Tell Congress to Investigate the Closure of Three Texas Federal Prisons

The Bureau of Prisons has announced the permanent closure of Big Spring FCI, La Tuna FCI, and Beaumont Low.

These aren't routine closures. They are the result of years of deferred maintenance, chronic understaffing, poor planning, and failed leadership at BOP Central Office.

Now employees, their families, local communities, inmates, and taxpayers are paying the price.

Correctional employees didn't create this crisis.

They didn't ignore failing infrastructure.

They didn't make funding decisions.

They didn't allow staffing shortages to become the new normal.

They came to work.

They worked mandatory overtime.

They were augmented into custody posts to keep these institutions running.

They missed birthdays, holidays, and time with their families to keep these institutions operating.

Now many of those same employees are being told they can keep their careers, but only if they pay out of their own pockets to move themselves and their families. For many employees, that simply isn't financially possible.

The impact doesn't stop at the prison fence.

Federal prisons are often among the largest employers in their communities. Local businesses, schools, churches, contractors, medical providers, and countless families depend on these institutions. When a federal prison closes, the effects ripple throughout the entire community.

Congress should be asking one simple question.

Why are three low security institutions closing after Congress appropriated nearly $5 billion to the Bureau of Prisons?

That question leads to several more.

All three institutions primarily house low security inmates. These facilities carry much of the Bureau's reentry mission through education, vocational training, RDAP, work assignments, and other programs designed to prepare inmates for successful release.

If these institutions are closing:

• Where will those inmates go?
• Will they be transferred to private contract facilities?
• Will they receive the same reentry programming?
• If not, how does this improve public safety or reduce recidivism?

Director William K. Marshall III continues to reference the nearly $5 billion Congress appropriated to the Bureau of Prisons.

Employees are asking one simple question.

Where did the money go?

It didn't modernize these institutions.

It didn't eliminate years of deferred maintenance.

It didn't solve the staffing crisis.

It didn't reduce mandatory overtime.

Instead, we're watching federal prisons close.

We're watching federal jobs disappear.

We're watching years of neglect become the excuse for dismantling proven reentry programming.

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