Tag Archives: BOP

So You Had a Bad Day… Dr. Hawk Sawyer – Update for November 27, 2019

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

THE BOP’S TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY

Tuesday, November 19, was no kind of day for the BOP.

lazyguard191127First, two BOP correctional officers on duty the morning financier Jeffrey Epstein, in pretrial detention for sex charges, killed himself last summer were indicted under 18 USC 1001 for having faked records that they performed Special Housing Unit inmate counts overnight and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States for good measure. The New York Times reported one CO was catching up on sports news and looking at motorcycle sales on a government computer, while the other spent time shopping online for furniture. For a couple hours, they slept.

Attorney General William Barr said the suicide was the result of “a perfect storm of screw-ups,” numerous irregularities at MDC New York that gave Epstein the chance to take his own life.

At the same time the indictments were being announced, BOP director Kathleen Hawk Sawyer got grilled by the Senate Judiciary Committee about the Epstein debacle, a mess she was brought out of retirement to fix. She admitted that issues such as officers sleeping on the job have been an ongoing problem. “We’ve been monitoring the cameras… at every one of our institutions to determine how well and how effective our staff members are doing their rounds,” Sawyer said. “We have found a couple of other instances [of guards napping on the job] and we’ve immediately referred those to the inspector general’s office.”

Sawyer also told the Committee that FBI investigators are looking into whether a “criminal enterprise” may have played a role in Epstein’s death.

risk160627The Committee also criticized the proposed PATTERN risk assessment tool which is to be adopted in its final form by the end of November. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) complained that PATTERN is “so fundamentally unfair, that it cannot stand without challenge.”

In a PATTERN test run, Durbin said, 29% of white inmates were deemed to be high-risk for returning to prison compared with 59% of black inmates. “Part of the problem is the tool doesn’t distinguish between a traffic stop and a murder conviction,” Durbin said. “It simply measures the risk that someone will be arrested or return to the federal system, and an arrest is not a new crime. A conviction is a new crime.”

The New York Times, Guards Accused of Napping and Shopping Online the Night Epstein Died (Nov. 19)

The Crime Report, Federal Prison Guard Napping Called Ongoing Problem (Nov. 20)

Associated Press, AG Barr: Epstein’s death was a ‘perfect storm of screw-ups’ (Nov. 22)

– Thomas L. Root

First Step Touted While Good-Time Adjustments Languish – Update for October 29, 2019

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

FIRST STEP: TRUMP FIDDLES WHILE BOP BURNS

angrytrump191003President Donald Trump touted the First Step Act in a speech last Friday at the 2019 Second Step Presidential Justice Forum in South Carolina, talking about how the Act helped African Americans by releasing thousands of non-violent offenders to gain early release from federal prison.

“In America, you’re innocent until proven guilty and we don’t have investigations in search of that crime,” he said while accepting an award at historically black Benedict College for his role in passage of First Step.  “Justice, fairness and due process are core tenets of our democracy. These are timeless principles I will faithfully uphold as president.”

Much of what was said at the conference was overshadowed by Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Kamala Harris (D-California), who refused to attend the conference because Trump was included on the list of speakers. Harris, whose record as a take-no-prisoners prosecutor has caused some to be skeptical of her 11th-hour conversion to the cause of criminal justice, flip-flopped on the boycott threat and agreed to show after all, after winning a window-dressing removal of one of the sponsors for its sin of giving an award to Trump.

During the hour-long address, Trump called on several people who had been released from prison under the First Step Act to the stage to offer testimonials.

Many of Trump’s Democratic presidential rivals spoke over the weekend, and took turns slamming Trump. Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, argued, “The fact of the matter is Donald Trump was given an award for the 10 seconds it took him to sign a bill into law that contradicts every one of his instincts and history of promoting racist criminal justice policies.”

I’m no Trump fan, but Sen. Booker needs to be fact-checked on this assertion.

All was not bliss for implementation of First Step last week. Filter magazine, launched in September 2018 to advocate for rational and compassionate approaches to drug use, drug policy and human rights, blasted the Bureau of Prisons for its “incompetent” application of the star-crossed additional 7 days-a-year good time.

