Department of Justice (DOJ) Acting Inspector General William M. Blier announced today the release of a web-based interactive report on the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) efforts to place inmates close to home. The First Step Act (FSA) of 2018 requires the BOP to place inmates in facilities as close to their primary residence as possible, and to the extent practicable, within 500 driving miles. Placing inmates close to home during incarceration reduces recidivism, eases the harm to family members separated from their loved ones, and helps strengthen family ties.
The DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) identified concerns with the BOP’s inmate placement efforts, including the following:
- The BOP Should Ensure Accurate Calculation of Driving Miles. The FSA and BOP policy require the BOP to place an inmate in a facility within 500 driving miles of their primary residence to the extent practicable. We found the BOP’s mileage calculations were based on a straight-line “as the crow flies” distance method instead of driving miles as required by the FSA. This resulted in an undercalculation of inmates located more than 500 miles from their homes, meaning that about 40 percent of inmates we evaluated were located over 500 miles from their homes. In addition, we found that the information provided to Congress as required by the First Step Act was based on the BOP’s “as the crow flies” mileage calculations, not the driving miles distance.
- The BOP Should Properly Document Placement Decisions. BOP policy requires staff to note the reason for designation or transfer in the “designator remarks” field in BOP’s inmate management system, SENTRY. However, in 26 of the 100 inmates we judgmentally sampled, we could not verify that the inmate was placed as close to home as possible. In some cases, we identified multiple options significantly closer to the inmate’s residence that appeared to meet all inmate needs.
- The BOP Should Ensure Address Information Is Accurate and Standardized. BOP’s policy states it is important to have an accurate zip code because it is used to determine the mileage between an inmate’s legal residence and the designated facility. However, our review of the SENTRY data found inaccuracies in inmate legal residence addresses, potentially affecting mileage calculations.
The DOJ OIG made three recommendations to improve the BOP’s management of inmate placements. The BOP concurred with all three recommendations.
A version of the video without graphic overlays is available here.