WITHIN-GRADE PROMOTIONS AND RETIREMENT FUND CONTRIBUTIONS Mr. ROONEY. Of the requested $162,000 additional, Mr. Matchett, $83,180 is uncontrollable in the sense that these are amounts fixed by statute for within-in grade promotions and retirement fund deductions. Is that correct? Mr. MATCHETT. Yes, sir. Mr. ROONEY. To make our work easy, we are concerned with the difference between $83,180 and $162,000; correct? Mr. MATCHETT. Yes, sir. Mr. ROONEY. Thank you, Mr. Matchett, Mr. Reilly, and Mr. Modlin. AFTERNOON SESSION FEDERAL PRISON SYSTEM WITNESSES JAMES V. BENNETT, DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF PRISONS FRED T. WILKINSON, ASSOCIATE COMMISSIONER, FEDERAL PRISON INDUSTRIES, INC. JULE SUGARMAN, BUDGET OFFICER S. A. ANDRETTA, ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL Mr. ROONEY. The Committee will please come to order. The next requested appropriation for the consideration of the Committee is that for the Federal Prison System. This may be found in the committee print beginning at page 116 and under table 27 of the justifications. SUMMARY OF REQUIREMENTS We shall at this point insert in the record pages 27-1 and 27-2, which is an overall summary of the three items that make up the request for the Federal Prison System. (The pages follow :) DIGEST 1962 ESTIMATES The Bureau of Prisons was created by the Act of May 13, 1930. The Director of the Bureau of Prisons is responsible for the maintenance and operation of all Federal penal and correctional institutions, the construction of new prisons and facilities, and for the management and confinement of all Federal prisoners. Funds are requested for the activities of the Federal Prison System under three separate appropriations: Salaries and expenses, Bureau of Prisons, $46,550,000 The funds in this appropriation are needed to operate the institutions of the Federal Prison System. The requested net increase totals $1,605,000 and is for a greater workload due to higher prisoner population, maintenance of average employment, and a 1 cent "Care" increase. Buildings and facilities, Federal Prison System, $2,350,000 The amount requested under this appropriation will provide funds for advance planning for an additional medical facility, construction of additions to the physical plant of several institutions, and a reduction in the large backlog of repair and improvement needs at various institutions. Support of U.S. prisoners, Federal Prison System, $3,300,000 This amount is required for the care of prisoners, boarded in non-Federal institutions, who are awaiting trial or serving short sentences. DECREASE REQUESTED FOR 1962 Mr. ROONEY. The total request for the three items is $52,200,000, which is a decrease of $3,820,000 below the amount appropriated to date for the current fiscal year and a decrease of $5,720,000 when anticipated Pay Act Supplementals are taken into consideration. However, this does not take into consideration, first, the fact that requests are being prepared in the amount of $618,000 under salaries and expenses, Bureau of Prisons, for demonstration release guidance centers, demonstration vocational training programs, demonstration counselling programs, demonstration correctional education programs, training manuals and institutes for correctional personnel, and a comprehensive statistical program; two, nonrecurring item of $8,875,000 appropriated to complete the maximum security institution at Marion, Ill. Do you have a general statement, Mr. Bennett? GENERAL STATEMENT Mr. BENNETT. Yes, Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I have a general statement. The budget of the Bureau of Prisons for 1962 totals $52,818,000 in all appropriations. This is $5,102,000 less than the total in all accounts for the year 1961. The largest appropriation is for regular operating expenses and salaries of the Bureau of Prisons which, for the next year, is estimated at $46,550,000. Since this budget was submitted an amendment has been forwarded totaling $618,000. With your permission I would like to discuss the schedule of items in the order in which they appear in the budget document before you. INCREASE IN AVERAGE PRISON POPULATION General: For the 11th consecutive year the average population of the Federal penal and correctional institution showed a marked in crease. On February 1 of this year the total prisoner population numbered 23,362 or an increase of 798 over the total of 22,564 on the same date in 1960. The average prisoner population for this fiscal year of 1961 so far is 23,091 as contrasted to an average of 22,114 for the same period for the previous fiscal year. All indications point to a steady growth with average population of 24,000 during 1962 which is the basis of our present estimates. We have met this rise in prisoner population by filling to approximate capacity 2 institutions at Lompoc, Calif., and Sandstone, Minn., both of which were opened in the late summer of 1959. Incidentally our population increase has exceeded our budget estimates for 1961 and we therefore were obligated to request a supplemental appropriation of $115,000. Because of these population increases and because we are anxious to improve somewhat our parole and record-keeping system, our regular budget includes an increase of $1,709,000 over the 1961 base. To reach a judgment on this increase I think you should take into account the changing nature of our prisoner intake, the additional responsibilities that have been placed upon us by the sentencing statutes and also the upward trend in the cost of fuel, utilities, supplies and equip ment. INCREASED LENGTH OF SENTENCE We are dealing in the Federal Prison Bureau with a continually more difficult group of prisoners. This is shown by the fact that the average sentence of all prisoners has increased in the past 5 years from approximately 25 months to 32 months. The number of long-sentence drug act violators, bank robbers and racketeers has grown steadily while violators of the immigration and liquor laws have remained substantially the same until recent months. These longer term prisoners require of course closer supervision, more detailed and more careful development of information concerning them and greater care in their classification and determination of where and under what circumstances their term shall be served. The courts have also been calling upon us more frequently to observe and make recommendations to them on cases where some abnormality has been noted by the trial court. The increasing number of mental defectives, homosexuals, compulsive alcoholics and so on that are being brought into Federal court has taxed our facilities to the maximum. I will discuss this further later on in