Tag Archives: BOP

New Year, Old Woes at the Federal Bureau of Prisons – Update for January 19. 2024

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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.

BOP: CRIME’S UP, INCENTIVES ARE DOWN

Instances of Federal Bureau of Prisons employees running afoul of the law continue along with staff shortages, even as the agency finds ways to provide additional disincentives to employees’ desire to work.

truecrime240119Former BOP Correctional Officer Quandelle Joseph pled guilty last week in US District Court for the Eastern District of New York to receiving bribes in exchange for providing phones and drugs to prisoners at MDC Brooklyn. The government said Joseph, who began working at MDC in May 2020, “accepted tens of thousands of dollars from inmates in exchange for smuggling narcotics, cigarettes, and cell phones into the MDC… He also warned inmates about upcoming contraband searches at the MDC.”

Last Friday, a former BOP CO at FCI Aliceville (AL) pled guilty to one count of sexual abuse of a ward. In February 2019, the indictment alleged, Smith had sex with a female inmate. He also admitted engaging in a sexual act with another female inmate under his control.

The Marshall Project reported a week ago on the continuing short-staffing at BOP facilities, noting that FCI Florence (CO) was short at least 188 staff members. Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet told BOP Director Colette Peters a year ago that “fatigue, exhaustion, and low morale have reduced staff productivity and led to more sick leave, retirements, and resignations.” The Marshall Project called the situation “a downward spiral.”

pay240119The BOP had been offering retention pay incentives for employees at prisons hard hit by staffing shortages, but those programs are ending. A week ago, the BOP terminated incentives at USP Thomson (Illinois), and last week announced that officers at USP Canaan (Pennsylvania) will soon see similar cuts.

The American Federation of Government Employees is urging the BOP to reverse course at USP Canaan, which is about to open more units and bring in more inmates, according to AFGE. Without the incentive, the union says, officers may leave their jobs.

understaffed220929

The real cost of the staffing shortfall to prisoners? Obviously, the frequent and repeated facility lockdowns – because confining inmates to their housing units requires fewer BOP employees than normal operations – is the most visible. But last week, I heard from a prisoner who willingly transferred to an institution hundreds of miles farther from his home to enroll in the faith-based Life Connections program. He told me that upon arrival, he found that the Life Connections Program was not running due to shortness of staff and government funding, and no one had any idea when that would change: “I have made the choice to seek change while incarcerated,” he wrote, “signing up for this program. It’s not my fault that they have no staff to run the program and lack the funds to pay outside contractors to facilitate the classes for the purpose of education.”

US Attorney EDNY, Ex-Federal Correction Officer Pleads Guilty to Taking Bribes in Exchange for Smuggling Contraband into Federal Jail in Brooklyn (January 11, 2024)

Trussville AL Tribune, Former Federal Bureau of Prisons Corrections Officer pleads guilty to sexually abusing inmate in his custody (January 12, 2024)

Federal News Network, More Bureau of Prisons pay incentives get death penalty (January 10, 2024)

The Marshall Project, Federal Prisons Are Over Capacity — Yet Efforts to Ease Overcrowding Are Ending (January 6, 2024)

Senators Bennet and Hickenlooper, Letter to Colette Peters (December 5, 2022)

– Thomas L. Root

It’s a New Year, and BOP Still Has Big Problems – Update for January 8, 2024

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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.

IANUS DOESN’T LIKE THE VIEW ON BOP – IN EITHER DIRECTION

ianus240108You no doubt recall from high school Latin class that the Roman god Ianus (“Janus” if you don’t like classic Latinspeak) had two faces, one looking forward into the future while the other gazes into the past. It’s where we derived “January” for the first month of the new year.

Ianus would not be happy at what his backward-looking face sees in the Bureau of Prisons’ 2022 record:

•  sex abuse-related convictions at FCI Dublin in California, FCI Marianna in Florida, FMC Carswell in Texas and FMC Lexington in Kentucky;

•  Dept of Justice Inspector General reports ripping the BOP for $2 billion in past-due maintenance, for cooking its books on the number of inmates with COVID, and for subjecting inmates at FCI Tallahassee to living conditions that the IG himself said were “something you should never have to deal with;” and

• NPR reporting that the BOP has misrepresented the accreditation of its healthcare facilities while compiling a record of ignoring or delaying medical treatment – especially in cancer care – leading to needless inmate disability and death.

Ianus’s forward-looking face isn’t so happy, either. Last week, NPR reported that while the “CDC says natural deaths happen either solely or almost entirely because of disease or old age,” 70% of the inmates who died in BOP custody over the past 13 years were under the age of 65.” NPR found that “potential issues such as medical neglect, poor prison conditions and a lack of health care resources were left unexplained once a ‘natural” death designation ended hopes of an investigation. Meanwhile, family members were left with little information about their loved one’s death.”

