Somehow the very people affected by these cuts still will vote for the people who continue to cut their wages, cut their hours, cut them to the bone. But they'll keep voting for the GOP. Insanity.
76
A tough law-and-order-lock-em-party that can't fund enough competent staff to guard those inmates in prison. An anti-abortion party whose president defunds children's healthcare. An anti-immigrant party that can't hire enough border agents and now can't handle all the children they have separated from their parents. A pro-gun party that wants teachers to carry guns, but no funding has been approved. Does anyone else see a theme here?
90
It would seem, based on this article, that the main effect the lack of professional guards has in regard to the prisoners is that those who fill in are not as good as the professional guards at detecting violations of prison rules among the inmates. That they are not as skilled at checking for and finding contraband such as drugs or cell phones.
And the fact is that the average citizen could not care less if a prisoner manages to get high and escape the boredom of prison for a while, or gets his hands on a cellphone and has some contact with the real world.
The only thing that one would have a problem with is forcing teachers or nurses to pull guard duty. However if it in their contract and job description then that is what they signed up for.
3
What, no “previously owned” auto sales moms available?
2
The simple solution is to accelerate release dates.
11
This is beyond depressing. Things will get worse before they get better. The Trump administration will turn the federal system over to the private sector for expensive, poorly run systems that do nothing for the employees and inmates. Making America great again is the biggest con - that Ms Chavez voted for Trump is hilarious. She is the typical voter who got played and now she is in literally in danger. While it may not be a practical solution, if it were me, I would find another line of work.
44
Sounds to me like a deliberate attempt by this administration to privatize the Federal Bureau of Prisons. By deliberately sabotaging publicly funded programs to the point of rendering them incapable of functioning properly, this administration is paving the way for its' crony capitalist friends.
51
Oh no, the guarding might have to be done by people whose job it is to help inmates, rather than people whose job it is to beat and abuse inmates! What a horrible tragedy! I for one am SCANDALIZED that inmates might have to be cared for by health workers who might actually notice when the inmates develop serious health complications, rather than guards who will punish them for describing their symptoms and leave them to die.
6
Quit yer whining... We gotta pay for the oligarchy's tax break and as long as it's not cutting oil/agribusiness subsidies, we're OK...
26
As far as the NY Times is concerned, is there anything happening in America that isn't the Trump administrations fault, is it remotely possible to write an article or editorial and not try to make it about Trump? How about prisoners on the rise, this is a real problem, how about people doing and dealing drugs at record #'s - is this Trumps fault too; so under Obama they let more prisoners out for "low level crimes which are low level as long as your not the one affected, not quite so low level when you're being robbed, assaulted or otherwise" but those same people are the ones escalating crime; NY Times is ridiculous in their reporting, just report the facts and stop the blame game.
1
".....just report the facts and stop the blame game."
I assume you have sent a similar request to Fox News.
36
Like the drug dealer whose sentence Trump commuted at the request of Kim Kardashian? She might not have committed any "violent" crimes, but I'll bet the people who bought her drugs probably did.
12
If you are so concerned about facts you should be aware that the Obama administration defined "low-level" crimes as "nonviolent, low-level offenders without significant ties to large-scale criminal organizations, gangs or cartels."
Non-violent. As in no assault.
Another "fact" you seem to have missed is that violent crime in the U.S. has fallen sharply over the past quarter century.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/30/5-facts-about-crime-in-t...
You should take your own advice and just post facts and stop the blame game.
18
Another. Reason to vote all Republicans out of office.
17
The Bureau of Prisons has more inmates than bed space. Do you know that in order to comply with court orders that require federal prisons not be overcrowded that over capacity inmates are flown around the US in BOP transport planes constantly? These inmates can be in the air for months at a time until bedspace becomes available.
10
Fortunately, this will all be resolved as we switch to more private prisons. What we need is real estate developers financed by Russian oligarchs laundering money to build some new private prisons. "Trump Prison" - I can see it now. I wonder how it would feel to be locked up in your own prison?
26
This all doesn't matter because, if T. gets his way, the whole of the US will be one big prison.
22
Just wait for the inevitable prison break so more blame can be falsely attributed to <whoever>. We will then hear how only a civilian population armed to the teeth can ever be safe, and that the NRA wants, no, demands guard towers on every non-white block.
