Four House Democrats called on the head of the Federal Bureau of Prisons to explain how he plans to address “persistent and dangerous conditions” in prisons and “widespread shortages of critical personnel.” Part of that is due to correctional officers fleeing prisons for higher-paying jobs with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Outlined in a six-page letter sent to BOP Secretary William Marshall III on Friday, the lawmakers’ questions come after a ProPublica investigation revealed that workers in federal lock-up facilities from Florida to California were lured by ICE’s $50,000 starting salary and high pay as the Trump administration more than doubled its number of officers and staff last year in a months-long hiring blitz. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Prisons lost more than 1,800 net employees last year.
“We are deeply concerned that these developments threaten the safety of our inmates and staff,” Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Lucy McBath of Georgia, Jasmine Crockett of Texas and Joe Neguse of Colorado said in the letter. “A shrinking existing workforce must contend with ever-increasing overtime hours, leading to increased fatigue, burnout, and attrition.”
Representatives said staffing shortages were leading to expanded lockdowns, increased violence and reduced access to inmate recidivism reduction programs. Their letter also raised questions about the termination of union contracts, which critics said “appears to be vindictive,” and the continued reliance on “increases” to force correctional officers to fill staffing gaps with nurses, teachers and plumbers working in prisons.
“We believe these deeply thorny questions require concrete answers,” the lawmakers wrote. It set a 30-day deadline for the department to respond in writing.
Prison union leaders are also pursuing the case, urging lawmakers to require Marshall and his deputy, Josh Smith, to testify before Congress about the issue.
The Bureau of Prisons declined to answer questions from ProPublica about the lawmakers’ letter, saying it would respond directly to Congress.
A spokesperson said in a statement that the BOP “continues to prioritize efforts” to increase staffing, adding that “for the safety and security of our staff, inmates and the public,” some staff must be substituted as correctional officers at all times.
The BOP has long struggled to hire and retain enough workers at the facility, where about 34,700 employees serve more than 138,000 inmates. Union officials said about 40% of correctional officer positions will remain vacant in 2023. That same year, the prison system was placed on the government’s list of high-risk institutions with serious vulnerabilities due to staff shortages.
As part of its long-term recruitment drive, the department has turned to signing bonuses, retention benefits and expedited hiring processes. Those efforts brought in a net addition of more than 1,200 people in 2024, the department’s largest headcount increase in a decade, but the cost of pay raises, overtime, inflation, and job incentives strained an already stagnant budget.
Early last year, the agency suspended recruitment and retention incentives to cut costs, a move that threatened to undo the previous year’s headcount gains. Still, the financial strain continued, and by the fall, dozens of staff and inmates spoke to ProPublica about the extraordinary shortages in facilities across the country. Some prisons were in arrears with utility and garbage fees, and some were running low on staple foods such as eggs and beef. At one point, a Louisiana prison ran out of food for inmates within days, and union officials intervened to urge agency leaders to fix the problem.
In a letter last week, agents said they were “alarmed” by the financial shortfalls and deteriorating staffing levels reported by ProPublica. The department’s net employee loss was larger last year than in any year since 2017, according to data obtained by ProPublica through open records requests.
Overtime wages at the department are rising as the workforce shrinks. According to a recent Congressional Research Service report, the federal prison system will spend more than $387 million on overtime in 2025, a number that has only been exceeded once in the past decade.
Inmates have expressed concern that in some facilities, staff are often forced to work double shifts two to four times a week, and in some cases are forced to work significant overtime, multiple prison officials told ProPublica this month on condition of anonymity.
“Only predatory inmates would like this,” one corrections officer told ProPublica. “Prisoners don’t like supercops, but they at least want to feel like if they’re being attacked, someone will notice and stop them as quickly as possible. You don’t get that with a substitute cop who can barely keep his eyes open.”
Meanwhile, lawmakers said they had “grave concerns” about some of the ways BOP leaders have tried to save money and minimize overtime, including locking down facilities and cutting staff, which the agency said the agency tried to cover up.
During a visit last year to the facility where the inspector general’s office is located, each home was fully staffed and lawmakers said the “trick” was only accomplished by using extreme build-up. “Following the visit, the facility reportedly resumed service to understaffed units immediately,” the lawmakers wrote. “Committee staff reviewed housing unit staffing and addition rosters that documented this apparent effort to mislead the OIG.”
Prison staff worked more than 700,000 extra hours last year, the most in a single year in at least a decade, according to a Congressional Research Service report.
“That’s why I quit,” one former prison official told ProPublica last year. He explained that he was forced to give up his role in resolving discrimination complaints and instead chose to resign to work two days a week as a housing worker.
