result of not taking your staff -- as a result of not taking their vaccine, can they get their jobs back? mr. carvajal: congressman, we have processes for all of that. we will follow appropriate due process. following regulations and all of the rules and laws. reppo tiffany -- rep. tiffany: his prison ministries allowed? mr. carvajal: yes, they are. reppo tiffany -- rep. tiffany: as they are? mr. carvajal: we worked on that,

we have -- they can make those adjustments daily. i cannot answer that today, but we can certainly get you the information if you are interested in specific locations. rep. tiffany: with the explosion in crime have you seen an increase in inmate populations in bureau of prisons? mr. carvajal: absolutely, our population has decreased over the last several years. rep. tiffany: is part of that the result of covid releases you have done? mr. carvajal: yes, it is, and keep in mind we are on the back end of the criminal justice system. it takes time to go through the system, so i would defer that information to the doj. we get them at the back end of it. rep. tiffany: thank you very

much. whether you are vaccinated or vaccinated 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? rep. tiffany: yes. mr. carvajal: because it is a statute, we are following it. it was guidance we are given. rep. tiffany: do you think we should rethink that as congress that sets policy or can change the policy? mr. carvajal: i would defer to you and the members of congress. rep. itffany: we had the two stabbing deaths down in the beaumont facility in texas. prior to the stabbing incident, if these two people would have had to covid, is it possible

they could have asked for release? under the law? mr. carvajal: congressman, i want to make sure we paint the right trigger. we will appropriately review everybody by the criteria, but the security level where this has happened to the fact that these individuals were members of his security threat group and in any 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 these two individuals were involved in violence. precisely why prisons exist, there are a small fraction of people that it will continue criminal activity. rep. tiffany: so it is not completely ruled out that they could've gotten released? mr. carvajal: congressman, that is why we have to criteria utilize, we exercise discretion and judgment and follow that statute. rep. tiffany: --

including people like the pedophile living answer, the boston bomber. what plans does the bureau have in place to make sure victims get what they are owed? mr. carvajal: good question, i went to stress something currently the dop 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 recover funds to pay fines or a portion of restitution. we collect $6 million annually to make sure they pay restitution about we do not independently have the authority to retrieve money. we work with other law enforcement agencies. the united states marshals office, the attorney's office and the courts in those matters. rep/ tiffany: i think that is

something that should be looked at. we need to hear after hearing mr. steube' is questioning and i'm so glad the representative for pennsylvania was interested, we need to have a full airing of what is going on with those january 6 detainees because they are being submitted to conditions that many on this committee find reprehensible. it is time to have a hearing on january 6 detainees. rep. jackson-lee: the gentlemen's time is expired and i am pleased to yield to the gentlelady from pennsylvania, ms. scanlan. rep. scanlon: appreciate you having this hearing today and thank you for being with us. something that you can help me clarify, this baseline population we are talking about here, sorry.

as i understand that the inmate population for the bureau of prisons from 1940 to 1980 was around 24,000, is that right? mr. carvajal: yes, if my memory serves, i do not have that information in front of me. rep. scanlon: i am pulling it from your website. population doubled in the 80's to about 50,000, doubled again in the 1990's to 176,000 and continues to climb, 217,000 people, is that right. mr. carvajal: that is correct. rep. scanlon: what is your current perspective of inmates in bureau of prisons? mr. carvajal: i am not sure i understand your question. rep. scanlon: are you currently housing about $153,000.

-- about one of 53,000. mr. carvajal: there are 6200 in private contract facilities, the 50400i mentioned. rep. scanlon: i was having trouble figuring out where all the numbers were. ok, and i think everyone on the committee knows that by the time we got to 2013 we had widespread agreement, everyone from the coke brothers to the obama justice department saint we are over incarcerating people in this country and it is a huge financial drain as well as a huge waste of human capital and a human rights problem. there is been some emphasis on the purpose of the bureau's present to be punishment, but it also has eight rehabilitative purpose, does not it? mr. carvajal: i would like to stress something, we are not here for punishment. the taking of their time, that

is the punishment. we are here to house people remanded to our custody and to prepare them to reenter society. we are not here is punishment, that is not how we look at this agency. rep. scanlon: in medically interested in the rehabilitative function, the efforts that are made to ensure that when people are released from prison they are able to successfully reenter and they are not worse off than they were before they went in because that does not serve society well either. what is the current witticism -- recidivism rate? mr. carvajal: it is about 43%. rep. scanlon: you might want to update the website. has that of a significant change? mr. carvajal: no, ma'am, i am not familiar with it.