The BOP stonewalled NPR, failing to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request for all mortality review reports generated since 2009 and refusing to provide any official to be interviewed on the report. However, the BOP assured NPR that it has “detailed procedures to notify family members after an inmate’s death.”

That makes us all feel much better.

death200330Not NPR. It remained skeptical, citing the case of Celia Wilson. Celia, sister of Leonard Wilson – who died last April – heard from an inmate that he had collapsed on the walking track and had been taken to the hospital. The first call she got from the BOP came two days later from her brother’s case manager. “He said that my brother is communicating and we think he’s going to be just fine,” Wilson said. “We were so relieved at that point.” But the records his lawyer got from the BOP after he died told a different story. “Celia would say they think that there’s signs of life and maybe vitals are getting better,” Lenny’s lawyer told NPR. “And then we would ask for those medical records and they wouldn’t actually say that.”

Meanwhile, a federal judge in the Southern District of New York last week found that conditions at MDC Brooklyn were not just bad: they were “exceptional[ly] bad,” “dreadful” and an “ongoing tragedy.”

calcutta240108Defendant Gustavo Chavez, age 70, entered a guilty plea to drug offenses. After a guilty plea in a case like his, 18 USC § 3143 requires that a defendant be detained unless “exceptional circumstances” within the meaning of 18 USC § 3145 are found by the court.

Judge Mark Furman held that the “near-perpetual lockdowns (no longer explained by COVID-19), dreadful conditions, and lengthy delays in getting medical care” at MDC Brooklyn constituted “exceptional circumstances.” The judge’s 19-page opinion provided a litany of horrors at MDC Brooklyn, including

[c]ontraband — from drugs to cell phones — is widespread. At least four inmates have died by suicide in the past three years. It has gotten to the point that it is routine for judges in both this District and the Eastern District to give reduced sentences to defendants based on the conditions of confinement in the MDC. Prosecutors no longer even put up a fight, let alone dispute that the state of affairs is unacceptable.

In a class action suit against the BOP by female inmates over sexual abuse, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers began a three-day evidentiary hearing last week in Oakland, California. The plaintiffs claim they endured abuse and sexual assault by BOP staff, including voyeurism, drugging and abuse during medical exams, and rape. Despite being aware of the violence and harassment for decades, the plaintiffs contend, the BOP failed to take action.

Witnesses for the government admitted that “abuse and misconduct… so “rampant” at FCI Dublin that new officials struggled to implement reforms.”

sexualassault211014An FCI Dublin deputy corrections captain said before she took the job in 2022, “here was a lot of misconduct rampant within the institution.” She admitted that before she took the job, multiple prisoners were placed in the SHU (locked up in the special housing unit) after reporting they had been assaulted.

“You say it’s not punitive, but the inmates don’t agree with that,” Judge Rogers said. “If these things were already happening, and you have the same process, how is it any different?”

“I guess we’ve improved as far as what we’ve required,” the BOP captain responded, citing regular meetings and new systems for identifying issues at the prison. She took a tissue to wipe away tears, according to a Courthouse News Service report, saying she wanted to ensure the BOP changed. Of incarcerated women, she said, “They really just want to be heard, they want somebody to listen.”

From cooking the books over inmate deaths to running facilities that mimic the Black Hole of Calcutta to letting rape and sexual abuse run “rampant” in women’s prisons, the BOP is hardly listening to anyone.

NPR, There is little scrutiny of ‘natural’ deaths behind bars (January 2, 2024)

United States v. Chavez, Case No. 22-CR-303, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1525  (S.D.N.Y., January 4, 2024)

New York Daily News, Judge says conditions “too dreadful” at Brooklyn fed jail to lock up 70-year-old defendant (January 4, 2024)

Courthouse News Service, Misconduct ‘rampant’ at California women’s prison, deputy corrections captain testifies (January 3, 2024)

California Coalition for Women Prisoners v. BOP, Case No. 4:23-cv-4155 (ND Cal, filed Aug 16, 2023)

If you have a question, please send a new email to newsletter@lisa-legalinfo.com.

– Thomas L. Root

Last Gift in the Bag: Something For The First Step Act – Update for December 29, 2023

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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.

FINALLY, A CANDY CANE FOR THE FIRST STEP ACT (BUT A LUMP OF COAL TO THE BOP)

I end my year-end emptying of Santa’s bag with this: The First Step Act turned five years old last week.


candycane231229I still wonder how the First Step Act ever passed. Back then, back in those dark November and December days in 2018, I was wondering how the bill would make it through the 115th Congress before the session expired. In fact I wrote its obituary several times in those waning days.

Back then, I publicly lamented the bill’s “dumbing down” to appease the Senator Tom Cottons, Josh Hawleys and Ted Cruzs of the world and wondered how quickly prisoners would see any advantages. It didn’t unfold like I thought it would, but then, who saw the pandemic coming?

