Looking back at past management challenges for the Department of Justice you will find an Office of Inspector General (OIG) report that lists the Federal Bureau of Prisons as an area of concern. Chief among those concerns are crumbling infrastructure and under-staffed facilities. The latest OIG report lists the challenges for DOJ and again there is no surprise that the BOP is there with the usual problems. In fact, Inspector General Michael Horowitz stated in the report that over the past 20 years, the OIG has issued over 100 reports detailing these serious systemic issues facing the BOP. His conclusion was that “among the many challenges facing the BOP is its persistent inability to address staffing shortages in key positions, lack of sufficient funding to repair its crumbling infrastructure, and the introduction of contraband at its prisons.” However, BOP Director Colette Peters thinks such reports do not tell the whole story and agreed to a sit-down interview with me to address the report and provide a bit more context as to how the Agency is pushing forward.
In Peters’ September 2022 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, she announced the BOP’s strategy to strengthen oversight and efficiency of its management and operations that included plans to increase institution staffing, eradicate misconduct, improve infrastructure, upgrade camera systems, and change the BOP culture.
Regarding staffing, Peters has taken on an initiative of hiring more people and BOPs attrition rate is declining while they continue to hire. Peters said, “You know, two and a half years ago, you saw the headlines. We were spiraling out of control. We couldn’t hire.” Peters is trying to focus more on hiring people who can create more normal and humane environments in the BOP. Peters told me, “You know, it’s just completely rethinking who we are. I think before in corrections, it was safety and security, safety and security. Oh, and by the way, can you do this other thing? We are emphasizing creating more normal and humane environments in our prisons while keeping safety and security front of mind.”
Meeting the challenges of hiring are complex and in some cases outside of the Peters’ authority. The BOP implemented a $10,000 recruitment bonus, or 25% of the employee’s salary. BOP increased the correctional officer base pay by $2,000 and increased the minimum hiring age into the BOP from 37 years of age to 39. The BOP gave $1,000 recruitment bonus to employees who successfully onboarded someone who went on to work for the BOP. Peters said of those efforts, “So all of these things allowed us to move the dial from an 86% fill rate, so now we’re at 91%.” Currently the BOP said that 60% of its employees are receiving some form of incentive right now. To get the job done Peters said that she needs an additional $600 million a year in order to pay people what is needed to hire people and keep them on the job.
Crumbling infrastructure is another big ticket item. Peters said, “We have traditionally gotten about $100 million a year to solve this $3 billion problem because of the outreach we’ve done with Congress, they nearly doubled that this last fiscal year. We got $180 million and it has helped scratch away at this bigger problem.” According to Peters, when you look at other agencies like the Department of Defense, their average square foot funding is $5.25/ sq. ft. to maintain and repair their buildings whereas the BOP’s is $1.75/ sq.ft. Peters added, “What I like to tell people is, this problem didn’t happen overnight. It happened over decades, and it’s going to take decades to fix it, but we need the funding.” The BOP has 122 institutions that sit on 46,000 acres with 3,600 buildings.
Peters spoke openly about addressing staff misconduct within the BOP, something that was also mentioned by OIG who concluded that another “particularly serious challenge facing the BOP, and the Department, is the continuing problem of sexual assault of inmates by BOP personnel.” Since she has been Director, the BOP’s Office of Internal Affairs now has 146 people in the office, up from just 29 a few years ago. “We are excited to have David Joyce, an AUSA from Maine currently detailed to FBOP,” Peters said, “and he is tasked with putting together what will be our own internal inspector general.” The BOP worked jointly with other federal agencies in unannounced site investigations into FCI Aliceville, FCC Coleman and MDC Brooklyn to crackdown on fraud, abuse and contraband. Peters added, “Now those are things that didn’t happen before. So we’ve really focused on expanding our law enforcement connections with Inspector General and the US Attorney’s Office.”
“Peters, like many of those heading agencies in the government knows that change is coming with a Donald Trump administration. Peters said that she has not heard yet from the transition team but admits she has been reading the same headlines about emphasis on cutting government spending. “We will be very laser focused on spending any dollars we are given appropriately. It means we’ll continue to prioritize the most significant repairs. We will continue to recalibrate from that perspective. And we’re not alone in that. Unfortunately, if misery loves company, state corrections is dealing with the exact same problem.” Beyond making every dollar count, Peters referenced the commendations letters and awards she has presented to employees who have identified and implemented cost saving efficiencies.
“I would say over the last two and a half years, we really spent a lot of our time digging out of the misconduct crisis, working on employee wellness, but we’ve also talked about other efficiencies, including suggestions from our employees,” Peters said referencing commendations she recently gave to employees who saved the BOP millions due to their recommendations.
When it comes to morale inside the BOP, Peters acknowledged that there is more work to be done as the BOP ranked near the bottom of a recent government survey on job satisfaction. “You know, when you’re at the bottom of the barrel, there’s a lot of room for growth.” Peters also said that while money is important to improving morale and bringing good employees on board, it is not the most important. Peters said, “You know what that survey said? Not more money. They said they wanted to feel valued by their frontline supervisors. That’s relationship building, that’s leadership training, that’s management training. We can do those things that help our people feel valued, and we talk about that with the wardens all of the time.”
The BOP has a difficult mission and Peters said that that comes with challenges. “We are to keep our institutions and our communities safe while working to change lives,” Peters said, “It doesn’t get any better than that.” Over 35% of the BOP’s employees are military veterans, and Peters believes that is what is important to those who are service oriented. Peters has visited over 60 institutions and tries to get to at least two of them every month, saying, “That’s what I’m most proud of when I’m walking the halls of our institutions. Just the pride that people have in wearing that uniform, the pride that people have in being empowered to be creative and think of a new program and share it with the warden.”
Facilities like MDC Brooklyn, which have faced widespread criticism for staff corruption, violence, and poor inmate conditions, are a top priority for Peters. She highlighted the creation of an Urgent Action Team to address these issues, empowering local leaders like Warden Maldonado [Warden of FDC Brooklyn] to implement immediate changes. The BOP has also increased collaboration with local law enforcement and expanded oversight through unannounced inspections mandated by the new law signed by President Biden on July 25, 2024. The Federal Prison Oversight Act was signed into law, which the OIG supports, seeks to improve BOP oversight by expanding the OIG’s risk-based inspections of the BOP’s correctional facilities and establishing an independent BOP Ombudsman to receive and investigate complaints.
Peters’ approach has earned her praise from Congress, a marked contrast to the contentious tenure of her predecessor, Michael Carvajal. Despite the challenges ahead, Peters remains optimistic about the BOP’s future. “We’re here to keep institutions and communities safe while working to change lives. There’s no better mission than that,” she said.
By partnering with Congress, enhancing oversight, and prioritizing staff and infrastructure, Peters is determined to reshape the BOP into an agency that balances safety with humanity. As she put it, “We can learn as much from our problems as we can from our successes.”