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BOP ACTING DIRECTOR LASTS FIVE WEEKS; OTHER TOP BRASS OPT FOR RETIREMENT

Six of the Federal Bureau of Prisons top management – including Acting Director William W. Lothrop – have announced plans to retire in the past two weeks, the Washington Post reported last Sunday, “amid questions within the agency about its direction under President Donald Trump, according to the union representing BOP employees and internal communications…”

Two out of the BOP’s six regional directors, the general counsel, chief information officer and head of the oversight division, are also retiring between now and the end of July, according to a message Lothrop sent to BOP staff on February 14th announcing his departure at the end of February. This leaves 10 of the agency’s 21 senior management positions vacant.

Lothrop stepped into the director’s role on January 20th when Colette Peters left her post. At the time, the media reported she had resigned shortly before Trump was sworn in. However, last week, Walter Pavlo wrote in Forbes that Peters “was reportedly fired.” And on Sunday, the Washington Post reported that Peters’ lawyer said in a statement that she “was removed by Trump’s acting attorney general on Inauguration Day without due process. Peters is appealing the decision.”

Each of the six retiring officials has been with the agency for at least 25 years.

Pavlo wrote that the BOP is “currently experiencing significant upheaval, with a wave of leadership departures leaving the agency without clear direction during a critical time.” He quoted Lothrop as saying, “We are in unprecedented times as an Agency.”

Not that Lothrop did much in his five weeks at the helm. Pavlo complained that Lothrop’s “directives to the staff have lacked clear guidance and appear that he is simply passing on information as he received it from the Department of Justice. Whenever a new administration comes into office, agencies like the BOP are often in a reactionary position to enact changes demanded by new leadership but these changes and the pace of the changes are unprecedented.”

Trump’s offer of eight months’ severance to federal employees and the firing of probationary employees have reportedly worsened the understaffed BOP’s already bad employment situation. “It’s mass confusion, honestly,” Brandy Moore White, president of AFGE Council 33 (which represents BOP employees), told the Post. She said the top brass are in turmoil. “They are just very nervous that if they would fire a director on Day One, what protections do they have?” she said. “If they’re eligible for retirement, why wouldn’t they jump ship?”

Pam Bondi, Trump’s new attorney general, said in her confirmation hearing that fixing the BOP is one of her priorities. She told senators that the agency had “suffered from years of mismanagement, lack of funding and low morale,” and that corrections officials needed “more support.”

The morale fix appears not to be here yet.

Washington Post, At Federal Bureau of Prisons, senior retirements add to uncertainty (February 23, 2025)

Forbes, Bureau of Prisons Executives Announce Retirement Ahead of New Director (February 17, 2025)

– Thomas L. Root