NCJ Number
166468
Journal
Corrections Today Volume: 58 Issue: 2 Dated: (April 1996) Pages: 110,112-113
Date Published
1996
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article describes how the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has addressed the dramatic growth in its inmate population.
Abstract
Due to a series of changes in sentencing laws, the Federal prison population has experienced unprecedented growth. In responding to this population pressure, the BOP has developed four avenues of attack. The first is the increased use of contract facilities, including community-based facilities. The remaining three focus on increasing the BOP's institutional capacity: expanding existing institutions, acquiring military and other facilities and converting them for prison use, and constructing new prisons. Although these methods have been used extensively, they have not provided enough space for the inmate population. The BOP has decreased the cost per bed in many of its new institutions by developing facilities with larger rated capacities. Also, the BOP has achieved a significant reduction in the per-bed cost of new low-security and medium-security facilities by increasing the amount of general inmate housing by 50 percent while increasing the administrative, support, and program spaces by a much smaller percentage. Other cost-reduction measures include developing correctional complexes and satellite minimum-security camps and reducing the amount of support space in institutions.