Federal Bureau of Prisons

Federal Bureau of Prisons

Seal of the Federal Bureau of Prisons
Flag of the Federal Bureau of Prisons
Agency overview
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Motto	Correctional Excellence. Respect. Integrity.
Employees	39,925
Annual budget	6.445 billion USD (FY 2013)
Agency executive	Charles E. Samuels, Jr., Director
Parent agency	Department of Justice
Website	www.bop.gov

The Federal Home Loan Bank Board Building, which houses the main office of the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington, DC

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency. A subdivision of the U.S. Department of Justice, the BOP is responsible for the administration of the federal prison system. The system handles inmates who have violated, or are accused of violating, federal law. The BOP also holds inmates who have committed felonies in Washington, DC.

The BOP is also responsible for carrying out all judicially ordered federal executions (other than those carried out under military law) in the United States.

History

The Federal Prison System existed for more than 30 years before the BOP was established. Although its wardens functioned almost autonomously, the Superintendent of Prisons, a Department of Justice official in Washington, was nominally in charge of Federal prisons, starting with the passage of the "Three Prisons Act' in 1891, which authorized the Federal Government's first three penitentiaries: USP Leavenworth, USP Atlanta, and USP McNeil Island with limited supervision by the United States Department of Justice afterwards.

Until 1907, prison matters were handled by the Justice Department's General Agent. The General Agent was responsible for Justice Department accounts, oversight of internal operations, and certain criminal investigations, as well as prison operations. In 1907, the General Agent's office was abolished, and its functions were distributed among three new offices: the Division of Accounts (which evolved into the Justice Management Division); the Office of the Chief Examiner (which later evolved by 1908, into the Bureau of Investigation, and later by the early 1920s into the Federal Bureau of Investigation); and the Office of the Superintendent of Prisons and Prisoners, later called the Superintendent of Prisons (which then evolved by 1930 into the Bureau of Prisons).

The exterior of Federal Correctional Institution, Milan

Pursuant to Pub. L. No. 71-218, 46 Stat. 325 (1930), the Bureau of Prisons was established by the U.S. Congress within the U.S. Department of Justice (which itself was created in 1870, to be headed by the Attorney General, whose office was first established in the first Presidential Cabinet under President Washington and created in 1789, along with the Secretaries of State, Treasury and War). he new Prison Bureau now under the Administration of the 31st President Herbert Hoover, (1874-1964), and was charged with the "management and regulation of all Federal penal and correctional institutions." This responsibility covered the administration of the 11 federal prisons in operation at the time. By the end of the year 1930, the system had already expanded to 14 institutions with 13,000 inmates. By a decade later in 1940, the Federal prison system had 24 institutions with 24,360 incarcerated.

The State of Alaska assumed jurisdiction over its corrections on January 3, 1959, using the Alaska Department of Corrections. Prior to statehood, the BOP had correctional jurisdiction over Alaska.

Employees

As of 2015, 63% of BOP employees are white, 21% are black, 12% are Hispanic, 2% are Asian and 8% identify themselves as another race. 73% are male.

All BOP employees undergo 200 hours of formal training in their first year of employment. Employees must also complete additional 120 hours of training at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Glynco, Georgia.

Inmate population

As of 2015, US federal prisons currently hold approximately 205,000 inmates in 122 facilities.

Also as of 2015, 59% of federal inmates are white and 38% are black; 93% are male.

As of August 2013, of the male inmates, 15% were housed in the Northeast, 19% were housed in the Southeast, 16% were housed in the Mid-Atlantic region, 12% were housed in the North Central region, 24% were housed in the South Central region, and 13% were housed in the Western region. Of the female inmates, 9% were housed in the Northeast, 22% were housed in the Southeast, 17% were housed in the Mid-Atlantic region, 11% were housed in the North Central region, 23% were housed in the South Central region, and 18% were housed in the Western region.

As of August 2013, of the male inmates, 13% received sentences while being in the Northeast, 10% of men received them in the Southeast, 11% received them in the Mid-Atlantic region, 12% received them in the North Central region, 28% received them in the South Central region, and 26% were sentenced in the Western region. Of the female inmates, 13% received sentences while being in the Northeast, 13% of women received them in the Southeast, 13% received them in the Mid-Atlantic region, 14% received them in the North Central region, 26% received them in the South Central region, and 22% were sentenced in the Western region.