rep. scanlon: is on the homepage. with respect to my colleague, ms. dean talked about educational programs, i recently at a constituent reach out about relative to the division in drug abuse program, and they encountered problems getting all of their earned credits toward release because the program was paused by covid-19. eventually they were able to get the credits, but they have to go to court, and that is not a particularly cost-effective method of dealing with this for anyone. i know that it was paused at many facilities, is that still the case, and if it is back up and running at all facilities where it was previously offered? mr. carvajal: yes, as i stated covid impacts our institutions.

we have been affected by it. i know that certain inmates have been ineffective. we expect our staff to work with them. i'm not familiar with the case you were talking about but we can get back to you on 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, the goal is for them to get the time credit. we are not trying to keep people in unless they need to be in. if they are earning time credits we want them to go back to society. rep. scanlon:, one less question, i was interested in another program, people who have hard skills that will enable them to become employed when they get up. what is the trajectory on that? how many places have a program and what efforts are being made to expand that? rep. jackson-lee: your time is expired, director, i will allow

you to answer the question. mr. carvajal: we can get back to you that specific information. we are working to the department -- with the department of labor to respond. rep. jackson-lee: thank you. now it is my privilege to yield five minutes to mr. mansi. >> thank you, madam chair. i want to thank you director carvajal for being responsive to my inquiries. it looks like as january 20 you report 7000 exemptions, most of them were religious exemptions. this had a very negative effect on the morale of the officers, the fact that they are required to live under a vaccine mandate and the inmates are not. it is interesting that the inmates have more rights than the officers themselves.

they also present that they have 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 exemption. you may want to check in on whether you have completely suspended this mandate because their officers still required to do the weekly testing if they are not vaccinated for the mandate and also to certify that they have religious exemption even as of this week. but i appreciate the accommodations that you have made, because it will negatively affect morale and recruiting if we do keep this vaccine mandate in place. i went to rescue, how many correctional officers were budgeted by congress. i will give you my number. the number i have is 20,446.

mr. carvajal: yes, congressman, i appreciate the opportunity to clarify that. specific correctional officers, it is approximately 14,000. the 20,000 you are referring to is 6000 additional support positions that fall under the correctional officers serious. this is a classification issue and it is often confusing. that encumbers other positions. the actual true correctional officers is approximately 14,000. rep. massie: have the 6000 been hired? mr. carvajal: we have currently about 1100 correctional officers vacant right now. almost half of those are at locations that are hard to fill. rep. massie: there is one physically in my district, ashland where five years ago they had 130 officers and now

they have 100 and they are told they are going to 98, yet they have got more inmates. we see augmentation is being use their. inmates are going up, officers are going down. i would like for it to be a safe environment. it is not safe. they are utilizing overtime virtually every day at that facility, and it would be cheaper for the taxpayer if we had more of the slots filled. i have heard augmentation is being used to fill some of those slots. i'm not good at debate, whether they are trained enough, you have addressed that. what is augmentation, and where do those people come from when they serve in roles that correctional officers might otherwise fail? -- fill? i think you are muted, director.

mr. carvajal: sorry. augmentation is a tool we use in to make sure we complete the first part of a mission for us, and that is to keep everyone safe and secure. in order to do the second part of our mission, which is give people a chance to return. we try not to do it, but it is a tool we have to use. we use people from other disciplines, teachers, nurses, things of that nature. we try to limit that. decisions are based upon the restaurant locally -- roster locally. we have approximately 1100 correctional officer vacancies. i would like to stress we are funded at 90%, we have 30,844 positions. there are about 3220 vacancies, about $5 million we are short.

it is currently 92%, so our goal is to fill every single position to be or if i did before, but i cannot spend money we do not have. rep. massie: i would like for you to specifically look at ashland, and my concern about augmentation should be a concern of what we all have. when you take people away from being teachers to be guards or other services, then the teaching does not happen, and we could seek higher recidivism. i would hope that you could get those slots filled, we can rely less on overtime and less on pulling teachers away who are so important and the other people who are important. thank you for indulging me, i yield back. rep. jackson-lee: the gentlemen's time is expired. it is my privilege to give five minutes to the gentlewoman for georgia.

