On Thursday, three members of Congress called for an immediate federal investigation into violence and abuse at the U.S. penitentiary in Thomson, Ill., prompted by reporting by The Marshall Project and NPR (article available here).
Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and Rep. Cheri Bustos, all Democrats from Illinois, wrote in a letter to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz that it was "imperative" he look into allegations that staff purposefully housed prisoners with people they knew would be violent, and subjected them to painful restraints for hours or sometimes days.
"If these reports prove accurate, they describe conduct that would almost certainly contravene numerous [Bureau of Prisons] policies, as well as infringing the civil rights of individuals in BOP custody and possibly violating federal criminal statutes," wrote the lawmakers, who called the report "disturbing."