The Bureau of Indian Affairs is striving to protect inmates by devising reforms with the Office of Justice Services (OJS) Correctional Program.
After reports about 16 inmate deaths between 2016 and 2020, the Bureau responded with a three-month review in the Fall of 2021 that included the commissioning of a third-party to review conditions in BIA operated and funded detention facilities, according to a Feb. 14 Department of Interior press release.
“As the son of a corrections officer, I value the well-being of all people, those in our custody as well as those responsible for providing a safe and rehabilitative environment,” Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland said in the release. “We will not shy away from acknowledging the past and taking ownership of the path to improve conditions in our facilities.
Newland said the DOI is implementing a series of reforms that “represent a new chapter for the Bureau of Indian Affairs as we move toward organizational culture change.”
The review, which was completed by the Cruzan Group, LLC., consulting firm at a cost of approximately $83,000, recommended more than two-dozen reforms, including changes to policy and training, according to a report from corrections1.com.
Recommended reforms include developing a long-term strategy to station internal affairs investigators in geographic locations to allow for timely responses for in-custody death investigations, identifying employee misconduct and clearly documenting in-custody death investigations, and the implementation of information technology solutions that can support automated logging of detention cell checks, according to the release.
