[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 223 (Tuesday, November 19, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 63830-63831]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-24935]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Bureau of Prisons

28 CFR Part 541

[Docket No. BOP-1172-P]
RIN 1120-AB72


Inmate Discipline Program: New Prohibited Act Code for Pressuring 
Inmates for Legal Documents

AGENCY: Bureau of Prisons, Department of Justice.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Bureau of Prisons (Bureau) proposes to 
add a new code to the list of prohibited act codes in the inmate 
discipline regulations which will clarify that the Bureau may 
discipline inmates for pressuring or otherwise intimidating other 
inmates into producing copies of their own legal documents, such as 
pre-sentence reports (PSRs), or statement of reasons (SORs).

DATES: Submit written comments on or before January 21, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Rules Unit, Office of General Counsel, Bureau of Prisons, 
320 First Street NW, Washington, DC 20534.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rules Unit, Office of General Counsel, 
Bureau of Prisons, phone (202) 353-8248.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Posting of Public Comments

    Please note that all comments received are considered part of the 
public record and 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 so much confidential business information that it 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.

Proposed Rule

    In this document, the Bureau proposes to add a new code to Table 
1--Prohibited Acts and Available Sanctions in the inmate discipline 
regulations. See 28 CFR 541.3. The new code will clarify that the 
Bureau may discipline inmates for pressuring or otherwise intimidating 
other inmates into producing copies of their own legal documents, such 
as pre-sentence reports (PSRs), statement of reasons (SORs), or other 
such documents. New code 231 will put inmates on notice that they may 
be disciplined for ``[r]equesting, demanding, pressuring, or otherwise 
intentionally creating a situation which causes an inmate to produce or 
display his/her own court documents for any purpose to another 
inmate.''
    The Bureau has found that inmates, or inmate groups, frequently 
pressure other inmates for copies of their PSRs, SORs, or other similar 
sentencing documents from criminal judgments, to learn if they are 
informants, gang members, have financial resources, to find others 
involved in offenses, to prove affiliations, etc. Some inmates who 
produced, or refused to produce, the documents were threatened, 
assaulted, and/or sought protective custody, all of which jeopardized 
the Bureau's ability to safely manage its institutions.
    The Bureau holds inmates accountable for threatening and coercive 
behavior under existing provisions of the disciplinary code. This 
provision, however, will clarify that this specific behavior may result 
in sanctions. The defense bar, federal sentencing courts and the Bureau 
identified this issue as one of concern that requires heightened 
disciplinary attention. We therefore propose to add the aforementioned 
code provision to underscore the severity of the conduct described.

Regulatory Analyses

Executive Orders 12866, 13563, and 13771

    This rule falls within a category of actions that the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) has determined do not constitute 
``significant regulatory actions'' under section 3(f) of Executive 
Order 12866 and, accordingly, it was not reviewed by OMB. The economic 
effects of this regulation are limited to the Bureau's appropriated 
funds. It takes an average of 7.5 hours of staff time to process an 
incident report. One of the expected outcomes of this clarifying 
regulation is that inmates may be deterred from engaging in the 
prohibited behavior because violations are better defined. This 
expected outcome would save staff resources required to process 
incident reports. At this time, however, the Bureau cannot estimate 
precisely how many incidents will be avoided or the monetary value of 
the resulting cost/resource savings. Further, the Bureau would expect 
any anticipated savings generated by this rule to have minimal effect 
on the economy.

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. 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 
certifies that it will not have a significant economic impact upon a 
substantial number of small entities. 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.

[[Page 63831]]

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 are necessary 
under the provisions of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995.

Congressional Review Act

    This regulation is not a major rule as defined by the Congressional 
Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 804. 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 Part 541

    Prisoners.


Kathleen Hawk Sawyer,
Director, Federal 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, we propose to amend 28 CFR part 541 as follows.

SUBCHAPTER C--INSTITUTIONAL MANAGEMENT

PART 541--INMATE DISCIPLINE AND SPECIAL HOUSING UNITS

0
1. The authority citation for part 541 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), 4161-4166 (Repealed 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.

SUBPART A--GENERAL

0
2. Amend Sec.  541.3 by adding an entry 231 under ``High Severity Level 
Prohibited Acts'' in Table 1--Prohibited Acts and Available Sanctions 
to read as follows:


Sec.  541.3  Prohibited acts and available sanctions.

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            Table 1--Prohibited Acts and Available Sanctions
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                   High Severity Level Prohibited Acts
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231......................  Requesting, demanding, pressuring, or
                            otherwise intentionally creating a
                            situation, which causes an inmate to produce
                            or display his/her own court documents for
                            any purpose to another inmate.
 
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[FR Doc. 2019-24935 Filed 11-18-19; 8:45 am]
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