Isn't it so wonderful the GOP is guilty of nothing, yet reading the Bible tells them they very much are? Exactly like, oh, say... Stormy Daniels. Must give them fits whenever the odd word sinks in.
8
How can this administration allow this to happen? Just guessing...they don’t care because It’s Not in Their Backyard....or maybe our president isn’t really joking when he declares his admiration for dictators. After all, NK executes drug dealers. Problem solved. If America just didn’t have these pesky Human Rights laws and traditions getting in the way of Extreme Law and Order......
9
More effect of the "empowerment" and direct actions from the Trump administration. This will get worse in every domain he and his minions can influence. Please vote.
16
How about automation, keep them in their cells most of the time, have robots bring their meals and perhaps control them when they get exercise or showers.
1
Your comment is Either a brilliant stab at irony or an exhibition of incredible ignorance. I offer you either Congratulations or condemnation as applies ..
10
I wonder if cutting federal prison staff is somehow tied to the private prison system. Do private prisons have the same severe staffing shortages? Is federal prison spending pitted against federal spending for private prisons? Will the violent events that will inevitably occur from this severe federal prison under-staffing be used as an argument to move more prison populations into the private prisons systems?
6
Suspect the administration will not increase funding for federal prison staff and turn everything over to the private sector - never underestimate the opportunity to make money.
21
No surprise, this news. Isn't the current WH resident the same who thinks it would be a great idea to arm teachers in schools? You see, this practice, of impressment of teachers in prison situations, is a cheap way to get the needed training for their day jobs in our schools, with our children.
18
Instead of sending National Guard troops to the border, maybe they should help out in the prisons.
24
"The practice...came under criticism during the Obama administration..." So, the shortage of qualified staff in the prison system is another legacy of the Great One. But, hey, let's not let the facks get in the way of a rousingly good trashing of Trump.
3
The practice is not new; it has increased manifold. Read more than a few sentences of an article. Don’t scan for the word Obama.
1
Funding for hiring in the BOP was reduced during Obama's tenure because Congress refused to adequately support the agency. Who was in control of Congress during that time? Hmmmm. This was exacerbated by the hiring freeze. So you and your GOPpers hold the bag for this, yes. Also, it is spelled facts.
5
IT'S NOT MY FAULT ought to be stitched across every red hat at every Trump rally. The same people who cheer Trump for the unemployment numbers and the DJIA that be inherited, and for which he can claim no credit, will blame Obama because the kids Trump is locking up were born during the Obama years.
2
Are schools prisons? They are forcing the same policy for schools. No wonder.
6
Just think of all the corrections officers who could be hired by the money given via tax cuts to the 1% and corporations. On Election Day, please remember what the Republican Party did to you.
20
Our govt cut prison staff here in the UK - we’ve now had riots, strikes by staff, staff leaving en masse because of unsafe prisons, violence by prisoners against jailers and other prisoners, rampant drug use etc etc. It’s not an advisable pathway to take.
Re: Teachers. So, arming them, making them prison guards - are they going to man the armed forces next?
17
My thoughts are with the worker mentioned in this article who thinks that it is not safe but voted for Trump. This is what you voted for. Now you reap what you sow.
47
This newspaper has not written a single article about correction officers in the past 100 years unless it accuses the whole lot of them of mistreating prisoners. Now they are bemoaning the substitution of correction officers by others. Unbelievable!!!
5
I am also in the camp of legalizing drugs and reduce the prison population. The war on drugs is a failure in one sense but it does enrich a lot of folks on the other end.
8
This is shameful. The US makes up less than 4.5% of the world's population, but we have 22% of all people in prison. That says it all. I used to be proud to be called an American. Now, not so much. This has to change; one way or another.
6
So since other countries allow criminals to stay in their populations you think we should as well???
2
This idea must have come from the NRA; after all their plan is to give guns to teachers. What synergy!
IMMORAL AND DISGUSTING.
8
If you are a teacher or a secretary, and you are "guarding" inmates, you need to quit. Today.
