US Federal Bureau of Prisons director to step down due to criticism

The director of the US Federal Bureau of Prisons, Michael Carvajal, announced his resignation after months of pressure and criticism. This was announced on Thursday, January 6, by CNN.

“After 30 years in the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), Michael Carvajal this week notified Justice Department officials of his plans to retire,” the channel broadcast a notice circulated to bureau staff.

It also implies that Carvajal will continue to lead the department until the moment when his successor is announced.

According to CNN, Carvajal’s bureau has been criticized by bipartisan American lawmakers.

The station reports that the bureau director began his 30-year career in 1992 as a prison warden in Texas. Carvajal was named director of the VOR in February 2020, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

At the time, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that people in prisons were at “higher risk” of contracting the virus due to the inability to social distancing and the possibility that employees or visitors would bring the virus to the institution.

Carvajal’s actions in connection with the pandemic have come under heavy criticism from lawmakers. In November 2021, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois called on Attorney General Merrick Garland to fire Carvajal for a variety of reasons, including his failure to “protect BOP staff and inmates from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The New York Times adds that his tenure was marked by crises, including a string of prisoner deaths, runaways and chronic staff shortages.

Earlier, on January 4, it was reported that the Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi would step down at the end of 2022. The new speaker of the House of Representatives will most likely be the Democrat from New York Hakim Jeffries, who is considered the main candidate for this post.