Citing long-time prisoners who would be camp-eligible if they were granted the additional good time to which they are entitled, Filter said that due to “a potential failure, attributable to administrative inadequacy, to apply a much-anticipated reform to… federal prisoners until over a year after it was supposed to be implemented in July 2019.

screwup191028

Filter reported that as of September 16th, the Designation and Sentence Computation Center “had made First Step Act updates only for incarcerated people with previously projected release dates that fell before October 2020.” The magazine quoted a response to an August 22 administrative remedy request for recalculation filed by an anonymous inmate, in which the BOP gave no clear date for when the inmate could expect an updated GCT calculation, only explaining their prioritization of projected release dates and stating that “there may be some variance in the speed with each DSCC team completes the recalculations for the inmates assigned to them.” The BOP said “this process may take up to a year.”

A BOP official told Filter that implementing the change in good time is “complex” due to the “various federal statutes and BOP policy” with which recalculations must be “carried out in accordance.”

The BOP’s information technology systems are “dinosaurs,” Kara Gotsch, the director of strategic initiatives for The Sentencing Project, told Filter, citing explanations she’s heard from BOP staffers. Gotsch said that even this description “is generous,” adding that “it’s like they don’t have the right kind of computer” to perform the recalculations in time.

The BOP denied this claim, calling Gotsch’s explanation “speculation based on hearsay,” and added that “the computers and technology utilized by our staff are not outdated and incompetent. They use commercially-available and fully-supported technology.

Speculation it may be, but the BOP has known since last Christmas it would have to recalculate inmate good time. It’s failure to get the process in place, which would require  the use of a simple formula that any high school math geek could write with a Texas Instruments nine-buck calculator, is equally explainable as institutional arrogance or institutional incompetence.

The Columbia, South Carolina, State, Trump’s Columbia visit wraps with praise of HBCUs and reform, peaceful demonstrations (Oct. 26)

Filter, The Consequences of an Incompetent First Step Act Rollout (Oct. 15)

– Thomas L. Root

Dog Bites Man: Vendor Sells Bad Food to BOP – Update for October 2, 2019

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

WEDNESDAY IN THE CHOW HALL WILL NEVER BE THE SAME

For those of you unfortunate enough not to have experienced it firsthand, we offer an explanation: Wednesdays are always hamburger days in the Bureau of Prisons chow halls nationwide. While it’s true that the Burger King would be dethroned for selling a burger like the one that’s standard fare in the BOP, still, the Wednesday midday meal is a brighter spot than the meals for the other six days of the week.

Until now.

badburger191002Two meatpacking plant executives pled guilty last Tuesday to their role in a scheme to sell 800,000 lbs. of bad meat to the BOP, according to the US Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

According to the plea agreement, the two men admitted to selling uninspected, misbranded, or adulterated meat – including whole cow hearts labeled as “ground beef” – to 32 prisons in 18 states.

West Texas Provisions, Inc. president Jeffery N. Smith and operations manager Derrick Martinez pled guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States. The BOP paid about $1 million for the bad meat between October 2016 and August 2017.

West Texas Provisions marketed uninspected meat as “USDA inspected.” The company processed whole cow hearts (not permitted in ground beef products) at nights, when inspectors were not present, and labeled it “ground beef.” The defendants often kept the lights off while processing uninspected meat, hid uninspected meat in the freezer while inspectors were in the building, and distracted inspectors from looking at questionable product.

Bon appetit.

US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, Meat Packing Plant Execs Plead Guilty to Selling $1 Million in Adulterated Ground Beef to Federal Bureau of Prisons (Sept. 25)

The Crime Report, Meat Executives Plead Guilty to Selling Bad Beef to 32 Prisons (Sept. 26)

– Thomas L. Root

Sisyphus Had Nothing on Us – Update for September 24, 2019

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NOTHING HAPPENS FAST – PART 1

sisyphus190924Remember that Greek guy who kept rolling the rock up the hill, only to have it roll back down, and then he’d have to do it again? Yeah, that Sisyphus character… Legal combat with the Bureau of Prisons over the agency’s glacial pace in updating sentences to add the additional 7 days-a-year good time credit is something like that.

Last December, the First Step Act amended the wording of 18 USC 3624(b)(1) to correct a Congressional oversight. Congress had always intended that federal inmates get 54 days per year good-conduct credit, but it had written the statute so badly that the BOP was able to interpret 54 days to really mean 47 days. No fooling. The First Step Act was to fix that.

onecar190924But trust Congress to screw up a one-car parade… even the “fix” was messed up. Congress meant that inmates would immediately retroactively receive seven extra days for every year they had served in their sentences, the be only 47. But the statute was unclear, and the BOP took the position that the extra seven days would only be effective on July 19th (180 days after the statute passed).

