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Two Years Into New BOP Director, Seems Like the Same Ol’ Same Ol’ – Update for September 10, 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.

THEY EXPECT SOME RESULTS

Sometime in the next few months, we should see Bureau of Prisons Director Colette S. Peters make the 10-minute walk from her office to Capitol Hill for an oversight hearing.

honeymoon220224When she first appeared in front of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary two years ago, it was a love-fest. Last September, after she had been at the helm for a year, she received a decidedly cooler reception, with Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) warning her that “you’ve now been in the post for about a year and Congress expects results.”

We now have results. And they’re not all that good. The next oversight hearing ought to be a doozy.

In the FCI Dublin class action lawsuit last Thursday, US District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers (N.D. CA) denied a BOP motion to dismiss the case, saying she doesn’t believe Bureau platitudes that that it is now providing former Dublin prisoners with “adequate care” at prisons across the country.

“The Court is not so easily persuaded,” a skeptical Judge Gonzalez Rogers wrote. “The notion that the constitutional injuries alleged by FCI Dublin’s AICs (adults in custody) were comprehensively remedied by the facility’s closure strains credulity.”

The BOP offered a one-page declaration from Deputy Director William Lothrop that asserted, among other things, that “the BOP is able to presently care for its female AIC population and anticipates the ability to meet their future needs without requiring the use of the FCI Dublin facility.” But when the Court ordered Lothrop to testify, it turned out that he did not know “the details of this case… He was not aware, for instance, of the many outstanding issues… includ[ing] but… not limited to (i) 126 medical alerts; (ii) 63 Medication Assisted Treatment alerts; (iii) 30 mental health alerts; and (iv) 137 unprocessed property claims. This lack of awareness directly undermines his statement that ‘[t]he BOP is able to presently care for its female AIC population.’”

liar160103What’s more, the Judge wrote, “the BOP has not memorialized its alleged decision not to re-open FCI Dublin to house women AICs anywhere outside of Lothrop’s declaration… Thus nothing stops BOP from reversing course in the future, should this case be dismissed as moot.” Also, the Deputy Director admitted that all other BOP facilities are understaffed, “yet the decision was made not to increase staffing prior to the transfer” of the FCI Dublin prisoners.

“This directly undermines Deputy Director’s statement that ‘the BOP is able to presently care for its female AIC population and anticipates the ability to meet their future needs without requiring the use of the FCI Dublin facility,’” the Court observed. “It cannot simultaneously be true that (i) no BOP facility is fully staffed, and (ii) the BOP is aware of no barriers to providing the IACs in their custody with appropriate care.”

NPR reported last week that despite the Dept of Justice Inspector General’s and media reports on inadequate medical care at FCI Sheridan, the BOP is still failing to treat inmates for months on end and making a hash of recordkeeping, according to inmates. The BOP has responded that it “takes pride in protecting and securing individuals entrusted in our custody” and makes “every effort to ensure the physical, medical, and mental safety” of those individuals.”

On September 6th, Reason reported that “last week, at least seven women at [FCI Waseca] were sent to a local hospital for suspected drug overdoses, and incarcerated women and attorneys say the conditions inside are chaotic, filthy, and violent because of rampant abuse of the dangerous drug.”

The BOP confirmed that “[l]ast week, out of an abundance of caution, [FCI] Waseca sent seven incarcerated individuals exhibiting signs of drug use to a local hospital for additional evaluation. All were evaluated and returned the same day.”

“The [BOP] takes seriously our duty to protect the individuals entrusted in our custody,” a BOP spokesperson said, “as well as to keep correctional employees and the community safe, by maintaining a controlled environment that is secure and humane.”

Reason reported that 7 months ago, Catherine Sevcenko, senior counsel with the National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, wrote to FCI Waseca administration “detailing accounts from inside the prison about women smoking K2 and vomiting, having diarrhea, seizures, and hallucinations. Users became aggressive and paranoid. Addiction and drug debts were leading to violence and theft.”

