Attorney General William P. Barr on Tuesday named a new director of the Bureau of Prisons, an agency still reeling from the death of billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Michael Carvajal will now head the bureau, replacing Kathy Hawk Sawyer, who had stepped in on an interim basis following Epstein’s death.
Mr. Carvajal is currently the bureau’s director of correctional programs, a position he has held since August 2018. He was responsible for the department’s sentence computation, its witness security and victim-witness programs, inmate transportation and emergency planning.
Mr. Carvajal has held a number of positions since joining the bureau in 1992 as a correctional officer. He has also served as warden at a federal prison in Texarkana, Texas, and complex warden for another prison in Pollock, Louisiana.
“Michael’s nearly 30 years of experience with the Bureau will serve him exceptionally well as he takes on these new responsibilities, and I am confident he will do an outstanding job as director,” Mr. Barr said in a statement.
Ms. Hawk Sawyer will stay on as a senior adviser, the attorney general said.
The Bureau of Prisons has drawn intense scrutiny since Epstein killed himself in August while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Since Epstein’s death at the Manhattan Correctional Center, Mr. Barr has shaken up the staff both at the New York prison and the Bureau of Prisons.
Both the Justice Department and its inspector general are probing the circumstances that lead to Epstein’s death.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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