“Systemwide, the BOP was operating at 37 percent over its total rated
capacity” as of July 2, the bureau’s director, Harley G. Lappin, told
the House Judiciary subcommittee on crime, terrorism and homeland
security. But high-security facilities, where the most violent
offenders are kept, are 50 percent over capacity.
Medium-security pens are almost as crowded. In about 20 percent of
those facilities, cells are triple-bunked, “and in many institutions,
inmates are being housed in space that was not designed for inmate
housing,” Lappin said.
As overcrowding increases, so do assaults. Inmate-on-staff violence rose 6 percent and inmate-on-inmate violence jumped 16 percent in fiscal 2006, compared with the previous year, Glover said, citing BOP statistics. In addition to being the legislative coordinator for the union’s Council of Prison Locals, he is a correctional officer in Loretto, Pa.
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