“Everyone who has reached out to us believes that someone will die, whether from overdose or being attacked, if things do not change quickly,” Sevcenko reportedly said.

The Waseca warden replied,

I would like to assure you that the Bureau of Prisons is committed to providing a safe and healthful environment for individuals in our custody, as well as our staff… The introduction and use of illicit substances within our facilities is prohibited and the prevention of such remains a priority to all Bureau staff. At FCI Waseca, procedures exist to prevent and detect the introduction of contraband into the facility, as well as to prevent and detect the use of illicit substances inside the facility.

Well, that’s a relief! Everything’s under control.

Spice_drugLast week, a union representing FCI Thomson employees issued a press release reporting that a correctional officer had been exposed to what was believed to be amphetamines, and was revived with Narcan and hospitalized. Two weeks before, another Thomson CO reportedly was also exposed to drugs and had to be given Narcan and hospitalized.

The press release cited the death of a USP Atwater BOP officer last month from exposure to fentanyl, but authorities have not announced whether fentanyl was the cause of death, and as of Sep 6, the three defendants have not been charged with drug distribution leading to death.

KTVU, FCI Dublin women transfers continue to complain; judge denies BOP (September 6, 2024)

Order, California Coalition of Women Prisoners v BOP, ECF 385, Case No 4:23-cv-4155 (N.D. Cal., September 5, 2024)

NPR, 2 years and counting. Inmate says medical delays still plague federal prison in Oregon (September 1, 2024)

Reason, A Federal Prison Was Warned About Synthetic Marijuana. Then Inmates Started Overdosing (September 6, 2024)

AFGE 4070 Press Release, A Correctional Officer was exposed to what was believed to be amphetamines. The staff member was given Narcan before being transported to a local hospital. (September 2, 2024)

– Thomas L. Root

Sort of like ‘Warden, a “60 Minutes” Crew Is At The Sallyport’ – Update for May 19, 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.

DOJ INSPECTOR GENERAL PUBLISHES FIRST REPORT ON SURPRISE INSPECTION OF BOP FACILITY

Another continuing story: Last week, I reported that the Department of Justice Inspector General said the BOP is falling down and the BOP was in institutional stasis.

IG230518The IG said that because of operational deficiencies at USP Atlanta and MCC New York (which has since been closed), its investigators set out to “assess how critical issues at BOP institutions are identified, communicated to BOP Executive Staff, and remediated.”

When the BOP Executive Staff told the IG that management “had been largely aware of the long-standing operational issues at USP Atlanta and MCC New York and expressed confidence in the BOP’s existing mechanisms to communicate information about operational issues.”

Almost as if to say, You want a for instance’?, the IG last week also released a report on its unannounced inspection of the low-security women’s prison at FCI Waseca. The report, resulting from a surprise inspection, uncovered “many significant issues,” according to KSTP-TV, and is “the first unannounced inspection under the DOJ Office of the Inspector General’s new inspections program, which is expected to include inspections at other federal prisons across the country in the coming months.”

The inspection, which occurred in late winter, was performed by a team of nine making physical observations, interviewing staff and inmates, reviewing security camera footage and collecting records. It found that Waseca was operating with only two-thirds of its normal staff complement, and that augmentation was taking a toll on services and operations. “We… identified staff shortages in both FCI Waseca’s health services and psychology services departments which have caused delays in physical and mental health care treatment. Such delays can potentially result in more serious health issues for inmates, create further demands on health care staff and increase the costs of future treatments,” Inspector General Michael Horowitz said.

The IG found

• Significant staffing shortages have cascading effects on institution operations.
• Substantial concerns with numerous blind spots, poor night vision, poor zoom quality, and an insufficient number of cameras.
• Significant challenge limiting the amount of contraband in the institution, specifically drugs.
• Institution management and staff frustration with the amount of time it takes to close a staff misconduct investigation.
• Long inmate program participation wait lists.

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The report also documents ‘serious facility issues’ affecting the conditions for inmates, such as pipes leaking next to prisoners’ beds and roof damage leading to unsanitary food services situations.

