Charles E. Samuels, Jr., appointed director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) by Attorney General Eric Holder on December 21, 2011, started at the bottom as a correctional officer (prison guard) more than 23 years ago.

 

Born circa 1965 in Birmingham, Alabama, Samuels earned his B.S. in Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1987. Samuels also graduated the Harvard University Executive Education Program for senior managers in government in August 2007. 

 

Samuels began his career with the BOP as a correctional officer in March 1988. Subsequently, he was selected for positions of increasing responsibility, including Case Manager trainee at the medium security Federal Correctional Institution (“FCI”) in Talladega, Alabama; Case Manager at the medium security U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia; Community Corrections trainee and Community Corrections Oversight Specialist at the medium security FCI in Phoenix, Arizona; Unit Manager at the low security FCI for women in Dublin, California; Program Review Division Examiner at the BOP Central Office in Washington, DC; and Regional Correctional Programs Administrator and Executive Assistant for the Northeast Region.

 

Samuels served as Associate Warden at the medium security FCIs in Otisville, New York, and Beckley, West Virginia, and was named Ombudsman in the BOP Central Office. He was promoted to Warden and served as Warden at the medium security FCI in Manchester, Kentucky (circa 2005), and the low security FCI in Fort Dix, New Jersey (circa 2006-2010). He was named Senior Deputy Assistant Director of the Correctional Programs Division (CPD) on November 2, 2010, and was promoted to CPD Assistant Director just two months later, in January 2011. In that position, Samuels oversaw all inmate management and program functions.

 

In June 2006, he was appointed to the Senior Executive Service while serving as Warden at FCI Fort Dix.

-Matt Bewig