she is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, chairwoman. good afternoon, i think you for being here today, and i thank you for your service, as you will soon be leaving the bureau. during this subcommittee's last during we have an opportunity to review implementation of the first step act at the bop and the impact it has had on operations. i use that opportunity to inquire into the policy addressing the treatment and care of pregnant women, specifically the bop's limit -- alignment with national health. the bop as taken actions to better align policies from about five of the eight care topics not fully aligned with national

guidance recommendations, and i hope that the bureau will continue to work to ensure that all eight of those topics are met so that the health and well-being of pregnant women at bop facilities, they are fully protected and cared for. today i want to be examined out bop is handling reentry services. successful reentry of citizens into society is integral to end with asceticism -- recidivism, and the financial health of these visitors returning society. it is difficult to access recidivism patterns unless you are properly collecting the data on it. the last federal justice statistic publication on recidivism of public defenders i was able to locate was published in june 2 thousand 16, and the latest publication unemployment status of released federal

offenders was published last december. the latest bop publication on recidivism that i was able to find was from 2006. what steps is that bop taken to improve data collection to more effectively track the progress incarcerated individuals as they transition from prison to reentry centers or home confinement? and does bop have plans to create standard metrics to evaluate reentry outcomes such as job placement, recidivism so that bop festivities can share their best practices? mr. carvajal: yes, congresswoman, i appreciate your interest in this. it is a very complicated process, the gathering of recidivism data. work in conjunction with the state and other law enforcement entities. we are not owners of that data. my staff are working with other

components, they have set up a platform, and we are committed to working on bettering that platform to get that data to track it. rep. mcbath: once that is done or initiated or completed, my staff would love to have what that platform looks like and what it entails if you would. mr. carvajal: yes, we can do that, congresswoman. rep. mcbath: i'm curious to know how many reentry coordinators does the board of prisons have per or per prisoner? how many vacancies are there for these jobs. the number of vacancies that we have, but how many vacancies are for these jobs and what steps has the board of prisons taking to fill these prisons? mr. carvajal: congresswoman, we are committed to filling all in our vacancies. i do not know the exact number of reentry coordinators, but

those are positions we strive to fill as we do all of our positions, and as we stated earlier we have killed every position we have funding for and we are committed to continue to do that. i can get into the exact numbers, i can get back to you on that. rep. mcbath: we would appreciate that, i think my colleagues and i would be interested to have that information. as has been stated by many of my colleagues before me, we are very concerned about -- actually, people say criminals have rights, and guess they do have great just as victims have rights, and we want to make sure windows that are incarcerated to applicability to have fair treatment while they are incarcerated, because at the end of the day they are human beings too, and thank you so much, madam chair, i yield back the balance of my time. rep. jackson-lee: the gentlelady

has yielded back. it is my privilege to yield five minutes. >> mr. botero, you are recognized for five minutes. thank you. >> thank you, 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 would make states that utilize bail for pretrial release ineligible for grants under a justice assistance grant program. these reforms continue to be pushed in the wake of tragic events where violent criminals are released either on a bond work when they are 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 has modified their practices to eliminate or deemphasize the use of monetary bail systems. coupled with i think some of my colleagues desire, which is been going on for a year, discussions on the or dismantling police departments or bail reform efforts. it is troubling, and it is making some communities less safe for sending the wrong signal or message to some of these individuals that ultimately commit these crimes. additionally the pretrial integrity and safety act would provide grants to states if they eliminate their money and bail systems. and then things like the

minnesota freedom fund, of which even vice president harris was involved in for a period of time. this fund and others have contributed to this overall concern, and right in my back yrad -- yard, we had national attention given to the waukesha christmas parade murders that happened. darrell brooks was released on $1000 on after running over a woman with the 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 outstanding warrants in nevada after skipping bail for a sex-related crime. as you know he subsequently drove his car through the

christmas break waukesha, wisconsin, healing six individuals. bail reform policies such as cashless bail and have been supported by some of my colleagues, actually do more harm than help and what i would consider some of the minority

