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News Notes from President Trump’s BOP – Update for February 11, 2025

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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.

A SHORT ROCKET FROM THE BOP

rocket190620A few news briefs from the federal prison system…

You’re Not Dead, But You May Wish You Were: Last week, new Attorney General Pam Bondi ordered the Bureau of Prisons to implement what will likely be harsher conditions for the 37 inmates whose death penalties were commuted by President Biden, ordering the agency to adjust their prison conditions so they are “consistent with the security risks those inmates present.”

Because the BOP already places inmates in facilities consistent with the “security risks those inmates present,” the order is undoubtedly a dog whistle directing the BOP to place the prisoners “in conditions consistent with the monstrosity of their crimes and the threats they pose,” the punitive language in President Trump’s Executive Order on the death penalty.

flagdetentioncamp250211Welcome, New Detainees: Government Executive reports that the BOP will be housing thousands of immigrants detained by the Homeland Security at prisons in detention centers in Miami, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, as well as at USP Atlanta, USP Leavenworth and FCI Berlin. The immigrants will be held in BOP facilities so the agency can “continue to support our law enforcement partners to fulfill the administration’s policy objectives,” Scott Taylor, an agency spokesman, said.

The Trump administration briefly held ICE detainees in federal prisons in 2018 but stopped after the American Civil Liberties Union successfully sued to force the BOP to give the detainees access to counsel and outside communications.

“Bureau employees questioned the morality and legality of their new responsibilities and said their prior experience housing detainees in Trump’s first term was a ‘disaster,’” Govt Executive reported. “Our mandate is federal pretrial or sentenced inmates,” a Miami-based CO whose facility is expecting as many as 500 detainees. “What legal jurisdiction do I have with someone [detained by] ICE?”

Another Week, Another TRO: Last week, we reported that a Massachusetts federal court had issued a temporary restraining order against the BOP’s announced plan to transfer all biological men to men’s prisons and biological women to women’s facilities. We noted that a similar suit to block the transfers had been brought by three unnamed transgender men-to-women prisoners in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

LamberthTRO250211Judge Royce C. Lamberth (a respected and crusty jurist who has been on the federal bench since President Reagan appointed him 37 years ago) issued a temporary restraining order last week that “temporarily enjoined and restrained” the Dept of Justice” from implementing Sections 4(a) and 4(c) of Executive Order 14168, pending further Order of this Court” and required the BOP to “maintain and continue the plaintiffs’ housing status and medical care as they existed immediately prior to January 20, 2025.”

The Order said that three transgender prisoners who brought a suit to stop the order had “straightforwardly demonstrated that irreparable harm will follow” if their request for a restraining order were to be denied.

Clothes Make The Transgender Man-to-Woman: Meanwhile, a BOP policy issued early last week requiring transgender men-to-women in male prisons to hand over any female-identifying clothing and personal care products is “on hold at at least one federal prison in Texas,” according to NPR.

flipflop170920NPR had obtained a copy of a February 3 clothing policy – that a BOP employee said had been issued nationwide – directing inmates at FCI Seagoville, a low-security men’s institution near Dallas to turn in such items. But later in the week, NPR said, transgender inmates “whose clothes were taken away later learned the items would be returned” and “[m]ost had their things again as of Friday, according to [an unidentified] inmate who spoke to NPR.”

NPR said its BOP employee source reported that “prison officials are being told that clear directives on policy changes involving trans inmates will come directly” from DOJ and for now plans are “on hold.”

Politico, Pam Bondi issued a flurry of orders on Day 1 as Trump’s attorney general (February 5, 2025)

Government Executive, Federal prisons to house ICE detainees as Trump furthers immigration crackdown (February 7, 2025)

New York Times, Judge Blocks Trump Effort to Move Trans Women to Men’s Prisons (February 4, 2025)

Order, Doe v. McHenry, ECF 23, Case No. 1:25-cv-286 (DC, February 4, 2025)

NPR, ‘Everything is changing every minute’: New prison rules for trans women on hold (February 7, 2025)

– Thomas L. Root

Boys Might Still Be Girls – Update for February 3, 2025

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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.

