Imagine a time during the interim of President George W. Bush’s second term…the year 2006. Phew, a lot has happened in our country since 18 years ago. Executively, President Barack Obama served two terms, then President Trump, then President Biden, a now President Trump. Throughout all these administrative changes, the fruition of a new prison has been slated to be built in Letcher County, Kentucky. In 2006, Congress approved the building of a new “maximum” security prison with the goals to provide new infrastructure and technologically advanced security measures to account for dilapidated facilities. In 2018, President Trump passed legislation (aka First Step Act) that significantly reduced inmate populations and drastically lowered security levels. The result is that a “medium” security prison was much more needed than a “maximum,” so the new prison will be designated as a medium. Nearing 2025, almost 19 years in the making, the Board of Prisons decided on a location in Letcher County, Kentucky to build a new Federal Prison Institution (FCI) with a satellite camp (FPC), known as the Roxanna Site, which is privately owned land. Due to my limited capabilities to truly research this project, the ownership of this land is unknown to me, but I’m sure curious as to who owns this land and stands to make an incredible profit from its sale. Aside from the costs related to property acquisition, breaking ground, excavating the soil and clearing forestry to prepare it, the site will cost taxpayers $466 MILLION (Source: Federal Register, July 12, 2024). This initial amount does not even count the costs of building the actual prison facilities, which is slated to be well over $500 million!
On average, the American taxpayers are fronting a bill that cost over $44,090 per year for every inmate (source: Federal Register, December 6, 2024). As I have previously shared and you may have read in the news, the Board of Prisons will be closing FPC Morgantown to simply save money and address staffing shortages at other prison sites. It’s been 25 months since I have been at Morgantown, and the inmate population has certainly remained the same. When I self-surrendered in 2022, I was the 374th inmate to be present on the compound. The average of 375 inmates has remained very consistent for the prison population. As you know with any business, the heft of finances mostly resides with human resources: salaries, benefits, pensions, etc. At FPC Morgantown, the staffing has averaged to be around 150 full-time employees. Thus, the ratio of staff to inmates is slightly above 1:2.5! If the starting cost of the average staff is $85,000 (without the $10,000 sign on bonus), then it takes about 2.5 inmates serving a full year at FPC Morgantown to provide about $110,000 which only covers base salaries, benefits, and pensions – not including other costs of operation like food, utilities, and supplies – for ONE staff personnel.
A common theme among lifelong employees is that Morgantown is “the retirement home” or the place to go to retire from the BOP system. Therefore, a majority of the staff at FPC Morgantown are not making starting salaries, so one could simply infer that FPC Morgantown is operating in the rears based on simple math. Further, FPC Morgantown could successfully operate with a higher staff to inmate ratio…SO is a brand-new prison costing a near $1 billion necessary? It’s been nearly 19 years since Congress passed the approval for a new prison, which anticipated that it would have been completed in about 5 years. Would it not make feasible sense to forego a new prison and invest in capital upgrades to existing prisons with the currently allotted $466 million? I understand that bureaucracy does not operate with simple functions, but the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) may certainly have such recommendations to trim national deficits across departments.
While I have no news about relocating to a different prison, I am taking this experience one day at a time and planning for a successful transition. These past 25 months have taught me to be very patient with a very slow and corrupt system. I am very grateful to you for all the support that you’ve shown throughout my prison journey. I appreciate you allowing me to share some insights into the bureaucratic process that I’ve experienced as a tenured inmate in the custody of the BOP. I wish you a wonderful week as you prepare for the Christmas holiday…and continue to be mindful of any little miracle in your life this week 🙂