This week, the Bureau of Prisons announced cost-cutting measures, including the elimination of staff retention bonuses, which were created in 2021 to keep prisons operational. These decisions come as the Bureau of Prisons faces mounting pressure to reduce costs amid broader government efforts to find efficiency savings. According to Government Executive, roughly 23,000 Bureau of Prisons employees will see their retention pay significantly reduced or eliminated entirely, with some workers seeing their paychecks reduced by as much as 25%. The change is set to take effect on March 23, 2025. 

In response to this announcement, the Safer Prisons, Safer Communities campaign released the following statement:

The plan to eliminate staff retention bonuses in the Bureau of Prisons is completely out of step with what is needed to reduce understaffing and improve conditions in the federal prison system. Staff retention bonuses have helped fill significant federal prison staffing gaps, which have been at critical levels for years. Without these bonuses, federal prisons will be even further understaffed with deadly consequences for corrections officers and incarcerated people alike.  

Understaffed prisons lead to more violence, fewer educational and rehabilitative programs, fewer family visitation opportunities, delayed medical care, and more lockdowns for incarcerated people. The harms of understaffing are not confined to the prison walls, as the consequences of understaffed prisons add untold stress to the families of incarcerated people and correctional staff. Ultimately, these cuts will actually raise costs in the form of mandatory employee overtime, required travel to cover vacant shifts at understaffed prisons, and other emergency measures.

This problem is also not isolated to the federal system. Prisons across the country are plagued by dangerous understaffing and overcrowding, with the number of corrections officers employed in state prisons falling 20% over the past five years even as prison populations have been rising. We need to be adding more tools to our toolbox to fix the ongoing prison understaffing crisis – not taking them away.

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About Safer Prisons, Safer Communities

Founded in early 2024, the Safer Prisons, Safer Communities campaign is led by One Voice United, which represents the voices of correctional employees, and FAMM, which represents incarcerated people and their families.

Driven by the dire conditions inside our nation’s prisons, the campaign brings together seemingly unlikely allies to advocate for reforms that will improve the lives of corrections officers and incarcerated people alike, improve rehabilitation and reintegration opportunities, and enhance community safety.