Directory of Federal Prisons

Hi, my name is Chris Zookas. I'm the Managing Director of the Zookas Consulting Group, a federal prison consultancy specializing in prison preparation, resolution of in-prison matters, and reentry success. Today I'm here to talk to you about my latest book, The Directory of Federal Prisons. The Directory of Federal Prisons, in a nutshell, is a directory. So it's a directory that profiles every prison within the Federal Bureau of Prisons. But unlike a traditional directory, this is a very expansive work at over 700 pages. This book is the Federal Prison Directory. This book, we started— first of all, I say we started off with the idea that we could create a comprehensive single source of information about every federal prison in the country. So that includes prisons at the minimum security level, also known as federal prison camps, low security, which is called federal correctional institutions, medium security— those are federal, also federal correctional institutions— and highs, those are United States Penitentiaries. In each, uh, in each prison profile, you're going to find a a vast amount of information compiled from both official Bureau of Prisons sources. Various reports have come out over the years from the Government Accountability Office, Office of the Inspector General, and other government branches. I also conducted extensive Freedom of Information Act requests, or public records requests, to obtain additional information, but also just as important, I spoke to inmates. I both spoke and surveyed and interviewed inmates, um, who have served time at many of the federal prisons to understand some of those intangibles that you just can't obtain from official government sources. So those are your politics issues. So let's kind of go through an example profile here. Uh, so I, for example, I'm looking at the profile for FCI Fort Dix, uh, which is in New Jersey. Um, so we start with the address and contact information. So if you're trying to write your loved one, where do you write them? Uh, if you're trying to visit, uh, what's the visitation address? Uh, from there, uh, we have, so are male or female inmates housed at the institution? What's the security level? Uh, what Bureau of Prisons region is it in? Now this can be important because if you're trying to reach out to the regional office, or if you're trying to figure out like what facilities are in your general area where you live, uh, this can be helpful. Um, the judicial district, so the what court, uh, what federal court, uh, oversees the facility. Uh, the medical care level. So medical care levels, uh, largely deal with, um, which inmates are housed at the facility because of underlying health conditions. So you have levels 1, 2, 3, and 4, with levels 4 being for Federal Medical Centers, which are also profiled in here. Uh, the population, uh, so how many inmates are actually at the facility. Uh, we have a very healthy background section on each facility talking about when was it, when was it founded? Uh, what is it known for? Uh, for example, uh, for FCI Fort Dix, um, there are some, there's some discussion about, uh, cell phones being seized and some problems with drugs at the institution. Uh, along with some notable former inmates who were at the facility. Is the discussion on housing units. So for prisoners, it, it can be very important for quality of life perspectives to understand what's the housing structure. So is it cells? Is it dormitories? If cells, how many, like how many inmates are in each cell? Uh, because usually when you get down to like a 2-man cell, that's the most preferable housing.. And some institutions have that, some don't. So it's just helpful to know that information from the get-go. Um, there's also discussions on health services to include, uh, what kind of services are offered? Uh, how do you complete a sick call or a, a medical request? Um, so good overviews. Um, there's also discussions about psychology programs. So what, are there any specialized programs at the facility? Um, this can be helpful for a number of reasons, but One is that oftentimes the Bureau of Prisons just does a very bad job on, um, profiling what's available. So inmates may not know. Uh, the other important factor here actually deals with prison transfers. So it can often be a good idea to do what's called a program transfer. So you're transferring to a certain facility, um, because of a specific program that actually can improve your odds of going to a certain facility that you want to go to. Uh, there's a discussion on RDAP and non-residential. So the Residential Drug Abuse Treatment Program is the 9-month, uh, program in federal prison that enables eligible inmates to receive a year off their sentence. So there's a discussion on if the facility, if, if the prison in question has the RDAP program. Um, also do they have the, uh, non-residential drug abuse treatment program, which is a, a 6-month shorter, less intensive program where inmates don't get time off their sentences. There's a discussion on education. So what's available, you know, ranging from GED and adult