First Step emerged from Congress leaner and definitely meaner than it started. Changes in 18 USC 924(c) to limit draconian mandatory sentences for successive violations were made nonretroactive. The list of convictions excluded from getting credit for successful completion of programming intended to reduce recidivism got longer and longer.

But for all of the belly-aching at the time, there has not been a piece of criminal justice reform legislation like First Step for at least 50 years. It’s easy to complain about the failings of the bill, largely due to political horse-trading needed to get the measure passed and Federal Bureau of Prisons administrative misfeasance and malfeasance. For the public, it has been an unqualified success. Without it, the federal prison population would be substantially higher than it is today. What’s more important, as The Hill put it last week, “since the First Step Act passed, thousands more people leaving the federal prison system have rebuilt their lives without reoffending — in fact, the federal recidivism rate has dropped by an estimated 37%t since the law was enacted.”

compassion160124What’s more, nearly 4,000 people received retroactive Fair Sentencing Act sentence reductions, over 4,600 people went home on compassionate releases, almost 1,250 elderly offenders went to home confinement under the 34 USC 60541(g)(5) pilot program, and almost 27,000 inmates have gotten earlier release through FSA credits.

As we approach the 2024 elections, some Republican candidates have been grousing about the First Step Act. Florida Gov Ron DeSantis, who voted for First Step as a Congressman in 2018, denounced the bill last summer as a “jailbreak bill” and said he would get it repealed. But last week, Trump published his campaign’s “Platinum Plan” including a commitment to “continue to make historic improvements to the criminal justice system through common sense actions like the First Step Act” with a “Second Step Act.”

One commentator said that “the Act’s positive outcomes, such as significantly lower recidivism rates among those released under its provisions, demonstrate that public safety reforms are not inherently linked to the recent surge in violent crime… On the other end of the spectrum, we find the likes of Chris Christie and Nikki Haley. Their records of reform in New Jersey and South Carolina, respectively, have been lauded as models of successful criminal justice reform.”

lumpofcoal221215One piece of coal fell out of Santa’s bag along with First Step’s candy cane. The coal goes to the BOP for its disingenuous press release last week that said “the Federal Bureau of Prisons is proud of the work accomplished implementing the First Step Act. Including the support and collaboration of our partners and stakeholders, the dedication and hard work of our employees, and the courage and resilience of the AICs [‘adults in custody’ for you Philistines who still think of them as prisoners and inmates]and their families.”

Anyone who recalls the BOP’s approving 36 out of 31,000 compassionate release requests during the pandemic (an average of 1 in 1,000), its mean-spirited and chary November 2020 proposed rules for FSA credits that were rejected only by new leadership in the Dept of Justice just before adoption a year later, and its ham-handed efforts to timely credit and post FSA credits knows that First Step’s successes have been despite, not because, of BOP administration.

The Hill, Five years on, Congress must build on the First Step Act successes (December 21, 2023)

BNN, The First Step Act: A Pivotal Landmark in Criminal Justice Reform and its Political Implications (December 18, 2023)

BOP, Fifth Anniversary of the First Step Act (December 21, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

An “AIC” Would Get More Prison Time For Doing What the BOP and ACA Did – Update for December 21, 2023

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INSPECTOR GENERAL UNMASKS BOP-ACA INSPECTION SCAM

Adults in Custody (that’s “prisoners” in normal-speak and so far, the new label is about all the progress BOP Director Colette Peters has made in 17 months at the helm) are fortunate that the institutions in which they’re housed are regularly audited by the American Correctional Association to ensure that they continue to meet that organization’s uncompromising high standards.

badcheck231221Of course. And the check’s in the mail, too…

A report issued by the Dept of Justice Inspector General last month found that instead of providing an independent evaluation of Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities, the ACA “instead relied on the prisons’ own internal reports during reaccreditation reviews.” In other words, as the DOJ put it, “it appears the BOP is, in effect, paying ACA to affirm the BOP’s own findings.”

The BOP awarded a $2.75 million contract to the ACA in 2018 to obtain accreditation and reaccreditation for BOP facilities. Five years into the agreement, the DOJ audit was intended to evaluate “the value the BOP receives through ACA accreditation for its prisons” and “how the BOP uses ACA’s accreditation to improve BOP standards for health, safety, and security of inmates and staff; and (3) the BOP’s contract administration and ACA’s performance and compliance with terms, conditions, laws, and regulations applicable to the contract.

nothingtosee230313The IG’s report found that “[a]lthough the contract requires ACA to perform its accreditation and reaccreditation in accordance with ACA’s policies, manuals, and procedures, current BOP and ACA officials… agreed that ACA would only perform independent reviews of BOP facilities as provided for in ACA policy during initial accreditation. For reaccreditation reviews, which was most of ACA’s work under the contract, the BOP and ACA agreed that ACA would rely on the BOP’s internal program review reports. As a result, it appears the BOP is, in effect, paying ACA to affirm the BOP’s own findings.”

