Detention facilities under U.S. Marshals Service lack proper oversight

The Government Accountability Office detailed gaps in the U.S. Marshals Service’s oversight of detention facilities it uses in a report published on Monday. 

USMS does not own or operate its own facilities; rather, it contracts with state and local governments, private entities and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. However the law enforcement agency is tasked with ensuring the nearly 60,000 individuals awaiting federal trial or sentencing are in safe, secure and humane conditions. 

The report found that 46% of deputies who conducted reviews of state and local detention facilities in fiscal 2023 had not been trained on how to perform such reviews. This is because the agency has not provided such training since December 2020 when “technical changes and security risks” with the online platform where the course was offered caused officials to shut it down. 

Agency officials told GAO that a new online training course will be finished in 2024 and that deputies will be required to take it annually, but the report notes that the service does not have a plan with time frames for individuals to receive such course. 

During all six of their site visits to local detention facilities, GAO investigators observed deputies skip some steps, such as reviewing health and safety inspection documents and talking with people in custody. 

Of the total average daily population of individuals in USMS custody in fiscal 2023, 74% were in state and local detention facilities. 

The report questioned the independence of the service’s facility reviews and suggested that it conduct more quality assurance reviews (which are performed by contractors with relevant expertise), prohibit deputies from reviewing detention facilities in their own districts and consider establishing an independent office to do additional facility reviews akin to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Office of Detention Oversight. 

USMS also does not analyze data it collects on inquiries, such as complaints from individuals in custody, to gauge trends, including the characteristics of complaints or their volume at individual facilities. 

“Such an analysis could identify areas for improvement,” investigators wrote. “For example, our analysis of Marshals Service inquiry data submitted on behalf of individuals in custody from January 2018 through June 2023 found that at least 20 detention facilities received multiple inquiries about prison rape. In addition, at least 20 detention facilities received multiple inquiries about harassment.” 

The report also encouraged the Marshals to publicize more data about detention facility performance. Currently, it only publicly reports the percentage of annual reviews it conducts of private and state and local detention facilities as well as the percentage of private facilities that meet minimum federal detention standards. While acknowledging that some information is sensitive, GAO argued that transparency and accountability are necessary for a safe and humane prison system. 

GAO made eight recommendations, including that the Marshals develop and implement a plan with time frames for deputies who conduct facility reviews to complete annual training and that it regularly analyze detention operations data to identify problems and trends. 

Marshals concurred with all of the report’s recommendations. 

GAO added management of federal prisons to its high-risk list in 2023. The watchdog also recommended in 2021 that the Marshals and Bureau of Prisons better align their policies regarding pregnant prisoners with national guidance on pregnancy-related care. 

Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., requested the report and has introduced bipartisan legislation to increase oversight of federal prisons after leading multiple investigations into misconduct in the system.