Head of Oregon Department of Corrections picked to lead federal Bureau of Prisons

ALEX BAUMHARDT/Oregon Capital Chronicle

SALEM — Colette Peters, director of Oregon’s prison system, was appointed Tuesday by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to lead the federal Bureau of Prisons.

In a statement, Garland said Peters is “uniquely qualified to lead the Bureau of Prisons in its efforts to ensure the rehabilitation, health, and safety of incarcerated people, a safe and secure work environment for correctional staff, and transparency and accountability across federal detention facilities.”

Peters spent 10 years leading Oregon’s Department of Corrections, which includes 14 prisons with 4,400 employees overseeing more than 12,000 incarcerated people.

She’ll now be in charge of 122 prisons, 35,000 employees and 157,000 incarcerated people.

The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world, according to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics. She’ll go from overseeing a nearly $2 billion two-year budget to a nearly $8 billion annual budget.

In a statement, Peters said she is “honored and humbled to join the federal Bureau of Prisons.”

She said based on her experience in Oregon she will focus on safe conditions for employees and incarcerated people, rehabilitation and re-entry programs in her federal role. A spokesperson for the state’s Department of Corrections said Peters would not grant interviews until she stepped into her new role. Her first day on the job will be Tuesday, Aug. 2.

Federal officials considered more than 60 people for the job.

Peters will start Aug. 2, replacing Michael Carvajal, who resigned in January after two years on the job, following criticism of his handling of the Covid pandemic in federal prisons.