we placed over 37000, 9000 were specific i-uppercase-letter, those are not merely custody incarceration. >> okay, we look at the website today, was the website and accurate? >> i'm not certain which information -- >> we went to the federal bureau. two weeks ago i, along with representative, we sent a letter

seeking clarification of the bureau of the office of people counsel guidance for those on home confinement under the cares act. we asked for response no later than february 7 of this year. could we get a commitment from you that is forthcoming? >> i am aware of your letter and we are working on it. understand that there is a clearance process which i do not control. we are committed to getting you a response to your letter. >> thank you, my office will be in contact. i go back. >> thank you very much, it is my pleasure to yield to the gentleman from iowa, mr. owens for five minutes. you are recognized for five minutes. we will then now be happy to move to the gentleman from rhode

island, mistresses illini. we are pleased to yield you five minutes. >> thank you, madam chair and thank you for being here. i during the letter, we held a hearing january 212 learn about the response to pandemic specifically the tool to release occupancy and keep people safe. i have legislation to ban availability during public health emergency. given all the evidence reintegration to compassionate release during covid seems to me it makes sense to 40 fully utilize this tool. what is the current policy considering passionate release of individuals at high risk and serious illness from covid-19? >> the compassionate release

process sometimes is confused with home confinement which we use as quicker placement, reduction in the process is much more difficult, wasn't designed to be a timely process, each individual has to be reviewed -- >> is my understanding you don't use compassionate release or recommend it related to people with a serious risk of illness of public? you don't use that process at all? >> are the cares act we review home confinement but yes, if they follow reduction motion, we do evaluate under our policy, we just don't independent release someone from custody. >> i know you don't, my question is, do years compassionate release of individuals in high risk and what is your current policy in terms of applying it to an individual? not a hard question.

>> if they submit a request from we follow our policy and statute and review it. it's appropriate, who make a motion. if not, if denied. >> healthcare workers across the country are experiencing burnout after two years on the front lines of the pandemic. i presume staff feels similar especially during outbreaks in facilities. given the statistics over time and infection rate considering the ongoing risk of covid staffing shortages and expanded authority to release individuals to home confinement, why are they not utilizing mitigation strategies more fully to reduce incarcerated individuals in federal prison? >> we argue this, we make recommendations to the court as appropriate and the court makes the final decision, cap the gop. if the motion is made up under the first step act which they can do after 30 days, we don't

take a position on the motion, we are not enough cases indigo services from. >> my colleague raised questions about solitary confinement she referenced, i concur with and the number increased five 100% 2020, up 300,000 people in solitary confinement at any one time. if the policy of using solitary restrictive housing as a substitute for cdc recommended medicalization elation is unbelievable harm to incarcerated individuals so my question is, what steps is the gop leadership taking to ensure its following appropriate guidance and medical isolation solitary confinement restrictive housing during this or any future public health emergency? >> we follow the cdc guidance and we go above and beyond times i would like to clarify medical isolation is often confused with

solitary confinement, there are instances when they are in restrictive housing isolated from a medically isolated and in those cases is appropriate, we don't place people from the general population and medical isolation, we don't place them in restrictive housing. if there is a case where it's an issue where we are out of space bar something, they are appropriately -- there are different rules for the. >> in 2020, he went on portrait related to solitary confinement in the u.s. presence stating that the severe and often irreparable psychological and physical differences solitary confinement are well documented in range from severe forms of anxiety, stress and depression, cognitive permit and suicidal tendencies. this delivery reflection they welcome on our tooth psychological torture". is the gop aware of the damage

of solitary confinement care you have policies in place to reduce the use of solitary confinement? with all of the background and supporting documents to reveal to us the status of solitary confinement your efforts to mitigate it? >> i think you are on mute, mr. director. >> sorry. that's a lot of information and we will certainly get back to you. i will tell you we are committed to continuing to appropriately reduce use of restrictive housing. in some cases, there is a reason we do but we have policies in place, making rounds and have access to programming and earning time credit, we can get you all of the information to answer any questions you would like regarding that. >> making rounds -- checking in on somebody while experiencing psychological torture is not

sufficient so i look forward to the information i think the chairwoman and i yelled mark thank you my pleasure now to yield to the regiment from california among many members on this committee. we yield to you for five minutes, your recognized for five minutes. >> thank you thank you for your public service. approximately how many covid vaccines have presence administered? >> we've administered today over 292 -- over to 92000 doses both staff and inmates. 80% of our staff, give or take, 80% are vaccinated and if not 70% of the inmate population. it's a moving target because our coming in-and-out, every single person is offered the opportunity to get vaccinated.

