Theres a couple areas of inquiry, all things Jeffrey Epstein and hopefully about the implementation of the First Step Act and where could we go from there. How could you buildyt upon that . Those of the three areas i would like to talk about and altered over to senator feinstein. Thank you very much, mr. Cha. I want to welcome you. Its wonderful for me to see a woman int charge, and so we can celebrate it for a few moments at least. You are responsible for the care and custody of over 180,000 federal inmates, and one of the Justice Departments largest employers with approximately 35,500 employees as of may of this year. As the chairman mentioned, there are two issues i hope we can focus on. One is the first act, which he mentioned, and the second is problems with staffing and conditions within your department. Im going to put most of this in the record, but i think, i think what ill do, mr. Chairman, in the interest of time is just put the statement in the record. Without objection. Senator durbin . Thanks, mr. Chairman. Last year congressin came togetr to pass what i considered to be one of the most important criminal Justice Reform laws in a generation, the First Step Act passed by overwhelming bipartisan majorities and signed by president trump. We now have an obligation to ensure that this law will be properly implemented. I think chairman graham for holding this hearing at my request but i am disappointed the department of justice refused our bipartisan request to testify today. This is one of the many troubling signs the department of justice is not on board in implementing the First Step Act. The fair since the act of 2010 which i coauthored with senator grassley and senator lee reduced the disparity from 180 and 101 down to one. Relief for individuals in some cases even working to put them back behind bars. I wrote the privation of the first of active reduces the unjust sentences for nonviolent offenders and the position that department of justice is taking is just plain wrong. The department of justice should be working to identify eligible individuals and getta them out, not wasting valuable resources to keep them behind bars. So far at least 1600 people people have been released because of the Retroactive Application of the fair sensing act. There should be more. I would like to recognize to make visitors who are here today. They have benefited. One is benefited from the First Step Act and particular like to recognize why constituent Edward Douglas and his exceptional lawyer who are here today. Thank you for joining us. Could you raise your hands . Thank you. Edward douglas received a life sentence triggered by two minor nonviolent drug convictions. He served 16 years in prison, became one of the first people released under the First Step Act. Given a secondti chance, edward and others who have joined us today are making our criminal Justice System better and more just. Its worth all off our time and effort. It took to pass the first attack. I hope it will inspire allth ofs to search harder for Bipartisan Solutions and the department of justice to change its mind and join us. Thank you, mr. Chair. Thank you. Dr. Sawyer joined the bureau in 1976 as a psychologist at the federal correction institute, morgantown. 1980s he was named chief of psychology come psychological services. She said increasingly responsibility since then. She was previously served as director of bureau of prisons make 922003. She was reappointed as director in august of this year. Would you please rise . Yes, sir. Did you solve is for the test what youre about to give to this committeee . Is a truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god . I do. Welcome and the floor is yours. Good morning. Good morning chairman graham and Ranking Member feinstein and members of the committee. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss with you today a the mission and operations of the bureau of prisons i think the committee for your work with the bureau over many years. Your support has been integral to our operations for many decades including our years of treatment is population growth, rapid expansion and opening of many new institutions. I also thank you and your colleagues for your groundbreaking justice work for the bipartisan support of the First Step Actow i look for tody to sharing with you our progress and dip them in this critical legislation. Program to assist inmates returning to the community of lawabiding citizens has always been a cornerstone of our mission. We have long held an inmates reentry journey begins the very dayy they arrived in our custod. With the first to act with a to further enriching the offerings to help improve the lives of our inmates thereby help keep our communitiesy safer. I was honored three months ago to be selected by attorney general barr to return to lead the bureau and work alongside the finest correctional professionals and will. I begin my career as a psychology intern at one of our prisons, 110, social wouldnt come before my original appointment as the peers six director in 1992. Position i held until my retirement in 2003. While much has changed in the 16 years that i was outside of the bureau and since i last served as director, the foundation is still quite sound. But we have been challenged significantly by the dramatic growth we experienced, the mincer it with significant budget cuts that follow the tragedy of 9 11 when the the focusen shift came from crime to terrorism and ourth budget suffered severely after that period. Are over 35,000 staff play a Critical Role in the system get the great work our staff deserve a day goes largely unseen by the general public. This inherently dangerous work particularly at a highest security institutions where our most dangerous inmates serve is responsible we take very, very seriously. Unfortunately with experience significant Staff Shortages that make our job even more difficult. In myit first 12 weeks ive plae great emphasis on philly