One of the main impediments to effective BOP operations is its inability to update its policies on a timely basis. For instance, the policy on halfway houses (residential reentry centers, or RRCs) has not been updated since before the First Step Act of 2018 was passed. According to BOP regulations, policy modifications should be made via formal “change notices” or temporary “operations memoranda.” Instead, however, agency personnel often simply issue internal memos. The resulting lack of consistency and transparency was recently documented by the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General.
Personal property can be lost or stolen when inmates are sent to the SHU or transferred to another facility.
What prisoners can do to protect themselves, as much as they can:
BOP policy:
While BOP policy calls for officers conducting a shakedown to leave cells like they found them, that does not always happen. And when inmates are sent to the SHU, officers are supposed to secure their lockers and/or cell doors as soon as they are notified of the move. The shift officer is required to conduct an inventory. Then, the compound officer takes it to the property room in the SHU. Again, that doesn’t always happen. Property rooms are equipped with lockers that should be secured, and BOP policy states that staff “shall” provide inmates with a copy of the inventory form “as soon as practicable.” The inmates should then sign the form, signifying receipt of the inventory and its accuracy. A copy of the inventory must also be placed in the inmates’ central file.
Note that opened, perishable items are typically not packed up. The same goes for any items that exceed the allowable number. For example, prisoners are only allowed to have up to five books in their cells at any one time. (There is also a limit on what a person can have in the SHU, depending on whether a person is there for administrative detention [investigation, personal protection, etc.] or if they are in disciplinary segregation as a sanction.)
A few related tips for handling problems:
The other time personal property often becomes an issue is when prisoners are transferred from once facility to another. BOP policy states:
“Personal property shall be shipped by staff to the receiving institution, with the exception of legal materials for active court cases and some other items deemed “necessary or appropriate” by by staff. These may be transported with the prisoners.
Staff of the sending institution ship authorized personal property via bus, van or airlift directly to the receiving prison. Ordinarily, no more than two boxes of property (with the exception of legal materials) will be shipped at government expense for each inmate. However, prisoners may elect to pay for the shipment of additional boxes.
R&D staff at the sending prison are responsible for recording all personal property that will be shipped to the receiving institution on an inventory form. The inmates should certify that the form is accurate and be given a copy to take with them. Without that form, it is difficult to prove that property was shipped if it later goes missing, or to file a tort claim.
Generally speaking, it should take no longer than a week or two for prisoners’ personal property to reach the final destination. If a month has elapsed and it has not been delivered, the inmate should approach a correctional systems staff member and ask that its status be investigated. Is it in the property room at the new prison, and just has not been given to the inmate? If not, the inmate should ask that the staff member call the transferring prison to inquire about the property’s status, and track it if necessary. If the correctional systems staff is unwilling to assist, a family member may contact a BOP regional support coordinator and ask for assistance.
A tip: Creating conflict with the correctional systems staff sometimes results in property being sent to the wrong institution, disappearing altogether or being “lost” in the sending facility’s property room. If inmates are adversarial with staff, there is nothing but downsides! Inmates should try to maintain their composure no matter how far staff deviate from the policy and process. Never stoop to the level of staff.
The Unit Management Manual, updated in April 2024, is essential to understand.
The April revision included some encouraging modifications, summarized below. However, we are skeptical that unit managers will actually attend team meeting, and we do not expect release plans to be processed 27 months prior to an AIC’s exit from prison. That would indeed be a pleasant surprise, if so.
The latest revisions that we believe are most critical to note are:
A document, known as a “Population Report,” is used by BOP designators and facility staff to monitor institutional populations throughout the country. It includes the rated capacity of each facility (total capacity minus the infirmary, etc.), their target populations, and the population in specialized units such as those for RDAP, BRAVE, SKILLS and CHALLENGE, etc.
It is important to know the target population of each facility compared to the current population, which is regularly updated on the BOP website. The more a facility exceeds its target population, the less likely it is for a resident to obtain a transfer or initial designation to that prison. When people are recommended for transfer to crowded facilities, the Designation and Sentence Computation Center (DSCC) is authorized to place them anywhere else for population management purposes.
This document should be read in conjunction with the Program Statement on Rated Capacities. Note that many facilities are not in compliance with this directive given the standard on square footage, etc. Before the “tough on crime” era and determinate sentencing, BOP facilities abided by this directive which allows for significant single cell housing.
There has been massive underfunding of facility maintenance, as documented in this 2023 report from the Office of the Inspector General. Its conclusion: “All 123 of the BOP’s institutions require maintenance, with a large and growing list of unfunded modernization and repair needs, and three of these institutions are in such critical stages of disrepair that they are fully or partially closed. The DOJ OIG found that the BOP’s efforts to address these issues were negatively impacted by two major factors: a mismatch between available and needed funding, and the absence of a well-defined infrastructure strategy.”