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NOT THE BEST WEEK FOR THE BOP

Earlier this past week, a gang fight at a Florida BOP facility killed an inmate and sent several to the hospital. Then this past weekend, high-profile defendant Jeffrey Epstein, being detained at MCC New York, apparently killed himself shortly after being taken off suicide watch.

It all adds up to a bad week for BOP Acting Director Hugh Hurwitz. And it’s not like to get better soon.

Investigations were immediately launched by the FBI and Dept. of Justice Inspector General. The Washington Post said Saturday afternoon that “the death is sure to draw intense scrutiny of the Bureau of Prisons and the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York. The high-rise federal detention center in downtown Manhattan has a fearsome reputation; one inmate who spent time there and at Guantanamo Bay said that the U.S. facility in Cuba was “more pleasant” and “more relaxed.”

At minimum, expect the BOP’s suicide program statement, last updated 12 years ago, to get a rewrite over the Epstein incident. More likely, a lot of hard questions are going to be asked by law enforcement and congress alike of BOP Central Office staff and the affected wardens.

But the investigation is likely to go far beyond that. Yesterday, the Houston Chronicle reported that “the apparent suicide of Jeffrey Epstein has brought new scrutiny to a federal jail in New York that, despite chronic understaffing, houses some of the highest-security inmates in the country.” It characterized the suicide as “the latest black eye for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, the jail’s parent agency that already was under fire for the October death of Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, who was fatally beaten at a federal prison in West Virginia shortly after his arrival.”

Taken together, the deaths underscore “serious issues surrounding a lack of leadership” within the BOP, the Chronicle reported, quoting Cameron Lindsay, a former warden who ran three federal lockups, including the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

Yesterday, the New York Times reported that “one of the two people guarding Jeffrey Epstein when he apparently hanged himself in a federal jail cell was not a full-fledged correctional officer, and neither guard had checked on Mr. Epstein for several hours before he was discovered, prison and law-enforcement officials said.” The description sounds suspiciously like the BOP was using augmentation, its practice of pressing non-correctional officers into CO roles.

Attorney General William P. Barr criticized BOP’s management of MCC New York yesterday, saying, “We are now learning of serious irregularities at this facility that are deeply concerning and demand a thorough investigation… We will get to the bottom of what happened. There will be accountability.”

Uh-oh. Sounds like some Warden’s bonus is in jeopardy. Or not.

USA Today, One inmate killed and five others hospitalized after clash between white and black federal prisoners (Aug. 5, 2019)

Houston Chronicle, Federal New York lockup draws new scrutiny in Epstein death (Aug. 12, 2019)

Washington Post, Jeffrey Epstein dead after ‘apparent suicide’ in New York (Aug. 10, 2019)

The New York Times, In Short-Staffed Jail, Epstein Was Left Alone for Hours; Guard Was Substitute (Aug. 12, 2019)

– Thomas L. Root