Is Biden overlooking Bureau of Prisons as reform target? – By Colleen Long and Michael Balsamo (AP News) / July 29 2021
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden took quick action after his inauguration to start shifting federal inmates out of privately run prisons, where complaints of abuses abound.
“It is just the beginning of my administration’s plan to address systemic problems in our criminal justice system,” Biden promised in January as he signed an executive order on the matter.
The administration also is expected to encourage reductions in bulging state and local prison populations by allowing the use coronavirus relief dollars to help reduce overcrowding.
But in both of these efforts, Biden is overlooking a prime — and, in some ways, easier — target for improving the conditions of incarcerated people: the federal Bureau of Prisons.