PETITION TO THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS

REQUEST FOR REVIEW OF EXCESSIVE LOSS OF FAMILY COMMUNICATION AND VISITATION PRIVILEGES

To the Federal Bureau of Prisons,

We, the undersigned family members, spouses, children, parents, loved ones, and supporters of individuals incarcerated within the Federal Bureau of Prisons, respectfully petition the Bureau of Prisons to review the use and length of disciplinary sanctions that remove an incarcerated person's access to telephone calls, electronic messaging/email, visitation, and commissary privileges, particularly when the underlying violation involves a relatively minor institutional infraction.

We recognize that correctional institutions must maintain safety, security, order, and accountability. We are not asking the Bureau of Prisons to eliminate reasonable disciplinary measures or to excuse violations of institutional rules.

We are asking for proportionality.

In particular, we are asking the Bureau of Prisons to reconsider situations in which an incarcerated person may lose multiple forms of communication and family contact for an extended period—such as six months—as a consequence of a single incident involving improper telephone use.

THE IMPACT ON FAMILIES

When an incarcerated person loses telephone privileges, electronic messaging, and visitation simultaneously, the punishment does not affect only the incarcerated individual.

It affects the entire family.

There are spouses who are waiting for their husbands and wives to call. There are mothers waiting to hear from their sons. Fathers waiting to hear from their children. Children waiting for a parent to call. Grandparents, siblings, and extended family members who may live hundreds or thousands of miles away are often unable to visit regularly.

For many families, a telephone call or electronic message may be the only realistic way to maintain a meaningful relationship with their loved one.

The Bureau of Prisons itself recognizes the importance of maintaining relationships with family and community contacts during incarceration. The BOP states that maintaining these relationships can help reduce recidivism and support successful reentry.

Therefore, removing virtually every avenue of communication for months can have consequences far beyond the intended disciplinary purpose.

THE CURRENT CONCERN

Federal inmates have limited opportunities to communicate with their families in the first place.

Telephone calls are limited in duration and availability, and incarcerated individuals do not have unrestricted access to communication. For families who live outside the state where their loved one is incarcerated, visitation may already be difficult and expensive.

When telephone calls, electronic messaging, visitation, and commissary privileges are all removed for an extended period, the individual can become effectively isolated from the people who continue to support them.

We believe disciplinary action should correct behavior and maintain institutional order—not unnecessarily sever family relationships.

OUR REQUESTS

We respectfully request that the Federal Bureau of Prisons:

Review the use of extended communication restrictions and determine whether lengthy suspensions are proportionate to the underlying violation.
Consider graduated sanctions for minor or first-time violations rather than automatically imposing lengthy restrictions.
Avoid simultaneously removing multiple family-contact privileges when one disciplinary incident is involved, unless there is a documented security reason requiring such action.
Consider the individual's disciplinary history, intent, circumstances, and actual risk to institutional securitywhen determining the appropriate length and type of sanction.
Preserve reasonable avenues for maintaining family relationships, particularly telephone calls, electronic messaging, and visitation.
Establish clearer limits or review procedures for lengthy loss-of-privilege sanctions, including an opportunity for the sanction to be reconsidered before an extended period has elapsed.
Create a meaningful review process for families and incarcerated individuals when communication restrictions have an extraordinary impact on family relationships.
Consider alternative disciplinary measures that hold individuals accountable without unnecessarily eliminating their ability to communicate with supportive family members.
ACCOUNTABILITY AND FAMILY CONNECTION CAN COEXIST

We understand that incarcerated individuals are responsible for following institutional rules. We also understand that the Bureau of Prisons has legitimate security concerns and must prevent inmates from using telephones or other systems improperly.

However, accountability and rehabilitation should not be mutually exclusive.

An incarcerated person should be held responsible for misconduct. But punishment should also take into consideration the larger purpose of incarceration: rehabilitation, preparation for reentry, and maintaining positive community and family connections.

A person who has a spouse, children, parents, siblings, or other loved ones who continue to support them should not necessarily lose all meaningful contact with those people for months because of one disciplinary incident.

Family connection should be treated as an important component of rehabilitation—not simply as a privilege that can be removed for an excessive period of time.

OUR APPEAL

We ask the Federal Bureau of Prisons to listen to the families who are directly affected by these policies.

Behind every incarcerated person is a network of people who continue to love them, support them, send them money, travel to visit them, encourage them, pray for them, and prepare for the day they return home.

When communication is removed, those families are punished as well.

We are asking for a system that maintains accountability while recognizing the importance of family relationships.

We are asking for fairness, proportionality, consistency, and compassion.

We respectfully request that the Bureau of Prisons immediately review policies and practices concerning lengthy loss of telephone, electronic messaging, visitation, and commissary privileges and consider reforms that prevent excessive punishment for minor violations while preserving institutional safety and security.

We believe incarcerated individuals should be accountable for their actions—but families should not have to serve the sentence alongside them.

We respectfully request that the Bureau of Prisons review this matter and take appropriate action.

Respectfully submitted,

Concerned Families, Spouses, Children, Parents, and Supporters of Individuals Incarcerated in the Federal Bureau of Prisons