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Unformatted text preview: !!!Prisons Aff – BFHHR!!! Notes
This is still a pretty rough version of the aff. There is quite a bit of good literature
for this aff that hasn’t been completely explored. Hats off to the four students who
wrote this aff mostly on their own.– they deserve kudos for their efforts!! Alex
Kalyani
Tyler
Grace Version 1 Observation One: The Status Quo
The Trump administration has dismantled Obama-era prison
education reforms that were crucial for reducing recidivism
Reilly and Craven 5/19 [Ryan J. Reilly, senior justice reporter, Julia Craven,
civil rights editor, "Federal Bureau of Prisons Fires Head Of Obama-Era Education
Effort, Putting Reform Under Trump In Doubt," 5-19-2017, HuffPost,
accessed 7-5-17] //adres
The federal Bureau of Prisons has quietly fired an education
specialist the Justice Department hired to serve as the first
“superintendent” of the educational system within federal prisons , HuffPost has
learned. The Obama administration brought on Amy Lopez last year to overhaul educational programs for federal prisoners, with the hope
of easing their re-entry into society and reducing recidivism. Lopez was
fired last week ― leaving the future of the reform efforts under president
Donald Trump in doubt. “They’re shitcanning it,” a person who worked on the prison reform efforts disclosed to HuffPost this
WASHINGTON ― week. “It’s tragic. This is really tragic.” Another person familiar with the status of the program said the initiatives had been “canned or placed on hold”
covertly. Lopez declined to comment on Thursday, saying she needed to speak with a lawyer before she could talk to a reporter. A Justice Department
spokeswoman said Thursday she was not aware of Lopez’s firing or broader changes to the prison reform plans the Obama administration put in place,
and referred questions to the Bureau of Prisons. A BOP spokeswoman said Friday morning that the agency had “no announcements or updates
regarding our programs at this time.” The BOP spokeswoman did not respond to questions about Lopez’s firing or the status of some prison reform
initiatives. Lopez “uprooted her whole life” to take the job as superintendent of the BOP’s education, according to a person who worked on the efforts. In The job she accepted under
former President Barack Obama would have put her in charge of what DOJ
called a “semi-autonomous school district within the federal prison
system,” with the goal of giving prisoners the opportunity to earn their
high school diploma and pursue post-secondary studies. Former Deputy Attorney General Sally
Yates, who was largely driving the prison reform initiative, said in a press release in November that the changes would “make
our prisons more effective” and reduce recidivism ― and therefore prevent
crime ― by “equipping inmates with the tools they need to successfully
reenter society .” The plan also included more opportunities for inmates
with learning disabilities and a pilot program in which inmates would be
given customized tablets for online education. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR VIA GETTY IMAGES
November, Lopez left a job in Texas, where she had worked as an educator in the prison system. Inmates serving time at San Quentin prison learn how to code as part of The Last Mile program. Inmates learning a skill helps ensure they will have
well-paid jobs when they are released. Attorney General Jeff Sessions appears to disagree with efforts to expand educational opportunities for inmates.