Even that hasn’t worked. Since July 19th, I have been bombarded with emails from inmates that the BOP has yet to correct their sentences to add the extra seven days per year. The BOP complains that the process is labor-intensive, and it’s moving as fast as it can.

Attempts to address the problem judicially has thus far come to naught. Case in point: Tim Greene, doing a long sentence for bank robbery, was due to be released August 9th. But with the additional 7 days a year, his release date would be moved back to March 29. He filed a habeas corpus petition in the Northern District of Texas last February, arguing that he was due the extra good time right away, and should be released at the end of March.

The District Court dismissed the petition as premature, because July 19th had not yet come around, and Tim appealed. By now, it was early June. He filed his brief, a motion for expedited consideration, and a request for conditional release. But nothing happened fast. The government filed its brief a month later, and Tim replied on July 18. The next day, the BOP kicked him out the door, which is exactly what would have happened had Tim done nothing.

nothing190924Last week, the 5th Circuit finally ruled. It held the BOP was right that the extra goodtime only became effective on July 19, making Tim’s petition premature. Because Tim got out July 19, the requests for expedited consideration and conditional release were dismissed as moot.

There are undoubtedly habeas cases in the pipeline over the BOP’s failure to update release dates by applying the extra goodtime, a failure that messes with release plans and halfway house/home confinement placement. But as Tim’s case – which took seven months start to finish – shows, nothing happens fast.

Greene v. Underwood, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 28512 (5th Cir. Sept. 20, 2019)

– Thomas L. Root

Ecclesiastes Was Right Where the BOP is Concerned – Update for August 27, 2019

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THE OLD IS NEW AGAIN AS FORMER BOP DIRECTOR RE-ASSUMES HELM

nothingnew190827The supremely pessimistic and apochryphal author of Ecclesiastes in the Christian bible (Kohelet in the Talmud), King Solomon, complained in Chapter 1, Verse 9, that “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”

Welcome to the all-new BOP. 

As everyone knows by now, last Monday Attorney General William Barr unceremoniously fired interim BOP Director Hugh J. Hurwitz, replacing him with former BOP Director Dr. Kathleen Hawk Sawyer as interim director and former interim BOP Director Dr. Thomas R. Kane as interim assistant director.

Even before Epstein’s death, Justice Dept. officials reportedly expressed off-the-record frustration with senior BOP officials, but the management flaws found since high profile defendant Jeffrey Epstein killed himself at MCC New York Aug. 10 have angered DOJ leaders, including the attorney general, according to anonymous law enforcement officials quoted by the Washington Post.

hurwitz190827Robert Hood, a retired former warden at ADX Florence and a critic of BOP leadership, called Hawk Sawyer an “outstanding” choice. “After a lot of recent instability, Kathleen Hawk Sawyer brings stability and direction,” Hood said. “She’s been a warden, she’s been a trainer, and she means business. It’s breathtaking to hear that she’s back. It’s exciting for the staff, many of whom have only heard about her. They know she’s a nuts-and-bolts person and a very direct person to work with.”

Hood predicted that Hawk Sawyer, a psychologist, will move quickly to fix a major problem at the bureau — the number of senior positions that have gone unfilled or had their responsibilities delegated temporarily.

sawyer190827Hawk Sawyer is no newbie. She ran the BOP from 1992 to 2003, capping a career that began back in 1976 as a psychologist at FCI Morgantown. But it’s been 16 years since she last led the agency, and some say a lot has changed in the interim. Jonathan Smith, a prison rights attorney, says the BOP is “much more complicated than when she was last director, partially because the growth in population, partially because you see a much harsher and more punitive system.”

Smith told NPR that today’s BOP uses solitary confinement more frequently than it did in the past. He says the use of private prisons has skyrocketed, as has the privatization of services across the system. And perhaps most importantly, the federal prison population has jumped from 65,000 in 1992 to more than 177,000 in 2019.

NPR reported that during her tenure as BOP Director, Hawk Sawyer was thought of as a champion of rehabilitation, someone who pushed for education opportunities inside federal prisons.

