Colette Peters, the director of Oregon’s prison system, has now emerged as the leading contender to run the federal prison system, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Peters, who has run the state’s Corrections Department since 2012, is at the top of the list of candidates to replace Bureau of Prisons Director Michael Carvajal, who submitted his resignation in January but said he would stay on until a successor was named, the person said.
She would be the 11th person to lead the Bureau of Prisons since its founding more than 90 years ago, and only the second director with no prior experience at the agency, the Justice Department’s largest. While many officials from inside the Bureau of Prisons applied for the post, the Biden administration was looking for someone who was focused on reforming an agency that has had cultural issues for decades.
