Letter to The Honorable Eric Holder, Attorney General

Letter

Schumer Urges Attorney General To Sit Down With Staff From Otisville, Ray Brook, Other Federal Prisons To Address Dangerous Overcrowding And Underfunding

Ray Brook and Otisville Prisons are More Than 800 Prisoners Over Capacity - Not Enough Funding Provided to the Bureau Of Prisons

Recent Violence in Federal Prison in Pennsylvania Highlights Dangers That Correctional Officers Face Every Day

Schumer Urges Holder to Accept Meeting Request to Address Dangers Facing Correctional Officers in Federal Prisons

Today U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer, in a personal letter, urged Attorney General Eric Holder to accept a request made by the Council of Prison Locals (CPL) of the American Federation of Government Employees to meet and discuss ways to combat the increasing violence in federal prisons in New York and across the country. Schumer toured Otisville and Ray Brook federal prisons earlier this year and was troubled to discover the facilities overcrowded and understaffed due to a lack of funding. At the time of his visits, Otisville was operating 42.7 percent over its rated capacity and was 14 percent understaffed. Similarly, the institution at Ray Brook was operating at 64.2 percent over its rated capacity and was 12.6 percent understaffed. Schumer found that Ray Brook Prison was operating with 14 fewer guards than were needed and Otisville was operating with 44 fewer guards than needed. Schumer said that the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) was severely underfunded and he would support the corrections officers' request for additional resources to ensure safe operations of federal prisons.

"The Department of Justice has an obligation to sit down with these men and women, who are on the frontline of keeping society safe, to discuss the problems they face every day," said Schumer. "I'm sure the Department will agree that allowing this situation to continue is intolerable. These facilities house dangerous criminals and are bursting at the seams, putting correctional officers in a dangerous position. Working together, we must find a way to change this."

Schumer said these conditions present an unnecessary and genuine risk to the officers and staff who work at federal prisons. In fact, a report issued in 2006 by the BOP documented significant increases in prison inmate assaults against correctional officers and staff, as well as between prison inmates. More recently, the slaying of Correctional Officer Jose Rivera in June of last year by two prison inmates, and the string of assaults in penitentiaries in Lewisburg and Canaan serve as tragic indicators of an underfunded system.

The Federal Correctional Institutions (FCI) in Ray Brook and Otisville are medium security facilities that houses adult male offenders. A medium security FCI has a strengthened perimeter (often a double fence with electronic detection systems), mostly cell-type housing, a wide variety of work and treatment programs, and a higher staff-to-inmate ratio than lower security FCIs.

FCI Ray Brook is located in Upstate New York, midway between the villages of Lake Placid and Saranac Lake; FCI Otisville is situated in Orange County, 70 miles northwest of New York City.

Schumer today revealed that the Ray Brook and Otisville facilities are 64 percent and 40 percent overcrowded respectively, based on recent average daily population figures:

* The federal prison in Ray Brook in Essex County has a recommended capacity of 747 but has an average daily population of 1,227.

* The federal prison in Otisville in Orange County has a recommended capacity of 844 but has an average daily population of 1,205.

According to a letter from the Director of the Bureau of Prisons to Senator Schumer, the overcrowding crisis at Ray Brook and Otisville has forced the facilities to house "inmates in areas within the institution which were not originally designed as inmate sleeping areas." Schumer said that the main reason the institution is more than 64 percent over capacity is because the Bureau of Prisons does not have sufficient bed space in New York or across the country.

In addition to being severely overcrowded, the prisons in New York are significantly short-handed. Ray Brook has 14 authorized correctional services positions vacant while Otisville has 44 positions vacant. Schumer said that the BOP on some occasions has been forced to use non-correctional staff (such as counselors or managers) for correctional duties to fill the gap.

Schumer said that other federal prisons in New York face similar dire conditions. Statistics show that federal prison facilities in Manhattan and Brooklyn are all more than 40 percent overcrowded and also severely understaffed. Prisons across the country are not much better off. Facilities outside of New York are, on average, 37 percent over-crowded.

According to the BOP's own studies, including one conducted in 2005, on average, an increase in overcrowding and staffing shortages are directly associated with an increase in serious assaults.

November 19, 2009

The Honorable Eric H. Holder Jr.
Attorney General
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530

Dear Attorney General Holder:

Earlier this month, the Council of Prison Locals (CPL) of the American Federation of Government Employees requested a meeting with the Department of Justice to discuss the dangerous situation presented by our understaffed and overcrowded federal prison system. I write today because I share similar concerns over the state of our federal prisons and hope that the Department will consider meeting with the CPL.

This year, I visited the Federal Correctional Institutions in Otisville and Ray Brook, New York. I was troubled to discover that the federal institution in Otisville was operating 42.7 percent over its rated capacity and was 14 percent understaffed at that time. Similarly, the institution at Ray Brook was operating at 64.2 percent over its rated capacity and was 12.6 percent understaffed. I was even more troubled to learn that the plight of these New York facilities is becoming the rule and not the exception for our federal prisons.

The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is facing serious correctional understaffing and severe prison inmate overcrowding. While our federal prison system has seen exponential growth in its number of inmates, funding levels have failed to keep pace. Indeed, the current staffing level of our federal prisons is at just 86.6 percent . Moreover, despite the recent activation of additional prisons, federal prisons are operating around 37 percent over capacity.

These conditions present an unnecessary and genuine risk not only to inmates, but also to the officers and staff who work at federal prisons. In fact, a report issued in 2006 by the BOP documented significant increases in prison inmate assaults against correctional officers and staff, and against other prison inmates. More recently, the slaying of Correctional Officer Jose Rivera in June of last year by two prison inmates and the string of assaults in penitentiaries in Lewisburg and Canaan serve as tragic indicators of an underfunded system.

Thank you for your consideration. If you or your staff requires additional information on this request, please contact my staff.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Schumer
United States Senator

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