1. United States
2. Ohio
3. Letter

As your constituent, I am writing to urge immediate congressional action regarding a dangerous change to Department of Justice (DOJ) policy—one that has already been used to benefit a convicted child sex trafficker and will remain in place to benefit whoever the Attorney General chooses next. In July 2025, Ghislaine Maxwell—convicted of sex trafficking minors and serving a 20-year sentence—was quietly transferred from a low-security federal facility in Florida to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas. Under Bureau of Prisons (BOP) policy, convicted sex offenders are barred from minimum-security camps unless they receive an extraordinary waiver. Multiple former BOP officials stated they had never seen an intervention like this. The transfer occurred just days after then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche made an unusual personal visit to interview Maxwell in prison. Attorney General Pam Bondi later testified before Congress that she did not authorize the transfer. Meanwhile, the DOJ has stonewalled congressional oversight and FOIA requests related to this transfer for nearly ten months. Then, on May 6, 2026, the Bureau of Prisons quietly published Change Notice 3 to Program Statement 5100.08. This new rule gives the Attorney General the personal authority to override the BOP and reassign any federal prisoner to any facility at will, with no objective criteria and no oversight. In other words, after Maxwell’s transfer raised uncomfortable questions about who gave the order, the DOJ changed the rules to make unchecked executive intervention official policy. This is wrong on every level: - It replaces an objective system with pure political discretion. The BOP’s classification system exists to protect public safety by assigning security levels based on facts: criminal history, offense severity, and institutional behavior. The new rule lets a single political appointee override it for any prisoner, for any reason, with no justification required.
 - It creates a dangerous double standard. Unchecked executive authority to move individual prisoners creates an obvious temptation for political favoritism or retaliation. Prison placement must depend on the law and what a criminal did, not on their political connections or who they know. - It is a significant departure from longstanding law. Congressional oversight letters have flagged that the new policy marks a significant departure from the BOP’s longstanding designation framework under 18 U.S.C. § 3621(b), which provides the statutory basis for the BOP’s inmate security designation and custody classification system. Donald Trump has formally nominated Todd Blanche to become the next Attorney General, with Senate confirmation hearings scheduled for mid-July. This provides a direct and immediate opportunity for Congress to assert its oversight authority. I demand that you: 1. Use confirmation hearings to demand accountability. The Maxwell transfer, Change Notice 3, and ten months of stonewalled oversight must be addressed under oath. Bipartisan concerns have already been raised regarding executive overreach; this record makes those concerns urgent. 2. Oppose his confirmation, even if Change Notice 3 is rescinded. If Blanche offers to withdraw this policy to salvage his nomination, it must not be accepted as a cure. The issue is not just the rule itself; it is the pattern of leadership that created it. Using his power as Deputy AG to grant an irregular favor to a high-profile inmate for a former client, stonewalling Congress for ten months, and then quietly shifting the rules to legalize that behavior shows a fundamental lack of integrity. This record proves he cannot be trusted to lead the Department of Justice, regardless of what promises he makes under the pressure of a confirmation hearing. 3. Amend 18 U.S.C. § 3621 to codify the objective classification system. Support legislation that ties inmate security designations strictly to the BOP’s objective scoring criteria and explicitly strips political appointees of individual override authority. 4. Use the power of the purse. Support appropriations riders that prohibit federal funds from being used to execute prisoner transfers under Change Notice 3’s personalized override authority. Federal prison placement should depend on the law—not on executive whims. I expect you to act.