Since the arrival of a new warden at Federal Medical Center, Carswell in May, allegations of staff misconduct at the federal women’s prison have increased.
Corruption, misconduct and malfeasance are just some of the accusations in a whistleblower complaint against Federal Medical Center, Carswell — a women’s prison in Fort Worth.
Jennifer Howard, the union president at FMC Carswell, is calling for a congressional inquiry into operations at the facility, claiming that management has been covering up misconduct reports and retaliating against staffers who raise concerns. She sent a letter in early July to U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco and U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey.
Kayley Johnson has been covering this story for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She talked with the Standard about her reporting.
This transcript has been edited for clarity:
Texas Standard: Tell us a little bit about this prison and the population that’s housed there.
Kayley Johnson: FMC Carswell is actually the only federal women’s facility in the country that attends to women’s medical needs. So it has a lot of vulnerable women who are incarcerated there, many women who need cancer treatments or have mental health needs. So it’s a very vulnerable population and it houses about 1,200 women at the facility, which is in Fort Worth.
This complaint is being brought by Jennifer Howard. She’s the union president at the prison. Tell us about some of Howard’s allegations.
So this is actually the...
; ; ; agreed to pay $17.07 million to settle federal allegations of illegal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring practices on Friday, marking the Justice Department's first resolution unde...