Bureau of Prisons: Overview of 2024 and Prospects for 2025
The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) had a busy year, filled with advancements, difficulties, and resolving lingering issues. Under the guidance of Director Collette Peters, the BOP looks set to transform into a more streamlined and efficient institution, tackling ongoing problems like staffing shortages and facility modernization.
With a yearly budget of $8.3 billion—the largest within the Department of Justice—the BOP encounters increased scrutiny over its expenditures. Despite housing over 50,000 fewer detainees than its 2013 maximum of 220,000, the budget has persistently grown. This growth is attributable to the escalating costs of overtime to offset staffing gaps, detainee healthcare, everyday living expenses, and repairs to aged facilities.
In the future, the BOP will have to deal with a revamped landscape, especially under an administration aiming to reduce expenditures. Balancing fiscal responsibility with maintaining safe and humane conditions will be a formidable task in the coming years. The agency's capacity to adapt and innovate will be essential as it works on addressing operational inefficiencies while meeting evolving public expectations.
Director Peters inherited a troubled agency that has been under continuous criticism from the Office of Inspector General (OIG), Congress, and the Government Accountability Office, which placed the BOP on its high-risk list for managing challenges. In 2024, the BOP ranked last in employee satisfaction among federal agencies, indicating ongoing morale and workforce issues. Despite providing generous retention and signing bonuses, the agency continues to struggle in drawing new employees, necessitating further reforms as 2024 drew to a close.
As the fifth director since 2016, Peters has garnered support from Congress despite the agency's ongoing challenges. In a noteworthy event this year, she welcomed the passage of the Bureau of Prisons Oversight law, which introduced measures such as unannounced inspections of institutions and establishing an ombudsman to address detainee issues. These changes signaled a move towards increased transparency and accountability within the agency.
One of the BOP’s outstanding achievements in 2024 was managing Cares Act prisoners, transferred to home confinement during the pandemic. This program allowed numerous older and medically vulnerable prisoners to serve their sentences at home, under stringent rules, rather than in prison. Its success was evident, as almost all participants completed their terms without any issues. This achievement laid the groundwork for future improvements, particularly as the BOP investigates ways to align with the goals of the First Step Act.
By allowing minimum-security prisoners to serve a larger portion of their sentence in the community, the agency may be able to reduce expenses, enhance rehabilitation successes, and address some of the long-standing issues that have hindered it for years.
Under Director Peters, the First Step Act made significant strides, including the introduction of a forward-thinking sentence calculator. This tool provided essential direction on release dates, facilitating more effective planning of prisoner transitions into programs such as halfway houses and offering greater accuracy in predicting the completion of terms of confinement. Although some challenges remain, the improved system has ensured that individuals receive the full credits earned through program participation, a long-awaited achievement.
Peters also took bold action by closing six male minimum-security prisons and firmly shutting down FCI Dublin, a women's facility previously evacuated due to several instances of sexual assault by staff members, including the warden. The BOP settled a $116 million lawsuit brought by the women assaulted at the prison, marking a significant moment of accountability. The closure of the six male facilities—including major stand-alone camps in Pensacola, FL; Morgantown, WV; and Duluth, MN—will necessitate the reassignment of over 500 BOP employees and nearly 2,000 prisoners. However, it will also lead to the dismantling of three extensive Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP) facilities, which will intensify the pressure on the already limited RDAP capacity nationwide. This coincides with a declining minimum-security camp population due to the full implementation of the First Step Act, a landmark law enacted during the Trump administration.
Despite progress in sentence credit calculations under the First Step Act, difficulties remain in transitioning qualified prisoners to prerelease community confinement, mainly due to restricted halfway house capacity. Although efforts to expand this capacity have been gradual, the recent release of 1,500 prisoners on CARES Act home confinement could potentially alleviate some of the pressure.
Administrating healthcare for prisoners at BOP medical centers continues to face issues. A recent OIG report exposed a visit to FMC Devens, where it found substantial staffing shortages with 20% of positions in Correctional Services vacant, along with 24% in Health Services and 39% in Psychology Services. The report's conclusion was “Significant and widespread staffing shortages in the Health Services Department compromise FMC Devens’s ability to provide adequate healthcare to inmates.” In another instance involving healthcare, a former BOP lieutenant was recently found guilty of violating an inmate's civil rights by demonstrating deliberate indifference to the inmate's severe medical needs.
The Trump administration has announced plans to revamp the Department of Justice, signaling aspirations to expand the use of the death penalty and Presidential Pardons. Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, Trump's nominee for Attorney General, is projected to assume the role in 2025, heralding a new direction for federal enforcement and corrections policy.
For the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) and the around 150,000 detainees it oversees, 2025 seems set to bring about more notable alterations. Throughout his initial term, Trump showed clear affection for privately-run prisons, sparking a spike in the share prices of public prison corporations following the November elections. Numerous individuals predict that these companies might assume a crucial part in expanding halfway house potential, allowing a larger number of inmates to serve extended periods of their sentences in community-based confinement.
- President Donald Trump's administration is aiming to reduce expenditures within the Department of Justice, placing the Federal Bureau of Prisons under pressure to balance fiscal responsibility with maintaining safe and humane conditions.
- Colette Peters, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, settled a $116 million lawsuit brought by women who were assaulted at FCI Dublin, a women's prison that was later shut down by her administration.
- The Trump administration, with former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as the nominee for Attorney General, has announced plans to revamp the Department of Justice, potentially leading to expanded use of privately-run prisons and presidential pardons.