Additionally, Hawk Sawyer has “a long track record advocating for ‘good-time credits’ as a way to motivate inmates to participate in programs for personal development,” according to the Washington Examiner. “She correctly realized that increasing good-time allowances could go a long way toward reducing the federal prison population and help maintain order in prisons too.”

With last year’s passage of the First Step Act, some of the changes to sentencing laws and good-time credits that Hawk Sawyer supported are now law. The reforms included in the First Step Act are based largely on state-level successes, including former tough-on-crime states, that have now instead become smart on crime — and soft on taxpayers.

inch190827Not everyone is excited by Hawk Sawyer’s appointment. A former AUSA turned defense attorney and former BOP official observed that in 2017 then-Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III appointed Mark Inch, a retired Army major general, to run the system. After less than a year, General Inch – who tried to make changes within the BOP and to navigate a middle course, abruptly quit. Hawk Sawyer, a permanent replacement, was not named until this week, the authors complained,

 

when Barr appointed someone who previously served in the position for over a decade, and who contributed to the current problems plaguing the Bureau. This is not going to create systemic change. This reactive switch in leadership is pure optics. We need to ask this question: Why was General Inch, someone who tried to change the culture, ultimately replaced with a BOP veteran?

clusterfuck190827Regardless of one’s position on Hawk Sawyer’s appointment, there is general agreement that she faces an agency in disarray. “”Clusterfuck doesn’t begin to describe the current state of the BOP, and it dates far beyond the Trump administration,” David Safavian, deputy director of the American Conservative Union Foundation’s criminal justice reform center, told The Marshall Project this week. “Anyone who thinks BOP is a high performing organization has never been inside a federal prison.”

Part of the problem, according to Reason.com, is “that the BOP is its own secretive fiefdom. It’s incredibly hard for reporters, family members, and civil liberties groups to find out what goes on behind prison walls, much less hold officials accountable.”

Washington Post, After Epstein’s death, attorney general replaces leader at Bureau of Prisons (Aug 19)

The Huffington Post, Jeffrey Epstein Death Shines Light On Understaffed, Unaccountable Federal Prison System (Aug 15)

National Review, The Epstein Fiasco and the Flaws with Our Criminal-Justice System (Aug 22)

The Marshall Project, Epstein’s Death Highlights A Staffing Crisis in Federal Prisons (Aug 14)

Reason.com, Jeffrey Epstein Is Dead Because His Jailers Neglected Him. He’s Not the Only One. (Aug 15)

Washington Examiner, New Bureau of Prisons leadership should focus on rehabilitation (Aug 21)

Washington Examiner, AG William Barr must do more to fix dismal prison conditions (Aug 22)

The Hill, A better way to run the Federal Bureau of Prisons (Aug 22)

NPR, What’s Changed Since Kathleen Hawk Sawyer Last Headed Prison Bureau? (Aug 22)

– Thomas L. Root

Unwelcome Spotlight Shines on the BOP – Update for August 19, 2019

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MEDIA CRANKS UP HEAT ON BOP IN WAKE OF EPSTEIN SUICIDE

abandonprison170501The Justice Dept. last Tuesday reassigned the warden at MCC New York, where Jeffrey Epstein hanged himself nine days ago, and placed on leave two Bureau of Prison staff who had been monitoring Epstein’s unit at the time. The shakeup came as the MCC fell under intense scrutiny, with critics calling the suicide “emblematic of a neglected, understaffed and dysfunctional federal prison system.”

A day earlier, Attorney General William P. Barr decried “serious irregularities” at the MCC and criticized the BOP’s “failure” to keep Epstein secure.

USA Today said that the suicide “has cast a jarring spotlight on the nation’s largest prison system plagued for years by dangerous staffing shortages, violence and widespread sexual harassment of female officers.”

Noting the BOP’s efforts to fill up to 5,000 vacancies and its lack of a director since Mark Inch resigned a year ago, Eric Young, national president of the federal prison workers union, said, “We’ve got a serious problem.”

The Houston Chronicle reported that Epstein’s suicide is “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… Taken together, the deaths underscore ‘serious issues surrounding a lack of leadership’ within the BOP, said Cameron Lindsay, a former warden who ran three federal lockups, including the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.”

shu160201Other outlets reported that “major irregularities” in the MCC Special Housing Unit contributed to Epstein not being monitored properly. Those stories were followed by reports that the irregularities were primarily due to COs “working extreme overtime shifts to make up for staffing shortages the morning of his apparent suicide,” according to Politico. A BOP source was quoted as saying that the SHU was staffed with one guard working a fifth straight day of overtime and another who was working mandatory overtime.

