BOP Orders Prison Closures Amid Infrastructure Decay and Staff Shortages
by Jo Ellen Knott
In a move to control its mounting fiscal crisis, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) announced on July 1, 2026, that it will shutter at least six low- and minimum-security facilities housing thousands of prisoners.
The sweeping consolidation plan targets facilities plagued by “extreme staffing challenges” and an astounding $4 billion deferred-maintenance backlog—representing nearly 25% of the $20 billion in needed BOP infrastructure repairs estimated two years ago, as PLN reported. [See: PLN, Mar. 2024, p. 47.] The BOP has not disclosed its exact timeline for prisoner transfers, nor has it published a definitive figure for total projected savings. However, the immense scale of the financial crisis provides a benchmark. By shuttering prisons like the Federal Correctional Institution in Taft, California, which alone required an estimated $200 million to repair after being identified in “critical disrepair,” the agency expects to avoid significant capital expenditure costs.
The closures represent the most aggressive reorganization of the federal prison system in decades. Prisons slated for closing are minimum- and low-security complexes in Beaumont, Big Spring and La Tuna, Texas; Lexington, Kentucky; Petersburg, Virginia; and Taft, California. The targeted facilities primarily confine lower-risk individuals, led by the low-security prison in Beaumont, which houses 1,651 prisoners alongside an adjacent 514-bed minimum-security camp.
Meanwhile, camps in Morgantown, West Virginia, and Duluth, Minnesota, which were previously identified for closure under the Biden administration due to lead paint and asbestos contamination, will instead be converted into higher-security, low-level prisons.
The BOP’s decision is a result of decades of institutional neglect. The prison system received an extra $5 billion from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, but BOP Director William K. Marshall III admitted the funds are “not sufficient to fully resolve” decades of accumulated operational decay. Chronic underfunding has left the bureau unable to compete with state and county wages for guards, forcing non-custodial staff, including teachers, secretaries, and counselors, to routinely work guard shifts.
The human cost of these rapid closures is expected to be significant and will affect both prisoners and guards. Having canceled its collective bargaining agreement with the Council of Prison Locals last year, the Trump administration has reduced the layoff notification window for displaced staff from nine months to just 60 days.
Source: The New York Times
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