Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Director Colette Peters laid out a strategic plan to address the challenges facing the agency through a video entitled “Framework for the Future.” As she enters her second full year in the position, Peters was given a mandate by Congress to improve the BOP but many of those needed improvements have been problems for years. Office of Inspector General and Government Accountability Office have both authored scathing reports on the BOP. Peters, who appeared on 60 Minutes earlier this month, understands that the BOP cannot continue to operate inefficiently, and in some cases inhumanely, as it has for decades.
The top goal of the BOP per Peters is to hire more people. During the 60 Minute interview, Peters was asked about the shortage of staff the BOP is experiencing where she acknowledged that hiring and retaining people has been a challenge. Retired American Federation of Government Employees president Shane Fausey, who appeared in the 60 Minutes report, said that the number of jobs needed to be filled is approximately 8,000. There are currently nearly 36,000 employees in the BOP. Peters said in her address, “We know you [BOP frontline staff) are exhausted and riveted with overtime and augmentation. So we along with the Department of Justice will be laser focused on improving the situation this year.” Augmentation, having those involved in roles such as secretaries, doctors, case managers and counselors, perform correctional staff responsibilities when there are staff shortages, has become routine in the BOP.
The next issue Peters addressed was the crumbling infrastructure of the 122 federal prison facilities located across the country. Peters said, “In the past 10 years, we have received an average of about $100 million dollars a year for an estimated $3 billion backlog in maintenance and repairs. This year we received $180 million. So we will be working diligently on roofs cameras and perimeter fencing and emergency repairs will continue.”
The BOP has also come under fire for its use of restrictive housing used to not only discipline those prisoners who violate rules, but also place those seeking protection from the general inmate population. U.S. Senator Dick Durbin has been an outspoken critic of the BOP’s practices and has sought to introduce legislation to curb the use of housing nearly 11,000 prisoners in the restrictive housing parts of prisons. Peters said, “So we are going to work to optimize the use of restrictive housing so that we can safely and appropriately care for those in our custody while reducing the use of restrictive housing. So we have our own internal workgroup recommendations that are forthcoming, as well as an assessment from an external body through the National Institute of Justice.”
Peters acknowledged that the BOP’s health services departments are understaffed. In addition to advancing the BOP’s recruitment and retention of health services professionals, Peters ordered “a massive review of our health care system.” Both mental and physical health issues for prisoners have long been a challenge as the BOP routinely has to rely on outside hospitals and medical centers to help care for prisoners.
Peters has won over many who believe she is the agent of change needed to overhaul the BOP which has over an annual budget of over $8 billion. The BOP has been plagued by employee misconduct, including the sexual assault of female inmates at multiple of its prison facilities, increases in healthcare costs, understaffing, and infrastructure decay. The BOP has also had difficulty implementing the First Step Act, a law that was supposed to lead to moving more prisoners, mostly minimum security, back into the community sooner. Delays in implementation have been caused by early misinterpretation of the law, computer glitches and a shortage of halfway house capacity.
The BOP has challenges and now Peters has outlined a plan to overcome them, but it will not be easy.
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Article originally published on Forbes.com by Walter Pavlo (Feb 13, 2024)
