It’s disheartening to see studies by the DOJ-IG and GAO that find the same things repeatedly with little impact on the issue studied. What’s worse is that their lack of working in the trenches of the BOP hurts the identification of what I refer to as the “low hanging fruit” of reforms that could be [...]
Early this week, a brief Op Ed was published in The Hill related to solitary confinement by co-authors Collette Peters, Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Nancy Levigne, Director of the National Institute of Justice. https://thehill.com/opinion/congress-blog/4175480-promoting-safer-and-more-humane-environments-the-imperative-of-studying-restrictive-housing-in-corrections/ While I applaud their efforts and intention, the article is one of many in a long line [...]
June 14, 2019 To: IRC/FBOP/NIJ I am writing today with feedback as a citizen, stakeholder (FedCURE) and retired BOP employee with over 30 years of experience working directly with people incarcerated in the federal prison system. I respectfully request this feedback be considered and put on the record. My perspective is unique because [...]
It did not take long for the BOP to issue a change notice to Program Statement 5410.01, FSA of 2018-Time Credits: For Implementation of 18 USC 3632 (d)(4). This change allows credits for people with detainers which was inevitable because of the litigation around the country because of the BOP’s creation of a restriction that [...]
VENTING.......... Aside from the typos and misinformation, this Omnibus is really a joke from a prison perspective! The Below information is a cut and pasted from Senate.gov and very unprofessional. First issue I see, “OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL The agreement includes $139,000.000 for the Office of Inspector General (OIG) and includes $4,000,000 for OIG to [...]
I've been working directly with federal prisoners for thirty-five years, twenty-three with the Federal Bureau of Prisons in classification and programs. It's hard to astound me on prison issues but reading the DOJ-IG Report on the Whitey Bulger Murder was the most non-adherence to policy and I honestly feel the BOP was complicit in the [...]
The quiet on the Federal Time Credits (FTC) front ended just over a week ago when newly appointed Director Peters appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee. During her appearance she indicated the computer system integration to calculate FTC was finally implemented. This statement was a surprise for even the staff I spoke to inside [...]
I have written a monthly blog for the Sentencing Partners Newsletter for the past two years and thought I'd start to post them to my blog. Below are the past few articles including some hot off the press info I just received from inside. Enjoy....... Federal Time Credits-Down Memory Lane A few months back, I [...]
The Forgotten I took a few days to process the list of names who received presidential pardons and/or commutations. My wife is a clinical social worker and reminds me often how the brain resets and even solves problems while a person is asleep. I woke up last night thinking about the list and have [...]
With the decision in the Northern District of Ohio yesterday, it appears the BOP is in freefall. I’ve written about the root causes of inferior BOP leadership for many years as well as the agency’s lack of transparency and accountability. While the BOP needs to own their “shoot, ready, aim” shenanigans, let us not forget [...]