Lawmakers Request BOP Director Provide Insight on Augmenting Personnel, Staff Shortages

In a letter to Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Director Michael Carvajal, Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) requested a report on the federal prison system's current personnel and recruitment procedures. Published on November 3, 2021, the request is intended to give Congress a clear picture of the system's condition. 

Emerging reports of psychologists, teachers, unit managers, and medical personnel assigned to correctional duties, such as monitoring showers and escorting inmates during recreation time, prompted lawmakers' concern.

When hired, prison personnel are told to expect to perform law enforcement duties even if they are employed as counselors or teachers. The Associated Press reports all prison personnel are trained as correctional workers regardless of titles or position.

Known as augmentation, prison personnel serve as guards if critical positions need coverage in unforeseen circumstances, as was the case with COVID-19 when the staffing shortage reached an unprecedented level. The AP found that recent events of high-profile deaths and violence at BOP facilities, pale in comparison to pandemic’s impact. The COVID-19 virus impacted more than 7,000 workers, with officers accompanying infectious inmates to hospitals for treatment. At least 235 inmates and four officers died.

Union representatives have long feared the staffing shortage, holding protests nationwide – the most recent taking place at the Department of Justice (DOJ) last month where employees expressed concern that the vaccine mandate would further exacerbate staffing challenges. Nearly one-third of federal correctional officer jobs are vacant, according to the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).

“We’re tired of the agency putting a price tag on our lives,” stated AFGE Local 1237 President Aaron McGlothin, “We’ve had staff members killed in the line of duty. We’ve had staff members injured in the line of duty. At what point do they realize they’ve got a problem to fix, and quit putting a Band-Aid over it?”

With the number of violent encounters at facilities on the rise, concerns about how the agency can meet its responsibilities for safety of prisoners and employees while preventing recidivism prompted a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report earlier this year.

GAO found that although BOP budgeted for 20,446 full-time correctional officer positions in 2020, the agency reported that it currently employs 13,762 officers. Despite efforts to attract recruits with 25 percent bonuses, there has been little progress. While there are promises of making $62,615 as a recruitment incentive, the starting salary is just under $43,500. The highest end of this salary scale is still much lower than what other federal agencies offer, especially compared with the competition from police departments, state prisons, oil refineries, and warehouses.

The report detailed BOP’s procedures for addressing staffing problems, which does not incorporate associated risks to staff and inmate safety, such as officer fatigue and reduced observation skills. The GAO recommends BOP identify potential risks by conducting an employee survey, providing the opportunity to improve employee wellness programs and analyze staffing data.

Further, GAO urges BOP to investigate whether there is a correlation between violence and other misconduct in prison, including whether staff working these shifts may have worked longer than usual hours or may have been augmented from their current roles.

To comply with the Senators’ request, BOP Director Carvajal is to submit staffing reports for all prisons under the BOP's jurisdiction, staffing guidelines, and data on inmate-to-correctional officer ratios by November 12, 2021.