US Sen. Jon Ossoff pushes for new protections for federal prison workers

ATLANTA — U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff is pushing for more protections to keep the staff inside of federal prisons safe.

Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Justin Gray spoke to Ossoff about a series of bills he is introducing which he says are designed to fix some long-time problems impacting federal prisons, including the one in Atlanta.

Channel 2 Action News has reported on major issues at the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta for years.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Ossoff cited a report from the Office of the Inspector General about issues faced by Bureau of Prison employees.

The report found that 40% of BOP employees surveyed said they’d been sexually harassed by an inmate.

Now, a bipartisan bill from Ossoff and a Tennessee Republican would order a comprehensive review of inmate-on-staff sexual assaults.

TRENDING STORIES:

• VP Harris visits Atlanta Friday to discuss reproductive rights
• Julie Chrisley has been ordered to appear in prison uniform at next week’s resentencing
• Deputies shoot man barricaded inside Coweta County bedroom

“This bipartisan legislation will require the BOP to take this seriously, to develop a national plan,” Ossoff said.

It was reporting by Channel 2 Action News about problems at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary that Ossoff said put his focus on federal prisons.

“You’ll recall, the investigation that I led of U.S. Penitentiary [in] Atlanta, much of it built upon investigative reporting by WSB,” Ossoff said. “And your work about contraband, corruption, human rights abuses and escapes.”

Some of the reporting by Channel 2 Action News included video of a federal inmate bragging on Facebook Live how he can “always get a cell phone.”

“I’m the king, I can get a phone anywhere I’m at,” the inmate said in a video.

Another bipartisan bill proposed by Ossoff earlier this year would impose stricter penalties for prison employees who smuggle phones into the prison for inmates.

“It’s a diseased bureaucracy, it’s been [one] for decades,” Ossoff said.

Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Justin Gray spent six years as a Washington Correspondent, so one thing he said that stood out about Ossoff’s prison reform bills were that they are all bipartisan with Republican cosponsors. That gives the potential laws a better chance of getting somewhere.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

IN OTHER NEWS:

Lawmakers hear about fraud amid debate over allowing losses from scams to be deducted from taxes

©2024 Cox Media Group