We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues. Today, a couple of short takes from last week’s federal criminal news…

AND YET THEY LOCK UP THE INMATES…

Frank Lara, BOP’s Assistant Director for Correctional Programs until his resignation earlier this year, is now working at director of operations of private prison-owner The GEO Group. The company is one of the largest private prison contractors housing federal inmates, having received $147 million in BOP awards during fiscal 2017.

In a January 24, 2018, memo entitled “Increasing Population Levels in Private Contract Facilities,” Lara directed wardens to identify inmates for transfer to private facilities, saying it would “alleviate the overcrowding at Bureau of Prisons’ institutions and maximize the effectiveness of private contracts.” The memo mentioned only one facility by name, Rivers Correctional Institution in Winton, N.C., which is owned and operated by the GEO Group.

Government Executive magazine reported that The GEO Group did not respond to several emails, and when asked about the hiring over the phone, a company official hung up.

A correctional officers’ union local leader called Lara’s move “the biggest damn conflict of interest that I’ve ever seen.”

Government Executive, Federal Official Boosted Use of Private Prisons; Now He Has a Top Job at One (Aug. 29, 2018)

– Thomas L. Root

STUDY UNCOUPLES SENTENCE LENGTH FROM RECIDIVISM

A Dept. of Justice-funded study published last month found that the average length of a federal sentence could be reduced by 7.5 months with a small impact on recidivism. The authors concluded from the data that “length‐of‐stay effects do not vary by criminal history, offense seriousness, sex, race, and education level.”

The study concluded that reducing the average length of stay for the federal prison population by 7.5 months could save the BOP 33,203 beds once the inmate population reaches steady state.

Criminology & Public Policy, Relationship Between Prison Length of Stay and Recidivism: A Study Using Regression Discontinuity and Instrumental Variables with Multiple Break Points (Aug. 8, 2018)

– Thomas L. Root