In a 2015 congressional hearing, then-senator Sessions said that education and programs for inmates did not “seem to have much benefit.” On prison
and criminal justice issues more broadly, he’s broken with the Obama administration. Shortly after taking over the DOJ, he reversed a policy Yates had that Sessions ordered
federal prosecutors to take an aggressive approach to federal crimes in all
instances, including drug offenses, which will almost certainly lead to an
expansion of the federal prison population. There’s no clear indication at this point that either Sessions or
put in place that would have curtailed BOP’s use of private prisons. And Lopez was fired the same week Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein ordered Lopez’s firing or a suspension of the reform initiatives more broadly. A Justice Department
spokeswoman said it “was a purely BOP thing,” and a former senior DOJ official familiar with the status of the BOP initiatives said they were told there
had not been any formal directive from current DOJ leadership. The former official said the reform plan hadn’t been a major topic during transition
meetings between Obama and Trump administration officials, and they had hoped the new DOJ leadership would recognize the programs contributed to
public safety. “The thing that really drove all of these education reforms was not ‘Let’s all provide warm and fuzzy services to prisoners.’ It was hard recidivism data which shows that education ― specifically high school
diplomas ― has enormous impact on recidivism,” said the former senior DOJ official. Thomas R. Kane
is currently the acting director of the Bureau of Prisons, a role he has filled since January 2016. He’s been with BOP since 1977, and had previously
served stints as acting director. While it was Yates who pushed for the prison reform efforts, Kane had been supportive of the initiative, according to the former senior DOJ official. But Kane isn’t the permanent director, and finding someone to head the massive organization has been a challenge. Current BOP staff interested in potentially landing the top job likely have an
interest in pleasing the new DOJ leadership, even if there isn’t an express
directive to kill Obama-era prison reform efforts at this point . There’s also skepticism
from the BOP’s powerful union, and outside pressure to kill various Obama administration reform initiatives from conservative groups like Judicial
Watch. A BOP spokesperson declined to answer specific questions about the status of several components of the reform initiatives, though they did say
that prison staffers currently assist federal prisoners re-entering society in obtaining state identification “when feasible.” (That initiative began under
Obama.) But a webpage referring to those programs is marked as “archived content” on the Justice Department site, with a disclaimer stating that the Before the reform project, funds dedicated to educating
inmates were allocated to each federal prison to spend as they saw fit.
There was no standardization of the education programs, said a person who worked on the
reform project. But most prisons focused on helping prisoners pass the General
Education Development test, or GED, which was less useful for inmates reentering society than an actual high school diploma . Special education, post-secondary and
“information here may be outdated.” English-as-a-second-language classes were not available in every facility or, if they were, they were not up to standards. The source who worked on the
project said they had visited prisons all over the country in preparation for creating the new Bureau of Prisons education department and implementing The plans included creating a reorganized central office that would
mimic a normal school district, as well as forming partnerships with local community colleges. The source recounted
the reforms. visiting one maximum-security prison that was “very disorganized,” with very few online learning options; a room meant to host ESL classes instead the lack of up-to-date equipment
left inmates who had a desire to learn with barely any options to do so. “These
housed a pile of old, dusty computers. The person who worked on the project said are human beings that are just sitting here with nothing but time,” the person said. Advantage One: Prison Overcrowding
First, Overcrowding in federal prisons is a major problem –
results in increased risk of violence, and decreases the quality
of life for prisoners – states are reducing their populations, but
the FEDERAL prison system isn’t making adjudgments – it’s
inhumane and spills over to crime outside of prisons
McLaughlin 12 [Michael, reporter at Huffington Post citing GAO report,
“Overcrowding In Federal Prisons Harms Inmates, Guards: GAO Report”
Huffington Post 9/14/12, //GK]
The federal prison system has been unable to keep pace with the stream of
inmates flooding its facilities over the last five years despite adding space
for thousands of new convicts, according to a government report. The ballooning
incarcerated population puts inmates and guards in danger and holds back
efforts to rehabilitate convicts, experts told HuffPost. The already-taxed Bureau of Prisons network
swelled to 39 percent above capacity through last September, and is expected to surge to more than 45 percent
above its limit in 2018, says the Government Accountability Office report, titled “Growing Inmate Crowding Last year’s
overcrowding level was the highest since 2004, when federal prisons were
