We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

A LUMP OF COAL FOR CENTRAL OFFICE

The other reindeer used to laugh and call Rudolph names… but not in publications circulating on Capitol Hill.

First, Forbes ran a piece a week ago on BOP employee misconduct. Forbes noted that employees are rarely filed, with the BOP “preferring to offer them retirement or reassignment. The article pointed out that then-Attorney General William Barr told a Fraternal Order of Police conference after Jeffrey Epstein’s death that “we are now learning of serious irregularities” at MCC New York, where Epstein was found dead …” and “[we] will get to the bottom of what happened and that there will be accountability.”  

In the end, Forbes said, “two corrections officers were indicted (later entered into a deferred prosecution agreement) while nobody in executive management was charged.” Warden Lamine N’Diaye, who was in charge of notorious MCC New York at the time, was never accused of wrongdoing. He was promoted to be warden at FCI Fort Dix, a considerably larger institution. Edsel Ford, Robert S. McNamara. Lamine N’Diaye… upward failures all.

Retirement is another way the BOP rids itself of an embarrassing employee. There is less press, and the agency can force responsibility on the taxpayers to pay a lifetime pension in exchange for hiding an indiscretion from the public. Plus, retirement derails most investigations by the DOJ Inspector General, because an agency generally cannot take disciplinary action against a retired employee.

Once in a while, however, the employee goes to the mat before the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service, and the public gets a view of bad behavior inside the agency. Forbes reported on a Dec 9 FMCS order upholding the firing of an FCI Miami employee who paid inmates with food for performing his job, including using a staff computer to write emails, place online orders for supplies, search the BOP’s workers’ compensation data, take telephone calls for [the staff member], prepare Equal Employment Opportunity complaints and write correspondence to FCI Miami’s warden regarding a negative performance review” the staff member had gotten.

Meanwhile, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported details from a recently unsealed indictment against a BOP employee accused of conspiring with two inmates to smuggle drugs into USP Atlanta.

None of this is helpful to BOP Director Michael Carvajal, whose firing was demanded a month ago by Sen Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) after news broke about BOP employees committing serious crimes. Last week, a former BOP Director threw gasoline on the dumpster fire in a piece published in The Hill. Perhaps, to pile on the metaphors, I should say the article  threw Carvajal a lifeline… with an anvil tied to the other end.

Former BOP Director Hugh Hurwitz said it’s not necessarily the director’s fault (but he did not suggest that Carvajal not be fired). Federal prisons “are in crisis, riddled with deep and systemic ills that won’t be cured by simply replacing the BOP chief,” Hurwitz wrote. “In fact, we’ve already tried that. Carvajal, appointed last year, became the sixth director or acting director in just five years.”

Hurwitz called for sentencing reform, including “mandating a greater reliance on drug courts, community service and other alternatives to prison, such as halfway houses. It also means eliminating mandatory minimum penalties for drug crimes…”

As for the BOP itself, Hurwitz urged the Attorney General to adopt a “recommendation from the Council on Criminal Justice’s Task Force on Federal Priorities, which called for creation of an independent oversight board for the BOP. This would bring outside expertise to bear on the agency’s multiple challenges while retaining the career leadership that historically has served the agency well.”

Hurwitz called for rebuilding the federal criminal justice system “so that it is smaller, less punitive, more humane and safer for all. With political will, independent oversight and an unwavering commitment, we can make holistic change to a system long in need of it.”

The drumbeats continue and the bad press rolls on. Can the Director hold on?

Forbes, FCI Miami Federal Prison Employee Fired For Using Inmates To Help Perform His Job (December 21, 2021)

Federal Times, A BOP supervisor abused their position then quit. What happens next? (January 6, 2020)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Prison officer indicted in smuggling scheme never met co-defendants, lawyer says (December 22, 2021)

The Hill, To fix our prison system, we need far more than a change in leadership (December 22, 2021)

– Thomas L. Root