A federal government shutdown severely impacts the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), which is already struggling with significant understaffing. The shutdown forces correctional officers to work without pay, jeopardizing morale and risking staff attrition, with no guarantee of back pay. This exacerbates shortages of officers and medical professionals, leading to reduced essential services like healthcare, rehabilitation, and education programs, and increasing the risk of violence. It also causes delays in family visits, compassionate releases, transfers, and the processing of inmate releases. The shutdown threatens to derail BOP's reform efforts, including the First Step Act's earned-time credits and rehabilitative programming, and jeopardizes home confinement, halfway house transfers, and community reentry support, ultimately harming public safety and progress toward a more just corrections system.
Read more: https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2025/10/protecting-federal-prisons-shutdown-benefits-all-us/408728/
