The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) appreciates the opportunity to respond to the recommendations from the OIG's draft report The Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Release Preparation and Transitional Reentry Programs.

The Bureau has always taken great pride in our programs and efforts to assist prisoners to reenter their communities successfully and remain crime free. We consider this to be one of our foremost programs of importance, within the confines of creating a sound correctional environment that is both safe and secure for prisoners, staff, and the community. We stress the significance of this role in both our Mission and Vision Statements.

I am particularly proud of our accomplishments with respect to the Bureau's release preparation and reentry programs. Furthermore, I believe the Bureau envisioned the need to continue to enhance and refine our programs and initiatives in this arena and has taken appropriate and well-defined steps in this regard. As noted in your report, the Bureau's Executive Staff appointed a reengineering team in May 2000 to examine our programs and efforts with respect to developing inmate skills for successful reentry. The ideas and recommendations of this team are just beginning to come to fruition, and we are extremely pleased with the direction we are headed.

One of the most significant initiatives the Bureau has recently undertaken is the establishment of our Inmate Skills Development Branch in June 2003. The cornerstone of this initiative is the development of a multi-tiered process. This process includes an assessment tool, a skills development plan, programs within the institution, and community transition. The Inmate Skills Assessment Tool is used to accurately evaluate the inmate's reentry needs/deficits and abilities. This tool allows institution staff to prepare a Comprehensive and individualized Skills Development Plan. Institution programs are used to target specific inmate needs, focus on skills acquisition, and reach high risk populations. Community transition, traditionally focused on the months preceding an inmate's release, is now expanded to include interagency communication and information sharing throughout the inmate's incarceration. Reentry skills are now a point of focus from initial designation to the successful transition back to the community.

Additionally, we have been working on several initiatives to improve the performance of our educational program offerings. The Bureau's preferred approach is to establish educational goals that are both challenging and realistic with the understanding that missed goals are not the only indicator of program failure. We are currently involved in a comprehensive effort to establish, monitor, and enforce educational goals. Our efforts include an increased focus on the accountability that truly determines the success of Bureau educational proqrams.

The Bureau, at all levels of the organization, has worked systematically and successfully to establish an effective strategic management system. Many of your findings and recommendations were items we self-identified and reported to your auditors that we were actively addressing.

I remain very proud of the efforts of Bureau staff in creating programs and an environment to assist inmates in successfully reentering their communities. I am confident we will continue to excel in providing inmates the appropriate programs and necessary skills and tools they need to remain crime free.

Our responses to your recommendations are as follows:

Recommendation #1: Ensure that a formalized process is established to set realistic occupational and educational completion goals stated as a percentage of completions to account for total enrollments and inmate population. The factors considered in setting educational goals should include the security level of the institution, inmate population, classroom size, number of classes, number of instructors, whether the institution has a wait list for its programs, and historical educational program completion data.

Response: The Bureau agrees with this recommendation. The Bureau will develop a formalized process to set realistic occupational and educational completion goals. The goals will be stated as a percentage of completions to account for total enrollments and inmate population. A target date of October 200G has been established for implementation.

Recommendation #2: Establish and implement a formal process to ensure that institutions are held accountable for meeting their occupational and educational goals and that corrective action plans are developed to remedy performance so that goals are met in future years.

Response: The Bureau agrees with this recommendation. The Bureau will establish a formal process of accountability for institutions in meeting their occupational and educational goals. Corrective action plans will be developed as needed to remedy performance issues. A target date of October 2006 has been established for implementation.

Recommendation #3: Revise the Annual Program Report for Education and Recreation Services to include both the occupational and educational goals and outcomes for the reported fiscal year so that the SOP can readily determine whether the institution met its goals.

Response: The Bureau agrees with this recommendation. The Bureau revised the Annual Program Report for Education and Recreation Services in FY 2003 to include both the occupational and educational goals and outcomes for the reported fiscal year. Attached is copy of the revised report. (See Attachment A)

Recommendation #4: Establish and implement a formal standardized process for evaluating the performance factor for occupational, technical, and vocational programs on an annual basis to ensure that the LOP institutions are held accountable for low performance and that corrective action plans are developed to remedy occupational program performance.

Response: The Bureau agrees with this recommendation, Using the results of recommendations #1 and #2, the Bureau will implement a formal standardized process for annually evaluating institutions' performance and accountability. Corrective action plans will be developed to remedy occupational program performance. The target date of October 2006 has been established for implementation.

