Tag Archives: prison conditions

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

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

It Wasn’t a Lie, Just a “Mishandled” Communication – Update for October 4, 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.

MDC BROOKLYN’S PROBLEMS EXISTED LONG BEFORE LAST JANUARY

Last January’s power outage at MDC Brooklyn did not cause the heating problem that left inmates freezing in their cells, according to a report issued last week by the Dept. of Justice Inspector General. Instead, heat issues at the MDC had been a continuing problem well before the January 2019 fire that caused a partial power outage.

freeze191004Prison officials had known that the heating problem was a longstanding issue that had never been fixed. The heat problems were due to a lack of equipment to monitor temperatures in the jail, which reached as low as 59 degrees a week before the power outage and often went above 80 degrees even in the winter months, the report found.

The investigation also found that prison officials mishandled the power outage.

As half a dozen judges and advocates suspected in the days after the outage, inmates were left trapped inside without access to their lawyers or information about why they couldn’t visit with family members, the report found. “This is particularly problematic in view of the facility’s population of pre-trial detainees, some of whom may have required daily access to counsel to prepare for trial,” Inspector General Michael Horowitz said. Prison officials also didn’t communicate with the legal counsel, relatives and the public and mismanaged two medical issues that happened during the outage, the report said.

liar151213The IG’s report was immediately criticized by some commentators. The MDC warden at the time, Herman Quay, was accused of lying about conditions during the outage to the public, to the media and even to the U.S. Attorney. He has since been promoted and a new warden was installed at MDC.

The Intercept complained that the report “relies heavily on the accounts of the very officials who presided over the crisis, draws minimally from the experiences of the people who endured it, and seems more preoccupied with the episode as a public relations blunder than as a humanitarian disaster. The report does not address the chronic deception in jail officials’ statements during and after the crisis.”

“This report confirms that there have been longstanding management problems at MDC that must be rectified,” said Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-Brooklyn).

In a response to the investigation, Politico reported, the BOP said it will complete an upgrade to its heating, cooling, and ventilation equipment. It also agreed to begin giving inmates sweat suits and thermal underwear as part of their standard-issue clothing package until all the heating problems are resolved.

DOJ Office of Inspector General, Review and Inspection of Metropolitan Detention Center Brooklyn Facilities Issues and Related Impacts on Inmates (Sept. 26)

Politico, Investigation finds widespread infrastructure, leadership failures at Brooklyn federal jail (Sept. 26)

The Intercept, Inspector General Report Treated Freezing Federal Jail As A PR Blunder Rather Than A Humanitarian Disaster (Sept. 28)

– Thomas L. Root