[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 148 (Monday, August 3, 2015)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 45883-45885]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-18982]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Bureau of Prisons

28 CFR Part 553

[Docket No. BOP-1163]
RIN 1120-AB63


Contraband and Inmate Personal Property: Technical Amendment

AGENCY: Bureau of Prisons, Justice.

ACTION: Interim rule.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Bureau of Prisons makes a minor 
technical amendment to its regulations on contraband and inmate 
personal

[[Page 45884]]

property to maintain consistency in language which describes the 
purpose of the regulations as ensuring the safety, security, or good 
order of the facility or protection of the public.

DATES: This interim rule is effective September 2, 2015. Written 
comments must be postmarked and electronic comments must be submitted 
on or before October 2, 2015. Commenters should be aware that the 
electronic Federal Docket Management System will not accept comments 
after Midnight Eastern Time on the last day of the comment period.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be submitted to the Rules Unit, 
Office of General Counsel, Bureau of Prisons, 320 First Street NW., 
Washington, DC 20534. You may view an electronic version of this 
regulation at www.regulations.gov. You may also comment by using the 
www.regulations.gov comment form for this regulation. When submitting 
comments electronically you must include the BOP Docket No. in the 
subject box.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sarah Qureshi, Office of General 
Counsel, Bureau of Prisons, phone (202)307-2105.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Posting of Public Comments

    Please note that all comments received are considered part of the 
public record and are made available for public inspection online at 
www.regulations.gov. Such information includes personal identifying 
information (such as your name, address, etc.) voluntarily submitted by 
the commenter.
    If you want to submit personal identifying information (such as 
your name, address, etc.) as part of your comment, but do not want it 
to be posted online, you must include the phrase ``PERSONAL IDENTIFYING 
INFORMATION'' in the first paragraph of your comment. You must also 
locate all the personal identifying information you do not want posted 
online in the first paragraph of your comment and identify what 
information you want redacted.
    If you want to submit confidential business information as part of 
your comment but do not want it to be posted online, you must include 
the phrase ``CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION'' in the first paragraph 
of your comment. You must also prominently identify confidential 
business information to be redacted within the comment. If a comment 
contains confidential business information that cannot be effectively 
redacted, all or part of that comment may not be posted on 
www.regulations.gov.
    Personal identifying information identified and located as set 
forth above will be placed in the agency's public docket file but not 
posted online. Confidential business information identified and located 
as set forth above will not be placed in the public docket file. If you 
wish to inspect the agency's public docket file in person by 
appointment, please see the For Further Information Contact paragraph.