connection with our request for funds to finance the planning of a new psyschiatric hospital. We are requesting only a 1 cent increase in our per capita cost of feeding, clothing, and maintaining a prisoner, this increase due to the upward trend in the commodity index. INCREASING NUMBER OF YOUTHFUL OFFENDERS Of significance to the committee and to us has been the increasing number of juvenile delinquents and the youthful offenders being committed to Federal institutions. We now have approximately 5,000 youth offenders and juvenile delinquents in our institutions. The overwhelming number of these are youngsters who have transported a stolen car in interstate commerce. A few have been sentenced to us for a variety of other offenses such as check forgery, assault, drug addiction, and violation of the selective service statutes. Also, we are still receiving a few military offenders. Since these young offenders offer the greatest hope for redemption and readjustment in the community we are concentrating our efforts and funds on them. The courts are using in an ever-increasing number of cases (threefold increase over 1955) the youth offender statute which permits the judge to pronounce an indeterminate sentence on such individuals and leaves to the executive branch the determination of when they have been sufficiently improved to justify their release. On the whole we think this statute has worked excellently but there are yet many improvements in our program for this group of offenders that we would like to undertake. ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL REQUESTED Personnel increases: We are requesting 50 additional custodial officers to take care of the additional prisoners we anticipate will be committed during the next fiscal year. The ratio of custodial officers to prisoners has steadily declined during the last 5 years. Five years ago we had 1 officer for each 35 prisoners, now we have 1 officer for each 45 prisoners and this despite the fact, as I pointed out, the character of our prisoner population is, generally speaking, more serious and difficult. I am happy to say that our officers have borne this increased workload and the hazards involved without complaint. Also I am pleased to report that during the past year there have been no disturbances or demonstrations that reached serious proportions. We have, however, had a number of minor incidents largely due to the influx of aggressive and race-conscious groups, including a considerable number of so-called Muslims. The requested increase in our custodial force of 50 officers is estimated to cost $265,000. The other large increase in our personnel is for 34 classification and parole officers and 32 record clerks. In addition we are seeking $145,000 to maintain our average employment and $169,000 to take care of wage board increases for our so-called blue collar workers. That, gentlemen, summarizes generally our budget needs for our salaries and expenses appropriation. BUILDINGS AND FACILITIES Our request for buildings and facilities this year is limited to some additions to our present institutional plant and to an item of $550,000 to finance the planning of a new psychiatric hospital. The budget does not include any funds for beginning the construction of any of the new institutions that we have heretofore suggested in our long range building program. The new buildings we are requesting are for an addition to our reformatory at Petersburg, Va.; a chapel at the McNeil Island penitentiary; a facility to take care of the growing number of women offenders we are receiving on the west coast; some additional staff housing at Sandstone, Minn.; and for repairs and structural underpinnings of the main cellblock at Alcatraz. In addition, we are requesting the usual $1 million the committee has heretofore allowed for repairs and maintenance of our approximately $2 hundred million worth of buildings. I will explain these in more detail when we come to this item in the budget. I will complete my general statement by saying that the contract for the new institution at Marion, Ill., has been let and construction is proceeding. Site grading and extension of utilities has already been accomplished. It is estimated that approximately 23 months will be required to complete this institution. It was necessary to advertise this project twice in order to obtain a satisfactory bid. The general contractor on the main group of buildings is Blount Brothers Construction Co. of Montgomery, Ala., and the specialized prison equipment contract was awarded to the Stewart Iron Works of Cincinnati, Ohio. SUPPORT OF U.S. PRISONERS The appropriation for boarding U.S. prisoners in local and State institutions is $3,300,000, which is the same amount as was allowed this year. If the supplemental appropriation requested is approved. This is an uncontrollable item and any funds not spent for contract services are returned to the Treasury. FEDERAL PRISON INDUSTRIES At the completion of 7 months of the current fiscal year we are pleased that inmate employment has continued to rise with job assignments of 5,711, and average daily number employed of 4,856. Sales for the 7 months' period were $19,533,604, up $3,504,833 over the same period last year. Industrial profit is up $898,115 and net earnings at $772,422. While we have many rough spots and are facing a number of current problems, we hope to sustain this pace. The amount requested for general administration of the corporation is $544,000 and for vocational training $1,308,000. This is an increase of $96,000 over that allowed for this year. The principal amount of this increase is to cover some pay increases and a few program changes which I will explain in more detail. PRISON POPULATION Mr. BENNETT. As you have indicated, the general outlines of our budget request are as there set forth, and I need not repeat them. However, let me say that for the 11th successive year the population of the Federal prison institutions has shown an upward and considerably marked increase. Our total prison population this year on February 1 was 23,362, which is an increase of 789 over the same date in 1960. On averages, the average population for 1961 so far is 23,091 as contrasted with an average of 22,114 for the same period the previous year. Mr. Chairman, all indications point to a steady and continuing growth of this population. We are basing our estimates for 1962 on 24,000. We have met this increase in our population by activation of Lompoc, Calif., and Sandstone, Minn. Incidentally, as you will recall, the other day when I was before the subcommittee for the supplemental appropriation to take care of the additional increase this year of 400 people |