The auditors also wrote they “did not identify instances where the BOP used ACA’s accreditation process to improve BOP standards for health, safety, and security of inmates and staff.” Of course not. If the BOP did a self-audit that the ACA signed off on, why bother to improve? Remember that only three months ago, NPR reported that the BOP claimed on its website that its medical centers were accredited by the Joint Commission, which accredits the vast majority of US hospitals, when in fact the certification had lapsed two years before.

NPR’s investigation – showing that federal prisoners die from treatable conditions that the BOP does not diagnose or treat in a timely way – was behind a call last week from Sens Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) for better BOP healthcare.

drquack191111“It is deeply upsetting that families are mourning the loss of their loved ones because they were not afforded the proper medical care they deserved while incarcerated,” Durbin, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told NPR. “BOP must immediately prioritize correcting the ineffective, harmful standards and procedures used to determine when an incarcerated person will be seen by medical professionals.”

Grassley, also a member of the Judiciary Committee, agreed. “BOP needs to be held responsible for this failure and take action to raise its standards.”

In response, a BOP spokesperson told NPR the Bureau “‘appreciates the Senators’ focus on this important issue’ and is committed to continue working with them on oversight.”

DOJ Office of Inspector General, Audit of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Contract Awarded to the American Correctional Association (November 16, 2023)

Lincoln, Nebraska, Journal-Star, Federal audit blasts nonprofit responsible for accrediting Nebraska’s prisons (December 10, 2023)

NPR, Lawmakers push for federal prison oversight after reports of inadequate medical care (December 12, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

You’ve Got Mail – Update for December 7, 2023

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BOP MAIL SCANNING BILL INTRODUCED IN THE HOUSE

Legislation introduced by Representative Don Bacon (R-NE) proposes new procedures for handling mail in order to disrupt the flow of drugs into BOP facilities. It requires the agency to adopt a program to electronically scan all incoming inmate mail, give inmates an electronic copy of their mail within 24 hours of its reception, and deliver the original mail within 30 days if it’s drug-free.

youvegotmail231207The Interdiction of Fentanyl in Postal Mail at Federal Prisons Act, H.R, 5266, is based on a 2020 BOP interdiction pilot project that scanned inmate mail and “reduced the number of synthetic drug introductions via general postal mail to effectively zero over the pilot project period,” The Hill reported.

H.R. 5266 is an improvement over the old system, The Hill said, because while the pilot program destroyed the physical mail after scanning, “the proposed bill protects the right of incarcerated people to receive physical mail… Taking away the tactile experience of touching a handwritten letter, or smelling perfume on an envelope would likely have a negative impact on prisoner well-being, which can increase recidivism and antisocial behavior.”

It remains to be seen whether prisoners whose mail delivery is delayed while understaffed facilities scan all incoming letters and documents agree.

HR 5266, Interdiction of Fentanyl in Postal Mail at Federal Prisons Act

The Hill, A new bill will guard against lethal letters in US prisons (November 19, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

Fun With Numbers – Update for December 6, 2023

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PRISON BY THE NUMBERS

The First Step Act requires the Dept of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics to report data from the Federal Bureau of Prisons annually.

numbers160704The 2023 report issued last week includes stats running the gamut from yawn-inducing to fascinating. Of most significance, despite all of the drawdowns implicitly promised by First Step (retroactive crack cocaine sentencing, compassionate releases, and FSA credits), mass incarceration proceeds apace. The BOP population increased about one percent – from 156,542 at the end of 2021 to 158,637 at the end of 2022 – and is now at 157,811.

You’d think all of those early releases would have made a dent in the federal prison population. You’d be wrong.

Other facts:

•   The BOP admitted almost 44,873 new prisoners in 2022, a 6% change from 2021.

•   The BOP released 42,948 prisoners in 2022, a 9% change from 2021.

•   The BOP’s population exceeded rated capacity by 6.9%.

•   About 5% of BOP prisoners – 8,627 –are military veterans.

•  In 2022, the BOP released about 10,100 prisoners early because of FSA credits.

•   Just over 15% of BOP prisoners are non-U.S. citizens, about the same as 2020 and 2021.

• In 2022, BOP prisoners were found to have committed 80,490 prohibited acts, slightly more than one for every two prisoners.

• There were 10,177 instances of prisoners placed in special housing units in 2022, a 10% increase from 2021.

• There were 965 instances of prisoners assaulting staff. Two percent (19) of these assaults resulted in serious injuries, and only 12 were prosecuted.

• About 70% of BOP prisoners had high school diplomas or GEDs prior to admission to prison (110,531), and an additional 3,543 (2.2%) earned their GEDs while locked up.

education180205•   In 2022, 13.2% of federal prisoners (20,880) participated in a nonresidential substance use disorder treatment program, while 7.6% (12,035) participated in RDAP.