30
Wait a minute. NYT preaches CONSTANTLY that all prison inmates, particularly those of color, are in fact gentle, fragile, sensitive TRUE victims of an evil racist system, and that the people they have shot, bludgeoned to death etc are actually the real useless villains in society. So, if that's the case, as NYT swears it is, why do we even need prison guards? Why not employ retired kindergarden teachers, and only on a part time basis, because those gentle sensitive emotionally wounded murderers are no danger to anyone, right?
6
I have been reading The Times for more than 50 years and I don't remember articles calling all prison inmates delicate flowers. I have seen articles about mistreatment of inmates but I have also seen articles about mistreatment BY inmates. Your comment is snarky and not particularly helpful to any rational discussion. But, hey, if you feel better with your alternate facts. go for it, me. Matter of fact, apply for the job -- it should be easy for you.
21
Your response is nonsense and is an insult to those who put their lives on the line trying to manage a difficult situation caused by uninformed and unitelligent people running our government. This has nothing to do with the NYT's position on prisons and all to do with an administration that is inept and incompetent.
12
This is a recipe for disaster. I had a coworker pursue a nursing position in one of the prisons mentioned here. She mainly stayed in the infirmary but occasionally would need to enter the prisoners’ area to provide treatment. She was always accompanied by a guard. She was never expected to substitute for a guard. She was a strong assertive woman but even she felt intimidated at times. She lasted less than six months before she came back to her old job. That was about 20 years ago.
What will it take before this administration adequately staffs prisons with properly trained and equipped corrections officers? The justice department can not continue to simultaneously cutback on staffing and eliminate guard positions while increasing the inmate capacities of prisons. I hope it will not take the death of a nurse, teacher, social worker, or other underprepared staff member before action is taken.
17
Thank you NYT reporters for shining light on all the darkness we're descending into. 'Knowledge is power'! Hoping us citizens use our power to right this Titantic before we all go under. Its all so depressing, if the Times and similarly outraged comments weren't available, I think I'd go mad with distress.
15
Prison safety should be a major concern and isn't. Please follow the money. More state and federal funding for prisons than ever before: whats different? Corporate ownership of prisons run like profit centers where staff and inmates fall behind the salaries and profits of the prison owners.
23
I've just finished reading 'Strangers in Their Own Land', which focuses on what the good country folk think of taxes (should be minimal) and the government (ditto). But what would they say to this situation? Should the inmates be all released? Or should the prison officers work for free, and risk their own health and life while doing it?
I read that book to try to understand those on the right but guess what - I still don't.
22
Tey reading “What’s The Matter With Kansas,” by Thomas Frank. He addressed this inexplicable phenomenon years ago.
11
Sure you don't understand, you can't. Now I bet these prisoners have a too good life.
Legalize drugs... than they will only need half as many prison guards. Or we could bring in some military people, since we're spending 700 billion on them.
35
I couldn't agree more. Cut the outrageous budget for the military. Do we REALLY need another aircraft carrier? No.
12
But we are not getting "another" carrier, we are replacing one that we retired. There are only 10 of them.
Ah, yes. Republican limited government/tax cuts at work.
33
News flash: you get what you pay for. Americans balk at taxes, yet want concierge service in all that they do. This character flaw is being mined perniciously by those who seek to privatize everything.
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Exactly! I have friends and family who work for the government. They all want pay increases and tax cuts, and can't seem to understand the conflict in those positions. Every member of congress who adheres to the mantra of smaller government and lower taxes should be forced to put their money where their huge mouths are and give up some of their staff and benefits that come from...wait for it... tax revenue. Then to add insult to injury, they have the nerve to look down on people struggling to get by in the private sector, who actually have to produce and prove their worth to keep their jobs. The members of the house and senate never have to worry about a merger making their jobs obsolete or redundant.
15
The billionaires and multimillionaires just received a massive tax cut the money from which would have paid for a raise for your friends.
4
Not true! It’s the Uber rich who balk at taxes. They are running us all into the ground and stealing billions from the government. They make laws to reduce their taxes and blame it on the middle class!
You sir, are truly not interested in the truth.
10
No Ambassador to South Korea and not enough Correction Officers for federal prisons.
But we still need to cut the taxes of the super-rich and send children to concentration camps.
What has become of this country under Trump and the Republicans?!
41
Williams P. Flynn: Evidently, Trump merely released the hounds. Those mad dogs have been lurking in many of our homes all along, hoping someone came along that would leave the latches open on their cages.