continuing education classes to is there an actual college program at the facility? I mean, most don't have that. For, for most inmates, federal inmates, you have to go through correspondence studies. But we do that discussion. Also discussions on Advanced occupational education, vocational training, and apprenticeships. So these are all programs that are actually offered at the facility where inmates can become certified in certain things, or if not, they can go through longer programs like apprenticeship programs, where oftentimes they'll have institutional or— it was called quasi-institutional credentials as a result of it. So these can fulfill some of the requirements for certain licensure after the person gets out of prison. For example, when looking at Advanced Occupational Education for FCI Fort Dix, there is— they offer the Commercial Driver's License program. When looking at vocational training, they offer vocational training in computers, electrical, advanced electrical, basic level horticulture, woodworking, house framing. So there And there's— I should clarify that these offerings are typically available, but sometimes, or they're not sometimes, often there are waiting lists. But this is other good information to know about facility apprenticeships. So SCI Fort Dix offers alteration tailor, building maintenance repairer, cook, HVAC, industrial house cleaning, and others. So other programs available. Typically these do not cost the inmate any money, but if they do want to get certain certifications or sometimes they have to get books for some of these, then funds may be required. Library services. So where available, what's the information that we have about the leisure library? So the regular library along with the law library, you know, is there a copy machine? Do they offer the NEO, uh, word processors, or is it the typical clear Swintek, uh, electric typewriters? Um, to cover, is there a UNICOR at the facility? Uh, and, or UNICOR, also known as Federal Prison Industries. So that is the, it's, it's an, an inmate work assignment, uh, where UNICOR contracts with companies outside of the Bureau of Prisons to create different types of products and services. For example, at FCI Fort Dix, the UNICOR facility handles recycling activities, services, and production of clothing and textiles, whereas the camp, so the minimum security adjacent to the FCI Fort Dix, does not have UNICOR facility. Uh, there's a discussion about commissary. So how much money can inmates actually spend at the facility? Uh, is that a monthly limit, a biweekly limit, or a weekly limit? Uh, along with what days do inmates shop?. So these can vary. I mean, generally inmates can spend $360 a month in the institutional commissary, but there can be some differences based on the institution. Uh, discussion on recreation. So this is one of those good, uh, quality of life issues. So what's the recreation department like? Is it indoor, outdoor, both? Um, what types of sports and other activities are available? There is some visitation information. So this includes— sorry, so this includes where, so what are the days and times inmates can accept visitors, along with if there is a point-based system, which most institutions have. There's additional information there concerning how often inmates can be visited, on what days, and whatnot. Okay, prison politics. This is my, by far my favorite section because it's just information that's not available elsewhere. So when looking at prisons, every prison is different. So I, this is deemed prison politics. So prison politics includes things like, um, is an inmate allowed to just kind of be on their own, you know, serve their own time? Or at some facilities, the more, let's call them the harder or the tougher facilities, inmates may be required to join what's called a CAR. So a CAR is different than a gang, but there are some similarities. So a gang is a, as we all know, is a, um, it's, you know, they're a formal or quasi-formal organization that engages in various activities where there are members. So a CAR is a little bit different. So a CAR, when you start looking at the Federal Bureau of Prisons, you would have different CARs. So for example, there is a, the White CAR, or there is the Black car, or there's the car from North Carolina, um, or there's a— I mean, there's many different orientations. But at some facilities, especially the harder, the tougher ones, if an inmate wants to stay there, they have to become part of a car. So part of the, you know, whatever the— whatever their racial orientation is, is usually how it, it comes down. I mean, I know not very politically correct, but That's not much about prison is. So in this section, we talk about, uh, the level of politics. So are inmates required to be part of a group or are they allowed to be independents? So that's someone who's can stay, but doesn't, isn't part of an organized or semi-organized group. Um, some institutions allow, allow inmates to be independents, even if it's a tougher institution. Other ones that are tougher don't allow that, or rarely allow it, or only in certain— there