our first witness today is charles samuels, director of the federal bureau of prisons. you'll have five minutes for an opening statement and your complete written statement will be included in the record. please stand and raise your right hand to be sworn as is the custom of this committee. do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give before the committee will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god. >> i do. >> let the record reflect that you have answered in the affirmative and please proceed. >> good afternoon, chairman durban and members of the sub committee. thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the use of restrictive housing. within the bureau prisons, i cannot begin my testimony without acknowledging that today is the anniversary of the death of officer eric williams. officer williams was stabbed to death last year by an inmate while working alone in a housing unit at the united states penitentiary canen in pennsylvania. we will always honor the memory of officer williams and all the courag

at the last hearing, we heard from director of the bureau of prisons charles samuels who is with us again today. i wasn't particularly happy with the testimony at the last hearing and i think i made that clear to mr. samuels, but i want to commend him and his team because they heard the message of the first hearing. at my request, mr. samuels agreed to the first-ever independent assessment of our solitary confinement policy and practice. this assessment is underway and look forward to an update today from mr. samuels who is with us. at our 2012 hearing, we found that the overuse of solitary can present a serious threat to public safety. increasing violation inside and outside prisons. the reality is that the vast majority of prisoners held in isolation will be released someday. the damaging impact of their time in solitary or their release directly from solitary can make them a danger to themselves and their neighbors. i want to note this is the one year anniversary of the tragic death of federal correctional officer eric williams who was killed by an inmate in a high-security prison in p

our first witness today is charles samuels, director of the federal bureau of prisons. you'll have five minutes for an opening statement and your complete written statement will be included in the record. please stand and raise your right hand to be sworn as is the custom of this committee. do you swear or affirm the testimony you're about to give before the committee will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god. >> i do. >> let the record reflect that you have answered in the affirmative and please proceed. >> good afternoon, chairman durban and members of the sub committee. thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the use of restrictive housing. within the bureau prisons, i cannot begin my testimony without acknowledging that today is the anniversary of the death of officer eric williams. officer williams was stabbed to death last year by an inmate while working alone in a housing unit at the united states penitentiary canen in pennsylvania. we will always honor the memory of officer williams and all the courag

recycled as fireplace surrounds when latrobe's successor charles bullfinch designed his version of the library of congress. in may 1816, samuel lane, a disabled veteran of the war of 1812 was appointed commissioner of public buildings with authority over latrobe. from the outset, la -- lang was antitheical to latrobe and his designs. the warfare between the two becoming so hateful that latrobe resigned in november 1817, leaving most of what he had designed unbuilt, surely a wretching experience for him. latrobe -- bullfinch built latrobe's design for the crypt. the carvings probably already carved. designed the rotunda above according to his own tastes. after lane died unexpectedly in april 1822, a review of his accounts revealed he had embezzled $25,000 from the capital's accounts. seemingly lane's demeaning treatment of latrobe that had driven him fom his position was designed to force him to quit in order to prevent the architect from discovering this defalcation. the evolution of latrobe's work during his two tenures at the capital was to record america's founding history within the context of the common culture of euro-a