>> has anyone died as a result of getting the covid vaccine? >> i do not know that, i would have to get your information from a medical doctor, i do not have that information. >> circle he would have been told if somebody died after getting the vaccine. ... >> so, i want to agree with the former president who said that covid-19 vaccines are one of the greatest achievements of mankind and i want to talk about the religious exemption.

i happen to be katherine. the pope, vicar of christ said that getting the covid vaccine is a moral obligation. were there were any religious exemptions to those who are catholic and if so, what possible basis could that be? >> congressman, i don't personally review those exemptions, and i'm certain that we could -- we've ceased because of the exemption, for the time being. >> if he could get me that information that would be great. and i'd like to enter two articles for the record. the first is from forbes magazine, june 2020, titled

bureau prisons special forces under review at d.c. protests and training mishaps. the second article is totalled the story behind bill barr's agents from political and stated june 5th, 2020. director carbajal, i'd like to ask you, were bureau prisons personnel used to crackdown on protesters and were they, in fact, unmarked? >> 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 and initially, within the first few days, our staff were not properly marked in essence for people on the civilian side to recognize them. they had local institutional logos, we corrected that within

within a couple of days and then it was bureau of prison and now all if deployed they're appropriately marked to indicate they're operating under the federal bureau of prison and that they are federal officers. >> so, for any future occurrences, they will all be identified, am i to understand that correctly? >> we corrected the issue before the end of that and we have deployed them since and they're all appropriately identified as federal bureau of prisons officers. >> 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. do they also get training on dealing with crowds who are exercising theirs first amendment rights and free speech? >> 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 check the status of that and we can answer your questions off line. i don't want to misspeak in this forum. the matter is still under review. >> thank you, if you can give me that information, that's important because i've introduced a bill, that will prevent the attorney general from randomly deputizing u.s. marshals, from randomly deputizing bureau of prison folks and crack down on folks with free speech. with that i'll yield back. >> and thank you again, for your questioning and it's certainly my privilege now to

yield to another important distinguished member of this whole body and that is mr. cohen of tennessee. you're we can recognized for five minutes. >> thank you for holding this hearing. if i ask any questions previously of mr. carbajal. and i was at the helsinki committee and the bureau of prisons unfortunately failed to protect those in custody for chronic understaffing. bop lacked transparency and such as the first step act, mr. carbajal. what lessons have you learned through your tenure and what advice do you have for your successor that we've seen with other bureau of prisons?

>> mr. carbajal? >> congressman, yeah, sorry, trying to unmute here. if you're asking lessons learned from the pandemic, first off, we followed c.d.c. guidance from day one. we learned that we need to protect the most vulnerable, the elderly. isolate the sick, quarantine the exposed, the same lessons that the rest of the country and the world has known. restrict movement, communicate better and those are some of the lessons learned and i think that we've gotten processes in place and we've worked with the c.d.c. and we've invited them into our institutions and the pandemic plan has worked in collaboration with the c.d.c. >> let me ask you about the first step act. that was one of the few successes that mr. trump had and that and operation warp speed. it seemed like it should have been pursued with vigor and it wasn't. why was the first step act,

individuals he will i believe gary relief not operation warp speed for the bureau of prisons? >> congressman, i'm not sure i know what you're referring to. we're fully compliant with the first step act and we implemented needs assessment way ahead of the time it was tew. we formalized it, and released and earning time credits. >> late january that you needed to have on folks eligible for release? maybe you got it done, but at one point it wasn't done. >> we were awaiting the finalization of the rule the process i don't control and we submitted that draft rule at the end of the administration in january of 2020 and finalized in january. we're statutorily compliant with the first step act. >> excellent. that's good. i led a l letter for those

