(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Every U.S. prison inmate affiliated with the El Salvadoran gang, La Mara Salvatrucha, more commonly known as MS-13, has been moved to FCI Lewisburg—an understaffed, unsecured and decrepit facility in Pennsylvania, according to a new report from the DOJ-Inspector General’s Office.
“In March 2022, it received all La Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang inmates who had been housed at other [Bureau of Prisons] institutions. The BOP made the decision to transfer all MS-13 inmates to one institution to prevent system-wide gang violence after MS-13 members murdered two rival gang members at USP Beaumont in January 2022,” states a Thursday report from the DOJ-OIG.
While there has been reporting over the last two years about “some” MS-13 members being moved to FCI Lewisburg, Thursday’s DOJ-OIG report appears to be the first official acknowledgment that every federal MS-13 inmate is being housed there.
Thursday’s report also detailed the numerous problems plaguing FCI Lewisburg, from inadequate staffing to decrepit facilities and failing security cameras—along with a seemingly abusive atmosphere for the employees.
According to the DOJ-OIG, FCI had only 191 of its 245 authorized positions in its Correctional Services Department filled as of January—meaning that the facility is short roughly 50 correctional officers. That understaffing has led to guards overly relying on solitary confinement—which, in turn, skyrockets the suicide risk for inmates, the report shows.
Of the facility’s 575 inmates, 71 were in “restrictive housing”—13 of those in solitary confinement. Some were kept there for their safety, the DOJ-OIG noted.
“The prison cannot safely house an inmate with a history of sex offense in a cell with an MS-13 gang member,” the DOJ-OIG remarked.
However, “From January 2022 through March 2024, FCI Lewisburg had 16 suicide attempts, of which 7 (44 percent) involved inmates who were single-celled at the time of their suicide attempt; 5 of these 7 attempts involved inmates who were in restrictive housing when they attempted suicide,” the DOJ-OIG report added.
The DOJ-OIG report also detailed the lack of cancer screening and other healthcare services for inmates, as well as FCI Lewisburg’s decrepit physical state, including its shoddy security cameras.
The prison’s problems aren’t confined to inmates, either. According to the DOJ-OIG report, some employees suffer verbal abuse and harassment from their colleagues—some of whom have hanged Nazi artwork around the employees-only areas.
They even hang Nazi artwork from inmates.
Prison officials defended this practice, telling the Inspector General that "such images are also displayed publicly in the same context on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s public website, as well as several anti-hate organizations’… pic.twitter.com/8prF2OCapV— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) September 27, 2024
Responding to the DOJ-OIG’s concerns about Nazi artwork and graffiti throughout the prison, the Bureau of Prisons Central Office Executive Staff and intelligence officials told the Inspector General that the artwork is related to the staffs’ work in disassociating inmates from gangs. That program appears to require inmates to become prison snitches—telling them to “provide intelligence to the BOP and outside law enforcement about gang operations.”
“In response to a draft of this report, BOP Central Office Executive Staff and intelligence officials stated that the SIS [ the prison’s Special Investigative Services] plays a vital role in managing gang-related activity and teaching employees to recognize, report, and monitor gang-related activity and membership,” the DOJ-OIG report said.
“They noted that such images are also displayed publicly in the same context on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s public website, as well as several anti-hate organizations’ websites.”
The DOJ-OIG did not appear to accept the prison’s explanation.
“While we recognize the potential educational value of such displays for SIS employees, we are concerned that the prominent display of Nazi and white-supremacist iconography in the SIS hallway also could have a negative impact on employee morale, inmates’ willingness to provide information to the BOP during their gang disassociation, and potentially contribute to a hostile work environment.,” the DOJ-OIG said.
The BOP disagreed with the DOJ-OIG’s assessment of the Nazi artwork, but prison staffers did agree to the inspector general staff’s other recommendations, such as making sure that all guards carry tools to cut down inmates who try to hang themselves.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
