Bad Boys, Island Living, and Money – Update for April 9, 2026

We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

BOP IN THE NEWS

True Crime:  Sandra Barnes, Deputy Assistant Inspector General for the Office of Inspector General’s Investigations Division, said the office receives about 17,000 complaints a year and that roughly 80% of them concern the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP).

On Transparency Talk, Barnes described how the Investigations Division is organized into nine regions and two specialty offices, and said roughly 95% of cases open as criminal inquiries. “We’re running two investigations for every case that we have,” she said, meaning the OIG pursues both criminal allegations and parallel administrative-misconduct reviews.

Barnes said common criminal allegations include introduction of contraband, bribery, excessive use of force and staff sexual abuse.

Citizens Portal, Deputy Assistant Inspector General Sandra Barnes outlines OIG probes into BOP staff corruption and contraband (April 1, 2026)

Trump Asks Congress for Alcatraz Money:  President Trump is asking for $152 million from Congress to return Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay from a tourist attraction back into an enlarged and rebuilt maximum-security prison “to house America’s most ruthless and violent offenders.”

The New York Times said, “The plan faces immense political and practical roadblocks. It has generated enormous pushback in San Francisco, where tourism is one of the biggest industries and Alcatraz is at the top of many visitors’ itineraries.” The BOP already has a much more modern maximum-security facility in Florence, Colorado.

The island facility has not housed inmates since 1962.

The New York Times, Trump Seeks $152 Million to Begin to Turn Alcatraz Back Into a Prison (April 3, 2026)

On the Subject of Money…:  BOP Director William K. Marshall III admitted to Walter Pavlo last week that despite all of last summer’s optimism, the FY 2026 BOP budget was a disappointment. “We were very, very excited… we thought finally we’re going to be able to address some of these needs,” Pavlo reported that Marshall said. “And then we get the final bill, and it’s $8.1 billion. Significantly less than the $8.7 billion we believed was in the One Big Beautiful Bill.”

The BBB gave the BOP a one-time shot of an extra $5 billion – $3 billion for staffing and training, and $2 billion for infrastructure. Marshall said of the money for improvements, “We will use all of that, but we cannot rely on it for ongoing operations.” Leadership must now decide whether to stabilize current gaps or invest in long-term change.

Marshall told Pavlo the BOP is creating a dedicated office to oversee First Step Act implementation. “Our goal is to have 15 dedicated employees that exclusively work on FSA every day,” Pavlo reported that Marshall said. “For the first time ever, the BOP received $409 million as part of our budget for FSA Rick Stover said, “We scrutinized our FSA spending plan line-by-line. In doing so, we found funds that were not directly related to FSA implementation. That money was reallocated to other areas that directly impacted FSA. We did the same thing for the FSA-allocated positions. If we could not justify a direct connection to the position improving FSA implementation, we abolished it.’

Forbes, BOP Director Marshall Plots New Direction for the Bureau of Prisons (April 2, 2026)

~ Thomas L. Root