I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9009 
To establish an inspections regime for the Bureau of Prisons, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 28, 2022 
Mrs. MCBATH (for herself and Mr. ARMSTRONG) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform 
A BILL 
To establish an inspections regime for the Bureau of Prisons, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Prison Over-
sight Act’’. 
SEC. 2. CREATION OF AN INSPECTIONS REGIME FOR THE 
BUREAU OF PRISONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8E of the Inspector Gen-
eral Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended by adding 
at the end the following: 
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‘‘(e) INSPECTIONS REGIME.— 
‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
‘‘(A) BUREAU.—The term ‘Bureau’ means 
the Bureau of Prisons. 
‘‘(B) COVERED FACILITY.—The term ‘cov-
ered facility’— 
‘‘(i) means a correctional facility oper-
ated by the Bureau; and 
‘‘(ii) does not include a State, local, 
Tribal, territorial, or private correctional 
facility at which Federal prisoners are 
housed under an agreement with the Bu-
reau. 
‘‘(C) FAMILY MEMBER.—The term ‘family 
member’ includes a grandparent, parent, sib-
ling, spouse or domestic partner, child, aunt, 
uncle, cousin, niece, nephew, grandchild, or any 
other person related to an individual by blood, 
adoption, marriage, civil union, or a romantic 
or fostering relationship. 
‘‘(D) INSPECTOR
GENERAL.—The term 
‘Inspector General’ means the Inspector Gen-
eral of the Department of Justice. 
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‘‘(E) OMBUDSMAN.—The term ‘Ombuds-
man’ means the Ombudsman established under 
paragraph (3)(A). 
‘‘(F) REPRESENTATIVE OF AN INCARCER-
ATED PERSON.—The term ‘representative of an 
incarcerated person’ includes paid or unpaid 
legal counsel or any other person or entity cho-
sen by an incarcerated person to represent the 
interests of the incarcerated person. 
‘‘(G) STAFF.—The term ‘staff’ means em-
ployees and contractors of the Bureau. 
‘‘(2) INSPECTIONS OF COVERED FACILITIES BY 
THE INSPECTOR GENERAL.— 
‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT
OF
INSPECTIONS 
REGIME.— 
‘‘(i) IN
GENERAL.—The Inspector 
General shall conduct periodic inspections 
of covered facilities pursuant to the re-
quirements of this subsection. 
‘‘(ii) ACCESS
TO
COVERED
FACILI-
TIES.—The Attorney General shall ensure 
that the Inspector General has access to 
any covered facility, including the incarcer-
ated people, detainees, staff, bargaining 
unit representative organization, and any 
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other information that the Inspector Gen-
eral determines is necessary to carry out 
the provisions of this subsection. 
‘‘(iii) NOTICE OF INSPECTIONS.—An 
inspection of a covered facility under this 
subsection may be announced or unan-
nounced. 
‘‘(B) INSPECTION
CRITERIA.—An inspec-
tion of a covered facility under this subsection 
may include an assessment of the following: 
‘‘(i) The policies, procedures, and ad-
ministrative guidance of the facility. 
‘‘(ii) The conditions of confinement. 
‘‘(iii) Working conditions for staff. 
‘‘(iv) The availability of evidence- 
based recidivism reduction programs and 
productive activities, as such terms are de-
fined in section 3635 of title 18, United 
States Code, and the application of earned 
time credits pursuant to section 3632 of 
title 18, United States Code. 
‘‘(v) The policies and procedures re-
lating to visitation. 
‘‘(vi) The policies and practices relat-
ing to the use of single-cell confinement, 
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administrative 
segregation, 
and 
other 
forms of restrictive housing. 
‘‘(vii) The medical facilities and med-
ical and mental health care, programs, pro-
cedures, and policies, including the number 
and qualifications of medical and mental 
health staff and the availability of gender- 
appropriate and trauma-responsive care for 
incarcerated people. 
‘‘(viii) Medical services and mental 
health resources for staff. 
‘‘(ix) Lockdowns at the facility. 
‘‘(x) Credible allegations of incidents 
involving excessive use of force, completed, 
attempted, or threatened violence, includ-
ing sexual violence, or misconduct com-
mitted against incarcerated people. 
‘‘(xi) Credible allegations of incidents 
involving completed, attempted, or threat-
ened violence, including sexual violence, 
committed against staff. 
‘‘(xii) Adequacy of staffing at the cov-
ered facility, including the number and job 
assignments of staff, the ratio of staff to 
inmates at the facility, the staff position 
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vacancy rate at the facility, and the use of 
overtime, mandatory overtime, and aug-
mentation. 
‘‘(xiii) Deaths or serious injuries of 
incarcerated people or staff that occurred 
at the facility. 
‘‘(xiv) The existence of contraband 
that jeopardizes the health or safety of in-
carcerated people or staff, including inci-
dent reports, referrals for criminal pros-
ecution, and confirmed prosecutions. 
‘‘(xv) Access of incarcerated people 
to— 
‘‘(I) legal counsel, including con-
fidential meetings and communica-
tions; 
‘‘(II) discovery and other case-re-
lated legal materials; and 
‘‘(III) the law library at the cov-
ered facility. 
‘‘(xvi) Any aspect of the operation of 
the covered facility that the Inspector Gen-
eral determines to be necessary over the 
course of an inspection. 
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‘‘(C) INSPECTION SCHEDULE.—An inspec-
tion of a covered facility under this subsection 
shall be conducted on a schedule based on the 
combined risk score of the covered facility as 
described in subparagraph (E) and the fol-
lowing considerations: 
‘‘(i) Higher risk facilities shall receive 
more frequent inspections. 
‘‘(ii) The Inspector General shall re-
evaluate the combined risk score method-
ology and inspection schedule periodically 
and may alter 1 or both to ensure that 
higher risk facilities are identified and re-
ceiving the appropriate frequency of in-
spection. 
‘‘(D) REPORT.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Upon completion 
of an inspection of a covered facility under 
this subsection, or a group of inspections 
that assess the same or similar issues at 
more than 1 facility, the Inspector General 
shall produce a report to be made available 
to the Attorney General, the Committee on 
the Judiciary of the Senate, the Committee 
on the Judiciary of the House of Rep-
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resentatives, employee representative orga-
nizations, and the public, that addresses 1 
or more of the following topics: 
‘‘(I) A characterization of the 
conditions of confinement and work-
ing conditions, including a summary 
of the inspection criteria reviewed 
under clauses (ii) and (iii) of subpara-
graph (B). 
‘‘(II) Recommendations made to 
the covered facility to improve safety 
and conditions within the facility, in-
cluding recommendations regarding 
staffing. 
‘‘(III) A recommended timeline 
for the next inspection and assess-
ment, which shall not limit the au-
thority of the Inspector General to 
perform additional inspections and as-
sessments, 
announced 
or 
unan-
nounced. 
‘‘(IV) Any other issues or mat-
ters identified during the inspection of 
the facility or facilities. 
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