Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Colette Peters took her position in August 2022 just as the agency was making headlines with staffing shortages, morale issues, challenges instituting the First Step Act and employee corruption. While many of those challenges still exist, Director Peters is starting to change things but it will take a while to right this ship.
Director Peters came from outside of the BOP, something that hasn’t happened since retired Army major general Mark Inch assumed the position in September 2017. Inch, who was tasked with changing the culture in the BOP, lasted 8 months on the job before he suddenly announced his departure. Hugh Hurwitz took over as interim BOP Director and it looked like he was destined to become the Director until the suicide of inmate Jeffrey Epstein at MCC New York. Hurwitz retired then the BOP tapped Michael Carvajal, who had worked his way up through the BOP from a frontline corrections officer.
Carvajal could not have stepped into the job at a worse time. The BOP, like the country, was faced with the hardships of COVID-19 and it failed on so many fronts that tens of thousands of inmates were infected while hundreds died. The Office of Inspector General conducted a review of the BOP’s reaction to COVID-19 which was highly critical of the agency concluding, “.. the BOP actually transferred fewer inmates [to home confinement] during the first year of the pandemic than it had during the year immediately preceding the pandemic.” Carvajal continually provided misleading information to Congress on the number of inmates who were transferred to home confinement under the CARES Act, a provision that moved minimum security inmates to home supervision rather than prison.
Carvajal also oversaw the initial implementation of the First Step Act, the most sweeping criminal justice reform act in decades. It allowed certain inmates, mostly minimum security, to earn up to one year off of their sentence for participating in meaningful programs meant to reduce recidivism. The pandemic restricted the ability to hold classes for these programs and problems in calculating those credits plagued the BOP throughout 2022. Carvajal announced his retirement in early 2022 but not before the likes of Senator Dick Durbin called for his firing.
This is what Director Peters inherited when she took over the BOP in August 2022. Prior to being named head of the BOP, Peters oversaw the Oregon Department of Corrections for 10 years. Oregon housed 12,000 inmates, less than the population of the two largest BOP complexes (The BOP has 122 complexes and approximately 160,000 inmates). While Peters was known for her initiatives to make change, some argued that she did not do enough even in Oregon, but she certainly headed an initiative to change the way prisons looked an inmates. Peters said at her swearing-in ceremony. “Our job is not to make good inmates. It’s to make good neighbors.”
On April 25, 2023, Director Peters assembled every warden and regional director in the BOP for a bi-annual meeting in Aurora, CO. As part of the event she had those who were formerly incarcerated address the group to be a part of what Director Peters calls “Listening Sessions.” We, I was there as well, were provided a stage to speak to this group of corrections executives to talk about the challenges facing the BOP. In looking at the faces of those in the audience, it was a bit of a shock for them to hear from former inmates about how to better run a prison, but such is the new approach by Director Peters who also promised a listening session from victims of crime as well. At the conclusion of the presentation, the audience politely applauded and Director Peters then rose from her chair to emphasize the importance of the event. Slowly, but surely, those wardens and regional directors also rose to show their appreciation, or their perceived buy-in of the event. Time will tell.
Colette Peters is a different leader but she is indeed a leader who is not afraid to establish a new direction for an Agency that is searching for one. Even if those who are in the BOP disagree with Peters’ approach, they all know that the path the Agency is on is not sustainable without change. Director Peters has, for now, the support of Congress, something that her predecessor lacked.
Even with support, Director Peters has challenges. Over the past few weeks a series of reports have come out about the continued problems at BOP. The Office of Inspector General issued reports in May on the decaying institutions throughout the BOP, the Agency’s inability to identify, communicate, and remedy operational issues, staffing shortages and the BOP’s response to COVID-19. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) added the BOP to its ‘High Risk List,’ citing the “BOP’s longstanding challenges managing staff and resources, and planning and evaluating programs that help incarcerated people have a successful return to the community.” The Partnership for Public Service recently issued its annual survey of the best and worst places to work in the government and the BOP ranked dead last among 432 agencies.
Criminal justice is changing the way the BOP operates. The First Step Act, with the support of a majority of Republicans and Democrats, represents the national support for changes in how we incarcerate our fellow citizens. To be sure, there are many dangerous inmates in custody and the BOP’s front line staff know the dangers of dealing with the issues of incarcerating them. This is something that must be acknowledged in order for union members and executive staff to find common ground, yet another challenge in the BOP. However, many people serve far too much time in both Low and Minimum security facilities, representing over 50% of the federal prison population, who could earn their freedom sooner with no danger to society.
Director Peters has challenges but she is the type of leader that is needed to change the trajectory of such an important government mission. A lot of people are watching, and hoping for change.
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