Clip of the Award Presentation
2024 Award Announcement
Today, Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) received the 2024 Carl Levin Award for Effective Oversight. The award is given by the Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy to legislators who exhibit leadership in conducting bipartisan, fact-based oversight with “a high degree of integrity and a commitment to legislative comity and civility.” The Center is giving the award to Sen. Ossoff this year for his work in leading bipartisan investigations into management lapses at federal prisons, investigations that resulted in legislation to establish an independent ombudsman for the federal Bureau of Prisons.
In 2022, as Chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Sen. Ossoff led, with the support of Ranking Member Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), an investigation and four hearings into a host of problems at federal prisons, including misfeasance, understaffing, abuse, and misconduct. He continued this work in 2024 as Chair of the Human Rights Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee into the treatment of incarcerated pregnant women. As a result of these investigations, Sen. Ossoff sponsored, with the support of Sens. Mike Braun (R-IN) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) in the Senate and Reps. Lucy McBath (D-GA-07) and Kelly Armstrong (R-ND-AL) in the House, the Federal Prison Oversight Act that established an independent ombudsman for the federal Bureau of Prison.
The measure passed by a vote of 392-2 in the House and unanimously in the Senate. It was signed into law by President Biden on July 25, 2024. The Act establishes an independent ombudsman to field and investigate complaints from inmates and staff and mandates that the Justice Department’s Inspector General conduct risk-based inspections of all 122 federal prison facilities on a periodic basis. It also requires the Inspector General to provide recommendations and assign risk scores to each facility.
“Senator Ossoff started looking at allegations of serious problems in the federal prison in his home state of Georgia. He then expanded the probe to include the operations of the Bureau of Prisons throughout the country,” said Jim Townsend, Director of the Levin Center.
“In doing so, he actively sought the participation of his Republican counterparts with a commitment to uncovering the facts and to working collegially to address problems. We are proud to present the Carl Levin Award to Senator Ossoff and thank him for his good work.”
Past recipients of the award include: U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Ron Wyden(D-OR), Todd Young (R-IN), and Ben Cardin (D-MD) in 2023 for their work on organ donation; U.S. Senators Mark Warner (D-VA) and Richard Burr (R-NC) in2019 for their work on Russian interference in the 2016 election; and two state legislators, Representative Weston Newton (R-S.C.) in 2018 for his systematic approach to reviewing state agencies, and Senator Sara Gelser Blouin (D-OR) in 2021 for her work on oversight of the state’s foster care system. The award is given in recognition of the commitment former Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) had to bipartisan, fact-based oversight during his 36 years in the U.S. Senate.
