We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.
A LITTLE BIT OF NOTHING FOR THE LADIES
Sure, they’re all inmates. But only the most callous observer would suggest that forcing female inmates to undergo strip searches in front of male Bureau of Prisons personnel is all right, because, after all, “if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime…” and all that claptrap. It turns out that a critical shortage of BOP correctional officers is having a disparate effect on the 10,567 female inmates held in the system, the Dept. of Justice Inspector General reported last Thursday. “The lack of sufficient staff is most noticeable at larger female institutions,” the OIG Report said.
As of September 2016, female inmates represented 7% of the BOP sentenced inmate population of 146,084. The OIG review was sparked in part by Congress and public interest groups raising concerns with DOJ about deficiencies in BOP’s current management of female inmates.
Although BOP policy requires that female prisoners can only be searched by female correctional officers, the BOP is unable to ensure a female officer is available at each post where such searches are required, the report says. The report also concluded that 90% of the female inmate population would benefit from trauma treatment, but staffing shortages make it nearly impossible to provide eligible inmates with the care they need, according to the report.
In a response attached to the report, Hugh Hurwitz, acting BOP director, said he agrees with the IG’s recommendations and vowed to improve both staffing and training. How he is going to pull that off in light of the BOP’s budget reductions ought to be a neat trick.
Washington Times, Staffing shortages blocking female inmates from critical services (Sept. 18, 2018)
Dept. of Justice Office of Inspector General, Review of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Management of Its Female Inmate Population (Sept. 17, 2018)
– Thomas L. Root