are almost over 3000 vacancies nationwide. Since returning as director ive mobilized the system of overview to identify areas of strength and weakness and app identify three significant berries that need emphasis. One is staffing. One is training, and the third is an ethicist and recommitment to the basics of sound correctional practice. Our system is the largest in the Nation Housing roughly 176,000 inmates across the entire bureau of prisons in this return to the bedrock of sound corrections is critical to ensure our staff nationwide are following the policies and procedures that keep staff, inmates and the public safe. The bureau also continues to face dangers security threats from the introduction of contraband, synthetic drugs, illicit narcotics and contraband cell phones are some of the chief threats. The use of drones to drop contraband onto prison grounds is an ongoing problem that continues to evolve. We have to put contraband detecting technologies continue to leverage new technologies and Cutting Edge Solutions to effectively detect and interdict prison contraband. Our aging infrastructure is another concern. Almost half of our present are over 30 30 years old and some e leavenworth, date back to over eight years old. To our earliest time of corrections. Resin systems are subjected to much heavier than normal wear since there continuously used 24 7 365. In this aging infrastructure affect Institution Security as critical system sustained extensive wear and tear as well as premature deterioration. The implementation of the First Step Act is a priority for the bureau of prisons and im pleased to report that weve made greatat progress. With updated policies and her ilk many the requirements of the act, working closely with the department of justice and independentt review committee on the new risk and Needs Assessment the act requires. We have listened to the important comments from any interested stakeholders from crime victims to a broad array of advocacy groups, the statutory timelines in this actor very formidable but im proud to say the bureau and the department admit key deadlines particularly the release of the new risk and Needs Assessment system and we continue to remain focused on the full and balance implementation of the First Step Act. This concludes my formal statement and i would be happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you very much. As indicated in my Opening Statement i wanted to talk about death of mr. Epstein. Do you concur with the opinion that it was a suicide . That was the finding of the koran or. You have any evidence to suggest otherwise . I do not. How could this have happened . Unfortunately the death and all situation is still under investigation of the fbi and Inspector General office and im really not at liberty to discuss specifics of this case. I can discuss issues around institutional operations on a can specifically talked that particular issue. With a case this highprofile highprofile, theres got to be either major malfunction in the system or criminal enterprise at foot to allow this to happen. So are you looking at both, is the fbi looking about . The fbi is abouthe an advocae criminal enterprise yes. Do you have people in custody today of this highprofile nature . Have we done anything to adjust since mr. Epsteins death . We take every inmates life versus late in the bureau of prisons. Highprofile inmate is no more important or significant in terms of our operations than just the average inmate that comes our way. What you mean highprofile . Somebodies on the suicide watch. I would like to explain our suicide system much if i may. I cant talk specific about epstein but we have different tiers of responsibly identifying inmate who inmate who appears to have suicidal thinking. I can in the bureau as a psychologist. I worked with suicidalei inmate. I know how difficult it is to be able to predict who was suicidal and who is not. Once an inmate is a didnt let us potentially suicidal we have suicide watch operation we can place them in. Its a very stark comfort difficult setting where everything is stripped from the room except the mattress. They get a course gown like to wear that cannot be twisted anyways that they get hanged himself from it. They have one mattress and one blanket and they are watched constantly. Theres nothing else in the room. With mr. Epstein on the suicide watch . Yes, he was. However, the average emesis of watches only about 24 hours because it is such a start and depressing situation. Within can move into another tier of observation which is called psychological observation. That happen in this case . I i can speak specifically bt im showing this with you seek and understand our procedures. They can then move to another to which a suicide or psychological observation whetherif get the clothes back, anymore normal by setting, they are watched and scrutinize every moment of the day but that is a much more normal environment do they have roommates . No, they do not went on psychological observation because theyre being watched continuously. Did mr. Epstein have relate . No, we did not. Okay. Go ahead. They move in the psychological observation psychologist sees them were to become and once it is determined the threat of suicide seems to have passed then that in making the return back to open population. Clearly it didnt work here, so we will await the report the victims of mr. Epstein have to have the heart ripped out. They will never see justice. Parole, when did the role almost parole alleviated from the federal system . I became director in etiquette and parole was already gone for new cases. You had the old cases that had to move on songs like the late 80s early 90s. When was parole in a limited . You would have to ask congress. It was somebodys here that make that decision. Do you have any recommendation as to whether or not we should look at reinstituting parole at the federal level . Im encouraged by the first act. What happened