Female inmates

See also: Incarceration of women in the United States

As of 2015 27 BOP facilities house women. The BOP has the Mothers and Infants Nurturing Together (MINT) program for women who enter the BOP as inmates while pregnant. The BOP only pays for abortion if it is life threatening for the woman, but it may allow for abortions in non-life threatening cases if non-BOP funds are used.

With the 2014 repurposing of FCI Danbury for men, female inmates in the Northeast no longer had a prison in their region, and the imbalance of female inmates in regards to their locations in the BOP increased.

Juvenile inmates

As of 2010 typically juveniles sent into BOP custody are between 17 and 20, must have been under 18 at the time of the offense and had been convicted of sex-related offenses. This is because the most severe crimes committed on Indian Reservations are usually taken to federal court. According to the BOP, most of the juveniles it receives had committed violent crimes and had "an unfavorable history of responding to interventions and preventive measures in the community." As of that year most federal juvenile inmates were from Arizona, Montana, South Dakota, and the District of Columbia (in no particular order).

The BOP contracts with facilities that house juvenile offenders. Title 18 U.S.C. 5039 specifies that "No juvenile committed, whether pursuant to an adjudication of delinquency or conviction for an offense, to the custody of the Attorney General may be placed or retained in an adult jail or correctional institution in which he has regular contact with adults incarcerated because they have been convicted of a crime or are awaiting trial on criminal charges." The definition includes secure facilities and community-based correctional facilities. Federally sentenced juveniles may be moved into federal adult facilities at certain points; juveniles sentenced as adults are moved into adult facilities when they turn 18. Juveniles sentenced as juveniles are moved into adult facilities when they turn 21.

Death row inmates

United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute, the location of the federal death row for men and the federal execution chamber

Main article: Capital punishment by the United States federal government

The Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 reinstituted the federal death penalty. On July 19, 1993, the federal government designated the United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute in Indiana as the site where federal inmates sentenced to death would be held and executed. The Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Texas holds the female inmates who have been sentenced to death.

Some male death row inmates are instead held at ADX Florence.

Overpopulation and responses

Parole was abolished for federal inmates in 1987 and inmates must serve at least 85% of their original sentence before being considered for good-behavior release. In addition, strict-sentencing guidelines were adopted in response to rising crime rates in the 1980s and early 1990s, especially for drug-related offenses. US violent crime has dropped since then, but some analysts and activists believe that other factors played a much more significant part in falling crime rates. In addition, they hold that strict federal sentencing guidelines have led to overcrowding and needlessly incarcerated thousands of non-violent drug offenders who would be better served by drug treatment programs.

The yearly increases in the federal inmate population have raised concerns from criminal justice experts and even among DOJ officials themselves. Michael Horowitz, the DOJ Inspector General, wrote a memorandum concerning this issue:

"First, despite a slight decrease in the total number of federal inmates in fiscal year (FY) 2014, the Department projects that the costs of the federal prison system will continue to increase in the years ahead, consuming a large share of the Department’s budget. Second, federal prisons remain significantly overcrowded and therefore face a number of important safety and security issues."

See also

• List of U.S. federal prisons
• Incarceration in the United States
• List of United States federal law enforcement agencies
• National Institute of Corrections
• UNICOR (Federal Prison Industries, Inc.)

References

• Arons, Anna, Katherine Culver, Emma Kaufman, Jennifer Yun, Hope Metcalf, Megan Quattlebaum, and Judith Resnik. "Dislocation and Relocation: Women in the Federal Prison System and Repurposing FCI Danbury for Men." Yale Law School, Arthur Liman Public Interest Program. September 2014.

Further reading

• The Federal Prison Population Buildup: Overview, Policy Changes, Issues, and Options, Congressional Research Service
• Atlanta Federal Penitentiary Inmate Case Files, 1902–1921 at the National Archives at Atlanta

External links

• Official website (Mobile)
• Federal Bureau of Prisons in the Federal Register