reencars ration of those and for those with computations of sentences. do you believe that the release were successful to assimilate back into their families? >> 95% of the people will go. we understand that it's important, the cares act and it's released over 37,000 to home confinement and 9,000 under the cares act. and only 320 of those have reoffended and we follow the state statutes and the rules. we follow the laws implemented and we continue to do so. >> the department released a memo and memorandum. and under the cares act, and once the emergency period ended, but has the bureau of prisons under your guidance

taken to effectuate the justice of memorandum and new interpretation of the law so people under home confinement would be able to remine on home confinement and apply for commutetation? >> we have not nailed down the how and when we do that we will be as transparent as possible to make sure that everybody will get a chance. but we certainly do take the information and guidance of the attorney general and will continue to follow the laws. >> 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? >> no, i was not, congressman. >> you weren't, okay. you were there when michael cohen was arrested and put in solitary confinement when he tried to exercise his first amendment rights, were you not? >> i believe it happened under mine, yes. >> and were you-- did you have anything to do with that? were you made aware of the

desire to have him brought back into custody and put in solitary confinement? >> no, congressman, i was not made aware of it. i was briefed afterwards because he's a high publicity case as any high public city, but i was not directly involved in that decision. >> thank you. and i have questions, madam chair. since mr. epstein committed suicide and the security there was awful, have you seen to it that ms. maxwell has got better care or supervision to make sure she doesn't do anything to end her life? >> i'll let the director answer the question as the gentleman's time has expired. you may answer. >> yes, congressman, i don't want to discuss specific security issues on any individual, but we have appropriately ensured that people in our care have the appropriate supervision and security. >> thank you, sir. thank you, madam chair. >> thank you very much. and this has been an important

hearing, insightful approached by members of both sides of the aisle and so, as we come to conclusion, mr. biggs as ranking member do you have any additional points you want to place on the record at this time? >> thank you, madam chair and thank you, director for being here and i look forward to the number of responses that you indicated to me that you would have your staff get to me. i look forward to seeing those and madam chair, i'll yield back to you. >> i thank the gentleman very much. director, one final point that comes out of the testimony of the doctor who is an adjunct faculty at nyu college of global health who was with us in our previous hearing. his investigation revealed that the disturbing lack of access to care when a new medical problem is encountered.

we've heard those questions, lien of questions coming from several members. this process called in most settings relies on the ability of incarcerated people to submit a written or electronic concern and then be seen. a face-to-face encounter within 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 became apparent that not only sick calls including covid-19 symptoms were ignored, but that the facility was actually destroying the original request, which violates basic connectional standards. as this is an accountability hearing and it's a recognition that there should be, if you will, accountability and the exercise of punitive measures, we all concluded that these are human beings deserving of

dignity. men and women. can you comment on that kind of action? >> yes, i appreciate you allowing me to clarify that. first off, i'm aware of the report and we looked into that and we followed that, and i won't discuss that specific incident, but i will reassure that each of our institutions has an outpatient clinic overseen by a state board certified physician and medical director and outside oversight and aca, and we've received the same reviews that any outside clinic or nursing home would. our mortalities are reviewed by independent review. we get oversight. if there's a mistake made we'll do something about it to collect the issue. >> 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 to you so we can get the answers in writing and that in particular at the

metropolitan detention center in brooklyn, new york. or it may not come to your direct attention and i want to response on that matter and i thank you for that. i'm also going to suggest that there is a board of health oversight for the department of prisons and federal bureau of prisons. i know that you do have a number of agencies and one that's focused on helping the bureau going forward will be very helpful. let me finally submit into the record. and a man died of covid-19 at fort worth. and i'm not sure whether or not you'll appear before this committee or a committee in the other body, but let me take this opportunity to show our appreciation from a person who has chosen as his career to serve the nation, and obviously, coming into the burrow many, many years ago, you have continued to make

commitment to serve this nation so it's my privilege to be able to say thank you for your service and it should not go unnoticed. you've served under many administrations. democratic and republican. and you've chosen to commit yourself to hopefully the lines and ultimate liberties of those who enter into society and i hope that's your vision. and as i thank you, i want to make sure that we thank the hard working officers who go by the appropriate mixture of reform, accountability and compassion. so thank you again for your testimony this morning, this concludes-- and your service to the nation. this concludes today's hearing and thank you to our accomplished witness for attending. all members will have five legislative days to submit additional questions for witness and the record. the hearing is now adjourned. i hope that was heard.

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