10
What is wrong with the people running our government? Can’t disturb the delicate sensibilities of the plutocrats to make them pay their fair share in taxes so that we can have a functioning society.
30
You have answered your own question! Its really pretty obvious: the present administration is quite vocal in proclaiming its agenda to destabilize the government, make government 'smaller', 'drain the swamp' etc...
Russia is watching us cannibalize our institutions.
3
What an interesting occupation teaching has become. Arm them in schools to protect our children. Arm them in prisons to protect us from criminals. Somehow I don't think that's what they signed up for.
63
In true Canadian form, you're being much too diplomatic calling it "interesting".
Trump sees everything is a part-time job -- Jared is suppose to be curing all the domestic and international ails; Trump said being president wouldn't take much time, he could run his business too if they'd let him, meanwhile he spends more time on a golf course than in the Oval Office; now teachers double as prison guards (?!) Its a very bad movie that just doesn't end . . .
11
Jared has been busy setting up his families' business connections with North Korea and further enriching Asian billionaires.
We are paying the price on so many levels of society.
2
We need more unionized workers, and wake-up strikes. Also, those enormous tax cuts for the wealthy and hate the immigrant policies the Trumpists voted for? Talk about cutting off your noses to spite your faces. Taxes support critical infrastructure and federal and local jobs, and hey, guess what, immigrants with a path to citizenship (the millions of noncriminals) might be interested in a thankless jobs like being corrections officers. The swamp is everywhere now. Thanks, Republican voters!
40
Is this really what the deplorables wanted when they chose Donald Trump? A madman is running (ruining) the country as we speak. The swamp is growing bigger and bigger with each passing day.
Have the guards that were let go, been reassigned to guard duty at the detention camps? Odds are, these camps well continues to grow, and they'll probably not be used for children.
This country, with every passing day, is looking and feeling more and more like Germany in the thirties.
Walk up, people. Wake up soon.
54
Well, Trump did trumpet about loving the uneducated. It’s makes it easier to bamboozle your prospective marks if they’re ill informed.
I keep thinking it can’t get worse and then it does. I truly fear the trump camp has already taken measures to ensure a red wave in the mid-terms.
5
These are the results of the economic policies of the GOP taken since the swearing in of the Trump administration. Making America great again? For who?
17
We already know for who, the giddy GOP and their 1%-ers grinning all the way to the bank.
4
Funny how government cuts teachers, firemen, guards, and other federal workers when their budgets are cut, but NEVER reduce the size of administration. Guess it's the administrators that decide where cuts are made and THEY decide not to cut their own pay or hours, or themselves.
This is what government does - regardless of why cuts are made, they cut essential workers and leave the fat.
15
Tax cuts and shrinking government have consequences.
Consequences that in one way or another touch all of us. Whether in education, protecting abused or neglected children, protecting elderly and infirm residents of nursing homes, repairing roads and bridges, updating dated infrastructure, food safety etc, we are all affected.
Prison staff in Iowa have been cut and cut again due to the GOP agenda of shrinking 'wasteful government spending' and saving 'taxpayers' hard-earned dollars'. Safety of prison staff and inmates have been compromised.
24
The statistics of the dearth of prison guards in our countries prisons and the practice of "augmentation" is hard to fathom. I cannot imagine placing staff in harm's way with often dangerous prisoners without these staffers being armed, trained and authorized to use weapons. The prisoners did not get to be there because they were decent, law abiding citizens.
10
Normally uniformed guards are not armed. It's too dangerous for the guards and in general. It makes a weapon too available to the prisoners.
Weapons are kept secured and issued if and when needed. Some perimeter type guards would be regularly armed and ready.
9
As a recently retired corrections official from California, I was shocked by this article. I can tell you with certainty that California's entire system would have been placed under a state of emergency and all programs not legally mandated would be shut down with staffing shortages like this one.
The federal corrections workers who voted for Trump got bamboozled.
137
Everyone who voted for Trump got bamboozled.
14
No they are getting two helpings of just desserts.
4
Political donors want to invest in private prisons with fatcat lawyer approved, no-questions-asked, long term government contracts.
