Should the Bureau of Prisons provide more staff, funding, and support for workers and prisoners across the U.S.?

Crime and Law Enforcement (e.g., Gun Laws)

Awaiting Vote

Bill Summary

H.R. 2879 reforms the staffing of federal prisons by requiring a three-year plan and cost estimate to address staff vacancies and inefficiencies. It will improve safety conditions by increasing staff-to-inmate ratios. The understaffing across U.S. prisons jeopardizes the health, safety, and well-being of both staff and inmates. The bill’s strategic plan will fill vacancies and protect staff and prisoners against violence, neglect, and sexual misconduct. The plan will also expand the availability of sanitary and efficient food services, install more security cameras, and improve workplace conditions that harm employees’ mental and physical health. Sponsor: Rep. Jay Obernolte (Republican, California, District 23)
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Opponents say

• "The narrow focus on recruitment as the antidote to understaffing poses serious risks to the health and well-being of incarcerated people and workers (albeit in very different ways)… understaffing is a bad way to understand what’s plaguing jails and prisons… It has become clichéd for corrections departments and news media to blame understaffing for nearly every problem in jails and prisons; everything would be so much better (the thinking goes) if departments simply had enough workers. This framing conveniently overlooks mass incarceration as a policy choice, restricting the universe of available policy solutions to greater investments in locking people up. Many of the issues for which “understaffing” is blamed are fundamental to mass incarceration, and are best addressed through decarceration - not a jobs program for corrections officers or further investments in surveillance and imprisonment. Decarceration takes incarcerated people (and workers) out of harm’s way while freeing up resources for more constructive uses in the community… Pay increases haven’t worked… Easing employment requirements hasn’t worked… Staff wellness programs haven’t worked… " Source: Brian Nam-Sonenstein and Emmett Sanders, Prison Policy Initiative

• "Overworked and sleep-deprived staff are also more likely to use excessive force against incarcerated people. It becomes cyclical. You start getting mandatory overtime, which means you miss more and more time with your family. You are demanded more and more to be on the job, which burns you out and causes people to leave... One way to deal with the shrinking staff levels would be to decrease the prison population, so that fewer employees are needed." Source: Shannon Heffernan and Weihua Li, The Marshall Project

Proponents say

• "The current staffing shortage at the Bureau of Prison facilities endangers the lives of both the staff that serve there and the inmates incarcerated there,” said Rep. Obernolte. Inmates are not provided thorough care or adequately monitored, and the current inadequate levels of staffing have put lives at risk. It’s time we solve this staffing shortage and address the lack of correctional officers that is plaguing BOP facilities like FCC Victorville in my district." Source: Representative Jay Obernolte (Republican, California, District 23)

• "Failing to properly recruit and retain correctional staff in our federal prisons undermines public safety and inhibits the Bureau of Prison's ability to make its facilities a constructive place for people to pay their debt to society. Americans for Prosperity is thankful for the leadership of Representative Obernolte and his colleagues to reverse this staffing crisis. The Prison Staffing Reform Act will help ensure each federal facility has the necessary staff to maintain order, provide recidivism-reducing programming, and improve public safety in our communities," Source: Jeremiah Mosteller, Policy Director for Americans for Prosperity

• "Although our situations are quite different, corrections staff and incarcerated people have more in common than people think. We eat the same prison meals. We sweat in the same un-air-conditioned blocks. We are both exposed to infectious diseases such as MRSA and COVID-19. We often see each other more than we see our own families…Understaffing harms everyone who lives and works in prisons. Due in part to rising prison populations, understaffing has reached unsustainable levels, and there appears to be no end in sight…Low staffing levels cause mandatory overtime, stressful conditions, burnout, and, unsurprisingly, high rates of turnover. For incarcerated people and their families, the impacts of understaffing are severe. Our prisons cannot create public safety, and cannot rehabilitate, if they are in chaos." Source: Andy Potter and Matthew Charles, Opinion Contributors to The Hill

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