We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.
TOUGH WEEK FOR THE BOP
Bad news came in threes for the Federal Bureau of Prisons last week.
First, the BOP announced it is closing the USP Thomson Special Management Unit – described by The Marshall Project as sort of a “double solitary” detention unit for violent inmates – after adverse reports have circulated for months about inmate deaths, suicides and reported sexual harassment by staff and against staff..
The 350 SMU prisoners will be transferred to other prisons. They had come to the Thomson SMU (USP Thomson sits on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River about 125 miles due west of Chicago) after committing disciplinary infractions in facilities around the country, the New York Times reported.
Bureau officials “recently identified significant concerns with respect to institutional culture and compliance with BOP policies” at the high-security facility, which houses about 800 inmates, Randilee Giamusso, a bureau spokeswoman, wrote in an email.
“We believe these issues are having a detrimental impact on facility operations, and the BOP has determined that there is a need for immediate corrective measures,” she added.
Second, on February 14, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that BOP employees cannot sue over the government’s denial of hazard pay benefits in connection with their work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The en banc decision held that under existing Office of Personnel Management regulations governing hazard pay, only federal workers enlisted to work in a laboratory setting with “virulent biologicals” are entitled to enhanced pay for dangerous work not included in their job description.
FCI Danbury workers sued in 2020, claiming they were entitled to hazard pay because they worked in close proximity to inmates infected with COVID-19 and were not provided sufficient personal protective equipment.
Third, the Reason Foundation, which skewered the BOP for reported medical neglect at FCI Aliceville, sued the Bureau under the Freedom of Information Act last week for records about whether women who died at Aliceville and FMC Carswell received adequate medical care.
Reason Foundation, a nonprofit that publishes Reason magazine, is seeking medical reviews of in-custody deaths in two federal women’s
Reason filed a FOIA request with the BOP in May 2020 for inmate mortality reviews at Aliceville and Carswell.
New York Times, Bureau of Prisons Is Closing Troubled, Violent Detention Unit in Illinois (February 14, 2023)
Government Executive, Federal Prisons Employees Aren’t Entitled to COVID Hazard Pay, Appeals Judges Rule (February 16, 2023)
Reason, Reason Files FOIA Lawsuit Against Bureau of Prisons for Inmate Death Records (February 17, 2023)
– Thomas L. Root