Recommendation #5: Ensure that a formal standardized process is developed and implemented to screen all inmates prior to enrollment in all occupational programs to ensure that they have the ability and are willing to commit to completing the course.

Response: The Bureau agrees with this recommendation. We are currently piloting procedures for assessing the occupational needs of inmates. Additionally, we are making contact with State correctional agencies to assess additional procedures used to screen eligibility for occupational programs. The results of this assessment will be used to establish a protocol involving several components, such as criteria for structured interviews and document reviews to address inmate needs, abilities, and interest in completing programs. A target date of January 2006 has been established for implementation.

Recommendation #6: Ensure that a suitable measure of literacy program performance is developed to evaluate its institutions. The new performance measure should provide an accurate picture of the percentage of all inmates that arrive at the BOP institutions without a GED credential or high school diploma who complete the literacy program during incarceration.

Response: The Bureau agrees with this recommendation. The Bureau is revising policy to incorporate these changes. This revision will require rules language changes. The new data procedures will allow us to obtain an accurate picture of the percentage of all inflates, entering the Bureau after the implementation date of the new policy, who lack a GED or high school diploma and their GED status upon release. This will allow us to determine which inmates, releasing from the Bureau with a GED, actually earned the GED while incarcerated. A target date of September 2007 has been established for implementation.

Recommendation #7: Ensure that the percentage of citizen inmates required to participate in the literacy program that have dropped out at each institution is more closely evaluated.

Response: The Bureau agrees with this recommendation. The Bureau will create a performance measurement for the percentage of citizen inmates with needs who have dropped out of the literacy program at the national and regional level. We will incorporate this measure into monthly reports to allow monitoring of each institution. A target date of March 2005 has been established for implementation.

Recommendation #8: Ensure that the percentage of non-citizen inmates that have dropped out of the literacy program at each institution is monitored.

Response: The Bureau agrees with this recommendation, The Bureau will create a performance measurement for the percentage of non-citizen inmates with needs who have dropped out of the literacy program at the national and regional level. We will incorporate this measure into monthly reports to allow monitoring of each institution. A target date of September 2005 has been established for implementation.

Recommendation #9: Establish and implement a mechanism to hold institutions accountable for the monthly psychological program participation data that includes corrective action plans for institutions with low participation.

Response: The Bureau agrees with this recommendation. The Bureau will develop a system for reporting on program resources and participation. Institutions will report to the region each month on the utilization of allocated positions and the participation indicators for each Psychology Treatment Program, including Residential Drug Abuse Programs (RUAP) . Quarterly, each region will report to the Central Office on program performance measures. If a program falls below 90% participation for the quarter, the region will develop a corrective action plan. Psychology Program Utilization Data will be included in the Key Indicators System. A target date of October 2004 has been established for implementation.

Recommendation #10: Ensure that participation data is tracked for all of the SOP institutions to determine the percentage of eligible inmates that have completed the RPP prior to release into the community.

Response: The Bureau agrees with this recommendation. As discussed during the exit conference, the new Inmate Skills initiative will focus on community transition throughout the inmate's incarceration and will better assist their successful reentry. Therefore, based on this information, your staff agreed to close recommendations 10 and 11.

Recommendation #11: Establish and implement a mechanism to hold institutions accountable for RPP performance that includes corrective action plans for institutions with low performance.

Response; The Bureau agrees with this recommendation. As discussed during the exit conference, the new Inmate Skills initiative will focus on community transition throughout the inmate's incarceration and will better assist their successful reentry. Therefore, based on this information, your staff agreed to close recommendations 10 and 11.

Recommendation #12: Establish a CCC utilization target for its high security institutions.

Response: The Bureau agrees with this recommendation. The Bureau has established a 65% target CCC utilization rate for high security institutions. This was added to the Bureau's Strategic Plan February 4, 2004. (See Attachment B)

Recommendation #13: Establish and implement a formal process to ensure that all eligible inmates are placed in a CCC prior to release.

Response: The Bureau agrees with this recommendation. The Bureau will implement a formal process for reviewing eligible inmates that are denied or not referred for CCC placement. The process will be initiated at the institution level and include regional review for compliance with national policy. A target date of July 30, 2004, has been established for implementation.

If you have any questions regarding this response, please contact Michael W. Garrett, Senior Deputy Assistant Director, Program Review Division, at (202) 616-2099.

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