We need a well-designed plan to repair or replace our crumbling federal prisons

The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has been described as an agency in crisis. A primary driver of this description is the difficulty BOP has in recruiting and hiring staff. Difficulties in recruiting and retaining quality staff are compounded by the fact that many prison facilities are deteriorating and were not designed or built to safely house today’s inmate population, which in turn compromises the safety of correctional staff, inmates, and the public. Moreover, many prisons are located in remote areas of the country that lack the resources and amenities required to attract the large numbers of qualified staff needed to operate the facilities.

The BOP’s mission is to protect society by confining offenders in the controlled environments of prisons that are safe, humane, cost-efficient, and appropriately secure, and that provide work and other self-improvement opportunities to assist offenders in re-entering society and becoming law-abiding citizens. A growing challenge to the BOP’s mission is that an increasing number of federal correctional facilities and supporting infrastructure have reached or exceeded their useful life. Among the oldest are the U.S. Penitentiary in Atlanta, built in 1902, and the U.S. Penitentiary in Leavenworth built in 1903, with the cost to operate and maintain these and other aging facilities and infrastructure becoming enormous.

BOP Director Collette Peters recently testified that many facilities are in such poor shape that the agency is forced to prioritize repairs to only the life safety systems, leaving other needs unmet. She noted that BOP has a backlog for repairs totaling over $2 billion, some twenty times more than its annual appropriations for repairs of about $100 million. Obviously, this is unsustainable and places inmates, staff, and the public at risk.

Meanwhile, BOP’s inmate population sits today at just under 160,000, down from its high of almost 220,000 in 2013, but slightly higher since President Biden took office. However, these numbers do not reflect the anticipated impact of the First Step Act (FSA) which is intended, in part, to reduce the size of the federal prison population. Thus, it is reasonable to expect that the federal inmate population will decline in the coming years.

With BOP’s inmate population expected to decline, the need to further expand the number of federal prison beds simply does not exist. But that does not mean new or additional federal prisons are not needed.

To solve its staffing crisis and control the growing cost of operating an aging system, the BOP needs to address its infrastructure issues.

Operating a prison is much like operating a small city. In addition to employing a large cadre of correctional officers, prison operation requires hiring a workforce of experienced educators, physicians, nurses and other health care professionals, psychologists, administrators, and a wide range of support staff. Many of these skills are in short supply in rural communities, thus much thought needs to go into placing new facilities where recruiting and retaining such a workforce can be more successful.

Today, the BOP is seeking to build two new prisons: one in Leavenworth, Kan., and a second in Letcher County, Ky. Leavenworth is an example of thoughtful planning by BOP based on their current and future needs. The plan there is to build a new facility to replace the second oldest federal prison in a location shown to be among the more desirable places to live as a BOP employee. In addition, to control the cost of construction, the new prison is being built on the grounds of the existing facility, thereby retaining and leveraging the investments previously made in the land and infrastructure.

In contrast, Letcher is a rural county with little industry or infrastructure, and most other businesses are fast food restaurants, Dollar Stores, and gas stations. There is virtually no public transportation service, and the nearest commercial airports are located over 100 miles from Whitesburg, the county seat. Hiring and maintaining a professional workforce in this area will be extremely challenging.

Congress has shown its willingness to fund new prison construction, but such investments should be guided by the needs of the federal prison system.

New prisons can be built to replace existing ones; alternatively, there are a number of already built, newer, empty prisons that might be available for purchase or lease as a result of the President’s Executive Order directing BOP to discontinue the use of private prisons. These empty prisons, which are often located in areas that can support the prison and its staff, could be utilized in cost-effective ways and could become operational more quickly.

This presents the BOP with a unique opportunity to thoroughly examine its current and future needs and provide Congress with the information it requires to make well-informed decisions.  Such an examination would determine how many prisons are needed in the years ahead; the basis for selecting which facilities should be repaired and refurbished; which are obsolete and should no longer house inmates; and where and when new facilities should be constructed, purchased, or leased, to ensure mission success. In addition, the BOP would look at the advances that have been made to guide how future federal prisons should be designed, built, and operated to meet today’s correctional challenges and priorities and improve its ability to attract and retain a professional staff.

To conduct such an examination, the BOP should retain an independent team of specialists to assess future federal inmate populations, including total numbers, security risks, age and medical needs, among other factors. The team should also determine the facilities and infrastructure needed to serve those populations including the capital costs of repairs and upkeep of existing facilities and their cost of operation, the ability to hire and retain staff, distances from population centers and inmate families, access to community programs, medical care, education, etc.

The types of specialty missions the BOP performs should also be examined. For example, BOP operates two medical facilities that are almost 90 years old and with growing numbers of elderly inmates and continuous advances in medical care, modern medical facilities would be an important consideration in the years ahead.

Once completed, the BOP will be able to develop a roadmap — sort of a “BOP of the Future.”  With this roadmap, the BOP will be in the best position to work with DOJ and OMB and ultimately Congress, to explain and justify the funds it needs to replace old, costly facilities with newer, more cost-effective ones in well-suited locations for the agency to operate efficiently.  The results of the assessment would also provide the justifications and support for appropriations to repair the remaining facilities to ensure all life safety and other concerns are addressed so that the prisons are safe for staff and inmates alike.

I am pleased to see the BOP has taken a small step toward this assessment by recently issuing a Request for Information, indicating they are considering the first phase of such an evaluation. But this step does not commit BOP to proceed with a study of this magnitude and importance.  I am hopeful the information they collect will convince them to continue to move forward down this path.

Using this approach, perhaps a new prison in Letcher County will go forward, or perhaps the funds will be reallocated for a higher priority BOP use — but at least such a decision will be well thought out and ensure the best use of taxpayer money.

Hugh Hurwitz held multiple positions with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, including Acting Director, Assistant Director for Administration, and Assistant Director for Reentry Services. Currently, he provides consulting services in prison management, reentry and reform, organizational change, and other areas. He is a member of the Council on Criminal Justice.