BOP Program Statement 3716.01 § 4

a. Responsibilities Applicable to All Bureau Staff. Each staff member is responsible for

conducting themselves in accordance with the Program Statement Standards of Employee

Conduct, refraining from any harassing conduct, and becoming familiar with and complying

with the provisions of this program statement.

b. Responsibilities of Supervisors and Management Officials. Supervisors and managers are

responsible for:

■ Preventing harassing conduct in the workplace from all staff, contract workers, and

inmates.

■ Acting promptly and appropriately to prevent retaliation and harassment against those

who are subjected to and/or report harassing conduct.

■ Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or other appropriate authority, including

but not limited to, their immediate supervisor, the Office of Internal Affairs (OIA) the

Office of Inspector General (OIG), Management Officials, EEO Counselors, and/or

Ombudsman, any incident of harassing conduct they witness, observe, or is otherwise

brought to their attention in accordance with Section 5d of this program statement.

■ Maintaining confidentiality of individual complaints brought to their attention consistent

with the other provisions of this program statement. Information about reported incidents

should be disclosed only to those with a legitimate need to know.

■ Not subjecting individuals to retaliation for bringing issues forward.

■ Providing prompt, interim relief, when necessary, to alleged victims of harassing conduct

to ensure further misconduct does not occur. To the greatest extent practical, the concerns

of the alleged victim and any adverse impact on them will be taken into consideration. If

interim relief is provided, the relief will be provided until the investigation/review is

concluded, at which point a determination of final relief will be made. If the supervisor or

management official does not have the authority to provide the relief, if any is necessary,

they must refer the matter to the appropriate management official.

■ Promptly initiating appropriate corrective and disciplinary action, up to and including

removal, against staff who are found to have engaged in harassing conduct, or who have

not carried out their responsibilities under this program statement, in accordance with all

applicable laws and the Program Statement Standards of Employee Conduct.

c. Responsibilities of the Bureau EEO Office. The Bureau EEO Office is responsible for:

■ Providing anti-harassment training to ensure all staff are informed of this program

statement and procedures to follow when reporting harassing conduct.

3716.01 3/19/2026 PROPERTY OF US GOVERNMENT 5

■ Providing anti-harassment training to supervisors and managers. This training can include

but is not limited to civil treatment training and training in response to adverse decisions.

■ Training will explain the various types of conduct that violate this program statement, the

potential liability the Bureau faces when this program statement is violated, the

responsibilities of supervisors and managers when they learn of alleged harassing

conduct, and the prohibition against harassing conduct.

■ Receiving and reporting allegations of harassing conduct, presented pursuant to this

program statement to OIA.

■ Providing technical assistance as requested.

d. Reporting Harassing Conduct. The Bureau cannot correct harassing conduct if the conduct

is unknown.

Any Bureau staff who believe they have been the subject of an incident of harassing conduct in

violation of this program statement is required to report this matter, in writing or orally, to any

supervisor, management official, and/or OIA. Reports involving contractors or their personnel

must be directed to the contracting officer.

Staff who believe they have been subjected to discrimination must abide by the timeframes in the

Program Statement Discrimination and Retaliation Complaints Processing if they wish to

pursue those avenues for redress. If there is a delay in reporting harassment in accordance with

the Program Statement Standards of Employee Conduct, it is recommended consideration be

extended to reporting parties given the traumatic nature of harassment.

e. Responding to Allegations of Harassing Conduct. A supervisor, management official, or

contracting officer who receives an allegation of or witnesses harassing conduct must:

■ Speak with the relevant parties to conduct a limited inquiry. The alleged harasser may be

asked, but is not required, to provide information, verbally or in writing.

■ Consider the privacy concerns of the alleged victim. Discussions about the alleged

harassment should be conducted in a private area, when possible.

■ Take prompt corrective action to stop any harassing conduct and prevent further

harassing conduct while the allegations are being investigated, including granting

appropriate interim relief, when necessary, to the alleged victim. If the supervisor or

management official does not have the authority to provide appropriate corrective action

or interim relief, they will refer the matter to the appropriate management official. Any

corrective action taken by the CEO against the alleged harasser must be consistent with

applicable laws, rules, and regulations. The range of possible corrective actions and/or

responses will be determined by the CEO. These corrective actions and/or responses may

include, but are not limited to, issuance of cease-and-desist letters, schedule changes, the

reassignment of the alleged harasser to another job within the work site or removing the

alleged harasser from the work site pending resolution of the matter.

3716.01 3/19/2026 PROPERTY OF US GOVERNMENT 6

■ Recognize each allegation of harassment is unique. Accordingly, the corrective actions

and/or responses must be tailored to address the particular facts of the situation. The

issuance of cease-and-desist letters must be used appropriately. When two staff members

might both be at fault or acting inappropriately, it would be reasonable to consider issuing

cease-and-desist letters to both individuals. In cases where there has been a report of one-sided harassment, the alleged victim will not be issued a cease-and-desist letter.

■ Considering the concerns of the alleged victim when determining corrective actions

and/or responses.

■ Determining if a threat assessment is needed in accordance with the Program Statement

Workplace Violence Prevention, Staff.

■ Promptly conducting a thorough and impartial investigation of harassment allegations.

f. Confidentiality. All information is maintained on a confidential basis to the greatest extent

possible. The maintenance of records and any disclosures of information from these records must

be in full compliance with the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a. To carry out the intent of this

program statement, however, such information may have to be disclosed to OIA, or to those

officials and staff within the Bureau with a “need to know”, to include but not limited to,

members of the Anti-Harassment Committee.