II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 307
To address sexual harassment and sexual assault of Bureau of Prisons staff
in prisons, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY29, 2025
Mrs. B
LACKBURN(for herself and Mr. OSSOFF) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To address sexual harassment and sexual assault of Bureau
of Prisons staff in prisons, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prison Staff Safety 4
Enhancement Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds the following: 7
(1) In 2023, the Office of the Inspector General 8
of the Department of Justice released a report titled 9
‘‘Evaluation of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Ef-10
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forts to Address Sexual Harassment and Sexual As-1
sault Committed by Inmates Toward Staff’’ (in this 2
section referred to as the ‘‘Inspector General re-3
port’’). 4
(2) The Inspector General report examined all 5
sanctioned inmate sexual incidents in the Bureau of 6
Prisons (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Bureau’’) 7
between fiscal years 2015 and 2021, and found that 8
inmate-on-staff sexual harassment and sexual as-9
sault is widespread. 10
(3) The Inspector General report further found 11
that the Bureau does not collect adequate data on 12
inmate-on-staff sexual harassment and sexual as-13
sault and that, because of the Bureau’s inadequate 14
data, the Bureau has not been able to identify the 15
full scope of inmate-on-staff sexual harassment and 16
sexual assault. 17
(4) The Inspector General report further found 18
that the Bureau does not have systems to evaluate 19
the effectiveness of the Bureau’s strategies to miti-20
gate inmate-on-staff sexual harassment and sexual 21
assault. 22
(5) The Inspector General report made rec-23
ommendations to the Bureau to address the failures 24
in the Bureau’s data collection and mitigation ef-25
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forts, but the Bureau has not implemented these 1
recommendations. 2
SEC. 3. ADDRESSING SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND SEXUAL 3
ASSAULT OF BUREAU OF PRISONS STAFF. 4
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 5
(1) B
UREAU.—The term ‘‘Bureau’’ means the 6
Bureau of Prisons. 7
(2) C
ORRECTIONAL OFFICER .—The term ‘‘cor-8
rectional officer’’ has the meaning given the term in 9
section 4051 of title 18, United States Code. 10
(3) I
NSPECTOR GENERAL .—The term ‘‘Inspec-11
tor General’’ means the Inspector General of the De-12
partment of Justice. 13
(4) I
NCARCERATED INDIVIDUAL .—The term 14
‘‘incarcerated individual’’ has the meaning given the 15
term ‘‘prisoner’’ in section 4051 of title 18, United 16
States Code. 17
(5) S
EXUAL ASSAULT.—The term ‘‘sexual as-18
sault’’ means an act described in subsection (b), (c), 19
or (d) of section 920 of title 10, United States Code. 20
(6) S
EXUAL HARASSMENT .—The term ‘‘sexual 21
harassment’’ means unwelcome sexual advances, re-22
quests for sexual favors, or other verbal or physical 23
conduct of a sexual nature that explicitly or implic-24
itly affect an individual’s employment, unreasonably 25
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interfere with an individual’s work performance, or 1
create an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work en-2
vironment. 3
(b) I
MPLEMENTATION OF RECOMMENDATIONS BY 4
B
UREAU.— 5
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 6
the date of enactment of this Act, the Bureau shall 7
fully implement each recommendation in the report 8
released by the Inspector General in 2023 titled 9
‘‘Evaluation of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Ef-10
forts to Address Sexual Harassment and Sexual As-11
sault Committed by Inmates Toward Staff’’. 12
(2) R
EPORT.—If the Bureau has not fully im-13
plemented each recommendation referenced in para-14
graph (1) by the deadline under that paragraph, the 15
Bureau shall submit a report to Congress by that 16
deadline that includes an explanation of the failure 17
to fully implement each recommendation and a de-18
tailed timeline for full implementation. 19
(c) D
ATAANALYSIS BYINSPECTORGENERAL.— 20
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 21
the date as of which the Bureau has fully imple-22
mented each recommendation referenced in sub-23
section (b)(1)— 24
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(A) the Inspector General shall request 1
from the Bureau, and the Bureau shall provide, 2
updated data on the number and prevalence of 3
sexual harassment and sexual assault incidents 4
perpetrated by incarcerated individuals against 5
a correctional officer or other employee of the 6
Bureau during fiscal years 2022 through 2025; 7
(B) the Inspector General shall conduct an 8
analysis of the data described in subparagraph 9
(A); and 10
(C) the Inspector General shall provide 11
Congress and the Attorney General with the 12
analysis conducted under subparagraph (B) and 13
any additional recommendations, including 14
analysis of whether the Bureau has taken suffi-15
cient steps to identify the prevalence and scope 16
of sexual harassment and sexual assault inci-17
dents perpetrated by incarcerated individuals 18
against a correctional officer or other employee 19
of the Bureau and to mitigate such incidents. 20
(2) A
NALYSIS OF PUNISHMENTS .—The analysis 21
required under paragraph (1)(C) shall include an 22
analysis of punishments for sexual harassment and 23
sexual assault as of the date of enactment of this 24
Act in facilities controlled by the Bureau of Prisons, 25
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including data on the use of such punishments dur-1
ing the 5-year period preceding the date of enact-2
ment of this Act. 3
(d) R
ULEMAKING BY ATTORNEYGENERAL.—Not 4
later than 1 year after receiving the analysis under sub-5
section (c), the Attorney General shall promulgate a rule 6
adopting national standards for prevention, reduction, and 7
punishment of sexual harassment and sexual assault per-8
petrated by an incarcerated individual against a correc-9
tional officer or other employee of the Bureau. 10
Æ
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