Report on prison deaths finds widespread missteps, failures in latest sign of crisis in federal prisons

WASHINGTON: A watchdog report released Thursday found that the same systemic failures that led to the high-profile prison deaths of notorious gangster Whitey Bulger and financier Jeffrey Epstein have also contributed to the deaths of hundreds of other federal prisoners over the past few years. has contributed.

Mental health care, emergency responses and detection of contraband drugs and weapons are lacking, according to the latest scathing report, raising concerns about the chronically understaffed, beleaguered Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The agency said it had already taken “substantial steps” toward reducing preventable deaths, although it acknowledged that improvements were needed, including mental health care evaluations.

The Justice Department surveillance report, which arose partly because of those high-profile deaths, examined 344 deaths over the course of eight years. Investigators found policy violations and operational failures in many of those cases.

In 187 suicide cases, they found inmates who had inaccurate mental health assessments and others were housed in the same cell, increasing the risk of suicide.

Staff also failed to adequately screen inmates in a third of the suicide cases, which investigators also found contributed to Epstein’s 2019 suicide as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. In that case, officials have said the guard was sleeping and shopping online instead of checking on him every 30 minutes as required. The prison also failed to search his cell and never recommended he be assigned a cellmate, factors echoed in other cases.

The report examined deaths from 2014 to 2021 and found that the number was rising despite a decline in the number of prisoners in recent years. The report said that in many cases, prison officials could not produce documents required under their policies.

The investigators focused on potentially preventable deaths rather than those who died while receiving health care in prison.

The second-highest number of deaths documented in the report were murders, including Bulger, who was beaten to death by fellow inmates in 2018. Investigators found “significant shortcomings” in staff emergency responses in more than half of the death cases, including a lack of urgency, hesitance to use the opioid-overdose drug naloxone and equipment problems. In one instance, an inmate died when a health care worker accidentally turned off the defibrillator instead of delivering an electric charge.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz said contraband drugs and weapons also contributed to a third of the deaths, including 70 inmates who died of drug overdoses. The report found that in one case, an inmate managed to hoard more than 1,000 pills in a cell despite multiple searches, including one the day before his death.

The report said the system faced major operational challenges, including outdated camera systems and extensive staffing storage, which turned overworked staff into “walking zombies”, some of whom Are required to work 16-hour days. The report found that one prison went without a full-time staff physician for more than a year, and that a lack of clinical staff at many other prisons made it difficult to assess inmates’ mental health and suicide risk.

Horowitz said, “Today’s report identifies numerous operational and managerial shortcomings that created unsafe conditions before and at the time of the deaths of many prisoners.” “It is critical that BOP address these challenges so it can operate safe and humane facilities and protect the inmates in its custody and care.”

The Bureau of Prisons said, “Any unexpected death of an adult in custody is tragic,” and outlined steps it has taken to prevent suicides, investigate trafficking and make opioid-overdose reversal medications available in prisons. The agency said it is also working to reduce the number of people living alone and prevent conflicts that could lead to killings.

An ongoing investigation by The Associated Press has revealed deep, previously unreported problems within the Bureau of Prisons, including rampant sexual abuse and other employee criminal conduct, dozens of escapes, chronic violence, deaths and severe staff shortages , which has hindered response to emergencies, including prisoner attacks. And suicides.

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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – The Associated Press)