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Bureau of Prisons: Written Policies on Lateral Transfers and Assessment of Temporary Assignments Needed

GAO-09-141 Published: Feb 25, 2009. Publicly Released: Feb 25, 2009.
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Highlights

The Department of Justice's Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is responsible for the custody and care of more than 202,000 federal offenders with approximately 35,000 employees, almost half of whom are correctional officers, dispersed across BOP's 114 correctional facilities in 6 regions. In response to a request, GAO identified whether BOP had policies and procedures and how it assessed the management of those policies and procedures for (1) employee-requested lateral transfers of BOP employees between correctional facilities and (2) day-to-day changes in correctional services or temporary assignments of BOP employees within a correctional facility. GAO reviewed available documentation on BOP's policies and procedures on lateral transfers and temporary assignments. GAO also interviewed officials from BOP's central and regional offices and seven facilities selected on the basis of the number of staff; at least one facility was selected from within each of BOP's six regions.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Justice The Attorney General should direct the Director of BOP to develop and implement specific policies and procedures for administering employee requests for lateral transfers, including the collection of data on such requests and their outcomes and the development of a system of oversight to ensure the consistent treatment of BOP staff.
Closed – Implemented
As a result of our recommendation, in June 2009, BOP implemented a policy that all vacancies must be posted on USAJobs and that permanent reassignments are to occur via application through USAJobs, which would provide staff interested in a lateral transfer the opportunity to apply. Vacancies filled through this process are subject to reviews by BOP's Division of Program Review.
Department of Justice The Attorney General should direct the Director of BOP to systematically assess temporary assignments to ensure that BOP is meeting the objectives of the mission critical post initiative and effectively and efficiently using resources.
Closed – Implemented
As a result of GAO's review, the Bureau conducted a systematic assessment of Correctional Services' mission critical post use at field locations. The assessment covered calendar year 2009 and concluded that the Bureau was using its resources effectively and efficiently. In December 2010, the Bureau outlined its revised program review guidelines for Correctional Services to continue the systematic assessment of mission critical posts.

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Topics

Correctional facilitiesCorrectional personnelDetention facilitiesDocumentationEmployee transfersEmployeesFacility managementFacility securityFacility transferFederal facilitiesGovernment employeesInternal controlsMission essential operationsPersonnel managementPrisonersStaff utilizationStandardsTemporary employmentPolicies and procedures