The New York Times reported that one of the SHU guards that day was not a full-fledged correctional officer, and neither guard had checked on Epstein for several hours before he was discovered.

By the middle of last week, the focus was on BOP staffing levels. The Marshall Project reported that the Epstein suicide “followed steep and persistent staffing shortages that exceeded the rate of decline in the federal prison population… The federal prison system lost 12% of its workforce from the start of the Trump administration through the end of 2018. Administration officials have argued that the staff drop, which resulted partly from a hiring freeze, was mitigated by a reduction in the number of federal prisoners. But… over a two-year period between Sept. 2016 and Sept. 2018, the bureau lost 10% of its employees. In that same period, the total number of federal prisoners dropped by just over 5%.”

CNN reported that the BOP continues to rely on “augmentation,” using non-correctional officers in CO positions to cover staff shortages, noting that Congress has repeatedly asked the BOP to give up augmentation, even while denying it enough budget to hire more COs. The Hill complained that “it is the failure of leadership inside the permanent Justice Department bureaucracy — one that has served multiple presidents, Republican and Democrat — to fully address the resources and cultural deficiencies” that has resulted in the staffing crisis at BOP.

Schadenfreude aside, it is rare that media attention and Congressional hand-wringing results in changes in the BOP that positively affects staff or inmates.

Washington Post, Justice Dept. reassigns warden of jail where Epstein died, puts two staffers on leave (Aug. 13)

USA Today, Jeffrey Epstein suicide casts spotlight on federal prison system riven by staff shortages, violence, sexual harassment (Aug. 12)

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

Politico, Jeffrey Epstein’s guards were working extreme OT shifts (Aug. 12)

The Marshall Project, Epstein’s Death Highlights A Staffing Crisis in Federal Prisons (Aug. 14)

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

The Hill, Deadly déjà vu: Epstein’s prison death was decades in the making (Aug. 13)

– Thomas L. Root

Not a Great Week for the BOP – Update for August 13, 2019

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

NOT THE BEST WEEK FOR THE BOP

baddayA181130Earlier 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.

badday190813Yesterday, 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

The Short Rocket – Update for July 25, 2019

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THE SHORT ROCKET

Some People Need to be Locked Up…

rocket-312767A lot of people rely on Angel Tree to provide gifts to their kids at Christmas. Angel Tree, in turn, relies on volunteers and donations to be able to fill prisoners’ wishes for their kids.

A Waco, Texas, Angel Tree volunteer who police say stole Christmas presents meant for children with parents in prison, was arrested last week.

According to the arrest affidavit, Charabe Allison would either give donated clothing to her own family members or exchange the items at stores for gift cards. She was caught because clothing was returned to a local store that a store worker had bought with an employee discount. Because such clothing was not returnable, management questioned the employee, who then reported that her donation to Angel Tree had been returned for credit.

Despite my predisposition against indiscriminate incarceration, I think this woman needs to be locked up…

Waco, Texas, Tribune, Angel Tree volunteer arrested, accused on exchanging gifts for store credit (July 16)

College Administrators Urge Full Repeal of Pell Ban…

Vivian Nixon, who as an Education Department employee pushed the 2015 Pell Grant experimental reinstatement for a limited number of incarcerated students last week told a meeting of college executives that Congress should lift the 1994 ban on federal student aid to prisoners.

pell160627Nixon, now director or the College and Community Fellowship, told proponents of college education that the success of the Second Chance Pell pilot program justifies full reinstatement of Pell Grants for incarcerated students. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, also a speaker, reaffirmed her support for the program, but said, “It’s Congress’s chance to act and do its job to make sure to extend this opportunity in a very sustainable and predictable way to many more people across our country.”

About 1,000 students have graduated with degrees or postsecondary certificates since the Second Chance program began in 2016. The Trump administration and Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee), chairman of the Senate education committee, support a repeal of the 1994 ban in a reauthorization of the Higher Education Act.

