Early on the morning of October 30th, James “Whitey” Bulger, the infamous crime boss from Boston, was beaten to death in his cell at the federal prison in Hazelton, West Virginia. Bulger’s murder set off a series of reporting on why Bulger, a noted FBI informant, was sent to Hazelton just hours earlier and why he was housed with the general population. Several inmates suspected of participating in the murder have been isolated from the rest of the prisoners.
But Bulger’s murder has turned into more than a prison murder mystery. It has also served to highlight a growing concern with the federal Bureau of Prisons—a chronic and worsening shortage of correctional officers.
West Virginia Congressman David McKinley’s office reports approximately 6,000 Bureau of Prison positions were cut last January to save money and another 1,000 positions are targeted for elimination next year. Hazelton lost 80 positions, 65 of which were correctional officers. Hazelton also has about 30 more vacant correctional officer positions above those that have been eliminated.
McKinley believes the shortages put inmates and staff at greater risk. Three Hazelton inmates have been murdered this year and in the first two weeks of October, nine violent incidents were reported along with three facility lockdowns.
Earlier this month, several dozen Hazelton staff members set up informational pickets to draw attention to the issue. Richard Hildreth, President of Local 420 of the American Federation of Government Employees, said, “The understaffing at our facility has led to an increase in violence, drugs, drug abuse, fights (and) assaults.”
Hazelton is not unique. An investigation by the New York Times earlier this year chronicled staffing shortages throughout the prison system. Institutions often have to use support staff—administrative assistants, counselors and trade workers—as guards.
“The practice, which leaves other prison functions short-handed, came under criticism during the Obama administration… but as the shortage of correctional officers has grown chronic under President Trump—and the practice of drawing upon other workers has become routine—many prisons have been operating in a perpetual state of staffing turmoil,” the Times reported last June.
The Times reports that assaults on prison staff are up eight percent from the previous year. Additionally, fewer trained correctional officers means more contraband getting into prisons. “In Big Spring (a federal prison in West Texas), people have walked up to the double security fence in broad daylight, with no guard in sight, and tossed drugs, cell phones or other items to inmates.”
A hiring freeze imposed in January 2016 was lifted last March and Congress has appropriated additional money for salaries each of the last five years, yet the shortages persist even as the prison population grows between one and two percent a year.
Taxpayers are never interested in spending more money on prisons, and Whitey Bulger may have gotten what he deserved. However, federal prisons are increasingly dangerous places for the people who work there. As McKinley and his fellow congressmen said in a letter to then Attorney General Jeff Sessions, “The safety of the men and women who put their lives on the line every day to guard, supervise and protect federal inmates must be a top priority.”