41 percent above maximum levels — called the “rated capacity.” Wardens
may see a spike in violence as more inmates are squeezed into tight living
quarters, researchers warned. The overcrowding contributes “to increased inmate
misconduct, which negatively affects the safety and security of inmates and
staff,” according to the report. “If you start cramming more and more people into a
confined space, you’re going to create more tensions and problems ,” said the
GAO’s Director of Homeland Security and Justice David Maurer. “ It creates the possibility that
someone’s going to snap and have a violent incident.” With more prisoners
confined to limited spaces, prison officials are forced to cut back the time
inmates have in the cafeteria, recreation yards and television rooms. Two
and three inmates are bunked in rooms designed for one prisoner or in
common areas that were never meant to be used as cells. “Some of this sounds small
and trivial,” Maurer told The Huffington Post, “but it adds up.” Crowded cells and the loss of
privacy increase the odds that inmates will lash out , threatening the guards keeping
Negatively Affects Inmates, Staff, and Infrastructure.” The report was released on Wednesday. watch. “Once they get frustrated enough, we’re looking at another riot. And that’s what scares me,” said Dale
Deshotel, president of the Council of Prison Locals, which represents about 32,000 federal prison employees. So
far this year, 14 federal prison workers have been assaulted with weapons and another 45 were assaulted by
unarmed inmates, according to statistics compiled by the union. As the prison population boomed, Deshotel said
the government in 2005 reduced the average number of guards stationed in prison housing units. “There’s no way The hazards of
overcrowding could eventually ripple outside prison walls. Unless prison
budgets grow, inmates will have less access to job training, education and
drug treatment programs, which could increase the likelihood that they’ll
commit crimes again after their release. “People will get out of prison, but
that they can monitor that many prisoners,” he said of the guard-to-inmate ratio. they’re not being helped to reenter society,” said Inimai Chettiar, a director at the Brennan
Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, who has reviewed the report. “ People are going to
recidivate more when they get out of horrendous conditions without job
training and development programs to get their lives back together. ” To
decrease the overcrowding problem, Department of Justice officials could push for options like constructing new
prisons, lightening sentences or reintroducing parole for federal crimes. “[The report] pointed out exactly what we
assumed,” said Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), a critic of mandatory minimum sentences, which add to overcrowding
problems. “With more inmates, [prison officials] focus more on security and
less on the programs that can rehabilitate the prisoners. ” The Department of Justice,
which oversees the Bureau of Prisons, did not return calls for comment. There are more than 218,000 inmates
locked in the teeming network of federal and privately-run prisons. About 48% are there for drug offenses,
according to the GAO’s analysis. The report examined fiscal years 2006 to 2011. During that time, five federal
prisons opened and four minimum security camps shut. That increased space for almost seven percent more The unrelenting growth in the
overcrowded 117 federal prisons contrasts with the population in state
prisons, which began decreasing modestly in 2009. Budget crises have prompted states
inmates, but the system took on over nine percent more prisoners. to explore early release options for prisoners. California is scrambling to comply with a Supreme Court order that
said severe overcrowding was unconstitutional. By mid-2013, the state must reduce its inmate population by
30,000. And, the DOJ is SEVERELY overstretched – federal prison
overcrowding sucks funds and risks trade-offs with other
elements of the DOJ budget
Pye ‘15
(Jason, “Congress must address out of control spending at the
Federal Bureau of Prisons,” pg online @
//um-ef)
The Federal B ureau o f P risons is coming under some scrutiny from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). The two Kentucky Republicans recently introduced the Federal Prisons Accountability Act, S. 1784, which would require the president to appoint the director of the agency and
subject the nominee to Senate confirmation under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution. Currently, the director of the Bureau of Prisons is appointed by the attorney general and is not subject to confirmation. In June, BOP
Director Charles Samuels announced that he would retire before the end of the year. Samuels, who started his career as a corrections officer, has served in the role since December 2011, overseeing more than 120 federal
corrections facilities and an average of more than 217,300 prisoners between 2012 and 2014. "Currently, the director of the Bureau of Prisons has significant budget authority over taxpayer dollars without confirmation by the
U.S. Senate," McConnell said in a statement announcing the bill. "The legislation I introduced today with Senator Paul will bring some much needed accountability and transparency to the BOP, which is important for all agencies
within the Department of Justice, and will help protect private sector workers in Kentucky and across the nation." "No agency as large as the Bureau of Prisons should have so little accountability. Our bill will ensure the concerns
