US federal prison failures led to inmate deaths, Justice Dept review finds

[February 16, 2024]  By Katharine Jackson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Safety failures by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons (BOP), including the widespread use of single cells and failure to keep out drugs and weapons, led to preventable inmate deaths, the Justice Department watchdog said on Thursday.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz blamed deaths on BOP's "operational and managerial deficiencies" that also included outdated security camera equipment, failure of staff members to follow established procedures and staffing shortages that left inmates without proper care and supervision.

"It is critical that the BOP address these challenges so it can operate safe and humane facilities and protect inmates in its custody and care," Horowitz said.

The report was based on a review of 344 inmate deaths at federal prison facilities, including jails, prisons and other institutions from 2014-2021 that were caused by suicide, homicide, accident or unknown factors. Many of the accidental deaths involved drug overdoses, and suicides accounted for more than half of the deaths, the report said.

The report found that some institutions failed to identify and address suicide risks and more than half of the inmates who died by suicide were housed alone in single occupancy cells.

Drugs and weapons smuggled into prison facilities played a role in one third of the inmate deaths included in the review, including 70 drug overdose deaths.

Staff searches repeatedly missed items used in killings and suicides, the report said. In one case, staff searched one inmate's cell three times, including the day before the inmate died by suicide, recording in a database that they had not found contraband. But a report filed after the suicide stated that the inmate had stashed more than 1,000 pills in the cell.

"Any unexpected death of an adult in custody is tragic ... we have already taken many steps to mitigate these deaths," Colette Peters, BOP director wrote in a response to the report.

Prison officials patrol around the United States Penitentiary at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S. January 15, 2021. REUTERS/Bryan Woolston

The report also highlighted that despite a decreasing federal prison population, these deaths have increased. While the number of inmates peaked in 2013 and has been decreasing, bureau data showed the number of inmate deaths by suicide, homicide, accident and unknown causes peaked at 57 in 2021, the last year analyzed.

The review began in 2020 after congressional requests to investigate inmate homicides and suicides.

It also followed the high-profile deaths of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who reportedly died by suicide in 2019 in a New York jail where he was awaiting trial for sex trafficking, and former Boston mob boss and FBI informant James "Whitey" Bulger, who was beaten to death within a day of his transfer to a West Virginia prison in 2018.

Justice Department reviews found federal prison employees failed to properly handle both cases.

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on federal inmate deaths including those detailed in the report on Feb. 28, Senator Dick Durbin announced on Thursday.

(Reporting by Katharine Jackson; Editing by Scott Malone, Chizu Nomiyama and Aurora Ellis)

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