Prison Expansion: Staffing New Facilities Will Be a Challenge for BOP

• NCJ Number: 138744
• Author(s): R Stana; L R Watson; D Page; M B Hall; C M Arends; B J Seltser; F Fulton; C Teddleton
• Date Published: 1992
• Length: 37 pages
• Corporate Author: US Government Accountability Office
• Sale Source: Azimuth Inc.
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) plans to open 47 new facilities and expand 16 existing facilities between 1992 and 1995 to accommodate projected increases in its inmate population from 60,000 in January 1991 to more than 98,800 by 1995.

Abstract

The expansion will require BOP to recruit a large number of staff to operate new and existing facilities, while maintaining desired inmate-to-staff ratios. BOP's staffing levels almost doubled from about 12,000 to 22,000 between fiscal years 1986 and 1991 and are expected to almost double again from 22,000 to about 40,000 between fiscal years 1992 and 1995. About 900, or 6 percent, of the 16,000 new positions are expected to be for managers. BOP has been generally successful in meeting its overall recruitment goals and staffing the seven facilities it opened in 1990 and 1991. Early success notwithstanding, BOP faces a major challenge to recruit almost 16,000 new employees between 1992 and 1995. Inadequate staffing may result in compromising prison security and increasing overtime costs dramatically. To be better prepared to target recruitment efforts, BOP should take certain actions now to improve its information systems for managing human resources. A forecasting model has been developed to determine whether BOP will have a sufficient number of eligible internal staff to fill its anticipated needs. The analysis indicates that BOP may have difficulty filling its department head positions from 1992 through 1995 and that BOP's management planning efforts have not included identifying eligible internal staff who might fill these positions. BOP plans to fill certain technical positions by encouraging current employees to develop the career plans and skills needed to qualify for these positions. BOP recently began to offer new training courses, but it is too soon to tell whether these courses will provide future BOP managers with the necessary skills. BOP needs to continue monitoring the effects of increasing promotion rates and to assess training plans. Supplemental information on BOP staffing needs is appended. 4 tables