BIG SPRING – In Howard County, officials and candidates for office have been on the front lines of preventing the closure of the federal prison there, which the Bureau of Prisons announced earlier this month would be shutdown along with several others throughout the country.
State House Rep. Drew Darby along with Howard County Judge Randy Johnson, along with eighteen other county leaders, said in a letter to BOP Director William Marshall on July 22: “we write to urge the [bureau] to reconsider its decision to permanently close the Federal Correctional Institution in Big Spring and its adjacent satellite camp.
“We recognize the struggles the BOP faces, but closing FCI Big Spring does not solve the underlying challenges.”
The prison employs 238, with over 900 dependents. As of the last census, Big Spring is home to 26,144. FCI Big Spring is described as “one of the largest federal employers in West Texas.”
Candidates for office in Howard County have been sounding the alarm for weeks urging action by legislators, who released their statement on July 20. Shiloh Salazar of Big Spring, who is running for office in District 72, and Kyle Rable who is running for congress against Rep. Jodey Arrington in District 19, both stated on Friday that the efforts sought to “[protect] the workers and families who call Howard County home.”
In their letter they state: “This request is not about politics. It’s about protecting the people, families, and communities who will bear the consequences of this decision.”
At the time, the BOP announced that the prison would be closed due to “decades of deferred maintenance and extreme staffing challenges.” The low-security men’s prison is home to 617 inmates.
The bureau stated in their release on July 1 that “staff currently assigned to Beaumont FCI Low, Lexington FMC Satellite Camp, and Petersburg FCI Low will be transferred to other units onsite or nearby for continued employment with the BOP.” And that a “reduction-in-force will take effect at Big Spring FCI” among other prisons.