The IG’s “unannounced inspection” program should give the BOP Central Office – which has long accepted (if not tacitly approved) BOP facility “inspections” which were nothing more than ‘dog and pony’ shows – some sleepless nights.

DOJ, Inspection of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Federal Correctional Institution Waseca (May 10, 2023)

Bringmethenews.com, DOJ: Surprise inspection of Waseca women’s prison finds ‘significant issues’ (May 12, 2023)

KSTP, Surprise inspection of Waseca prison uncovers ‘many significant issues,’ DOJ says (May 10, 2023)

– Thomas L. Root

Director Says BOP “Has A Sound Pandemic Plan In Place…” As COVID-19 Spirals Out of Control – Update for December 14, 2020

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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.

COURT ORDERS BOP TO HONOR SETTLEMENT, WHILE INMATE COVID CASES INCREASE 30% IN ONE WEEK

Ten days ago, the number of Bureau of Prisons inmate COVID-19 cases passed 5,000. That was a first… but it was nothing compared to last week.

As of last Friday, the BOP reported 7,278 ill inmates (a 30% from the week before),1,716 sick staff (up 9% from last week), COVID-19 in 127 BOP facilities and 167 dead inmates. The BOP has tested 58% of all inmates at least once, with the positivity rate continuing to ratchet up. As of last Friday, 34% of all inmate tests are positive for COVID.

BOPCOVID201214

Recall that on December 2, BOP Director Michael Carvajal told a House Subcommittee that the BOP’s COVID-19 “procedures have proven effective as this is evidenced by the steep decline in our inmate hospitalizations, inmates on ventilators and deaths.” Some feel differently.

Last Friday, a Connecticut U.S. District Court found that the BOP had violated its settlement agreement in a class action of 450 medically vulnerable prisoners brought last spring over COVID-19 conditions at FCI Danbury. The unhappy judge ordered the BOP to release 17 medically vulnerable inmates by 5 p.m. the next day (a Saturday), prohibited the BOP from relying on administrative roadblocks to delay the release of those granted home confinement, and directed the BOP to report to the plaintiffs’ attorneys whenever the agency expects to fail to release inmates granted CARES Act home confinement within 14 days of grant.

The court order followed a long hearing the day before, where the court heard about a new Danbury COVID-19 outbreak and the BOP’s corresponding failure to mitigate the spread of the disease. In one week, the number of Danbury COVID-19 cases went from zero to nearly 50. The plaintiffs said despite the BOP’s promise to check daily for symptoms for the duration of the pandemic, the BOP failed to follow this pledge for two weeks during a surge of the disease around the country.

A July settlement of the lawsuit required the BOP to promptly identify prisoners who are low security risks and have a greater chance of developing serious complications from the virus and release them to home confinement. The settlement called for prisoners to be released within 14 days of being approved. But the plaintiffs’ lawyers say some of them have been waiting nearly three months to be released after being approved for home confinement.

whoyabelieve201214The BOP cited several reasons for the delays in releasing the inmates, including required 14-day quarantines due to the virus and BOP guidelines in releasing inmates to the community. The Court was not impressed.

Meanwhile, in Minnesota, the ACLU last week filed suit alleging the BOP’s FCI Waseca has “failed to respond in any meaningful way to the pandemic.” The ACLU says the prison did not release medically vulnerable people from the prison, where two out of three inmates contracted COVID-19, making social distancing impossible.

New Jersey congressional leaders last week renewed their call to end inmate transfers to FCI Fort Dix. Led by Senators Robert Menendez and Cory Booker (both D-New Jersey), the state’s congressional delegation sent a second letter to BOP Director Carvajal week calling for the end of inmate transfers and asking the BOP to outline its plan for allocating and administering the COVID vaccine.

The BOP had previously instituted a moratorium on all inmate transfers to Ft Dix through Nov. 23 as active cases hit 300. The lawmakers and BOP staff have pointed to the October transfer of inmates from FCI Elkton to Ft Dix as the cause of the outbreak. BOP officials have denied the accusation. The moratorium was not extended, the BOP said last week, despite a previous letter from the state’s lawmakers demanding the moratorium continue until there are no active cases at the prison.

