Lawmakers seek investigation into Thomson prison abuse claims

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Four federal lawmakers on Wednesday sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and others seeking information about allegations of abuse at the U.S. Penitentiary Thomson in Illinois.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois; U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois; U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, D-Illinois; and U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, signed the letter to Garland, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters asking for the investigation.

Durbin is the Senate majority whip and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Grassley also is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Recently, the Washington Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs published a report titled “Cruel and Usual: An Investigation into Prison Abuse at USP Thomson.” As part of its investigation, WLC collected accounts of extreme physical and psychological abuse from more than 120 incarcerated people in the former special management unit at USP Thomson, according to a joint news release issued Wednesday by the four lawmakers.

According to the release, the accounts detailed potential criminal and civil rights violations, including abusive use of restraints, dangerous celling practices, inappropriate responses to mental health diagnoses, sexual assaults, racist verbal abuse, and interference with access to counsel and the inmate grievance process.

In addition to WLC’s report, last year NPR and The Marshall Project reported extensively on the deaths of seven incarcerated men and serious alleged abuses by USP Thomson staff, according to the release.

At the request of Durbin, Duckworth and former U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Illinois, the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General agreed to review the inmate deaths and include the prison in a broader report on deaths that have occurred in BOP custody. The OIG’s report is pending.

As of the writing of the letter, the DOJ and BOP have issued no public findings holding perpetrators of misconduct accountable or, on the other hand, declaring that the USP Thomson allegations are unfounded, according to the release.

“We are extremely concerned by [the BOP Office of Internal Affairs’] slow response to allegations of employee misconduct,” the lawmakers wrote. “The safety of incarcerated individuals and BOP employees, as well as public confidence in our criminal justice system, depend on both timely investigations of employee misconduct and appropriate corrective action. BOP must devote more of its $8 billion budget to timely processing [of] misconduct complaints.”

The lawmakers’ letter continues, “As we communicated to each of you when you took office, the safe and effective operation of BOP facilities are one of our top priorities. We implore you to act swiftly to ensure that that any BOP employee who has violated federal criminal or civil rights laws be held accountable.”

In April 2021, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a BOP oversight hearing to address chronic understaffing issues and other concerns. In September 2022, the committee held its second BOP oversight hearing under Durbin. The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing titled “Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Prisons” for 10 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 13, in Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building.