The United States federal prison system has 157,000 inmates in its custody and locks up some of the most dangerous and high-profile criminals in the world.

Serial killers and terrorists are among those inside its 122 prisons, which include supermax penitentiaries and minimum security camps. The cost to American taxpayers is more than $8 billion a year.

Tonight, we will take you inside the Federal Bureau of Prisons, an agency in crisis.

A series of government investigations has found the bureau's workforce is dangerously understaffed and, inside its women's prisons, there is an alarming pattern of abuse.

Colette Peters is in charge of fixing the Bureau of Prisons. She's the sixth director in six years. 

This is Aliceville – a low-security women's prison in rural Alabama where more than 1,400 inmates are serving time. 

Colette Peters: People drive past prisons every day.

Cecilia Vega: Yeah, they're terrified of them.

Colette Peters: Or they don't think about them at all. Right, it's kind of like this forgotten zone. I don't want people to forget about this place. 

Colette Peters became director of the Bureau of Prisons in August 2022.

After a 20-year career in corrections, she's built a reputation as a reformer – before becoming director, she was credited with shaping Oregon's state prison system by prioritizing staff mental health support and advocating for the compassionate treatment of inmates. 

Colette Peters: I have this very early memory in kindergarten where an individual came in with a pocket knife and was marched to the principal's office. And I just remember in that moment saying, "I wanna help him."

See: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bureau-of-prisons-understaffing-abuse-disrepair-60-minutes-transcript/