Some contracts require that we, the taxpayers, fill as many as 100% of their private prison beds — with African-Americans, with the mentally ill, with sex workers, undocumented workers, pregnant drug users, the developmentally disabled, —whoever is vulnerable and whose behavior is criminalizable. That could be you or somebody you love.
While contracting correctional services to responsible vendors and agencies is one thing, maintaining a “prison industrial complex” with no accountability is quite another. It’s hard for me to understand how unionized federal correctional officers like Ms. Chavez could possibly have told themselves Trump would serve them well, but I really do want to get it.
Once enough officers and inmates are injured, the Republican argument that the government can’t do anything right, even run a prison, will be “proven” once again. And more of my tax dollars will fill up some millionaire’s portfolio.
57
And, yet the FCC continues its ill conceived policy of refusing to allow correctional facilities to employ the technology necessary to block cell phone signals.
25
Thank you Brewster! It has never made sense to me. Why do prisons enable gangs to run their businesses from prison? And how do the drugs, cell phones, and other paraphernalia get into the prisons?
7
That was my first thought too, but I wonder if the prohibition exists because it would also mean legitimate mobile phone calls by prison personnel - say for an ambulance - would also be blocked?
4
Brewster Millions: Don't block them. Any phone not belonging to an official gets monitored 24/7, all communications recorded - that doesn't take much money to implement. Officials phones subject to spot monitoring, too - to quell corruption.
2
More evidence of the inconsistency and thoughtlessness of the Trump administration's policies. First, do everything you can to put more people in jail. Then, reduce funding for guards. You can't have it both ways, but Trump thinks he can do whatever he wants. His policies are dangerous.
72
Both the inmates and our neighbors who are -what- caring, capable or, as some say, "crazy" enough to provide these services to our communities are getting what we're willing to pay for. Places that ultimately stretch the concept of what civil society is and how laws are enforced.
Trump and company cut funding because these problems are limited to out-of-the way communities that most of us pay little attention to, and hidden behind real walls. This article brings the light of day to a problem that's becoming unmanageable. It proves that two people can make a difference - if the rest of us do our part.
20
An unintended consequence of "drain the swamp" rhetoric? People hear "government bureaucrats" but don't think "federal prison guards."
37
Excellent remarks. But does the typical citizen really care? If this article were about a celebrity scandal or the "taking" of an animal specimen for a museum or detained immigrant children, you can bet there would be many reader comments. I am writing the second comment at 8:20 AM EST. Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and deserves to be safe . Shame on us as a country that we care so little for those we imprison.
24
The only person in this story I feel little compassion for is the Trump voter, but even she shouldn’t lose her life over her poor voting decisions.
3
Another example of the schizophrenic Trump administration policies - lock up more people and provide fewer staff to guard them. Thus continues the worsening of America’s prison situation - supermax cages run by the inmates.
32
The personnel shortages, unfortunately, cannot be avoided. Tax cuts for the rich is, was, and always will be a Republican Party priority. Wake up, America!
78
This is Republicans cutting taxes to save money. How can teachers and secretaries be forced to work in dangerous situations? Cutting government to pay for Trump and family trips to FL - often not together, to pay for dining room suites for Ben Carson, for furniture and security for Pruitt. The economy is growing - ie the stockmarket and corporate wealth and meanwhile the average American is becoming forced labor - just like Trump’s favorite countries - Russia and N Korea. Good job Trymp’s base.
41
Correction: this isn’t cutting taxes to save money. This is cutting spending to give tax breaks to billionaires and multinational corporations.
39
It also sounds like what happens when workers in job sets that can have serious environmental or other work conditions negatives are not protected by unions. Teachers and secretaries forced to guard inmates? If that doesn't sound dangerously ridiculous to anyone hearing it, then the problem is deeper than just this particular circumstance.
Sounds like the American oligarchy is trying to bring a quasi-slavery to the USA. Keep people desperate enough to want to keep their jobs that you can make them do a whole lot of things not in their best interests - and pay them less money for doing more, too.
24
Methinks that the current administration in Washington "don't care".
36
It's time for American workers to start pushing back. We are going backwards in terms of labor laws, workers rights, and livable wages. People are routinely exploited because they are more afraid of losing a.paycheck then their lives. The teachers realized they would get nothing until they went on strike and forced the issue.
