NEW YORK — The Federal Prison Oversight Act was created to increase transparency and accountability in the nation’s largest prison system, which includes more than 35,000 staff members supervising nearly 155,000 people in 122 facilities across 37 states and Puerto Rico. The act was introduced by bipartisan sponsors to address long-standing issues in the prison system. It passed the Senate unanimously and the House with overwhelming bipartisan support before being signed into law in 2024. The law gives the Department of Justice’s inspector general new authority to regularly inspect federal prisons and publish findings, reports the Brennan Center for Justice.
The act also allows for an independent party to investigate claims made by incarcerated people, their families and prison staff. Both the inspector general and the independent party are required to publish their reports and release them to the public and to Congress, the Brennan Center reported.
The independent party established by the act will respond to concerns from incarcerated people, their families and prison staff. They are tasked with improving existing reporting systems and creating more direct and secure channels such as email, a phone hotline and other tools for complaints, while protecting the identity of those reporting, according to the Brennan Center.
The ombudsman will have access to all 122 prisons and the authority to conduct unannounced visits, as well as unannounced interviews with staff and incarcerated people. The federal ombudsman office is modeled on successful state systems in Connecticut, Iowa and New Jersey, the Brennan Center reported.
Congress passed the act following frequent reports from investigative journalists and DOJ inspector general findings that revealed sexual abuse, preventable deaths and neglect in federal prisons in recent years. One report found instances of sexual abuse at two-thirds of the facilities that incarcerate women, the Brennan Center reported.
The law helps streamline the process of making complaints so that reports are taken seriously and addressed in ways that lead to real improvement. It requires the DOJ inspector general to conduct inspections of each federal prison and assess conditions, including the quality of food and access to counsel, according to the Brennan Center.
The DOJ then creates recommendations and assigns a risk score for each prison. The higher the risk score, the more frequent the inspections will be until the issues are resolved. This structure follows the model used in many state prison systems, such as California and Nebraska, where an inspector general has similar authority, the Brennan Center reported.
In July 2025, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees included language in annual DOJ funding bills that directs the Bureau of Prisons to fully implement the Federal Prison Oversight Act. This includes creating an independent party to review and report on federal prisons, the Brennan Center reported.
The act has the potential to change the quality of federal prisons and their infrastructure by addressing root issues and drawing from successful state models. Its success depends on proper funding and implementation by the DOJ.
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