are certain exceptions. Um, we start looking more towards Loas and camps though. Politics is mostly a non-issue, so that's where you could be part of a group but you don't necessarily have to, and frankly most people probably aren't. It's more like small clusterings of friends rather than the more racial elements that you see at the tougher mediums and USPs. Uh, here we have a discussion of violence. Now violence is something that's hard to quantify because the Federal Bureau of Prisons just does not put out good data on this. And the data that they do put out, it, it doesn't cover the scope. I mean, it's, that's like institutional data based on number of incident reports issued for varying levels of violent acts, actions that are caught. Now, I find that, uh, if you take the experience of inmates at each facility, that is where the true measure of violence is. Um, that's where the true measure of safety comes into play. So in our surveys, in our interviews, in our discussions with inmates currently serving time at each federal prison, or I should say many federal prisons, along with discussions with inmates who have served time at different institutions, this gives you a better, um, let's call it anchor point from which to understand what's the true level of violence. Uh, we also have a discussion about vulnerable populations. So here I really wanted to have a focus on can sex offenders, can informants, can LGBT inmates remain at each facility? So it's kind of a crazy thing when we think about this considering it's 2020, uh, but this is a very real issue for for inmates currently in federal prison, because some prisons do not allow informants, so those who have cooperated with the government, uh, to remain at the facility. I mean, they're at some institutions, they're at grave risk. The same is true of sex offenders. Um, when it comes to LGBT inmates, that's a little, that, that's a softer issue. I mean, it's not a soft issue, but it's softer than informants and sex offenders. Um, but it, the information that our book we, when we survey people and interview people, we try to understand, are people safe to remain at the facility? Um, this is something that obviously the Bureau of Prisons politically would not necessarily agree with. I think the Bureau of Prisons line, policy line, or, you know, party line is that every inmate who's assigned to any institution can remain at that institution and should. That's a lie. It's just not true. And one of the reasons I really wanted to— really want to have that section in this book is because we've had clients who go to a facility where clearly they can't stay and they're going to be harmed if they remain there. And the receiving and discharge prison guards tell them, oh, you'll be fine here. They say it for whatever reason. You know, I'm sure some of it's malicious. Some of it's probably just a sense of ignorance. Uh, some of it's just probably wanting to get the person out the door as quickly as they can, but they, they lie to people, you know, intentionally or unintentionally, and it puts people's lives on the line. Uh, so I, I was, thought it was very important to try to figure it out. This, this was called soft data because, you know, it's based on the experiences. So naturally it's not as authoritative as maybe a program statement or the Code of Federal Regulations might be., but this is important information for inmates who are initially designated to a facility and also those who are transferring among institutions. Um, we also have kind of a— I don't want to necessarily call it a fun section because it's not incredibly fun, uh, but we, when speaking with inmates and when interviewing and surveying inmates, we want to know what do you like about the facility, what do you dislike, and what is just some other general information. So looking at FCI Fort Dix, uh, good. One inmate said that it was the openness, do what you want to do, more privacy due to less cop presence. Another one said, uh, we are able to be outdoors most of the time. Another inmate said there are people who are not political in the religious community, looks out for each person. So some obviously subjective, but some good information from people currently serving time. When looking at the bad at FCI Fort Dix, uh, one inmate said, uh, lack of personal area privacy and security due to larger occupancy rooms. So as you can see there, um, one person saying there's more privacy, uh, really due to less cop presence. Another one's saying that there's less privacy due to the number of inmates in the room. So these are all good kind of social, uh, bits of social information that can be helpful in understanding Another one said, for the bad, uh, the people sometimes suck. Uh, that is people who don't have the same criminal background or type of charges. Another inmate said that the education department is really sorry. Um, here's one that what Fort Dix is known for: drugs. So, uh, the drug issues and drinking are quite bad here, and the atmosphere created by staff is very heavy-handed., that is, that's something that I have heard countless times from