Andrew Ciolli, a warden who oversaw a culture of abuse at two different federal prisons has a new job — running a national training academy for the Bureau of Prisons, the Marshall Project reports. He was in charge of the penitentiary at Thomson in Illinois for one year, before he moved to lead an even larger and more high-profile prison complex in Florence, Colorado. An internal investigation conducted last spring found that some staff at Florence used excessive force in violation of policy, and Ciolli, as warden, should have stopped it — but didn’t. Investigators referred him for disciplinary action. But he’s now landed a role as the director of the bureau’s Management and Specialty Training Center, which provides leadership training and specialized instruction across the agency. “Historically, when a warden is disciplined for misconduct, they aren’t reassigned as a director of anything, let alone a training center,” said Thomas Bergami, who succeeded Ciolli as warden at Thomson before retiring last year. Bureau of Prisons spokesperson Carl Bailey confirmed that Ciolli oversees the day-to-day operations at the training center, but said he “does not provide or oversee training.” Responsibility for the training “rests exclusively with subject matter experts, who operate independently of Mr. Ciolli’s oversight,” Bailey wrote. He added that “allegations of employee misconduct are taken seriously,” and that the bureau “fully cooperates” with watchdog agencies “to bring to justice those who abuse the public trust.” After a two-decade career rising through the ranks at the Bureau of Prisons, Ciolli became warden at Thomson in February 2021.
An investigation by The Marshall Project and NPR exposed how during his tenure, three people were killed and dozens more alleged they suffered serious mistreatment in lawsuits and interviews. Many incarcerated people described being shackled for hours or days at a time, without access to food or a bathroom. The restraints were so tight they often left scars on people’s wrists, stomachs and ankles that prisoners nicknamed the “Thomson tattoo.” According to Bureau of Prisons policy, restraints should only be used on someone who is in immediate danger of hurting themselves or others or causing serious property damage. While staff can temporarily apply restraints, a warden must approve their continued use. When Bergami took over the facility from Ciolli in 2022, he discovered an “enormous problem with inmate abuse,” he said in an interview last year. The Bureau of Prisons shut down a high-security unit at Thomson in 2023, citing “significant concerns with respect to institutional culture and compliance with BOP policies.”
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