Comments

You have commented 375 times on Rantburg.

Your Name

Your e-mail (optional)

Website (optional)

	My Original Nic Pic-a-Nic Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Foto

Submit your comments on this article

-Lurid Crime Tales-

Epstein Media Cover Story: 'US prison system long plagued by staffing crisis, violence'

2019-11-19

WASHINGTON (AP) ‐ For years, the federal Bureau of Prisons has been plagued by systematic failures, from massive staffing shortages to chronic violence. But the largest agency in the Justice Department has largely stayed out of the public view.

The death of billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein and the revelation that he was able to kill himself while behind bars at one of the most secure jails in America has cast a spotlight on the agency, which has also been besieged by serious misconduct in recent years.

Staffing shortages at the agency ‐ it employs more than 35,000 people and has an annual budget that exceeds $7 billion ‐ are so severe that guards often work overtime day after day or are forced to work mandatory double shifts. Violence leads to regular lockdowns at federal prison compounds across the U.S. And a congressional report released earlier this year found "bad behavior is ignored or covered up on a regular basis."

At the same time, the Bureau of Prisons will be responsible for carrying out the first federal executions in more than 15 years, the first of which is scheduled for Dec. 9.

The issues at the Bureau of Prisons are likely to take center stage Tuesday as the agency’s new director appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Her appearance comes as federal prosecutors in New York prepare to charge two correctional officers who were responsible for guarding Epstein when he took his own life in August at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. The city’s medical examiner ruled Epstein’s death a suicide.

The officers are suspected of failing to check on him every half-hour, as required, and of fabricating log entries to claim they had. Federal prosecutors offered the guards a plea bargain, but the officers declined the deal, according to people familiar with the case. The people insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

Posted by:Besoeker

#11 comments); ?>werwer

Posted by: Spot 2019-11-19 16:14

#10 comments); ?>werwer

Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 2019-11-19 12:36

#9 comments); ?>werwer

Posted by: SteveS 2019-11-19 12:34

#8 comments); ?>werwer

Posted by: 49 Pan 2019-11-19 12:14

#7 comments); ?>werwer

Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2019-11-19 12:07

#6 comments); ?>werwer

Posted by: Dron66046 2019-11-19 11:42

#5 comments); ?>werwer

Posted by: SteveS 2019-11-19 11:15

#4 comments); ?>werwer

Posted by: Skidmark 2019-11-19 11:09

#3 comments); ?>werwer

Posted by: Besoeker 2019-11-19 10:20

#2 comments); ?>werwer

Posted by: Frank G 2019-11-19 07:57

#1 comments); ?>werwer

Posted by: Bobby 2019-11-19 07:33

00:00