Ranking Member Meng Remarks at Federal Bureau of Prisons Oversight Hearing
Congresswoman Grace Meng (NY-06), Ranking Member of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the subcommittee's oversight hearing on the Federal Bureau of Prisons:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Although I have been on the Subcommittee for several years, this is my first hearing as Ranking Member.
Chairman Rogers, I enjoyed our meeting earlier this month and I am looking forward to working closely with you.
I want to welcome Mr. Ivey, Ms. Dean and Mr. Mrvan as new members of the subcommittee on the Democratic side and Mr. Alford, Mr. Strong and Mr. Moore on the Republican side. I am looking forward to working with all the Subcommittee members.
On the matter at hand, Acting Deputy Director Toomey, thank you for being here. You have a difficult job, and it seems to be getting more challenging each day.
First and foremost, the BOP has been facing staffing shortfalls for years, including among Correctional Officers. This understaffing problem risks creating a dangerous situation for officers and inmates alike.
Corrections work is tough, dangerous work in the best of circumstances. But on a bad day, officers or inmates can be injured or even killed. So I can say with no exaggeration: I view the staffing issues facing the Bureau of Prisons as a life and death matter.
We must do better, not only in protecting the life and safety of our corrections officers and the inmates at the 120 Bureau of Prisons facilities, but in terms of ensuring the success of the First Step Act.
According to the Government Accountability Office, 45 percent of people released from federal prison are re-arrested or return within three years, which raises questions about how effectively BOP is implementing and administering the First Step Act.
Over 12,000 corrections officers go to work in our federal prison system each day. As I said, they do a very difficult, dangerous job. They are joined by thousands more staff who are not front-line officers, but are there to teach, provide medical care, and psychological care – some of whom may be brought onto guard duty through the process known as “augmentation.”
While I know that BOP staff are up for any task assigned to them, the reality is that when folks who are there to help prisoners in other ways get “augmented” into working as guards, they are not teaching life skills or trades to inmates. And that jeopardizes progress under the bipartisan First Step Act.
Make no mistake, we need to keep our communities safe. People who have harmed their communities and remain a danger to their communities should be locked up. But as the cost of incarceration continues to rise, it does not do us any good if recidivism rates remain as high as GAO says they are. Again, the Bureau has to do better.
Finally, even with the problems facing BOP, this administration is seeking to further complicate BOP’s operating posture by proposing to house detained migrants in BOP facilities.
This proposal raises legal questions about housing civil detainees as criminals, and, of critical importance to this subcommittee, this plan could require hundreds of millions of dollars to house another 6,000 migrants in BOP facilities, further straining all aspects of the prison system.
Acting Deputy Director, I understand you are not the architect of this plan, but it will have a dramatic impact on the Bureau. This subcommittee will need many more details about how this concept of a plan is to be implemented.
I understand that these problems did not develop overnight. Over the last 20 years, the DOJ Inspector General has issued over 100 reports detailing significant, enterprise-wide issues facing the Bureau of Prisons.
There is a lot of work to do to fix BOP’s issues, even without the additional challenges of the migrant detention plan, the potential firing of probationary staff and the funding limitations of the Fiscal Responsibility Act. These will only add more stress to the federal prison system at a time when it appears already dangerously close to the breaking point.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
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