We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.
LUCKY 13?
William K. Marshall III has been sworn in as the 13th BOP Director, the agency reported last week.
The number ‘13’ is traditionally seen as unlucky. Superstition or not, Marshall will need a large dose of good fortune to right the BOP, let alone to avoid the fate of the prior three directors, who were fired or quit under pressure.
Putting first things first, Billy made the bold move of ordering that inmates no longer be called “Adults in Custody,” the kinder, gentler term ushered in by the last director, Colette Peters. Walter Pavlo reported on LinkedIn that one of Billy’ first last week was rolled out in an internal email telling staff that “effective immediately BOP will no longer adhere to Adult in Custody (AIC / AICs). Please ensure as of Monday, April 28, 2025, all BOP templates, memos, etc. reflect the usage of inmate(s).”
On his plate right after that may be a BOP corrections officer who was indicted last week in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania US District Court for allegedly sexually abusing an FDC Philadelphia adult-in-custody – oops, an inmate – by using force. The US Attorney’s Office said the inmate was injured during the incident, which occurred last July.
Ironically, last week the Senate passed the Prison Staff Safety Enhancement Act (S.307), sponsored by Sen Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Sen Jon Ossoff (D-GA), to address inmate sexual harassment and sexual assault of BOP staff. The bill, intended to build on the DOJ Inspector General’s 2023 report about inmate-on-staff sexual harassment, now goes to the House of Representatives.
The same bill passed the Senate late last year but died when Congress ended without the House acting on it.
The law that would provide additional protections to federal inmates, the Federal Prison Oversight Act, became law last summer, “but it hasn’t gone into practical effect yet, due in part to funding issues,” Washington Stand reported last week.
Marshall’s most immediate problem is perhaps the most insoluble. The BOP’s struggles with severe staffing shortages that are chronic and well documented, yet the Trump Dept of Government Efficiency just eliminated BOP employee retention bonuses, created in 2021 to keep prisons open. Trump’s Executive Order stripping BOP employees of collective bargaining rights, handed down a month ago, exacerbated the crisis, which is now “a self-fueling monster [with] low staffing levels cause mandatory overtime, stressful conditions, burnout, and, unsurprisingly, high rates of turnover,” the Hill said last week.
Billy has inherited a tinderbox. Pleasing his bosses while keeping it from igniting will require skill and more luck than his predecessors have had in the last seven years.
BOP, Deputy AG Blanche Swears in William K. Marshall III (April 28, 2025)
Cherry Hill Courier-Post, Cherry Hill corrections officer accused of sexual abuse at Federal Detention Center (May 2, 2025)
Prison Staff Safety Enhancement Act (S.307)
DOJ Inspector General, Evaluation of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Efforts to Address Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault Committed by Inmates Toward Staff (Feb 23, 2023)
Federal Prison Oversight Act, PubL 118-71, 138 Stat 1492 (July 25, 2024)
Washington Stand, Trump’s First Step Act Was a Monumental Success. His New Administration Has a Chance to Build On It. (May 1, 2025)
The Hill, Prison understaffing: A crisis seen by few, felt by prisoners and prison employees (April 26, 2025)
– Thomas L. Root