“By resuming transfers of incarcerated individuals into and out of the facility in the midst of a severe outbreak, BOP is putting at risk the lives of both staff and incarcerated individuals,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter.

COVIDheart200720The BOP is seeing a resurgence of COVID at institutions where it had previously been controlled. The virus is again at FCC Lompoc, site of one of the worst prison COVID outbreaks in the country, according to the Santa Barbara Independent. An investigation last summer by the Dept. of Justice Inspector General found that the BOP’s initial response to COVID “failed on a number of fronts and likely contributed to the severity of the outbreak, including staffing shortages, inadequate screenings, and a scarcity of protective equipment.”

As of Friday, Englewood and Loretto each have more than 600 sick inmates, Texarkana and Pekin more than 300 each, five more facilities with more than 200, and 12 more BOP institutions with over 100 active COVID cases.

When a local newspaper asked the BOP about Loretto, a spokesman said the prisons are following accepted guidelines. While declining to address the Loretto situation “due to privacy, safety and security reasons,” the spokesman told the paper, “we can tell you all institutions have areas set aside for quarantine and medical isolation.”

Meanwhile, The New York Times last week criticized the BOP for its management of COVID at FDC Brooklyn. Noting that 55 inmates had tested positive for COVID-19, The Times said, “many months into this pandemic, the Federal Defenders of New York, a legal advocacy group, said officials at the jail aren’t following basic public health guidelines to prevent the spread of the virus, to care for sick inmates or to protect those who are most vulnerable. The reports… are disturbing. Corrections officers, they say, aren’t properly wearing masks, including while interacting with inmates. Sick inmates aren’t receiving proper medical attention and are being placed in cells with healthy individuals. One person incarcerated at the facility told an attorney with the Federal Defenders that severely ill inmates who asked for medical attention didn’t get it.”

A BOP spokesman disputed the Defenders’ claims. Nevertheless, the Times said, “if the conditions are anything like what the Federal Defenders describe, they are an affront to human dignity and a threat to the public health of Americans in and out of the Brooklyn facility.”

lies170310And here’s an interesting glimpse at the BOP’s record-keeping, a factoid that could suggest to reasonable people that the BOP’s numbers cannot necessarily be trusted. A Youngstown, Ohio, news website, reporting on Columbiana County, Ohio, COVID numbers, was trying to derive a number of people recovered from the virus. It noted that FCI Elkton – located in the county – reported “896 incarcerated people and 54 employees had recovered from COVID-19 as of today… That number has declined in recent weeks, suggesting the bureau removes cases from its total when people are transferred out of the prison.”

Yale University Law School, CJAC Wins Speedy Release of Medically Vulnerable Individuals from Federal Prison in Danbury (December 12, 2020)

Order, Whitted v Easter, Case No 3:20-cv-00569 (D. Conn, December 11, 2020)

WWLP-TV, Judge orders release of 17 virus-vulnerable federal inmates (December 12, 2020)

KMSP-TV, ACLU sues federal prison in Waseca, Minn. after 67% of inmates test positive for COVID-19 (December 10, 2020)

Burlington County Times, More NJ lawmakers renew call for end to inmate transfers at FCI Fort Dix (December 10, 2020)

Johnstown Tribune-Democrat, Feds: Loretto prison following guidelines (December 11, 2020)

Mahoning Matters, Columbiana County reports 244 new COVID-19 cases, 2 new deaths (December 11, 2020)

New York Times, Stop the Coronavirus Outbreak at Brooklyn’s Federal Jail (December 8, 2020)

– Thomas L. Root

Six Months Later, BOP Making No Progress on COVID-19 – Update for September 13, 2020

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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.