TRANSGENDERISM ISN’T DONE GASPING

corso170112Last Thursday, I wrote the obituary for the Federal Bureau of Prisons transgender policy. As Lee Corso (whose prognostications haven’t been so hot lately, having picked Texas over Ohio State in the CFP semifinal and Notre Dame over the Buckeyes in the championship game) might correctly say, “Not so fast, my friend”).

Only a few hours after my post, a federal district court in Massachusetts unsealed a case filed the prior Sunday and issued a temporary restraining order on behalf of an unnamed transgender male-to-female inmate ordering the BOP not to move the plaintiff to a male prison or deny him access to transitioning drugs and surgery.

The plaintiff claimed the impending transfer to a men’s prison violates the 8th Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment and deprives him of transitioning healthcare in violation of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

At the same time, three transgender male-to-female federal prisoners sued last Thursday in Washington, D.C., to block Trump’s order. Their attorneys said they had all been placed in their facilities’ Special Housing Units (“SHUs”) in preparation for transfer to a male prison but had later been returned to general population, although they have been warned they still face imminent transfer.

angrytrump191003The complaint argues Trump’s order was driven by “hostility towards transgender people.” President Trump hostile toward a particular group of people? Hard to imagine…

In my prior post, I noted that on January 25, 2025, the BOP reported having 1,529 male prisoners claiming to be transgender females and 744 female prisoners claiming to be transgender males. Lucky I checked when I did: that information, however, was purged from the BOP website last Friday, along with any use of the g-word (gender). The BOP web page originally titled “Inmate Gender” was relabeled “Inmate Sex” on Friday.

Meanwhile, the parties in the Fleming v. Pistro litigation asked for and got more time to set out their position on whether the case was mooted by Trump’s order.  At the same time, a transgender male-to-female inmate – one Peter Langen (who now goes by the name “Donna”) – moved to intervene in the Fleming litigation. Langen complained that Rhonda Fleming

has already filed a similar case against transgender prisoners herself and by proxy. The Movant is being unduley burndened [sic] by this Plaintiff once more, it is only fair to allow the Movant a seat at the table when issues that directly impact’ her and other similarly situated Movants.

The Movant as a prisoner in the same prison system that the plaintiff was in (Plaintiff now resides in a Halfway house) and as a person who has been falsely accused of misconduct by this Plaintiff I am in a unique position to give input to this Court as a trier of the facts in this case.

denied190109The Court was not impressed, denying the motion in a terse order holding that the 11th-hour (maybe 12th hour) motion arrived after he had decided the case: The Court ruled that the “case applied only “to Ms. Fleming. Accordingly, Ms. Langan has no right to intervene. Likewise, permissive intervention is also inappropriate, especially given that this Court has already entered judgment.”

Order Following Bench Trial (ECF 176), Fleming v. Pistro, Case No. 4:21-cv-325 (January 17, 2025)

Order Denying Motion to Intervene (ECF 180), Fleming v. Pistro, Case No. 4:21-cv-325 (January 28, 2025)

White House, Defending Women from Gender Ideology and Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government (January 20, 2025)

Reuters, Transgender inmate sues over Trump’s order curtailing LGBT rights (January 27, 2025)

WUSA-TV, Transgender inmates sue to block Trump order that would force move to men’s prison (January 31, 2025)

Associated Press, Health Data and Entire Web Pages are Wiped From Federal Websites (January 31, 2025)

– Thomas L. Root

Boys Won’t Be Girls – Update for January 30, 2025

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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.

TRANSGENDERISM’S LAST GASP

lola250130Contrary to what the Kinks might have sung, girls will no longer be boys nor will boys be girls in the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Despite policies in place that required placement of biological males in federal women’s prisons if the males identified themselves as female, Bureau of Prisons prisoner Rhonda Fleming (who is a biological female) managed to climb the litigation mountain that frustrates almost every inmate who tries to scale it: Earlier this month, she went to trial in Tallahassee, Florida, federal court over a claim that her constitutional right to bodily privacy was violated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ transgender policy of sending inmates equipped with male genitalia to women’s prisons.