•   PATTERN, the BOP’s recidivism risk tool, classified 54% of prisoners as minimum or low risk for recidivism, 27% as high risk for recidivism, and 19% as medium risk. Females were more likely than males to be minimum than low (81% vs 52%). Black (61%) and American Indian prisoners (59%) were more likely to be medium or high risk than white (36%) and Asian (27%).

BJS, Prisoners in 2022 – Statistical Tables (November 30, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

BOP Director Plays Chico Marx To House Subcommittee – Update for November 14, 2023

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WHO YOU GONNA BELIEVE, ME OR YOUR OWN EYES?


In testimony last week before a House Judiciary subcommittee, Bureau of Prisons director Colette Peters boasted that the agency has “modernized our mission, vision, core values, and strategic framework to formalize our commitment to transformative change… Our diverse and adept workforce champions a modern approach to corrections, where safety, humane environments, and effective reintegration are paramount.”

“[M]odernize[] our… strategic framework to formalize our commitment to transformative change?” Does the BOP use AI to generate bureaucratic mumbo-jumbo, or is this the combined output of a special Central Office committee on obfuscation? A more basic question: does that line even mean anything?

chico231114It apparently doesn’t mean much. A day after Director Peters delivered her bureaucratic buzz-word-laden report to the subcommittee, the Dept of Justice Office of Inspector General dropped a stunning rebuttal to that “safety, humane environments…” part of the Director’s word salad. The OIG’s findings on conditions of the women’s prison ar FCI Tallahassee, juxtaposed with Director Peters’ happytalk, reminded me of the classic Chico Marx line: “Who you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?”

Peters says “safe[]” and “humane.” The OIG report described its surprise inspection last May as “alarming.” 

The inspection report identified “serious operational deficiencies,” with “the most concerning” being “the alarming conditions of its food service and storage operations.” The New York Times reported that the OIG inspectors only “expected to find serious problems endemic to other crumbling, understaffed facilities run by the Bureau of Prisons. What they encountered shocked them: Moldy bread on lunch trays, rotting vegetables, breakfast cereal and other foods crawling with insects or rodents, cracked or missing bathroom and ceiling tiles, mold and rot almost everywhere, roof leaks plugged with plastic bags, windows blocked with feminine hygiene products to keep out the rain, loose ventilation covers that created perfect hiding places for contraband and weapons.”

Tallahasseelunch231114AThe inspection report identified “serious operational deficiencies,” with “the most concerning” being “the alarming conditions of its food service and storage operations.” DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz said, “When we go to Tallahassee and we see windows leaking and ceilings leaking onto inmate living space, and we see female inmates having to use feminine hygiene products to keep the water from coming into their space, that’s something you should never have to deal with.”

In as much defense as she deserves after 15 months on the job, Peters did tell the Subcommittee the day before the OIG report was issued that the BOP’s unmet infrastructure needs are dire. She estimated that $2 billion was needed to clear the backlog of repairs and renovations identified as urgent. The Tallahassee Food Service Administrator position, responsible for food safety, had been vacant for two years. As it happened, FCI Tallahassee’s current Food Service Administrator’s first day on the job coincided with the first day of OIG’s inspection.

badexample231114In another embarrassment for the BOP, a federal judge last week ruled that the Alabama prison system, which has been sued by the DOJ for 8th Amendment violations, may inspect four federal prisons as part of its discovery in building its defense in the case. The State apparently intends to show that its prison conditions are no worse than those in the BOP. Alabama requested to inspect the FCC Coleman in Florida, FCI Yazoo City in Mississippi, and USP Atlanta.

House Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, Oversight of the Bureau of Prisons (November 7, 2023)

New York Times, Justice Dept. Watchdog Describes Unsanitary Conditions at Florida Prison (November 8, 2023)

Dept of Justice Office of Inspector General, Inspection of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee (November 8, 2023)

AL.com, Judge rules Alabama can inspect federal prisons to build defense in DOJ lawsuit (November 9, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

Court Doubts BOP Medical Care Standards – Update for November 2, 2023

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‘WE ARE STILL HUMAN’: CARSWELL MEDICAL CARE ON TRIAL IN SOUTH FLORIDA HEARING

healthbareminimum220603A woman whose 18-month federal sentence last April came with a promise by a BOP medical official that he’d personally see that she would receive the care she needed to treat her life-threatening seizure condition was back in court after only eight weeks in FMC Carswell, due to her attorney’s concern that “the BOP has proven unable to manage or prevent these life-threatening episodes.”

Suzanne Kaye suffers from severe, stress-induced seizures. She went into cardiac arrest on the floor of the courtroom last year when she was convicted of threatening to shoot FBI agents in the “f****** ass. When she was sentenced, her lawyer warned that sending her to prison could kill her.

At sentencing, the Court found that there was “no doubt” that Suzanne “does suffer from a serious health condition, in fact perhaps a number of health conditions,” that she was “medically frail,” and that “she will require much medical care.” But despite her undisputed seizure disorder and other medical ailments, the Court relied on testimony from the FMC Carswell Medical Director that the BOP could “provide Ms. Kaye with whatever medical care she needs.”