COVID-19 GRINDS ON

You’d think, reading enough BOP blandishments about its “Action Plan” to address the COVID-19 pandemic that today, six months after the pandemic began, we’d be doing better. Instead, thehe number of inmates sick with the virus climbed above 2,000 for the fourth time (May 5, June 3, June 7 and July 6), standing last night at 2,033, up 4% from last week’s 1,947. The number of sick staff has fallen 2%, from 643 to 631. The number of facilities with outbreaks has increased by two, from 112 to 114, representing 93% of all institutions (an all-time high).

BOPSickInmates200913

The BOP has done enough COVID-19 tests as of last night to test 36% of the BOP inmate population, if the BOP were testing each inmate once (which it is definitely not doing). Twenty-five percent of all tests are positive for COVID.

The Sentencing Resources Counsel for the Federal Defenders organization last week issued a blistering review of the BOP’s COVID-19 response, quoting Joe Rojas, a BOP employee and regional vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council of Prison Locals. “They’re making the virus explode.” The report identifies 19 BOP inmates “who died in BOP custody after filing —and in some cases, even after being granted—requests for release” and note that “at least four individuals — Adrian Slarzano, Gerald Porter, Robert Hague-Rogers, and Marie Neba — have died of COVID-19 after either testing negative or after BOP erroneously pronounced them ‘recovered’.” It noted the Washington Post’s description of prison response to COVID-19 as exemplifying “a culture of cruelty and disregard for the well-being of incarcerated people,” and described FMC Carswell, a women’s medical facility, as a “house of horror.”

plague200406The report observes that because of the First Step Act of 2018, inmates may file their own motions for compassionate release, but it complains that the 30-day mandatory exhaustion period before filing, “coupled with DOJ’s routine opposition, prevents vulnerable defendants from obtaining critical relief.” Significantly, the Report notes that “based on a survey of defense attorneys representing clients across the country, we are not aware of a single BOP-initiated motion for compassionate release based on heightened risk of severe illness from COVID-19 infection.”

Things are unlikely to improve in the coming months. The Institute for Health Metrics and Education (part of the University of Washington), predicts that the daily US death rate, “because of seasonality and declining vigilance of the public, will reach nearly 3,000 a day in December. Cumulative deaths expected by January 1 are 410,000.” Current deaths stand at 197,000. this is 225,000 more deaths from now until the end of the year.

To make matters worse, prisons are bracing for simultaneous outbreaks of the flu and COVID-19 as the weather turns colder. “The flu regularly spreads through prisons and jails in the US for some of the same reasons that COVID-19 does,” the Verge reported last week. “The facilities pack vulnerable people in close quarters, with limited access to soap or other ways to protect themselves against an infectious disease. Handling a single outbreak is already a struggle in these places, which often don’t do enough to protect the health of the people living in them. Now, they may have to handle two.”

plagueB200406Flu shots are offered to all BOP staff and older and health-compromised inmates, “but those guidelines don’t mean most inmates in the US get flu shots; outbreaks regularly happen in prisons where most inmates aren’t vaccinated.”

In the continuing and deadly game of COVID-19 whack-a-mole, the BOP is battling major outbreaks (over 100 cases) at FDC San Diego, Big Spring, USP Leavenworth, Coleman, Petersburg Low and Victorville. Other significant infections are going on at FTC Oklahoma, Waseca, FCI Miami, Forrest City and FDC SeaTac.

A Seattle-area newspaper published a story last week alleging that a BOP CO came to work one day in August with a fever and headache, spreading the virus throughout the facility before his shift ended. The paper said FDC SeaTac violated its own protocols of taking every staff person’s temperature before each shift, thus letting the coronavirus into the facility. As of last night, FDC SeaTac reported 46 sick inmates and seven sick staff.

whack200602

CoreCivic, the private prison operator that runs facilities holding immigration detainees and thousands of federal prisoners, is getting grilled as well. New Mexico’s congressional delegation wrote to ICE, Marshals and CoreCivic last month about conditions in Cibola County Correctional Institution, a CoreCivic immigration detention prison. CoreCivic took troublingly long to realize that it had “a massive outbreak in its facility endangering the safety of inmates, detainees, staff and the community,” the delegation said, noting that the state Department of Health had to direct CoreCivic to conduct mass testing. The delegation was also concerned that “correctional officers working at the Cibola facility are not wearing adequate [personal protective equipment] when escorting COVID-19 positive inmates into the local hospital.”