those who have served time there. Um, both those I've surveyed and actual clients. When you look at, uh, the other comments, so this isn't, this is kind of like neither good nor bad. It's kind of something that just didn't fit well within neither of those categories. So one inmate here said at FCI Fort Dix, uh, good place to go as long as you keep your own business. Another one said, uh, if you need a cell phone or some drugs, 'then this is the place to be. If you want to do your time and not be bothered with such nonsense, then this is the worst prison in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. I would take anywhere, including a penitentiary, rather than this place.' I mean, and to think this is the low we're talking about, not a medium or a high. Um, kind of rounding out the sections, um, I have a section on In the News. So where has or in what, in which instances has the facility been in the news? And FCI Fort Dix certainly has been in the news a lot. Just give you a quick selection. In June 2018, former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was sentenced to 28 years for bribery, racketeering, and corruption, was moved there. Here's another one. In April 2018, Martin Shkreli, the man who sparked an outrage after boosting the price of the life-saving AIDS drug Daraprim by more than 5,000%, was moved to the low-security FCI Fort Dix to serve out the remainder of his 7-year sentence for fraud and stock manipulation. Here's another one. Oh, geez. In April 2018, Paul Anton Wright, a guard at FCI Fort Dix, was arrested and indicted for smuggling Suboxone and K2 in the facility. So those are kind of— that's a good kind of overview of what you'll find for every facility within the Federal Bureau of Prisons in my book, The Directory of Federal Prisons. But there is one other thing that I want to share as well. So one of the things that I found very important with this book, because this— I mean, obviously, while for inmates, another focal group of— for this book, or so a target audience. So we have attorneys and we also have members of the news media. So there are some areas that really, they don't get explained very well. So in this book, unlike in my other book, The Federal Prison Handbook, I do an overview of, uh, so the BOP, the demographics, uh, admissions and orientation, housing, contact with the outside, um, visitation, medical, dental, you know, all those kind of traditional areas. Um, but this book in particular, I wanted to have a stronger focus on, uh, designations. So, um, secure— here we go. So security, medical, and mental healthcare levels, which obviously goes into designations. So to discuss what are the security levels, what do they mean, what are the point totals or the ranges in order to go to a certain security level? Same thing with, uh, uh, mental health and medical care levels, because each inmate will have a different designation for that and depending on what their personal needs are, whether if there are any psychological issues or there are serious medical issues. These will, these all go into the calculus. Importantly, so when we're looking at inmate classification, designation, transfer, I actually go through the program statement. I do a, a comprehensive overview of the the factors that the facilities use in order to decide what security level an inmate's gonna be. And this is important because oftentimes case managers, they just, they get some of this wrong. Again, whether that's maybe they're not spending as much time as they should, maybe they're trying to do as a lighter amount of work than they might otherwise have to do. This is important information because By using this, the actual Bureau of Prisons forms and the discussion that I have here, you can figure out what security level you're going to go to. If you're at a facility, you can figure out, are you scored appropriately? If you're trying to get a transfer, we have a discussion on transfers and the best way to do that. This is just information that you really, you don't see anywhere else. Um, again, the book is the Directory of Federal Prisons. Uh, you can buy it at prisonerresource.com. Again, that's prisonerresource.com. It's also available on Amazon. I will say if you buy it from prisonerresource.com, we do offer 1 free hour of consulting time for every copy sold, just because those who tend to buy this book in particular, they tend to have actual issues that they're trying to address. And we just, we want to be as accessible and help as many people as we can. So again, if you have any questions about federal prisons or you have someone, a loved one in federal prison, or you're going there and you're looking for more information, please visit prisonerresource.com. You can also email me at info@prisonerresource.com. We regularly consult with clients who are both just going into federal prison, who are already there, family members who are having issues. I mean, we try to be a one-stop shop on this, and I— our team is very experienced. I mean, they're all— they're very good at what they do, and we look forward to helping you. All right, thank you.