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Three Prisons Act
Established the first three federal penitentiaries, USP Leavenworth, USP Atlanta, and USP McNeil Island, had already been in place for nearly 40 years -
The first penitentiary
The Bureau opened The USP Lewisburg in 1932, the first penitentiary it had constructed. -
The growth of the facilities
The Bureau had 24 facilities with 24,360 people by 1940. Between 1940 and 1980, when the population reached 24,252. However, when the Bureau gradually switched from running big facilities to operating smaller institutions, the total number of facilities virtually doubled. -
The increase of federal inmates
In 1980s the rise in the number of Federal detainees as a result of increased efforts by Federal law enforcement agencies and new legislation that significantly changed sentencing in the Federal criminal justice system. -
Decrease on the inmates population
The population fell in 2014 for the first time in 34 years. The general decrease in the prison population will continue to be impacted by a number of legislative reforms, most recently the First Step Act of 2018. -
SOURCES
Federal Bureau of Prisons. “BOP: Historical Information.” Bop.gov, 2019, www.bop.gov/about/history/. 7.01 Brief History, Criminology Activities