Lawmakers ask Sessions to exempt federal prisons from hiring freeze

Lawmakers are pushing the Department of Justice to exempt the Bureau of Prisons from the federal hiring freeze President Trump initiated shortly after he took office.

In a letter Monday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Reps. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) and David McKinley (R-W.Va.) told Attorney General Jeff Sessions the freeze puts prison security officers and communities at risk.

Citing agency guidance implementing the order, the lawmakers claim the Justice Department fully exempted the FBI from the hiring freeze but only issued a limited exemption for the Bureau of Prisons.

Under the guidance, the Bureau of Prisons is barred from increasing staff above the level that existed on Jan. 22, meaning any vacant positions that had not been filled by Jan. 22 cannot be filled now.

{mosads}The guidance allows post-Jan. 22 vacancies to be filled externally through a limited public safety exception. But the lawmakers added that even those hires are not allowed until the Office of Personnel Management first provides data on Jan. 22 staffing levels.

To the best of their knowledge, Durbin, Bustos and McKinley claim that has not yet happened, so all hiring is effectively blocked.

“Corrections staff at BOP institutions are responsible for ensuring the safety and security of these inmates, as well as the safety and security of their fellow staff members and the general public,” they said in their letter.  

“The hiring freeze jeopardizes their ability to fulfill their duty in an already difficult and sometimes dangerous setting.”

Due to retirements that occurred in 2016, the lawmakers claim a number of facilities are short staffed and asked Sessions to immediately amend the agency guidance and fully exempt the Bureau of Prisons from the hiring freeze.

“In conversations with corrections staff, we have heard repeatedly that the hiring freeze ‘hurts tremendously’ and ‘inhibits [them] from maintaining the safety and security’ of our Federal corrections institution,” they wrote. “This is unacceptable.”