Michael Carvajal, the Trump-era head of the federal prison system, is stepping down after months of calls from Democrats for his dismissal, a source familiar with the matter told Insider and the Justice Department later confirmed.
Michael Carvajal has announced his retirement but will remain the Bureau of Prisons director for an indefinite period as the Biden administration searches for a successor, a spokesperson for the Prison Bureau said late Wednesday.
Michael Carvajal’s Decades-Long Career
Carvajal started his three-decade job at BOP as jail security in Texas, revealed the agent. He climbed the ranks quickly. He served as a manager in two prisons. He was then appointed by ex-AG William Barr to head the BOP.
Michael Carvajal’s tenure began in Feb 2020, a few weeks after Covid-19 infested federal prison establishments across the US. The US CDCP said that people in prisons and jails are at an increased risk of getting infected because of their incapacity to social distance.
A longtime correctional officer, Michael Carvajal was named director of the Bureau of Prisons in February 2020 by then-Attorney General William Barr, just months after Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in federal custody. Carvajal was previously the bureau’s assistant director for correctional programs, a post with oversight of emergency planning and a variety of other prison activities.
They are very grateful to Director Carvajal’s service to the department over the past 3 decades. His operational experience and intimate knowledge of the Bureau of Prisons – the department’s largest component – helped steer it during critical times, including during this historic pandemic, expressed the Justice Department spokesman Anthony Coley.
Michael Carvajal’s tenure has been marked by the rampant spread of coronavirus within the nationwide prison system, blistering reports from the Justice Department’s internal watchdog, and criticism over staffing shortages and poor working conditions.
As a holdover from the Trump administration, Michael Carvajal found himself on treacherous footing following the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