Inside Higher Education, Taking Stock of Pell Grants Behind Bars (July 16)

BOP Officials Promoted and Given Bonuses Despite Tight Budgets and Infrastructure Failure…

The Bureau of Prisons paid $1.6 million in bonuses to its top executives and wardens during the past two years despite chronic staffing shortages and sharp critiques of prison management leveled by Congress, according to USA Today.

money160118The payments ranged from $5,400 to $23,800 per official. The largest sums went to the agency’s leadership team, including $20,399 to acting director Hugh Hurwitz, and the wardens of prisons who confronted what union officials described as dangerous shortages of guards.

Joseph Coakley, who managed USP Hazelton, where Whitey Bulger and two other inmates were murdered last year, received $20,399 on top of $34,500 paid out during 2015 and 2016 for his work at Hazelton and at FCI Beckley.

Meanwhile, Herman Quay, whose mishandling of the infrastructure crisis as warden of MDC Brooklyn last winter and bumbling coverup of the  freezing conditions and loss of electricity there during a cold snap made national headlines, has been promoted to warden at FCC Allenwood. At the new assignment, Quay is responsible for some 3,400 prisoners, about twice the residents of MDC Brooklyn.

A DOJ Inspector General’s investigation into the power loss is not yet complete, but Robert Gottheim, the district director for House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), complained, “It’s certainly not acceptable that the person who was responsible for the care of all the inmates at that facility, who from our perspective did not exercise due care, would then be getting a promotion to another facility, let alone a promotion before we have the investigation made public.”

USA Today, Federal prison officials get bonuses as staffing shortages, management problems persist (July 16)

The Intercept, The Warden tried to cover up a crisis at his freezing Brooklyn Jail — then he got promoted (July 17)

House Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Women in Prison

Piper Kerman, author of the novel turned Netflix series “Orange is the New Black,” testified before a House Judiciary subcommittee on her experiences in federal prison last week.

kerman190725Kerman, reform advocate Cynthia Shank and others spoke at a hearing on women in the criminal justice system, to discuss ways to make sure women are not overlooked in the conversation on criminal justice reform and to argue for a shift in policy to directly impact the growing number of women in prison.

“Policies, not crime, drive incarceration,” Kerman said.

Women are now the fastest growing segment of the incarcerated population and initiatives to slow and even reverse the growth of the prison population have had disproportionately less effect on women, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. Nearly 150,000 women are pregnant when they are admitted into prison.

ABC News, House Judiciary subcommittee meets to discuss growing population of women behind bars (July 16)

– Thomas L. Root

Bringing Forth A Mouse – Update for July 23, 2019

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BOP RELEASES THOUSANDS (FROM SOMEWHERE) LAST FRIDAY

release161117The Dept. of Justice crowed last Friday that “over 3,100 federal prison inmates will be released from the BOP’s custody as a result of the increase in good conduct time under the [First Step] Act.” You’d be forgiven for believing that it had all been DOJ’s idea, and that inmates streamed through the gates of federal prisons, straight from the cell to freedom.

But perhaps First Step merely brought forth a mouse. The problem, according to what I heard from a number of people at different institutions, no one seemed to be leaving.  With over 7,700 people on the LISA email list, I expected over 100 notifications from the BOP that inmates on the subscription list no longer had Corrlinks email accounts, a notice commonly received whenever someone is released and his or her Corrlinks account is closed. Instead, I got only 17.

FAMM president Kevin Ring told the Wall Street Journal that most of the 3,100 inmates released Friday were among the 8,300 BOP inmates already in halfway houses or the 2,200 on home confinement. Thus, the effect of the mass release, while reducing BOP population overall, was not noticeable at institutions. Reason magazine confirmed this, reporting today that “Most were released from halfway houses or home confinement where they were finishing out their sentences..”

Plus, as Mother Jones magazine complained last week, not all of last Friday’s releasees got to go home. “Roughly a quarter of them are not United States citizens,” the magazine said, “and many will instead be sent straight to immigration detention to face deportation proceedings, which could take years.” As it turns out, 900 released inmates were transferred to ICE or state authorities for deportation after being convicted of felonies, a result which predictably enough shocks Mother Jones but has been the law for 102 years, since the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1917.