Suzanne self-surrendered in mid-July. Only two months later, her attorney told the court that Suzanne “has required emergency outside hospitalization on at least two separate occasions. Specifically, counsel has been advised that Mrs. Kaye has suffered ongoing, repeated seizures—including two major episodes—with the latest episode involving cardiac arrest. (It has also resulted in blood clots that are now not being monitored)…” The BOP’s “repeated failure is contrary to the picture painted by the government at sentencing. Counsel has also been advised fellow inmates have been forced to attempt to [provide] life-saving care during these seizures because prison officials failed to do so.”

BOPMedical221208BOP medical official Mark Holbrook told the judge in April that some inmates have medical needs beyond what the Bureau of Prisons can treat. Suzanne, he said, was not one of them. But five months later, her heart and lungs briefly stopped working on the floor of a friend’s cell. Inmates screamed at the guards to call for help. “Granny’s eyes were wide open, but you could see that the light was no longer there,” wrote Katherine Moore, one of two incarcerated women who performed CPR on Kaye until medics arrived. “She was gone.”

“That was my mistake,” Dr. Holbrook admitted to the judge last month.

The Palm Beach Post reported, “Letters from half a dozen inmates and the testimony of Carswell’s own medical director depict a standard of care unlike the one Holbrook promised. One where Kaye must depend on her fellow inmates to keep her heart beating, and doubts over the legitimacy of her seizures dampen what care she does receive.”

When vouching for Carswell, the doctor said Suzanne would have access to a neurologist to treat her seizures and a psychologist to treat the anxiety that triggers them. He also promised a combination of anti-seizure medications that would take the place of her medical marijuana. “He made several promises and several assurances. It appears none of which occurred,” Suzanne’s attorney told the judge last month. “I’m not saying he lied — maybe he meant to and he forgot — but it is inexcusable in my opinion.”

Dr. Holbrook told the judge he left a voicemail with someone he believed was Carswell’s clinical director and never heard back. Maitee Serrano-Mercado, Carswell’s clinical director, testified that she was never contacted by Holbrook, and prison staff only belatedly learned that Kaye had a history of seizures.

Still, Dr. Holbrook said he was thankful Suzanne was at Carswell because it is “the best location” for her to be provided care. “Second best” undoubtedly would be an abattoir.

DrNoBOPHealth230925The Post noted that Carswell, once dubbed by the Fort Worth Weekly as a “hospital of horrors,” is “the only federal medical facility for incarcerated women in the country. It lost its accreditation during the pandemic and has not gotten it back. Indeed, the BOP seems to have no interest in doing so.

Carswell clinical director Serrano-Mercado argued at the hearing that Suzanne’s seizures might not be real. Serrano-Mercado admitted that the staff treating Suzanne are the same who treated a woman named Gwen Rider, a Carswell inmate who committed suicide in August. Like Suzanne, Rider was sent to Carswell because she needed medical treatment for epileptic seizures. Staff accused her of faking her seizures, too.

Suzanne was hospitalized again two weeks ago. Her mother, Brenda Kaye, told The Palm Beach Post that BOP medical personnel accidentally fractured her sternum while checking to see if she exhibited a pain response.

In an email to The Post, Suzanne called the treatment of herself and other women at the prison “nothing short of torture.” “People come in here walking and leave in wheelchairs. People die here,” she wrote. “I don’t want to be one of them.”

medical told you I was sick221017After publishing this report in my newsletter last weekend, I received an email from a prisoner at Carswell. She had been present when Suzanne and two other prisoners suffered seizures:

I had run to get an officer for the first one (which was Suzanne) and she wouldn’t call it on the radio, a medical emergency so I had to run to inside [the Recreation area] and get the officers there. They came running, Once they made it over there another girl went down in a bad grand mal seizure, then another one went down, also a really bad one that seemed like it was never-ending. The rec officers did their best, then other officers showed up but medical never showed up. The officers on the scene had to put the ladies on the back of their easy-go car and drive them up to the hospital area one at a time.

The time they had broken Suzanne’s collar bone I believe [they were] trying to get her heart to beat again. Just thought I would share an experience I had firsthand to put more information out there! Medical here does not care about us. They are desensitized and should all for the most part be replaced. We are still human and do not deserve to be treated like this. 

Palm Beach Post, ‘Inexcusable’: Attorney blasts federal prison officials over Boca woman’s medical care (October 27, 2023)

Motion for Hearing (ECF 200), United States v. Kaye, Case No 9:21-cr-80039 (SD Fla., September 12, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

Scandalous Content About the BOP – Update for October 12, 2023

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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 WEEK AT THE BOP

Now for BOP news from the prior week that is so scandalous that the administration at one unnamed federal prison (we’ll call it “FCI Englewood” for easy reference) banned the LISA Newsletter this week as a threat to institutional security.

