Prison Alternatives

Although the Bureau of Prisons has tried to ensure that the halfway house program serves as a suitable alternative to prison by helping inmates make the transition from prison to the community, the Bureau is not taking full advantage of this available and less costly alternative to prison. On average, about 1,300 of the more than 5,000 halfway house beds under contract to the Bureau were unused during 1990. At the same time, the federal prison system was operating at 150 percent of its rated capacity. Prison crowding has not been reduced to the extent it could have been, and a prison alternative that could reduce the need for costly new prison beds has not been fully used. The 11 halfway houses GAO reviewed appear to offer a suitable alternative to prison. GAO found that 83 percent of the inmates there had found jobs in the communities where they expected to live when released. None of the halfway houses had created problems for their communities. In addition, the Bureau had monitored two halfway house operators to ensure that they adhered to their contracts. This report outlines several steps the Bureau could take to make greater use of currently available halfway house resources.

GAO found that: (1) BOP is not making full use of contracted halfway houses; (2) monthly occupancy rates at halfway houses averaged 73 percent, while the federal prison system reported 150 percent capacity; (3) inmates who were placed in halfway houses spent about 29 percent fewer days in the halfway houses than BOP policy anticipated; (4) the halfway houses reviewed appeared to offer a suitable alternative to prison; (5) at the halfway houses reviewed, 83 percent of the inmates had found employment in the communities where they expected to live upon release; and (6) none of the halfway houses created problems for the community. GAO also found that reasons for the shortage of halfway houses placements included: (1) different interpretations of BOP national policy by BOP officials at the prisons where placement decisions are made; (2) varying methods used by BOP officials to implement the policy; (3) BOP delays in starting the placement process; and (4) BOP policy that permits eligible inmates to refuse halfway house placements.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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