BOP EXAGGERATES DANGER TO JUSTIFY EXTENDED LOCKDOWN

The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls has learned that the lockdown at the federal prison Butner Medium II is pretextual and preventing incarcerated men from receiving needed medical care.

On May 26, 2023, the Acting Warden instituted a complete lockdown and canceled all visitation because of “disruption in safety and security” because of a “significant increase” in the use of illicit drugs. In reality, this drastic action was taken because one person was high on Spice/K2, a synthetic cannabinoid, and there was one altercation. More than 1,500 men are locked in their cells because of two incidents that would not even raise an eyebrow anyplace else.

This unjustified lockdown puts lives in danger.  Although Butner Medium II is located a half mile away from the federal medical facility in the same complex, there is no way to get there in a lockdown. Butner Medium II has no medical staff on site after 5 pm. After more than two weeks of lockdown, men are having medical crises, including multiple seizures in one unit alone. 

Inventing reasons to put men in lockdown is abhorrent. Men get sent to Butner because they are elderly and sick. If the BOP cannot treat them with basic human dignity, then the only decent thing to do is to send them home where they can receive the medical care they need.