Most troubling are the numerous reports I have gotten that the BOP has not completed the recalculation of good time for most of the 151,000 inmates still in institutions. One source reported that the BOP is processing each inmate’s new time manually, and that it is able to complete 5,000 a month. The reason for the glacial pace of recalculations is unclear, but it is hard to avoid noting that the BOP has had seven months to prepare for award of the additional good time.

bopmath190723How the agency is unable, after seven months of preparation, to automate recalculation through a rather simple computer algorithm is puzzling.

Dept of Justice, Department Of Justice Announces the Release of 3,100 Inmates Under First Step Act, Publishes Risk And Needs Assessment System (July 19)

Wall Street Journal, Justice Department Set to Free 3,000 Prisoners as Criminal-Justice Overhaul Takes Hold (July 19)

Bureau of Prisons, Population Statistics (July 18)

Mother Jones, Congress Helped Thousands of People Get Out of Prison Early. But Many of Them Will Probably Be Deported Right Away (July 19)

Reason.com,Tucker Carlson’s Unhinged Rant Against Prison Reform Makes Us All Dumber (July 23)

USA Today, Federal government releases more than 2,200 people from prison as First Step Act kicks in (July 19)

– Thomas L. Root

I Felt The Earth Move Last Friday… Or Did I? – Update for July 22, 2019

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

LAST FRIDAY, SOME PRISONERS FROM SOMEWHERE WERE PERHAPS RELEASED (WHO CAN SAY?) AND DOJ ROLLED OUT PROPOSED RISK ASSESSMENT SYSTEM 

Friday, July 19th was the day – a full 210 sunrises after President Trump signed the First Step Act into law. And, as required on that day, the Bureau of Prisons at long last credited federal inmates with the additional seven days per year promised them in the Act, and the  Dept. of Justice  released the risk assessment it proposes to have the Bureau of Prisons use to determine the likelihood that inmates will commit new offenses upon release.

A really big day… or was it?

yellowribbon190722Tie a Yellow Ribbon… Rahm Emmanuel may not have said it first, but he made it famous when he counseled his then-boss, President Obama, to never let a good crisis go to waste. DOJ dragged its feet in setting up a panel to implement the risk assessment model that is at the heart of the First Step Act’s earned time credit program (which lets federal prisoners earn extra time off their sentences for successfully completing programs that reduce recidivism). The Department as well fought hammer and tong to avoid crediting inmates with the extra good time Congress always meant them to have (but did not because DOJ interpreted a poorly-written statute as harshly as possible), an error corrected in First Step. And DOJ has opposed countless motions under the newly-retroactive Fair Sentencing Act for reductions of draconian prison terms.

Nevertheless, when faced with a July 19 deadline even it could not deny, DOJ did not miss the chance last Friday to trumpet its successes under First Step, chief among them that “over 3,100 federal prison inmates will be released from the BOP’s custody as a result of the increase in good conduct time under the Act. In addition, the Act’s retroactive application of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (reducing the disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine threshold amounts triggering mandatory minimum sentences) has resulted in 1,691 sentence reductions.”

tsunami190722So where was the flood of prisoner releases at the end of last week? As I heard from  people at a dozen or more institutions, no one seemed to be leaving. This was corroborated by my own observation. With over 7,700 people on the LISA newsletter email list, I expected over 100 notifications from BOP on Friday of people whose Corrlinks email accounts were closed because they had been freed (such a notice is sent whenever someone is released and his or her Corrlinks account is closed). Instead, I got only 17 such messages.

Here’s what happened. As FAMM president Kevin Ring told the Wall Street Journal,  most of the 3,100 inmates released Friday were already among the 8,300 BOP inmates in halfway houses or the 2,200 people on home confinement. Thus, alleged tsunami of prisoner releases – while reducing BOP population overall – was a barely-noticeable ripple at the institutions.

Plus, as Mother Jones magazine complained last week, not all of last Friday’s releasees got to go home. “Roughly a quarter of them are not United States citizens,” the magazine said, “and many will instead be sent straight to immigration detention to face deportation proceedings, which could take years.” As it turns out, USA Today reported, 900 released inmates were transferred to ICE or state authorities.

tortoise190722Inmate Sentence Recomputation More Tortoise Than Hare…  More troubling are the numerous reports I have gotten from inmates and their families that BOP has not yet completed the recalculation of good time for most of the 151,000 inmates still in institutions. One inmates father reported that the BOP’s Grand Prairie, Texas, Designation and Sentence Computation  Center told him that the agency is processing each inmate’s new time manually, and that it is able to complete no more than 5,000 a month.