Rhonda, who is incarcerated at the FCI Tallahassee women’s prison, argued that she and other women were compelled by the placement of biological men in their housing units to expose their unclothed bodies in shower and toilet facilities in front of the opposite sex. The BOP countered that the showers had individual stalls and curtains for privacy, but Rhonda replied that the curtains were so filthy that no one wanted to touch them.

Anyone familiar with the Dept of Justice Inspector General’s inspection of FCI Tallahassee would find Rhonda’s allegation completely believable.

No matter. After a bench trial, Northern District of Florida Chief Judge Mark E. Walker ruled that Rhonda had not proven that she had been coerced or compelled in any such way to expose herself in the shared showers or toilets at BOP facilities in which she has been housed.

The District Court conceded that

the law makes plain that prisoners have constitutional rights, including a right to bodily privacy. But the law also makes plain that the scope of those rights is limited by the realities of prison administration, and that courts must give great deference to the decisions of prison officials relating to the administration of their facilities… [A] prisoner’s constitutional right to bodily privacy is invaded only when she is coerced or compelled to expose intimate parts of her nude body by a government policy or practice, written or unwritten, or by the order, direction, or acquiescence of a government official, express or implied.

transgenderprisonwalls250130Despite what Rhonda claimed, Judge Walker held that “BOP policy and practice is to prohibit such exposure and to provide Plaintiff and other inmates with numerous means to protect their bodily privacy. In every facility Plaintiff described, she and all other inmates are required to shower, use the toilet, and change their clothes in individual stalls separated by walls and covered by curtains, and they are permitted to choose the times they shower.”

So Rhonda lost. But just for a minute, because three days after Judge Walker’s order, incoming President Trump issued an executive order giving Rhonda everything she had asked for. The order, among other things, ordered the Attorney General to “ensure that males are not detained in women’s prisons…”

As a result, Judge Walker issued a supplemental order directing the parties to file responses by tomorrow, “address[ing] whether this Court should vacate the judgment insofar as Plaintiff’s claim for declaratory and prospective relief is rendered moot given that the President has apparently revoked the policy at issue in this case.”

As of last week, the BOP reported having 1,529 male prisoners claiming to be transgender females and 744 female prisoners claiming to be transgender males. As of August 2023, 47% of male prisoners declaring themselves to be female had been convicted of sex offenses, far exceeding the next category (weapons offenses at 12%). Women claiming to be male were by far convicted of drug offenses (57%, with the next category being weapons at 15%).

prisonersart250130In January 2017, the BOP issued a policy permitting “housing by gender identity when appropriate,” considering the “inmate’s health and safety, and whether the placement would present management or security problems,” in line with the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). A year and a half later, the Trump-led DOJ modified the policy to “use biological sex as the initial determination” of placement but still permitted gender identity-based placement “in rare cases” after considering other housing options and the inmate’s “progress towards transition.”

In January 2022, the Biden-era DOJ updated the BOP’s manual yet again to eliminate biological sex altogether as the initial determinant of placement in a men’s or women’s prison. Instead, the “Transgender Executive Council,” was to consider factors including the male inmate’s “security level, criminal and behavioral/ disciplinary history, current gender expression, programming, medical, and mental health needs/information, vulnerability to sexual victimization, and likelihood of perpetrating abuse.” Once placed in a woman’s prison, the prisoner would be monitored to ensure that his housing unit “does not jeopardize” his “wellbeing.”

The principal omission from the transgender calculus has always been a concern for the safety of other women prisoners. Instead, the primary concern has always been “mitigating risk” to the trans-identifying inmate.

A Free Press article argued that the risk to women prisoners was real:

transprisons250130Since the policies went into place, there have been multiple reports of sexual assault by male trans-identifying inmates toward female inmates. One woman who sued Rikers Island jail in New York in 2020, alleged that, after arriving in her cell, a male inmate introduced himself by saying, “I’m not transgender. I’m straight. I like women,” before groping and later raping her. Another female claimed she was raped in the prison shower by her six-feet-two-inches, 200-pound, bearded male attacker. In 2022, a trans-identifying male in a New Jersey women’s prison impregnated two prisoners.

