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WASHINGTON – James "Whitey" Bulger was killed in a federal prison in West Virginia long before the infamous Boston gangster. Legislators, lawyers and even prison guards had sounded the alarm about the dangerous conditions that prevailed there. But there is no public indication that federal prison authorities have taken steps to address security concerns, even though Bulger's murder is the third in the facility in the last six months.
An independent government commission has found that Hazelton Penitentiary has been overpopulated for years. Prisoners have repeatedly expressed concerns about their safety in the high security prison, which houses 1,270 detainees. According to a 2016 report by the Columbia District Prison Information Council, prisoners warned officials, "Prisoners can lose their lives quickly here."
In April, Ian Thorne, aged 48, was killed during an altercation with a fellow inmate. In September, Demario Porter was also killed in another fight with a fellow inmate.
Forensic records, surveillance reports and newspaper articles detail numerous violent incidents in recent years. In 2016, an inmate was charged with murder after prosecutors declared that he had strangled another prisoner to death during a fight. In February 2015, an inmate stabbed another prisoner with a homemade weapon during a fight, according to court documents. Another detainee was sentenced to an extended sentence in May for assaulting a fellow prisoner and possessing a deadly weapon.
"There are a multitude of federal prisons that do not have such a high homicide rate," said Cameron Lindsay, a former federal prison warden who now works as a prison security consultant.
The federal prison office refused to put acting director, Hugh Hurwitz, available for an interview, but said in a statement that a team of "experts in the field" had been sent to prison to "evaluate operational activities and correctional security practices and measures determine all relevant facts that may have contributed to the incident."
Last week, five congressional members wrote to Attorney General Jeff Sessions about what they called a "dangerous continuing understaff" in federal prisons in West Virginia and Pennsylvania and said they were alarmed by the reports. died at the USP Hazelton.
Justice Department spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle said the DOJ was "aware of the concerns expressed in the letter" and that he would respond to members of Congress.
In a separate letter this month, Eleanor Holmes Norton, a delegate to the Columbia District House, asked the Inspector General of the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the conditions of detention at the same time. USP Hazelton, citing the deaths of Thorne and Porter. Holmes Norton said she had also heard about the "brutal treatment" of inmates in the prison and feared that the incidents "would be indicative of larger and persistent problems in the institution."
In a statement released on Tuesday, Norton said Bulger's death "highlights news of a culture of violence in Hazelton."
Norton's office said it had not received a response to its previous letter and John Lavinsky, spokesperson for the Inspector General, declined to comment.
The Bureau of Prisons said that its team that was sent to the prison will report its findings to the leaders of the agency. The agency did not immediately answer the following questions as to whether these recommendations would be made public.
Bulger, 89, who had enjoyed a corrupt relationship with the FBI before turning 16 as one of the most wanted men in America, was found unresponsive on Tuesday morning, just hours after he arrived at the USP Hazelton. He was pronounced dead soon after. Authorities did not disclose the cause of death, but prosecutors said the investigation was ongoing for homicide. Fotios "Freddy" Geas, a mafia man who would have hated the "rats", and at least one other inmate would be involved in the murder of Bulger, announced Wednesday a former investigator. The long-time investigator was not allowed to discuss the issue and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Bulger was leading a largely Irish crowd that was arranging lender scrapings, gambling and drugs. He was also an FBI informant who had talked about the New England mob, his main rival, when shooting down the mafia was a top priority for the FBI.
A federal law enforcement official told the Associated Press that Bulger had been transferred to the prison where he had been killed due to discipline issues in a Florida jail where he was serving a sentence life imprisonment. The official was informed of the investigation into the murder of Bulger and insisted that his anonymity be preserved as he was not allowed to disclose details.
"What I do not understand is why the Federal Bureau of Prisons would transfer a very high-profile detainee, a known informer, to the general population of a high-security prison. You must be smarter than that, "said Lindsay, the former director.
Union officials say the prison employs about 75 percent of its workforce and has dozens of vacancies. They also decried a practice known as the Augmentation, which uses health care workers, teachers, secretaries and prison cooks to fill the positions of correctional officers because of the lack of agents and the number of scheduled overtime hours.
Justin Tarovisky, executive vice president of Local 420 of the American Federation of Government Employees, who represents the guards at Hazelton Prison, said Bulger's death "highlights how dangerous this prison is." The union has expressed concern over staffing a picket outside like 2015.
The letter sent to sessions last week by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va .; Pat Toomey, R-Pa.; Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va .; and Bob Casey, D-Pa.; be p. Bill Schuster, R-Pa., Said that Congress had provided additional funding to ensure that there would be at least two correctional officers on duty in each housing unit for each shift and that policy 'was not implemented as planned' Legislators have expressed concern that the Bureau of Prisons has failed to comply with Congress' directive to limit "its excessive reliance on the increase, particularly in housing."
The Trump administration imposed by the hiring freeze resulted in a shortage of personnel and already overcrowded federal prisons were also harboring immigration detainees in recent months.
Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior advisor, Jared Kushner, has made prison reform a key priority, although other Trump administration members – including Sessions – support the toughest possible sentencing penalties. drugs and other convictions. Kushner has been interested in prison reform since his own father, Charles Kushner, was jailed for 14 months after being convicted of illegal contributions to the campaign, tax evasion and tampering with witnesses.
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