The Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Monitoring of Mail for High-Risk Inmates

Evaluation and Inspections Report I-2006-009
September 2006
Office of the Inspector General


Appendix VII
OIG’S Analysis of the Criminal Division’s Response


On August 17, 2006, the OIG sent a copy of the draft report to the Criminal Division with a request for written comments on Recommendation 13. The Criminal Division responded to the OIG in a memorandum dated August 28, 2006. The Criminal Division concurred with the recommendation but proposed minor language changes.

Recommendation 13:  The Criminal Division and the National Security Division, on behalf of the Department, should develop a coordinated and mandatory review process for each newly incarcerated pretrial or convicted inmate associated with terrorism to determine the applicability of SAMs. This process should ensure, at a minimum, that the FBI, the prosecuting USAOs, the Criminal Division, and the National Security Division each review these inmates for SAMs applicability.

Status.  Resolved – Open.

Summary of Criminal Division’s Response.  The Criminal Division concurred with the recommendation that the Department should develop a coordinated and mandatory review process for each newly incarcerated pretrial or convicted inmate associated with terrorism to determine the applicability of SAMs. The Criminal Division stated that since its Counterterrorism, Counterespionage, and Office of Intelligence Policy and Review sections will be moving to the Department’s newly created National Security Division, the new Division should share the responsibility with the Criminal Division in developing this coordinated and mandatory review. In March 2006, the National Security Division of the Department was authorized in the USA Patriot Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005. The Division will be formed once the nominated Assistant Attorney General for this new Division is confirmed.

The Criminal Division plans to implement this recommendation by proposing a change to provisions of the U.S. Attorneys’ Manual and is currently drafting the text for this change, which will eventually be submitted to the Attorney General Advisory Committee for its approval. The Criminal Division anticipates the entire process will take 6 months.

The OIG’s Analysis.  The action planned by the Criminal Division to update the U.S. Attorneys’ Manual with language that requires a coordinated and mandatory SAMs review process for each newly incarcerated pretrial or convicted inmate associated with terrorism is responsive to the recommendation. Please provide us with a status report on the updated U.S. Attorneys’ Manual language reflecting this requirement by December 1, 2006.



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