Anecdotal reports I have received from women’s facilities is that the BOP is already moving biological male prisoners to all-male facilities.

Order Following Bench Trial (ECF 176), Fleming v Pistro, Case No 4:21-cv-325 (January 17, 2025)

Order for Expedited Response (ECF 178), Fleming v Pistro, Case No 4:21-cv-325 (January 24, 2025)

Defending Women from Gender Ideology and Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government (January 20, 2025)

BOP, Transgender Offender Manual (January 13, 2022)

The Free Press, Biden’s Transgender Prison Policy Goes to Trial (January 13, 2025)

– Thomas L. Root

Director Peters, It’s Not Like You Weren’t Warned – Update for September 15, 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.

TOLD YOU SO

shipwreck230915When Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters appeared for her first oversight hearing with the Senate Committee on the Judiciary about 51 weeks ago, it was an hour and a half on the Love Boat. But it’s now clear after the beating she suffered at the Committee’s hands two days ago that her ship is taking on water and the pumps can’t keep up.

Last October, I cited the friendly advice Director Peters received from the Committee about questions from legislators. I wrote

Finally, something even Peters acknowledged to be a cautionary tale: Sens Grassley, Cotton and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) all complained to her that various letters and requests for information they have sent to the BOP have gone unanswered, sometimes for years. This was a failing that former BOP Director Carvajal was beaten up with during his tenure. Not answering the mail from pesky Senators and Representatives may seem like a small thing to BOP management – it certainly has gone on for years – but if Peters wants the Judiciary Committee lovefest to go on, she should not let her staff anger Congress over something so easily corrected. Carvajal was regularly lambasted for similar failings. Peters should profit from his example.

Alas, Director Peters does not appear to be a regular reader of this blog, because she chose not to profit. The results were predictable: When she sat in front of the Committee two days ago, Peters was lambasted by friend and foe alike for a continuation of the BOP’s sorry habit of secrecy. Written questions submitted by Committee members a year ago remain unanswered, and all she could offer the senators was a milquetoast explanation that those answers must go through a “review process” and that she was as frustrated as the Committee was.

C’mon, Colette. Who’s “reviewing” these questions, most of which call for a simple factual response? (Examples from Wednesday: How many males-turned-transgender-females have been placed in federal women’s prisons? How many COs are employed by the BOP?) Providing these answers is not rocket surgery. The numbers are the numbers. How much ‘review’ of the numbers is needed?

knifegunB170404The hearing was painful. Many of the senators seemed more concerned with scoring political points on crime and LGBTQ issues than about issues broadly important to the BOP. And Director Peters seemed woefully unprepared, relying on a series of “talking points” unresponsive to the questions she should have expected. It’s as if she brought a knife to a gunfight.

The Associated Press wrote that Peters

was scolded Wednesday by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who say her lack of transparency is hampering their ability to help fix the agency, which has long been plagued by staffing shortages, chronic violence and other problems. Senators complained that Colette Peters appears to have reneged on promises she made when she took the job last year that she’d be candid and open with lawmakers, and that ‘the buck stops’ with her for turning the troubled agency around.

After an hour and a half of senatorial belly-aching about being ghosted by Director Peters, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), chairman of the Committee and as much a fan of Director Peters as he was a nemesis to former Director Carvajal, admonished her, “Senators take it very personally when you don’t answer their questions. More than almost any other thing that I would recommend I’d make that a high priority.”

Committee questions careened from the sublime to the absurd. Durbin observed that the Committee largely agreed that the BOP “needs significantly more funding” for staffing and infrastructure needs, including a $2 billion maintenance backlog. Peters told the Committee the BOP was studying how to reduce reliance on restrictive housing – read “solitary confinement” – and studying how other prison systems handle the issue.

cotton171204She also reported that the BOP had increased new hires by 60% and reduced quitting by 20%. Nevertheless, the agency still only has 13,000 correctional officers where 20,000 are needed, and it still relies on “augmentation,” using non-COs to fill CO shifts. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), a professional inmate-hater who wants to increase inmate populations while excoriating the BOP for being unable to manage the load with too little money and too few staff, complained that Peters had hired too few COs (the “meat eaters,” he called them) while bringing on too many non-COs (whom he derisively called “leaf eaters”).

