WASHINGTON, D.C. – The head of the Bureau of Prisons is out of a job.
What we know:
Forbes reported that Colette Peters resigned on Monday, coinciding with President Donald Trump’s first day in office. No reason was given.
William Lothrop will serve as acting director of the nation’s 122 federal prisons housing about 155,000 people, the BOP told KTVU in a statement, which added that Peters “separated” from her job without giving any further explanation.
Lothrop said he has 30 years of experience in the BOP and acknowledged that the agency has “ongoing challenges” including staffing shortages and operational issues, which he said he wanted to find “real solutions that strengthen facilities.”
The backstory:
Peters was brought in to head the BOP in 2022 after heading the Oregon Department of Corrections.
When she took the job, she promised to make changes within the BOP, including at the all-women’s prison in Dublin, Calif., where seven correctional officers were sentenced to prison for sex crimes against incarcerated women. An eighth officer is headed to trial.
But in September 2023, the Senate Judiciary Committee said her lack of transparency hampered their ability to fix the agency, and they complained she reneged on promises she made when she took the job and told them that the “buck stops with her.”
And in April 2024, Peters abruptly shut down the women’s prison, FCI Dublin, saying she threw resources into the prison but just wasn’t able to change the culture there.
Peters’ move came days after a federal judge in Oakland named a special master to oversee FCI Dublin and to make sure women were no longer sexually abused or retaliated against for reporting those abuses.
Bureau of Prisons Deputy Director William Lothrop walks in front of the Oakland federal courthouse after testifying about FCI Dublin. Aug. 2, 2024
The 600 women who were held there were taken to 13 other prisons across the country, in journeys that many describe as horrific, many told KTVU.
What they’re saying:
U.S. senators called the transfers “appalling” and Congressional leaders specifically wrote to Peters the month after the closure demanding answers about why she shut down the prison so suddenly. She never answered them.
In addition, Peters announced in December 2024 that she’d also be deactivating six other minimum-security prison camps in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida, the Associated Press first reported.
After repeatedly promising to reform FCI Dublin and other troubled facilities, the BOP instead pivoted to closing and consolidating prisons, citing inadequate staffing and staggering costs to repair aging infrastructure.
The other side:
One year into her stewardship, Peters did grant KTVU a rare interview in April 2023 after she had visited FCI Dublin. She said at the time that she saw “some exceptional progress” that was happening there, adding that she was “really proud of the work people are doing.”
“I know that culture change is hard,” she said at the time, “but I think we have the right executive team in place and they’re certainly making the change happen.”
Aaron McGlothin, Local 1237 Union President at FCI Mendota, said he has no love lost for Peters.
He said that she worked in Portland and D.C., and allowed some of her subordinates, such as Lothrop, to work from Florida.
“Peters was far too separated from the real issues that line staff face on a daily basis,” McGlothin told KTVU. “She teleworked and wasted a ton of taxpayer money with no real positive results.”
What’s next:
McGlothin isn’t sure that the BOP will improve under Trump, who he said has already been working to reactivate contracts with private prisons to move ome prisoners there.
In his opinion, these for-profit prisons cost a lot of money.
“It’s a lot more expensive,” he said. “I’m worried about cuts and we’re already short-staffed. And now there’s talk of shutting down more prisons.”
