Peters Fights Dismissal from BOP, Guards Lose Bonus Pay
The election of Pres. Donald J. Trump (R) has thrown the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) into turmoil. As PLN reported, former Director Collette Peters resigned just hours after the inauguration on January 20, 2025. [See: PLN, Feb. 2025, p.10.] Then, on February 25, 2025, the BOP’s 23,000 employees learned that they were losing half—or in some cases all—of an incentive bonus that had added 10-25% to their pay as a way to keep them working for the critically understaffed prison system.
According to a statement from Peters’ attorney on February 21, 2025, the former Director did not leave voluntarily. Washington, D.C. lawyer Mary Kunz said she filed an appeal to Peters’ dismissal with the government’s Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). Kunz did not hazard a guess as to the reason that Peters was asked for her resignation by the incoming Trump team. But the attorney stressed that Peters, as part of the federal government’s Senior Executive Service, enjoyed job protections that were abrogated in the process of her firing, prompting the appeal to MSPB.
A few days after those comments, the BOP announced that retention bonuses will be halved for staff at most BOP prisons and eliminated entirely at seven lockups, where staffing levels have reached 95% of targets: the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Mendota and the U.S. Penitentiary in Atwater, all in California; the Federal Detention Center in Miami, Florida; FCI-Otisville in New York; FCI-Pekin in Illinois; and FCI-Sheridan in Oregon.
The cuts, which were slated to take effect on March 25, 2025, were targeted by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which is not really a government agency but is led by billionaire Elon Musk, who is not really a government employee but donated a quarter-billion dollars to Trump’s campaign for the Presidential election. Trump won by a razor-thin margin of just 1.5%.
Predictably, the move drew criticism from unions representing affected workers. The Council of Prison Locals called the bonus eliminations “shortsighted.” At FCI-Mendota, American Federation of Government Employees Local 1237 President Aaron McGlothlin predicted staff losses of “a minimum of 10%.”
Sources: Corrections1, Forbes, Federal News Network
As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login