Cotton invited Peters to accompany him on an inspection of FCC Forrest City, an invitation she accepted with a pained smile. Spending a day with Tom Cotton, the man who tried to blow up the First Step Act… almost as nice as a root canal without novacaine.

Other senators complained that the Mexican cartels might be obtaining blueprints for BOP facilities, that transgender females were being placed in BOP female facilities and sexually terrorizing female inmates (with very little said about BOP staff sexually terrorizing female inmates), and that the BOP decided that people on CARES Act home confinement were allowed to stay home (a decision made by the Dept of Justice, not the BOP).

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) invented a new word: “recidivation.” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) chastised Peters for not having the facts he wanted to hear at her fingertips. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) led a Republican charge against BOP transgender policy, with more than one senator suggesting that transgender inmates number in the thousands. He also became testy when Peters failed to provide specifics about how the BOP is combatting the use of contraband phones by inmates.

Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) asked pointed but thoughtful questions. Ossoff suggested what many have long believed, that the institution audits required by the Prison Rape Elimination Act are meaningless paper exercises. As for BOP staffing, Tillis candidly observed that hiring more COs “is our job as well as yours.”

Ossoff perhaps best summarized the flavor of the hearing when he warned Peters: “You’ve now been in the post for about a year and Congress expects results.”

Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (September 13, 2023)

Associated Press, Senators clash with US prisons chief over transparency, seek fixes for problem-plagued agency (September 13, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

Some BOP Shorts – Update for February 11, 2022

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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.

Today, we offer a few short takes from the Federal Bureau of Prisons

judge160425BOP Sued: The Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia last week sued the BOP, alleging “unequal and discriminatory treatment” of DC inmates sentenced in the DC Superior Court. In the case, filed as a class action, the plaintiffs contend the BOP scores the criminal histories of DC prisoners more harshly than the criminal histories of federal prisoners.

Since the 1997 federalization of DC’s criminal system, DC felony offenders have been placed in BOP custody to serve their sentences at federal prisons all over the country. As a result of the BOP’s criminal history scoring practices, the plaintiffs say, DC prisoners are held in higher security, have fewer programming opportunities, and are less likely to get home confinement or compassionate release.

Blades v. Garland, Case No 22-cv-00279 (D.D.C., filed February 3, 2022)

BOP Panel Recommends Sex Reassignment Surgery: The BOP Transgender Executive Council (TEC) last week recommended that a 47-year-transgender female receive sex reassignment surgery, according to documents filed a week ago in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.

“Assuming she does not engage in behavior that would prevent her from continued placement in a female facility and assuming further that no other reasons develop that would make gender confirmation surgery inappropriate,” the filing noted, “the TEC does expect plaintiff to be referred to a surgeon at the appropriate time.”

The referral will come after the inmate is transferred to a new facility in March.

The Hill, US Bureau of Prisons recommends inmate receive historic gender-affirming surgery (February 3, 2022)

Fight Lockdown of BOP Lifted: The BOP announced Monday that it was ending the nationwide lockdown of its facilities, gradually easing the restrictions at sites where officials determined there was no longer a threat.

prisonfight220211In a rare move, the BOP had locked down all of its 122 facilities as a result of a fight at USP Beaumont involving members of central American gang MS-13 and members of the Mexican organized crime-linked game Surenos. MS-13 members reportedly killed two Surenos and severely injured a third. The affiliation of the fourth prisoner, who was wounded, was not reported.

On Monday, the Bureau said it was returning “select facilities to the appropriate modified operational status” as part of a “tiered response” that would lift restrictions elsewhere as officials decided it was safe to do so. About 30 facilities came out of lockdown on Tuesday, with more being added throughout the week.

The week before, BOP employees received a notice that “effective January 31, 2022, the Federal Bureau of Prisons was placed on a National Lock-Down [sic]. The lock-down was initiated out of an abundance of caution due to current events which occurred at another facility. This order is to ensure the safety and security of all staff and inmates.”

The New York Times said, “Officials worried that the deadly fight would set off violence at other facilities, according to a person briefed on the bureau’s decision, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation.”