when we how would the First Step Act be different than parole. With it would befe significantly different in one respect that husband to comment on isst paroled inmates and incentive to do well. They wanted to get involved the programs can deposit thinks because they saw the benefit at they could earn earlier release from prison for sure. If there hang with the commission was favorable. What First Step Act has done out its offered new incentives for inmates to want to perform welcome to want to a engage in programs because we have a lot of programs of the past many years in the numbers enrolled would have a site were hoping for because a lot of times inmates if they were doing longtime didnt seem real benefit for them so First Step Act helps in that regard and incentivizes inmates to want to improve themselves want to move forward. What system would give the most flexibility in terms of deciding who to release some of you spend the 25 or 30 years on a 40 or 50 year sentence, parole would act differently than the first act . Is that correct . The parole act, parole allows a group of people get into an inmate periodically different points in in the career and our institutions and a look at the progress, how theyve done, how to benefit and whether they appear to be a recidivism do you have any push or view should we reinstate parole at the federal level . I never thought about that but we would be happy to look at the step act and look at let me know. I think that something we should look at. We would be happy to review that and give give you are,. Thanknk you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. On november 17, the New York Times published the story title hazing, humiliation, terror, working while female in the federal prison. Now given the fact, and about this in a letter to mr. Horowitz in november of last year, that the bureau has been on notice since 2010 that it was clear at the time that sufficient steps were not taken to protect female guards. And i requested that the department of justice ig investigate the bureaus failure to adequately address the harassment of female guards. I asked that the ig look into the situation. What is the situation today and what has been done to address this issue . When you have women, and obvious i am a woman and i worked in prison for over 30 years neck of when you have women in prison with allmale inmates and milpas Edition Europe a lotd of knuckleheads n that institution. Just as a woman on a metro car has to be careful here in d. C. That khizr khan to move up against him and try to touch the or you walk down the street and you get catcalls from workers on the site, there are knuckleheads all over the place in terms of the way men treat women. You will find that their institutions also. Let me finish my thought. There will be times when inmates be a very inappropriately to our female staff, at a funeral step you to stand up boldly and address that. The problem with the Sexual Harassment issues that were raised that troubled me greatlyr was when the female staff did not feel that the male staff, male counterparts, were coming to their assistance and their aid. Thats what we dropped the ball in the bureau. We always cant always control the behavior of inmates because they are in institutions. What did have to lose . Is right them a report, they back. The part of this that angered me tremendously was when female staff felt the male staff were not stepping up to help them. So thats where our attention has been with educating all of our staff that we are all colleagues can we all need to be treated professionally. It is never okay to allow anyone to disrespect our other colleagues, and so thats where our action with different types of reports we can write against the inmates and hold the rest of our staff accountable. Today do managers separate a female correctional staff officer from a senior officer who made sexual comments and proposition. Was yes. Whenever we become aware of the situation we do a threat assessment and we determine whether or not those individuals while it is being investigated whether they continue to Work Together in the same environment. If theres any concern then they are separate. So what exactly has been done to remedy that situation . As i said weve increased how many have you separated and what have you done . I dont have the numbers with me but we can get this for you and get them up to you but we have increased thed penalties on the inmates whoho behave that w. With educated our staff in terms of the being Inappropriate Conduct to not support your colleagues. If we find the male or female f members, then we will take action on the scope of the situation investigated and take appropriate action. Well, i would like to see e documentation of what you have done in that regard, and so i request it now. My past i served six years on the california womens abortive terms and parole. We set sentences. We granted paroles and we ran the womens prison. So i i know a little bit about prisons, and i been in a large number, everyone in california as a matter of fact. So i am concerned about this on the federal level. I think its a vague and imprecise, and i would like to know exactly what has happened and what has been done to remedy the situation. And if you could provide that to me, i would be very grateful for it. I share your concern and we would give information. Thank you very much. Youre veryou welcome. Before i ask questions, im not going to ask these groups to stand, but it want to thank people that supporte the first act for coming here for this hearing, cut 50 come to prosit visitor, families against mandatory minimums, and counsel of local prison locals. Before i get to some questions about the firsty step act, i wat to comment because some critics of First Step Act have noted a case of joel francisco, a prisoner inan new jersey who was released as a result of an adjustment in the way crack cocaine sentences are calculated making the se