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Hotline for Hazelton: The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia has set up a hotline for information related to civil rights abuses occurring at FCC Hazelton. The USAO is looking for information from witnesses or victims of physical assault while incarcerated at Hazelton.

The hotline number 1-855-WVA-FEDS and the email address is wvafeds@usdoj.gov.

shocked180619One inmate – a Hazelton alum but now at another facility – complained to me in an email on Monday that the domain “@usdoj.gov” is blocked on BOP mail servers. At his request, I forwarded his message to the ND West Virginia U.S. Attorney’s Office. An Assistant U.S. Attorney responded yesterday to tell me the issue was being looked into.

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia, Civil rights hotline created for federal prison in West Virginia (October 3, 2023)

National Alert Bags Phones: Cellphones held by prisoners in state and federal facilities were caught last week when a National Emergency Alert System test set off loud buzzing in the unlawfully possessed sets.

cellphone231012On Wednesday, cellphone users across the country received a loud alert from FEMA and the FCC to test the exchange of emergency messages at a national level. TMZ reports that COs at a New York State prison and FCI Coleman Low found cellphones buzzing from the emergency test.

The Daily Mail reported that “the test was conducted over a 30-minute window, meaning prisoners would have gotten the message if they turned their phones back on within the next 30 minutes.

Complex, Prisoners Across the United States Caught With Cell Phones During National Emergency Alert System Test (October 7, 2023)

Daily Mail, National emergency alert system ‘outed prisoners hiding phones and made them easy targets for guards’ after millions received message across the U.S. (October 7, 2023)

Take This Job… BOP COs are hoping the recent approval of retention bonuses will offer some relief to a workforce that’s been struggling for years.

Moneyspigot200220The Office of Personnel Management has approved pay bonuses amounting to 25% of annual for COs working in several BOP facilities nationwide. The retention incentive amounts to 25% of an employee’s base salary.

Brandy Moore White, president of Council 33 of the American Federation of Government Employees (representing over 30,000 BOP employees), welcomed the one-time bonuses, but warned that “the pay incentives won’t be enough to stave off massive, ongoing staffing challenges across the entire agency,” the Federal News Network reported. “I will be brutally honest,” she said. “I think they’re Band-Aids.”

Federal News Network, New 25% retention bonuses at Bureau of Prisons only a ‘Band-Aid’ for larger staffing issues (October 4, 2023)

Ernst Critical of BOP Sex Abuse Nonresponse: Sen Joni Ernst (R-IA) blasted BOP Director Colette Peters last week for failing to address prolonged safety and staffing concerns voiced by staff.

Last December, Ernst queried the agency about what it was doing to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct against staff at USP Thomson. In a follow-up letter sent October 4th, Ernst said “Last year, my letter sought numerous answers regarding your bureau’s plan to properly respond to the ongoing criminal activity occurring at USP Thomson… I am dismayed by BOP’s slow response to this situation and apparent lack of corrective action in preparation for future similar situations.”

Press Release from Sen. Jodi Ernst, Ernst Demands Answers on Sexual Misconduct at USP Thomson (October 4, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

Ending the Summer With the Rocket’s Red Glare – Update for September 29, 2023

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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.

rocket190620This weekend marks the end of summer, maybe not astronomically or meteorologically, but Monday the Supreme Court begins its next term, called “October Term 2023.”  Fall is here, but first, we’re going to end the summer with a short rocket:

DOES NOT COMPUTE

The BOP announced in late 2022 that it was developing a calculator to project the maximum number of earned-time credits – now being called FSA credits – a prisoner could earn at the outset of a sentence. That way, a prisoner would know upfront his or her projected release date and the date that halfway house or home confinement could begin.

notcompute230929You may have been skeptical, recalling that in 2022, the BOP promised monthly auto-calculation of FSA credits (with more launch dates than North Korea’s missile program) that never happened, either. August became September became October, then November, and finally January. Writing in Forbes magazine last week, Walter Pavlo reported that the BOP has likewise been unable to determine likely dates for prerelease custody, depriving inmates of benefits of FSA credits to which they are entitled by law because the BOP is unable to scramble to arrange halfway house or get residence approval for home confinement.

What’s worse, Pavlo reported, “there is no date for when this calculation issue will be addressed. Until then, prisoners continue to line up outside of their case manager’s office to plead their case that their release date is closer than what the BOP is calculating. As one prisoner told me, ‘My case manager said, ‘the computer tells your release date and it could be tomorrow, or next week, or next year, it does not matter to me. But I don’t have the ability to make that decision myself’.”

