WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th February, 2022) US Senators Jon Ossof and Mike Braun on Wednesday said they launched a working group to scrutinize conditions of incarcerated individuals in America's federal prisons and propose ways to protect human rights and promote transparency in the embattled system.
"Sen. @ossoff and @SenatorBraun today launched the bipartisan Senate Prison Policy Working Group to examine conditions of incarceration in US Federal prisons, protect human rights, and promote transparency," Ossoff's office said in one among a series of tweets.
The working group will develop policies and proposals to strengthen oversight of the federal prison system and improve communication between the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Congress, and other stakeholders.
"The group will aim to improve the safety and well-being of incarcerated people and staff, reduce recidivism rates, and promote transparency within the prison system.
In another tweet, Ossof described America's prisons and jails as "horrifically dysfunctional," adding they are too often sites where brutality and criminality are commonplace and pervasive. He said the working group will identify and advance solutions to these myriad problems which include staff misconduct, criminal activity, rampant corruption, the sexual abuse of women and other issues.
Braun said in a tweet that with his state housing the Federal Corrections Complex in Terre Haute, he is pleased to join his colleague in forming the group to develop bipartisan ideas to improve the safety and well-being of BOP staff and those they supervise.
Earlier this month, Ossoff and Braun partnered with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Rand Paul, Krysten Sinema and Mike Lee to introduce legislation that would increase federal oversight and accountability of America's federal prison system by making the BOP Director a Senate-confirmed position.
And in October last year, the Senate passed Ossoff's bipartisan Prison Camera Reform Act of 2021, which will require the Bureau of Prisons to see to it that all correctional facilities have the security camera coverage necessary to protect the civil rights and safety of incarcerated people and staff.
