This lengthy new Slate commentary laments an array of policy and practical developments in federal prisons to argue that “[s]ince his first day in office, the Trump administration has thrown the lives of incarcerated people into chaos — especially the more than 150,000 people under the jurisdiction of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.” I recommend the piece in full, and here are some excerpts:
The BOP — the nation’s largest single prison system—has been in a “long-standing crisis” for more than a decade, … incarcerated people and BOP experts say that in just a few short months, the Trump administration has exacerbated this crisis. He has implemented major pay cuts, issued confusing and short-sighted orders, directly targeted vulnerable incarcerated populations, and haphazardly slashed funding for crucial initiatives….
People incarcerated in BOP facilities are already feeling the effects, including through the increased use of lockdowns, during which entire units are confined to cells for hours or days on end. In recent weeks, many federal prisons have implemented new policies, such as full-day lockdowns once a week, or nightly lockdowns starting at 6, according to reports sent by incarcerated people to the advocacy group More Than Our Crimes. These incarcerated writers often report that staff blame the new lockdowns on insufficient staffing or overtime bans….
“These are big problems that lead to even bigger problems,” Hugh Hurwitz, who served as BOP acting director from 2018 to 2019, told Forbes in April. “You have a situation where inmates are angry and I know from what I am hearing that staff are angry. That is not a good combination on top of the issues with poor morale, staffing shortage, pressure to cut costs from the new administration and managing all this while trying to stick to the mission of security in the prisons. … It is a powder keg and a lot of people are worried about a big incident that may happen next.”…
Jack Donson, a 23-year former BOP employee, policy expert, and executive director of the Prison Education and Reform Alliance, says the BOP could safely and significantly reduce its spending. He noted the agency has more employees than in the mid-2000s, despite a similar number of incarcerated people. The problem, he argues, is that there are too many bureaucratic roles in D.C. and in regional headquarters, and not enough front-line staff. “Prison staff will tell you that these administrative layers (especially at the regional level) have become bloated at the expense of correctional and other specialized personnel at individual facilities,” Donson wrote in March.