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Federal Prisons Accountability Act of 2025
To require the Director of the Bureau of Prisons to be appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
Summary
This bill changes the appointment process for the Director of the Bureau of Prisons from being appointed by the Attorney General to being appointed by the President with Senate advice and consent. The Director will serve a 10-year term and may not serve more than one term. The current Director may continue serving for three months after the bill's enactment, after which the new appointment process applies. This brings the Bureau of Prisons Director into line with other major federal law enforcement positions like the FBI and DEA directors, which are already subject to Senate confirmation.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. McConnell, Mitch [R-KY] (R-KY)
7 cosponsors
- Sen. Blackburn, Marsha [R-TN] (R-TN)
- Sen. Cassidy, Bill [R-LA] (R-LA)
- Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE] (D-DE)
- Sen. Grassley, Chuck [R-IA] (R-IA)
- Sen. Lankford, James [R-OK] (R-OK)
- Sen. Ossoff, Jon [D-GA] (D-GA)
- Sen. Paul, Rand [R-KY] (R-KY)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Mitch Mcconnell’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $11,440
- ZIONS BANK $10,000
- FIERCE GOVERNMENT RELATIONS $8,900
- THE NICKLES GROUP $7,500
- WINGED KEEL GROUP $6,500
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Mitch Mcconnell → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Feb 24, 2025 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. · senate
- Feb 24, 2025 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 24, 2025
Mr. McConnell (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Paul, Mr. Lankford, and Mrs. Blackburn) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To require the Director of the Bureau of Prisons to be appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Federal Prisons Accountability Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The Director of the Bureau of Prisons leads a law enforcement component of the Department of Justice with a budget that exceeded $8,390,000,000 for fiscal year 2024.
(2) With the exception of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Prisons had the largest operating budget of any unit within the Department of Justice for fiscal year 2024.
(3) As of 2025, the Director of the Bureau of Prisons oversaw 122 facilities and was responsible for the welfare of more than 155,000 Federal inmates.
(4) As of 2025, the Director of the Bureau of Prisons supervised more than 35,000 employees, many of whom operate in hazardous environments that involve regular interaction with violent offenders.
(5) Within the Department of Justice, in addition to those officials who oversee litigating components, the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Director of the Community Relations Service, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Director of the Office on Violence Against Women, the Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Deputy Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Director of the United States Marshals Service, 94 United States Marshals, the Inspector General of the Department of Justice, and the Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment Practices, are all appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
(6) Despite the significant budget of the Bureau of Prisons and the vast number of people under the responsibility of the Director of the Bureau of Prisons, the Director is not appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
SEC. 3. DIRECTOR OF THE BUREAU OF PRISONS.
(a) In General.—Section 4041 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by striking “appointed by and serving directly under the Attorney General.” and inserting the following: “who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The Director shall serve directly under the Attorney General.”.
(b) Incumbent.—Notwithstanding the amendment made by subsection
(a), the individual serving as the Director of the Bureau of Prisons on the date of enactment of this Act may serve as the Director of the Bureau of Prisons until the date that is 3 months after the date of enactment of this Act.
(c) Rule of Construction.—Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit the ability of the President to appoint the individual serving as the Director of the Bureau of Prisons on the date of enactment of this Act to the position of Director of the Bureau of Prisons in accordance with section 4041 of title 18, United States Code, as amended by subsection (a).
(d) Term.—
(1) In general.—Section 4041 of title 18, United States Code, as amended by subsection (a), is amended by inserting after “consent of the Senate.” the following: “The Director shall be appointed for a term of 10 years, except that an individual appointed to the position of Director may continue to serve in that position until another individual is appointed to that position, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. An individual may not serve more than 1 term as Director.”.
(2) Applicability.—The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall apply to appointments made on or after the date of enactment of this Act. <all>
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