Marino leads Pennsylvania colleagues in call to reverse staff cuts at federal prisons

U.S. Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA) is spearheading a bipartisan, bicameral effort urging the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to withdraw plans to eliminate 6,000 positions nationwide, including hundreds of positions at prisons in his home state of Pennsylvania.

“We are alarmed by recent reports regarding cuts to staffing and unsafe staffing ratios at BOP facilities. The safety of the men and women who serve in our nation’s penitentiaries and federal prisons is of the utmost priority. We urge you to reconsider these cuts to staffing levels,” wrote Marino in a March 6 letter sent to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and BOP Director Mark Inch. U.S. Reps. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-PA), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Lou Barletta (R-PA), Keith Rothfus (R-PA) and Matthew Cartwright (D-PA) also signed the letter, along with U.S. Sens. Bob Casey Jr. (D-PA) and Pat Toomey (R-PA).

The Pennsylvania lawmakers wrote that 11 BOP facilities are located in their state. Three of them — U.S. Penitentiary (USP) Allenwood, USP Canaan and USP Lewisburg — are high-security facilities. Recently, they wrote, 182 positions were chopped at USPs Allenwood and Lewisburg, and 39 positions were eliminated at USP Canaan, where another 15 cuts are scheduled.

Slashing more federal positions at USP Canaan is particularly troubling, according to the lawmakers, because the facility “is one of the most dangerous penitentiaries in the country.” During fiscal year 2017, they wrote, some 256 acts of violence were reported that included inmates perpetrating violence against each other and upon prison staff. In January, there were 25 acts of violence reported, the members wrote.

The “dangerous staffing levels that contribute to incidents of violence are unacceptable,” Rep. Marino said in a March 8 statement, referring to DOJ’s current inmate-to-staff ratio of 8.3 to 1, which has been cited as being unsafe. “I hope that this letter will bring more attention to these cuts so that we do not jeopardize the safety and security of correctional officers, inmates, and the general public,” said Marino.

In addition to reconsidering the federal staff cuts, the lawmakers have asked Sessions and Inch to explain the decision-making process that led DOJ and BOP to pursue the job eliminations in the first place.

“This letter will hopefully send a signal to BOP that they need to re-evaluate staff cuts and prioritize the safety of correctional officers, particularly in facilities with our most violent offenders,” Marino said.