The Washington Post reported that lockdown was a “dramatic step [that] sparked some anger among inmates and their relatives, who felt it was overly broad.”

BOP Director Michael Carvajal told the House Subcommittee on Feb. 3, “We needed to find out what’s going on. I won’t get into specific operational things, but the groups involved, there’s approximately 2,500 in our custody spread throughout the agency. We need to make sure that we separate them and secure them. I’m hoping that the lockdown will be short-lived. We do not like keeping inmates again in their cells and we will do our best to get them out.”

The Times noted that “the violence was… in keeping with troubles that have long plagued the Bureau of Prisons. This year alone, the bureau has announced four inmate deaths and three escapes, as it continues to struggle with staff shortages, health issues stemming from Covid-19, violence, mismanagement and employee misconduct.”

Washington Post, Bureau of Prisons starts to lift nationwide lockdown (February 7, 2022)

Forbes, Federal Bureau Of Prisons On National Lockdown After Deadly Fights at USP Beaumont (February 2, 2022)

The New York Times, Fatal Gang Fight Spurs Nationwide Lockdown of Federal Prison System (January 31, 2022)

– Thomas L. Root

“Mikey, We Hardly Knew Ye” – BOP Director Resigns (and Other Stories) – Update for January 6, 2022

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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 BLUES

A lot’s going on in the BOP, and little of it can be lifting spirits at Central Office.

carvajal220106Carvajal’s Out: Federal Bureau of Prisons Michael Carvajal announced yesterday that he’s resigning, six weeks after the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee demanded that Attorney General Merrick Garland deliver his head on a platter.

Carvajal, appointed during the Trump administration, has “been at the center of myriad crises within the federal prison system,” according to the Associated Press. The BOP characterized the decision as a “retirement,” which – after 30 years as a BOP employee – Carvajal is certainly entitled to do.

The BOP said he will stay on for an interim period until a successor is named. It is unclear how long that process would take.

The beginning of the end for Carvajal came in November, when the AP reported that more than 100 Bureau of Prisons workers have been arrested, convicted, or sentenced for crimes since the start of 2019, including a warden charged with sexually abusing an inmate. The AP stories apparently prompted Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Illnois), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, to call for Carvajal’s removal.

Carvajal took office just as COVID-19 took off, and included “a failed response to the pandemic, dozens of escapes, deaths and critically low staffing levels that have hampered responses to emergencies,” the AP said.

“We are very appreciative of Director Carvajal’s service to the department over the last three decades,” DOJ spokesman Anthony Coley said in a statement. “His operational experience and intimate knowledge of the Bureau of Prisons — the department’s largest component — helped steer it during critical times, including during this historic pandemic.”

Atlanta: Last week, Forbes magazine got its hands on an internal BOP memorandum from 2020 revealing just how much of a mess USP Atlanta was a year before the Bureau took the extraordinary step of shipping out 1,100 inmates and shuttering the facility for an extensive rehabilitation.

jailbreak211025The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in 2017 about the “Wild West” atmosphere that defined USP Atlanta and its satellite minimum prison camp. According to an August 31, 2020 memorandum to the Southeast Region of the BOP, “USP Atlanta presents significant security concern for the Southeast Region … [which] requires immediate corrective action.”

Forbes reported the memo resulted from a Security Assessment performed just months after USP Atlanta passed its Program Review with a “Good” score. Program Reviews examine the adequacy of controls, efficiency of operations, and effectiveness in achieving program results. Institutions receiving a grade of “Good” qualify for a break of three years before another such review. Forbes reported that some have questioned whether the reviewers and facilities managers “have become too chummy because members who conduct those reviews consist of BOP management from peer institutions.”

Forbes said, “These are unprecedented times for the BOP. MCC New York closed earlier this year because the building had fallen into disrepair, staff corruption cases abounded and the widely reported suicide of Jeffrey Epstein. FCI Estill (South Carolina)… was hit by a tornado that ripped up the fence, tore off parts of the roof and caused heavy damage to the facility. Within days of the incident, hundreds of inmates were transferred to a prison hundreds of miles away in Pennsylvania. The remaining camp level… inmates now live in deplorable conditions at the damaged institution. As USP Atlanta’s problems continue to mount, it is just one more blow to an agency that appears to be in free-fall.