The BOP Office of Public Affairs told Pavlo that “credits cannot be applied to an individual’s projected release date until they are actually ‘earned.’ Further, as an individual can earn 15 days of time credits, and as there is no partial or prorated credit, it is feasible that earned credits could be greater than the number of days remaining to serve. However, the earned time credits are ‘in an amount that is equal to the remainder of the prisoner’s imposed term of imprisonment.’ Simply stated,” Pavlo said, “the credits are earned, and they cannot exceed the remaining time to serve at the point they are earned.”

bureaucracybopspeed230501The BOP’s position, according to Pavlo, is that “ordinarily, the applicability of time credits towards pre-release custody will be limited to time credits earned as of the date of the request for community placement. However, in an effort to ensure eligible adults in custody receive the maximum benefit, the agency is developing additional auto-calculation applications that will calculate a “Conditional FSA Release Date” and an “Earliest Conditional Pre-Release Date” which would include the maximum FTC benefit.”

Basically, the BOP is still trying to figure out how to implement a First Step program it knew about 5 years ago.

Forbes, Bureau of Prisons’ Challenges With First Step Act Release Dates (September 17, 2023)

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SCHUMER MAY ADD CRIMINAL JUSTICE PROVISIONS TO NEWLY-REFERRED MARIJUANA BILL

Fresh from getting the Senate Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) indicated yesterday that he may attach criminal justice reform language to the cannabis banking bill that just passed the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday.

Speaking on the Senate floor, he said he was “really proud of the bipartisan deal we produced,” a reference to the Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation Banking (SAFER) Act, S.1323. And while the legislation will be brought to a full Senate vote “soon,” Schumer promised to include “very significant criminal justice provisions” in it, Marijuana Moment reported.

Schumer didn’t say what those reforms might be noting he would “talk more about that at a later time.”

marijuana-dc211104“Attaching any additional provisions – let alone ones on criminal justice — could imperil SAFER‘s chances of winning Senate approval, according to the finance website Seeking Alpha. “Prior attempts to add criminal justice language into marijuana-related legislation has led to controversy.”

In May, Schumer said a marijuana banking bill would have social justice reforms and criminal expungement language attached. And in 2022, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) said he would favor a “SAFE Banking Plus” bill that includes criminal justice reforms.

Marijuana Moment, Schumer Touts Bipartisan ‘Momentum’ Behind Marijuana Banking Bill That He Plans To Bring To The Floor ‘Soon’ With More ‘Criminal Justice Provisions’ (September 28, 2023)

Seeking Alpha, Schumer indicates he may tie in criminal justice to marijuana banking bill (September 28, 2023)
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$117 A DAY WON’T BUY YOU PERFORMANCE

Maybe that’s all the performance you can expect for $117 a day. That’s what the BOP said last week is the current average cost of incarceration based on fiscal year 2022 data. The average annual COIF for a Federal inmate housed in a halfway house for FY 2022 was $39,197 ($107.39 per day).

BOP, Annual Determination of Average Cost of Incarceration Fee (COIF), 88 FR 65405 (September 22, 2023)
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HAZELTON BOP UNION SAYS EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS HOBBLE STAFFING AS SHUTDOWN LOOMS

Picket signs waved all day long last Friday as members of the FCC Hazelton local 420 union representing the prison say the staffing shortage has gotten so bad officers have to work 16-hour shifts 4 to 5 days a week, with stringent employment standards partly to blame.

Union President Justin Tarovisky says the prison is currently short-staffed by more than 80 corrections officers. He complained that the union held a recruiting event where they took in 60 applicants, but the BOP office in Grand Prairie, Texas, that oversees these applications has been disqualifying applicants for superficial reasons.

hazeltonpicket230929“A lot of that common sense hiring has left this agency,” Tarovisky told WDTV, a Weston, WV, television station. “They’re handcuffing these applicants that are applying and disqualifying them for simple errors and it’s not our staff that’s disqualifying them, we can’t even get them in the door to interview them because they’re being disqualified by people halfway across the country.”

There have been only 10 new staff hired at Hazelton this year despite the desperate need with some other prison staff members having to take on the duties of corrections officers. Tarovisky says the prison needs to be able to hire applicants directly to keep officers and community members safe.

The grueling hours are taking a toll on prison staff wellbeing and many are feeling the impact at home. A Dept of Justice Office of Justice Programs report in 2020 found that the suicide rate of corrections officers is seven times higher than the national average.

From the “You Think Things Are Bad Now” department: ABC News reports that all 34,537 BOP employees would still have to go to work if the government closes for lack of funding on Sunday, leaving them without a paycheck during the period of the shutdown.

“A shutdown is absolutely devastating for our members,” Brandy Moore-White, the president of CPL-33, told ABC News. “Not only do our members put their lives on the line every single day to protect America from the individuals incarcerated, but now they’re having to go out… and figure out how they’re going to pay their bills and how they’re going to feed their families.”

All government employees are guaranteed pay during the time of the shutdown, but that money is not paid until after the shutdown ends. If you’re living paycheck to paycheck, the promise of money next week does not buy you groceries today.

WDTV, Hazelton Prison corrections officers protesting hiring practices (September 22, 2023)

ABC News, Government shutdown would be ‘devastating’ for Bureau of Prisons employees (September 27, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root