About 10 years ago my mother insisted I take the test to become a corrections officer in New York. I passed the test, but could not bring myself to complete the process. All she could see was a steady paycheck and benefits. I saw a dangerous and depressing workplace. The fact that I could be forced to do mandatory overtime no notice was really the deal-breaker.
100
Secretaries, teachers and nurses abandoning their duties to stand in for corrections officers? As absurd as it is horrific. Then again, in a world where wedding planners and golf caddies can get high government offices, it's not all that strange. C.O.s are peace officers, with police powers. Maybe we should enlist those secretaries to do regular police work? Not having to outfit them with a gun, vest and training would save millions!
90
I retired from the BOP four years ago. Throughout my career, I would occasionally be required to fill in for a correctional officer (my regular job was psychologist).
On an occasional basis, it was no big deal. I drove the perimeter truck (with weapons), staffed the front entrance or visiting room, and even served as an armed escort to take inmates to outside hospitals. During lockdowns in particular, I’d be assigned to a housing unit, or to a shakedown crew to look for contraband.
Again, this was occasional. It was starting to become more often near the end of my career, and not for emergencies. To paraphrase the old saying, lack of staffing on your part should not be considered an emergency on mine! Now, I hear it happens all the time. How does anyone get any work done?
30
Methinks it's bad enough that teachers have to serve as guards in too many school classrooms ...
6
Jeff Sessions was corporate help to juice up his stock portfolio.
9
"60 Minutes" did an excellent exposé this week on how Republicans in Congress have given the drug lords at Big Pharma a carte blanche to peddle opioids. But how cares? No one evidently.
12
If we weren’t spending so much for concentration camps to house innocent brown people and their separated children in Texas, there would be more resources for prisons. If we weren’t persecuting black and brown people by sending them off to prison for ridiculously minor offenses, there would be enough money to guard real offenders. If we didn’t offload prisoners into private facilities that need to make large profits for their owners, we would have enough for federal corrections officers. If we spent more money on rehabilitation, as Europeans do, we could spend less on incarceration.
Enough said.
186
Pretty sure the article talked about gang members and sex offenders; doubt most in prison are the innocents you imply.
3
Those are a lot of ifs
Given the significant potential for Trump administration officials to be going to jail rather than administering jails. You would think that they would see that properly staffing and training prison personnel is in their own interest. This administration, starting right at the top, is very, very good at taking care of themselves on the public's dime. Maybe they just haven't calculated this one yet?
70
Methinks that they are incapable of calculating anything ...
6
Robert: At some point, judges will start taking into consideration the horrendous overcrowding of our prisons and give white collar criminals light or even suspended sentences. So, perhaps Trump administration officials actually are looking ahead...
12
This is a feature, not a bug.
As a public school teacher, I recognize the pattern: underfund and overwork tax-funded employees so that private contractors appear more functional. Until they don't.
After some pressure under the Obama administration to clean up their act, private prisons (profitable and even more dangerous) are back in vogue.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/crime/private-prisons-sessions-yates-g...
69
This is wrong on so many levels. The support staff is exactly that. Their job is to gain the trust and confidence of the inmates so they can work together toward improving the inmates' lives and, one would hope, to prevent crimes in the future. Custody staff are a whole different animal. Their job is to manage and control. You can't have support doing custody work.
This will end badly.
I predict Trump will blame Obama when it does. A madman is running this country into the ground.
51
I don't think that many federal prisoners are going to be encouraged to not commit crimes in the future due to trust and confidence. I don't want such being guards because they are not trained or competent to do that.
2
This is so scary! What country is this anyway? Is this really where the current administration wants cutbacks? What on earth are they thinking? Between the lack of safety of those working in the prisons, to the lack of rehabilitation of those incarcerated, this is a horrible accident waiting to happen.
24
What we're starting to see here in the US is a system not unlike what now pervades in penal systems in much of South America, specifically, the inmates govern the prison and make their own rules. It is also, tragically, yet another indication that this country, under Trump, is in back pedaling mode, literally abandoning its status as an advanced industrial liberal democracy.
45
"Smaller" government is an empty meme. It doesn't mean efficient, or optimized, or even logical. It means cheap by false economy, incompetent, frustrating, and vandalized by ideologues and saboteurs who hate the idea that it can and ought to work in the first place. We'll see bloodshed because of this idiocy.
48