A BOP employee who works at another institution and who also reviewed the memorandum told Forbes, “The items listed are not a surprise. If they did this same type of assessment at other USPs they would get the same result, or close to it.”

violent160620Hazelton: The correctional officer who is president of AFGE Local 420 AFGE last week blamed increasing violence at USP Hazelton – contraband weapons, a “massive” fight in a housing, and a stabbing on Christmas Eve – on a lack of leadership from the warden, Richard Hudgins.

“Over the last few weeks there has been an immense amount of violence heightened at the prison due to the lack of leadership from our warden who is retiring this month,” Union President Justin Tarovisky said.

The BOP declined to comment to the Morgantown Dominion-Post on “anecdotal allegations,” but issued a statement that “We can assure you there are qualified management staff at the institution to ensure FCC Hazelton operates in a safe and secure manner and provides the programs that are critical for successful prisoner reform.”

FMC Carswell: A Southern Illinois federal judge last week issued a 61-page opinion ordering the BOP to evaluate ther request of a transgender inmate – now held at FMC Carswell – for gender confirmation surgery.

trans220106Chief Judge Nancy J. Rosenstengel ruled that the BOP’s Transgender Executive Council must evaluate the inmate, who is a biological male seeking surgery to transition to female, within a month. The Judge issued several pages of specific instructions and timelines for the BOP to meet, depending on whether it recommends or refuses to recommend the inmate for surgery.

The opinion, which has gotten media attention due to its holding that the BOP’s failure to address transgender matters as an 8th Amendment violation, is also noteworthy for the judge’s scathing dismissal of BOP excuses for not acting before, inasmuch as the inmate has served almost 30 years in BOP custody and always claimed gender dysphoria. “Administrative convenience and cost may be, in appropriate circumstances, permissible factors for correctional systems to consider in making treatment decisions,” the judge wrote. However, “the Constitution is violated when they are considered to the exclusion of reasonable medical judgment about inmate health.”

You Just Had the Wrong Prosecutor:  Last week, as Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking offenses for assisting Jeffrey Epstein in procuring and grooming underage girls, the US Attorney in Manhattan quietly dismissed all charges against the two BOP correctional officers accused of felonies for falsifying reports connected to the 2019 Epstein suicide at MCC New York.

jailfree140410Prosecutors had said the COs napped, caught up on the news, and shopped for motorcycles and furniture instead of doing their rounds at the MCC. Epstein was held there while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and sexual-abuse charges. Last May, the COs entered into a deferred prosecution agreement where prosecutors agreed not to bring their case to trial until after they finished cooperating with an investigation by the DOJ Inspector General. The OIG has yet to release a report in connection with the investigation.

The conservative publication American Thinker said, “The message being sent by the light punishment for the prison guards whose negligence enabled Epstein’s death is pretty clear. If Maxwell were to “commit suicide” or “have an accident,” any guards implicated in negligence permitting such a death may face minimal consequences.”

Associated Press, US prisons director resigning after crises-filled tenure and scrutiny over his leadership (January 5, 2022)

Forbes, A Review of the Federal Prison In Atlanta Shows an Agency in Crisis (December 31, 2021)

BOP, BOP Director Announces Plans to Retire (January 5, 2022)

Morgantown Dominion-Post, Hazelton union concerned about mounting violence in prison (December 28, 2021)

Law and Crime, ‘She Is Running Out of Time’: Judge Orders Gender Confirmation Surgery Review for Federal Prison Inmate (December 28, 2021)

Iglesias v. Fed. Bureau of Prisons, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 245517 (S.D.Ill. Dec. 27, 2021)

Business Insider, Federal prosecutors quietly dropped their case against Jeffrey Epstein’s jail guards in the middle of Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial (December 30, 2021)

American Thinker, Coincidental or not, dropping criminal charges against Epstein’s prison guards sends a message to Ghislaine Maxwell the day after her conviction (January 1, 2022)

– Thomas L. Root