The reason for the glacial pace of recalculations is unclear, but it is hard to avoid noting that the BOP has had seven months to prepare for award of the additional good time. How the agency is unable, after seven months of preparation, to automate recalculation through a rather simple computer algorithm is puzzling.

recid160321I see a PATTERN Here… One of First Step’s marquee accomplishments is to establish a system that ranks each inmate’s risk of being a recidivist, and then tracks that risk throughout the inmate’s sentence. The inmate (unless he or she falls in one of the 60-plus “ineligible” categories) may take programs identified by the BOP as proven to reduce recidivism, and get up to 15 days credit a month for doing so. The credit may be used to reduce the length of his or her incarceration by up to 12 months, and beyond that, to earn the inmate extra halfway house or home confinement time.

Before the program is implemented, the DOJ must adopt a system to rank prisoners’ recidivism risk. On the last afternoon of the 210-day period First Step gave DOJ for doing so, it unveiled its proposed system, which goes by the unwieldy name “Prisoner Assessment Tool Targeting Estimated Risk and Needs.” Luckily, the name collapses conveniently into the acronym “PATTERN.”

PATTERN will classify a BOP prisoner into one of four Risk Level Categories (“RLCs”) by scoring him or her in much the same way security and custody levels are calculated by the BOP. PATTERN does this by assigning points in 17 different categories. The highest possible score (like golf, no one wants a high score) is 100. The lowest score is -50.

PATTERNB190722

This is roughly how it works: PATTERN has four different predictive models, 1) general recidivism for males; 2) general recidivism for females; 3) violent recidivism for males; and 4) violent recidivism for females. The Report noted that the base recidivism rate for all offenders is roughly 47% for general and 15% for violent recidivism.

The categories in which points are scored include (1) age of first conviction, (2) age at time of assignment, (3) prison infractions, (4) serious prison infractions, (5) number of programs completed, (6) number of tech or vocational courses completed, (7) UNICOR employment, (8) drug treatment, (9) drug education, (10) FRP status, (11) whether current offense is violent, (12) whether current offense is sex-related, (13) criminal history score, (14) history of violent offenses, (15) history of escapes, (16) voluntary surrender, and (17) education.

Generally, any score of -50 to +10 is a minimum recidivism risk, 11 to 33 is a low recidivism risk, 34 to 45 is a medium recidivism risk, and 46 or higher is a high risk. Its designers say “the PATTERN assessment instrument contains static risk factors as well as dynamic items that are associated with either an increase or a reduction in risk… PATTERN is a gender-specific assessment providing predictive models, or scales, developed and validated for males and females separately. These efforts make the tool more gender responsive, as prior findings have indicated the importance of gender-specific modeling.”

This means that as an inmate goes without getting disciplinary reports for infractions of prison rules, completes programs, keeps up with payment of fines and restitution, takes drug classes and gets older, his or her RLC category should fall. Even high and medium RLCs can earn credit for taking programs at the rate of 10 days per month, but once the RLC falls to low, that rate increases to 15 days per month.

PATTERNA190722So what BOP programs will build earned time credit? No one has said yet, but the PATTERN report offers clues. The PATTERN categories suggest that UNICOR employment, drug classes, GED and vocational programs ought to count, given PATTERN’s emphasis on importance of completion of those courses in the point system.

PATTERN is not yet a done deal. What happens next is a 90-day public comment period on PATTERN rules. Final rules will issue by Thanksgiving, with BOP staff being trained in applying PATTERN. Do not expect any PATTERN assessment to be done for real until Martin Luther King Day.

Dept. of Justice, Department of Justice Announces the Release of 3,100 Inmates Under First Step Act, Publishes Risk And Needs Assessment System (July 19)

Wall Street Journal, Justice Department Set to Free 3,000 Prisoners as Criminal-Justice Overhaul Takes Hold (July 19)

Bureau of Prisons, Population Statistics (July 18)

Mother Jones, Congress Helped Thousands of People Get Out of Prison Early. But Many of Them Will Probably Be Deported Right Away (July 19)

USA Today, Federal government releases more than 2,200 people from prison as First Step Act kicks in (July 19)

Dept. of Justice, The First Step Act of 2018: Risk and Needs Assessment System (July 19, 2019)

– Thomas L. Root