On February 6, 2025, Colette S. Peters filed an appeal with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) contesting her unlawful removal as the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). She is represented by Mary Kuntz, a partner with Kalijarvi, Chuzi, Newman & Fitch, P.C.
On the afternoon of January 20, 2025, at 2:54 p.m., Peters, who was appointed Director of the BOP by former President Biden on August 2, 2022, received an email from the Acting Attorney General removing her from her position, “effective immediately.” In a statement released on February 7, 2025, Peters wrote:
“As a dedicated public servant, I had every intention of staying on at BOP. I stood ready to work with the incoming administration, bringing my decades-long track record of bi-partisan work to continue to deliver substantial corrections and criminal justice reform. The Bureau’s employees and those in its care and custody deserved sustained engagement from a leader committed to the BOP’s mission.
I am proud of my tenure as the BOP Director, and have appreciated broad support in my career from Democrats and Republicans who have both recognized my efforts to make prisons safe for corrections professionals and those in our care; to ensure successful reentry into society; and to increase the longevity and sustainability of careers in corrections.
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It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as the BOP Director, to represent the nearly 40,000 unsung heroes who serve as corrections professionals in our nation’s system and to create environments that are safer and more humane resulting in better public safety outcomes. I deeply regret this Administration’s short-sighted decision to remove me from a position in which I succeeded and to which I remain committed. I believe this decision has done a great disservice to the Bureau’s mission, employees, and those in BOP’s care and custody. They are the reason I have filed this appeal.”
According to Kuntz, “Ms. Peters removal was unlawful. The move was politically motivated, did not meet the statutory standards for removal of a career SES appointee, and failed to provide her with the due process to which she was entitled. Ms. Peters is unfortunately just one of many federal employees who have been unlawfully removed in recent weeks. When those like Ms. Peters stand up and hold the government accountable, they are acting not just for themselves but to ensure the integrity of a system meant to protect the rights of many.”
Click here to read the full statement by Peters.