Interim Regulations

    In this document, the Bureau of Prisons (Bureau) makes a minor 
technical change to its regulations on contraband and inmate personal 
property to maintain consistency in language which describes the 
purpose of the regulations as ensuring the ``safety, security, or good 
order of the facility or protection of the public.''
    Variations on this phrase appear throughout the Bureau's 
regulations in 28 CFR Chapter V. See 28 CFR 500.1(h), 501.2(b), 
501.3(b), 511.10(a), 511.11(a), 511.12(a), 511.15(b), 511.17(b), 
540.12(a), 540.14(c) and (d), 540.15(d), 540.40, 540.44(c), 540.51(h), 
540.70, 540.71(b) and (d), 540.100(a), 540.101(a), 541.12, 541.43(b), 
541.63(c), 543.11(f), 543.14(a) and (c), 543.15(c), 543.16(b), 544.20, 
544.21(b), 548.10, 548.16-.18, 549.13(b), 549.50, 549.51(b), 551.1, 
551.10, 551.12(d), 551.16(a), 551.31(b), 551.34(b), 551.35, 551.71(d), 
551.110(a), 551.112(b), 551.113(a), 551.115(a), 552.13(b), 552.20, 
552.21(a) and (d), 553.11(h), 553.12(b).
    The Bureau has conformed the phrase in all revised regulations 
since approximately 2005. We now propose to similarly alter our 
regulations on contraband, an important threat to the safety, security, 
or good order of the facility or protection of the public.
    Currently, the definition of contraband in Sec.  500.1(h) reads as 
follows: ``Contraband is material prohibited by law, or by regulation, 
or material which can reasonably be expected to cause physical injury 
or adversely affect the security, safety, or good order of the 
institution.'' We now propose to conform the ``security, safety, or 
good order'' phrase to the language we have used in recent years, to 
read as follows: ``Contraband is material prohibited by law, 
regulation, or policy that can reasonably be expected to cause physical 
injury or adversely affect the safety, security, or good order of the 
facility or protection of the public.''
    Likewise, in order to conform the phrase and underscore the 
importance of prohibiting contraband, we propose to add the phrase to 
the end of the first sentence of Sec.  553.10, regarding inmate 
personal property, to read as follows: ``It is the policy of the Bureau 
of Prisons that an inmate may possess ordinarily only that property 
which the inmate is authorized to retain upon admission to the 
institution, which is issued while the inmate is in custody, which the 
inmate purchases in the institution commissary, or which is approved by 
staff to be mailed to, or otherwise received by an inmate, that does 
not threaten the safety, security, or good order of the facility or 
protection of the public.'' [Emphasis added.] Further, Sec.  543.12(b) 
contains another description/definition of contraband, categorizing it 
as either ``hard contraband'' or ``nuisance contraband.'' We add the 
``safety, security'' phrase to this regulation as well.
    It is important to note that this interim rule changes none of the 
substantive requirements or obligations relating to petitions for 
commutation of sentence, nor does it alter the Bureau's 
responsibilities in this regard.

Administrative Procedure Act

    The Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. 553) allows exceptions 
to notice-and-comment rulemaking for ``(A) interpretive rules, general 
statements of policy, or rules of agency organization, procedure, or 
practice; or (B) when the agency for good cause finds . . . that notice 
and public procedure thereon are impracticable, unnecessary, or 
contrary to the public interest.''
    This rulemaking is exempt from normal notice-and-comment procedures 
because it is a minor technical change. Because this change is a minor 
clarification of current agency procedure and practice by conforming 
language, we find that normal notice-and-comment rulemaking is 
unnecessary. The alternation of the language in this regulation is a 
minor clarification of current agency procedure, and is therefore 
exempt from normal notice-and-comment procedures under 5 U.S.C. 
553(b)(A). Adding a rote phrase indicating that the purpose of the 
regulation is to insure the safety, security, and good order of the 
facility and the protection of the public does not impose any new 
rights or obligations, nor does it leave the Bureau free to exercise 
further discretion. See National Ass'n of Broadcasters v. F.C.C., 569 
F.3d 416, 426 (D.C. Cir. 2009). Despite the technical nature of the 
change, however, we are still allowing the public to comment on this 
rule

[[Page 45885]]

change by publishing it as an interim final rule.

Executive Order 12866

    This regulation falls within a category of actions that the Office 
of Management and Budget (OMB) has determined not to constitute 
``significant regulatory actions'' under section 3(f) of Executive 
Order 12866 and, accordingly, it was not reviewed by OMB.

Executive Order 13132

    This regulation will not have substantial direct effect on the 
States, on the relationship between the national government and the 
States, or on distribution of power and responsibilities among the 
various levels of government. Therefore, under Executive Order 13132, 
we determine that this regulation does not have sufficient federalism 
implications to warrant the preparation of a Federalism Assessment.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    The Director of the Bureau of Prisons, under the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 605(b)), reviewed this regulation and by 
approving it certifies that it will not have a significant economic 
impact upon a substantial number of small entities for the following 
reasons: This regulation pertains to the correctional management of 
offenders committed to the custody of the Attorney General or the 
Director of the Bureau of Prisons, and its economic impact is limited 
to the Bureau's appropriated funds.

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995

    This regulation will not result in the expenditure by State, local 
and tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the private sector, of 
$100,000,000 or more in any one year, and it will not significantly or 
uniquely affect small governments. Therefore, no actions were deemed 
necessary under the provisions of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 
1995.

Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996

    This regulation is not a major rule as defined by Sec.  804 of the 
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. This 
regulation will not result in an annual effect on the economy of 
$100,000,000 or more; a major increase in costs or prices; or 
significant adverse effects on competition, employment, investment, 
productivity, innovation, or on the ability of United States-based 
companies to compete with foreign-based companies in domestic and 
export markets.

List of Subjects in 28 CFR Parts 500 and 553

    Prisoners.

Charles E. Samuels, Jr.,
Director, Bureau of Prisons.
    Under rulemaking authority vested in the Attorney General in 5 
U.S.C. 301; 28 U.S.C. 509, 510 and delegated to the Director, Bureau of 
Prisons in 28 CFR 0.96, we amend 28 CFR parts 500 and 553 as follows.

SUBCHAPTER A--GENERAL MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

PART 500--GENERAL DEFINITIONS

0
1. The authority citation for 28 CFR part 500 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority:  5 U.S.C. 301; 18 U.S.C. 3621, 3622, 3624, 4001, 
4042, 4081, 4082 (Repealed in part as to offenses committed on or 
after November 1, 1987), 5006-5024 (Repealed October 12, 1984 as to 
offenses committed after that date), 5039; 28 U.S.C. 509, 510; 28 
CFR 0.95-0.99.


0
2. In Sec.  500.1, paragraph (h) is revised to read as follows:


Sec.  500.1  Definitions.

* * * * *
    (h) Contraband is material prohibited by law, regulation, or policy 
that can reasonably be expected to cause physical injury or adversely 
affect the safety, security, or good order of the facility or 
protection of the public.

SUBCHAPTER C--INSTITUTIONAL MANAGEMENT

PART 553--INMATE PROPERTY

0
3. The authority citation for 28 CFR part 553 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority:  5 U.S.C. 301; 18 U.S.C. 3621, 3622, 3624, 4001, 
4042, 4081, 4082 (Repealed in part as to offenses committed on or 
after November 1, 1987), 4126, 5006-5024 (Repealed October 12, 1984 
as to offenses committed after that date), 5039; 28 U.S.C. 509, 510; 
28 CFR 0.95-0.99.


0
4. In Sec.  553.10, revise the first sentence to read as follows:


Sec.  553.10  Purpose and scope.

    It is the policy of the Bureau of Prisons that an inmate may 
possess ordinarily only that property which the inmate is authorized to 
retain upon admission to the institution, which is issued while the 
inmate is in custody, which the inmate purchases in the institution 
commissary, or which is approved by staff to be mailed to, or otherwise 
received by an inmate, that does not threaten the safety, security, or 
good order of the facility or protection of the public. * * *

0
5. In Sec.  553.12, revise paragraph (b) to read as follows:


Sec.  553.12  Contraband.

* * * * *
    (b) For the purposes of this subpart, there are two types of 
contraband.
    (1) Staff shall consider as hard contraband any item which 
threatens the safety, security, or good order of the facility or 
protection of the public and which ordinarily is not approved for 
possession by an inmate or for admission into the institution. Examples 
of hard contraband include weapons, intoxicants, and currency (where 
prohibited).
    (2) Staff shall consider as nuisance contraband any item other than 
hard contraband, which has never been authorized, or which may be, or 
which previously has been authorized for possession by an inmate, but 
whose possession is prohibited when it presents a threat to safety, 
security, or good order of the facility or protection of the public, or 
its condition or excessive quantities of it present a health, fire, or 
housekeeping hazard. Examples of nuisance contraband include: personal 
property no longer permitted for admission to the institution or 
permitted for sale in the commissary; altered personal property; 
excessive accumulation of commissary, newspapers, letters, or magazines 
which cannot be stored neatly and safely in the designated area; food 
items which are spoiled or retained beyond the point of safe 
consumption; government-issued items which have been altered, or other 
items made from government property without staff authorization.

[FR Doc. 2015-18982 Filed 7-31-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4410-05-P