WASHINGTON D.C. (TEGNA) — The U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons announced Monday that it is placing its facilities on temporary lockdown amid unrest. The decision was made after violent clashes between protesters and police erupted across the country over the death of George Floyd.
"In light of extensive protest activity occurring around the country, the BOP – in an abundance of caution – is implementing an additional, temporary security measure to ensure the good order and security of our institutions, as well as ensure the safety of staff and inmates," the bureau said in a statement according to USA Today and CBS News.
The statement added: "In securing our facilities, our hope is that this security measure is short-lived and that inmates will be restored to limited movement the very near future."
USA Today said that the lockdown was not prompted by inmate actions.
The federal prison system had also implemented a temporary measure to further curtail inmate movement at prisons across the U.S. “to ensure the good order and security of our institutions, as well as ensure the safety of staff and inmates," the Bureau of Prisons said.
Attorney General William Barr ordered the Bureau of Prisons in March and April to increase the use of home confinement and expedite the release of eligible high-risk inmates, beginning at three prisons identified as coronavirus hot spots.
Under the bureau’s guidelines, priority is supposed to be given to those inmates who have served half of their sentence or inmates with 18 months or less left and who served at least 25% of their time. The bureau has discretion about who can be released -- and used it in Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen’s cases.
President Donald Trump and Attorney General Barr on Monday encouraged more aggressive action against those who cause violence during protests across the country following the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis policeman pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes even after Floyd stopped moving and pleading for air.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