Neither any of the agencies nor CoreCivic has responded.

Sentencing Resource Counsel for the Federal Public Community Defenders, The COVID-19 Crisis in Federal Detention (Sept. 9, 2020)

The Verge, Prisons battling COVID-19 face another disease threat this fall (Sept. 11, 2020)

IMHE, Model Updates for Sept. 3, 2020

South Seattle Emerald, SeaTac Federal Detention Center Exposed Prisoners to the Coronavirus by Allegedly Failing to Follow Coronavirus Protocols (Sept. 7, 2020)

Santa Fe New Mexican, Prison’s virus outbreak brings fear to rural area (Sept. 12, 2002)

– Thomas L. Root

 

COVID Deadlier in Prison (No Surprise There) – Update for September 11, 2020

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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.

COVID-19 THIS WEEK

corona200313The reopening of visitation, even with the restrictions the Federal Bureau of Prisons anticipates, suggests that the BOP is getting a handle on COVID-19. But the numbers hardly suggest that. As of last night, 1,834 inmates were sick, about the same as a week ago. Sick staff remained at 648, and only one additional inmate died during the week, bringing the total to 125. But COVID-19 remains stubbornly present in 113 institutions, 91% of Bureau of Prisons facilities, one more than a week ago.

A disturbing report from the Council for Criminal Justice issued last week found that the COVID-19 mortality rate within prisons is 61.8 deaths per 100,000 inmates, twice that of the general public mortality rate, even adjusted for the sex, age and race or ethnicity of those incarcerated. The rate of COVID-19 cases reported by state and federal prisons is nearly 7,000 cases per 100,000 people in prison, more than four times the rate of confirmed cases per 100,000 US residents. Geographically, prisons with the highest number of COVID-19 cases are those located in the southern region of the U.S., and in prisons with over 1,000 inmates. The highest COVID-19 mortality rates come from large prisons and those in the midwest. Overall, the BOP COVID mortality rate is twice that of the general population.

A Minnesota TV station reported last Friday that Ambjar Anderson, the chief steward of the BOP staff union at FCI, told reporters that a month ago “the prison received a couple of buses of inmates. One bus was mostly comprised of positive COVID-cases.”

distancing200911
“We’ve had the proper PPE in place and that’s what helped us mitigate things so far,” Anderson was quoted as saying, but “it’s really hard when the Bureau sends a busload of them. The numbers – it’s spreading – because it’s a prison and it’s hard to social distance.”

Anderson told the station that “we have staff who have families and communities that they are living in and going to and they care about and they don’t want to pass it around to everyone, yet now it’s spreading in our institution.”

A US Sentencing Commission study of the first year of the First Step Act, released last week, reported that 145 motions seeking compassionate release were granted through the end of September 2019, a five-fold increase from fiscal year 2018. Two thirds were filed by the defendant, one third by the BOP. The average length of the sentence reduction was 68 months in fiscal 2018; 84 months in 2019. The average months of time served at the time of release also increased from 70 months to 108 months.

judge160229No stats are yet available for the COVID-19 series of compassionate releases. However, last week a Colorado Politics review of 42 court opinions issued between March 1 and August 31 the District of Colorado found that only in five coronavirus-related instances did a judge agree to “compassionate release.” Two judges who oversaw half of the requests did not grant a single release. One of them contended that an inmate who contracted COVID-19 in prison should remain there so as not to infect others.

Council on Criminal Justice, COVID-19 in State and Federal Prisons (September 2, 2020)

KIMT-TV, Rochester, Minnesota, Outbreak Concerns at FCI Waseca (September 4, 2020)

US Sentencing Commission, The First Step Acct: One Year of Implementation (Aug 31)

Colorado Politics, Federal judges in Colorado granted 12% of pandemic-related early release requests (September 1, 2020)

– Thomas L. Root