of those who work in the prisons are heard and acted upon. It will also ensure the small businesses affected by competition from the bureau have their voices heard," Paul added. Part of the reasoning for the bill, at least according
to the statement, is that the Bureau of Prisons administers the Federal Prisons Industries (FPI), a government-sponsored entity that uses prison labor to produce goods and services in direct competition with private-sector
companies. FPI, like many private businesses, competes for government contracts, which, the senators say, gives it an advantage because it can pay inmates substantially less. FreedomWorks has no position on the Federal Prisons
Accountability Act. Most nominees for Senate confirmable posts tend to sail through the process without much opposition. The unprecedented gutting of the filibuster in November 2013, which lowered the confirmation threshold
from 60 votes to 51 votes, may make the confirmation process even more of a ruse if the Senate and the White House are controlled by the same party. Still, there is a real need to subject the Bureau of Prisons to intense
congressional oversight and scrutiny. Between FY 2000 and FY 2015, the Bureau of Prisons' budget grew by roughly 88 percent in nominal dollars, and it now consumes a quarter of the Justice Department's annual The Justice Department's
inspector general
highlighted out of control costs which he called a
"persisting crisis,
The budgetary
growth in the Federal B
o P threatens other vital areas of federal law
enforcement. The explosion in the federal prison population, which grew
by nearly 800 percent between FY 1980 and FY 2013, has more than maxed
out prison infrastructure
the federal prison system
was 36% over its rated capacity in FY 2013
the rate of growth in the BOP’s budget was almost twice the
rate of growth of the rest of the Department The BOP currently has more
appropriations. The cost of housing just one prisoner annually jumped from $21,603 in FY 2000 to nearly $30,000 in FY 2013.
, Michael Horowitz, , " in his annual report to the attorney general, despite a "downward trend" in the size of the federal prison population. ureau f risons . In April 2014, the Congressional Research Service noted that “ , but high- and medium-security male facilities were operating at 52% and 45%, respectively, over rated capacity." "[From FY 2000 to FY 2014], . employees than any other Department component, including the
FBI and has the second largest budget of any Department component
The Department’s leadership has acknowledged the dangers the
rising costs of the federal prison system present to the Department’s
ability to fulfill its mission in other areas Nevertheless, federal prison
spending continues to impact the Department’s ability to make other
public safety investments Federal Bureau of Investigation ( ), , trailing only the FBI," Horowitz wrote. " . ." Among the cost drivers is healthcare for inmates, which grew by 55 percent between FY 2006 and FY 2013. The Bureau of Prisons spent $1 billion on prisoners' healthcare, or a little less than one-sixth of its $6.445 billion budget, in FY 2013 alone. But healthcare costs are only one part of the problem with federal prison spending. Horowitz noted that the Bureau of Prisons is
not properly utilizing existing programs that have already been approved by Congress. Separately, in a detailed December 2013 report, the Government Accountability Office explained that the Bureau of Prisons' budget requests
often lacked transparency and justification. Previously, in a February 2012 report, the Government Accountability Office dinged the Bureau of Prisons for not fully utilizing existing options available to allow eligible offenders, such
as those who have demonstrated good behavior, to leave prison early and serve out the remainder of their sentences in drug treatment programs, halfway houses, or home detention. Though the use of these options may have only the Bureau of Prisons, as it is
currently run, does little more than warehouse prisoners
a limited impact, it would relieve the Bureau of Prisons of, at least, some of its capacity problems. It is important to note that . Kevin Ring, Director of Strategic Initiatives at Families Against Mandatory Minimums and a former federal inmate, testified on his experiences in federal prisons at a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing earlier this month. Ring, a former congressional staffer
and lobbyist, was convicted in November 2010 on charges stemming from his involvement in the Jack Abramoff scandal. He served 15 months at FCI Cumberland in Maryland, a medium security facility run by the Bureau of I saw little to no
rehabilitation in prison There were few useful programs The institution
was either understaffed or uninterested in providing worthwhile
programming
GED classes
were the few exceptions
Most people worked menial jobs and collected their 12 to 15 cent-per-hour
wages
Prisons. Since his release, Ring has worked to reform the very tough mandatory sentences he helped write because of his experiences in the federal justice system. "
. . Trade apprenticeships, . , and jobs with the National Park Service . ," Ring told the committee in his prepared remarks. "The most glaring deficiency in the area of programming was the lack of any cognitive behavior therapy or anger management counseling." La...
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- Federal Bureau of Investigation, Justice Department