Washington, D.C. (May 7, 2025)—Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight, and Rep. Lucy McBath, Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, led Committee Democrats in examining how the Trump Administration’s policies and Republicans’ failure to invest sufficiently in the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) are exacerbating long-standing challenges affecting the BOP workforce and inmates, like a staffing shortage and decades of underfunding.
The hearing included testimony from: Kandia Milton, Government Affairs Director of Dream.Org; Cody Wilde, Senior Vice President of Correctional Programs of Prison Fellowship; Patrick Purtill, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Unify.US; and Andy Potter, Founder and Executive Director of One Voice United.
While Republicans claim to care about prison reform, the Trump Administration’s slashing of federal funding, termination of public safety and criminal justice grants, and attacks on federal workers say otherwise. These actions worsen prison conditions for both inmates and correctional staff.
- Rep. Hank Johnson said: “President Trump fired the former Bureau of Prisons Director on inauguration day, and a third of the BOP’s senior leadership quit. In its misguided efforts to chase efficiency, the Trump Administration ended a long-running incentive pay plan, cutting officers’ and other employees’ pay by 25%—which will only worsen the existing staff shortages. But it’s not just human infrastructure that’s in disrepair—it’s also the physical infrastructure, which has been a problem for years.”
- Ranking Member Raskin asked: “Retention incentives are being cut right now for Bureau of Prisons staff, up to 25%, effectively reducing their salaries when you look at it from an annual perspective. What kind of effect is this having on Bureau of Prisons Correction officers?” Mr. Milton replied: “Correction officers tend to be among the lowest paid, and when those incentives were removed, it disincentivized a number of correction officers and certainly it has an impact on morale.”
- Ranking Member Crockett said: “It’s a bit of hypocrisy to say that you want to protect victims of rape and sexual assault and then allow Trump to gut funding for the Prison Rape Elimination Act Resource Center, a center that trains prison sexual assault auditors, tracks the results of the Prison Rape Elimination Act investigations, and provides resources to imprisoned sexual abuse survivors.”
- Ranking Member Raskin asked: “The President has told us recently that the border has never been safer. Can you think of any reason why we should be spending hundreds of millions of dollars on bonus pay for ICE employees while we’re reducing retention bonuses and incentive pay for Bureau of Prison employees?” Mr. Milton explained, “No […] It makes it a challenge… Removing those bonuses can speak to a lack of willingness to invest in people.”
Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has faced significant and longstanding challenges across administrations—including being vastly under-staffed and under-funded—that Congress should address.
- Rep. Dan Goldman said: “The [reconciliation] bill Republicans passed last week would give [nearly] $12 billion in pay increases and bonuses to ICE and CBP and nothing to the Bureau of Prisons. […] If they’re really interested in correcting the Bureau of Prisons and all the problems that we have there, then put some money [there], because we all know that’s how you correct the problem. That’s how you implement the First Step Act. That’s how you implement and fund the Federal Prison Oversight Act, a bipartisan bill that we passed last Congress that has not been funded and can’t do anything.”
- In response to a question from Ranking Member McBath, every witness agreed that the First Step Act and the Federal Prison Oversight Act are steps in the right direction. Ranking Member McBath concluded: “We’re hearing from every witness here, whether invited by the Republicans or the Democrats, all of you are calling on us to get BOP the funding that it needs, fully implement the First Step Act and fund the Federal Prison Oversight Act, and I thank you for that.”
