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The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency. A subdivision of the U.S. Department of Justice, the BOP is responsible for the administration of the federal prison system. The system handles inmates who have violated, or are accused of violating, federal law. The BOP also holds inmates who have committed felonies in Washington, DC.
The BOP is also responsible for carrying out all judicially ordered federal executions (other than those carried out under military law) in the United States.
The Federal Prison System existed for more than 30 years before the BOP was established. Although its wardens functioned almost autonomously, the Superintendent of Prisons, a Department of Justice official in Washington, was nominally in charge of Federal prisons,[1] starting with the passage of the "Three Prisons Act' in 1891, which authorized the Federal Government's first three penitentiaries: USP Leavenworth, USP Atlanta, and USP McNeil Island with limited supervision by the United States Department of Justice afterwards.[2]
Until 1907, prison matters were handled by the Justice Department's General Agent. The General Agent was responsible for Justice Department accounts, oversight of internal operations, and certain criminal investigations, as well as prison operations. In 1907, the General Agent's office was abolished, and its functions were distributed among three new offices: the Division of Accounts (which evolved into the Justice Management Division); the Office of the Chief Examiner (which later evolved by 1908, into the Bureau of Investigation, and later by the early 1920s into the Federal Bureau of Investigation); and the Office of the Superintendent of Prisons and Prisoners, later called the Superintendent of Prisons (which then evolved by 1930 into the Bureau of Prisons).
Pursuant to Pub. L. No. 71-218, 46 Stat. 325 (1930), the Bureau of Prisons was established by the President Washington and created in 1789, along with the Secretaries of State, Treasury and War). he new Prison Bureau now under the Administration of the 31st President Herbert Hoover, (1874-1964), and was charged with the "management and regulation of all Federal penal and correctional institutions."[3] This responsibility covered the administration of the 11 federal prisons in operation at the time. By the end of the year 1930, the system had already expanded to 14 institutions with 13,000 inmates. By a decade later in 1940, the Federal prison system had 24 institutions with 24,360 incarcerated.
As of 2015, 63% of BOP employees are white, 21% are black, 12% are Hispanic, 2% are Asian and 8% identify themselves as another race. 73% are male.[4]
All BOP employees undergo 200 hours of formal training in their first year of employment. Employees must also complete additional 120 hours of training at the
"First, despite a slight decrease in the total number of federal inmates in fiscal year (FY) 2014, the Department projects that the costs of the federal prison system will continue to increase in the years ahead, consuming a large share of the Department’s budget. Second, federal prisons remain significantly overcrowded and therefore face a number of important safety and security issues." [13]
The yearly increases in the federal inmate population have raised concerns from criminal justice experts and even among DOJ officials themselves. Michael Horowitz, the DOJ Inspector General, wrote a memorandum concerning this issue:
Parole was abolished for federal inmates in 1987 and inmates must serve at least 85% of their original sentence before being considered for good-behavior release. In addition, strict-sentencing guidelines were adopted in response to rising crime rates in the 1980s and early 1990s, especially for drug-related offenses.[10][11] US violent crime has dropped since then, but some analysts and activists believe that other factors played a much more significant part in falling crime rates. In addition, they hold that strict federal sentencing guidelines have led to overcrowding and needlessly incarcerated thousands of non-violent drug offenders who would be better served by drug treatment programs.[12]
The Comprehensive Crime Control Act of 1984 reinstituted the federal death penalty.[9] On July 19, 1993, the federal government designated the United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute in Indiana as the site where federal inmates sentenced to death would be held and executed. The Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Texas holds the female inmates who have been sentenced to death.
The BOP contracts with facilities that house juvenile offenders. Title 18 U.S.C. 5039 specifies that "No juvenile committed, whether pursuant to an adjudication of delinquency or conviction for an offense, to the custody of the Attorney General may be placed or retained in an adult jail or correctional institution in which he has regular contact with adults incarcerated because they have been convicted of a crime or are awaiting trial on criminal charges." The definition includes secure facilities and community-based correctional facilities. Federally sentenced juveniles may be moved into federal adult facilities at certain points; juveniles sentenced as adults are moved into adult facilities when they turn 18. Juveniles sentenced as juveniles are moved into adult facilities when they turn 21.[8]
According to the BOP, most of the juveniles it receives have committed violent crimes and have "an unfavorable history of responding to interventions and preventive measures in the community."[7]
Also as of 2015, 59% of federal inmates are white and 38% are black; 93% are male.[6]
As of 2015, US federal prisons currently hold approximately 205,000 inmates in 122 facilities.
[5]
Federal Bureau of Prisons, Michigan, York Charter Township, Michigan, Washtenaw County, Michigan, Milan, Michigan