FIRST ON FOX: Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have introduced new legislation to address a shocking rate of sexual offenses by prisoners against federal correctional officers.

The Prison Personnel Safety Improvement Act is a response to a Justice Department inspector general report that found 40 percent of Federal Bureau of Prisons employees said they had been sexually assaulted by an inmate.

“It is unacceptable that nearly half of the Bureau of Corrections’ staff is being sexually harassed or assaulted by inmates. The Bureau of Corrections must do more to ensure the safety of correctional officers and hold perpetrators accountable,” said Representative Laurel Lee, R-Fla. ., who co-sponsored a new bill to combat it. “The Prison Personnel Safety Improvement Act will provide oversight of the federal prison system and fight against these abuses.”

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A security guard checks vehicles entering the Butner Federal Correctional Complex on November 20, 2015 in Butner, North Carolina. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

The bill was introduced in the House by Reps. Lee and Hank Johnson, D-Ga. A Senate version was sponsored by Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., and previously introduced.

Johnson said incidents have risen to “unacceptable levels,” particularly against female officers.

The bill gives Department of Justice The inspector general a year to conduct a statistical analysis of cases of sexual assault and harassment of prison guards by inmates in federal prisons, an analysis of the sentences handed out, and then another 180 days to submit a report to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees. .

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Secret Service and prison guards stand on the roof of the El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in El Reno, Oklahoma, as President Barack Obama tours a cell block, July 16, 2015. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

After that, the attorney general will be required to create new rules to prevent and reduce such cases and standardize punishments for inmates who attack guards.

“Last year, nearly half of Bureau of Prisons staff surveyed said they had been sexually harassed or assaulted by an inmate,” Blackburn said. “This statistic is appalling and unacceptable. No federal employee or law enforcement officer should have to fear for their safety when they report to work, and the Prison Staff Safety Improvement Act would be an important step forward in ending the sexual abuse of prison staff that merely and just trying to do his job.”

The proposal has support from Fraternal Order of Police.

“The staggering number of documented incidents of sexual assault highlights the dangerous environment in which our officers and other staff operate,” said FOP President Patrick Yoes.

The federal correctional complex, known as Alcatraz of the Rockies, in Florence, Colorado. (iStock)

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The Bureau of Prisons has been beset by a number of problems in recent years. A spate of inmate suicides, including that of sex-trafficking financier Jeffrey Epstein, led to a separate IG investigation and the closing of the Manhattan facility where he was held.

Federal agents raided another nearby facility last month in Brooklyn, where Sean “Diddy” Combs is being held pending trial for sex trafficking.

Former Bureau of Prisons Director Michael D. Carvajal resigned in 2022 amid reports of widespread criminality and corruption in the office.

He left months after the Associated Press reported that the Bureau of Prisons “is a hotbed of abuse, graft and corruption and has turned a blind eye to employees accused of misconduct.”

More than 100 BOP workers have been arrested, convicted or sentenced for crimes since 2019, with one director accused of sexually abusing an inmate.

Fox News’ Chris Pandolfo and The Associated Press contributed to this report.