Appropriations subcommittee grills BOP on staffing shortfalls as incentives are cut

Chairman Rogers, Chair of the House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Activities Subcommittee, and Ranking Member Meng heard testimony from Associate Deputy Director Kathleen Toomey on the Bureau of Prisons' staffing and pay strategies during an oversight hearing.

The Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has "over 153,000 Federal offenders in our custody," Toomey said, and told the subcommittee the agency has "more than 4,000 vacant positions" across its workforce. Toomey also said BOP's authorized corrections officer (CO) staffing is 20,446 and that onboard COs are roughly 15,992, leaving an estimated shortfall of about 3,000 officers from the authorized level.

Why it matters: Members said shortages threaten safety and the bureau's ability to deliver recidivism-reduction programming established under the First Step Act. Ranking Member Meng said the shortfall is serious. "I view the staffing issues facing the BOP, as a life and death matter," she told the hearing, stressing that understaffing can force non‑security staff into guard duties and reduce programming time.

What BOP told the committee: Toomey described several recruitment and retention measures already in use, including a National Recruitment Office, expanded social‑media advertising, business‑card distribution by wardens and managers, and use of recruitment incentives. She said BOP recently secured Office of Personnel Management approval for direct‑hire authority for corrections officers to speed hiring. Toomey also described the bureau's use of retention incentives and overtime to fill shifts and said, "In fiscal year 2024, we paid $229,000,000 in incentives and $438,000,000 in overtime." She said those payments are not sustainable at prior levels and announced the bureau has paused consideration of new pay incentives, eliminated some existing incentives, and reduced certain retention payments by about half.

Members pressed Toomey on whether cutting incentives will worsen staffing and force more overtime and augmentation. Toomey acknowledged the tradeoffs: "Either the way to make sure posts are manned is either we have to have enough people ... Or we augment, which takes someone away from their other duties but doesn't cost us extra money. Or we don't augment and we pay overtime to pay the position. The only other choice is to lock down a housing unit." Several members warned that lockdowns reduce access to education, medical care and First Step Act programming.

A retention example: Toomey pointed to a targeted 35% retention incentive at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn as a case study. "That led to 87 additional hires at Brooklyn ... It significantly increased staffing levels for corrections officers and also for medical staff," she said, adding the facility had far fewer lockdown days after the incentive took effect.

Budget and funding questions: Members probed whether BOP's current base budget can cover the additional authorized positions. Toomey said about 3,100 of the roughly 4,500 additional CO positions are funded but not filled and that some of that money is currently being used to pay overtime and incentives. She said a full staffing and pay proposal previously estimated to reach competitive pay would cost roughly $2.5 billion over five years.

What members requested: Lawmakers asked for follow‑up data on recruitment budgets, the number of funded but vacant positions, and whether decreases in incentives will produce net savings once increased overtime or augmentation is considered. Toomey said BOP would provide follow‑up information.

Ending: Members said they will weigh staffing, retention strategies and funding in upcoming appropriations deliberations and requested additional material for the record to evaluate whether incentive cuts are offset by other savings or will deepen staffing gaps.