EFFECT OF HOUSE ACTION

The House allowance of $21,800,000 provides a decrease of $5,550,000 from the amount requested for Fiscal Year 1971. The House allowance permits an additional $15,863,000 for new construction, improvements, rehabilitation and modernization projects and an additional $497,000 for repairs and improvements at all institutions, but reduces by $5,550,000 the amounts requested for new construction projects. These reductions totaling $5,550,000 would result in a further delay in the design of a specialized medical facility at Butner, North Carolina; the acquisition of a site for, and design of a women's institution in the western section of the county; the acquisition of sites for and design of two metropolitan correctional centers; the construction of a gymnasium-auditorium building at Petersburg, Virginia; an activities building at Allenwood, Pennsylvania; and a gymnasium at Englewood, Colorado.

JUSTIFICATION OF AMENDMENT REQUESTED

The Department recommends restoration of $4,355,000 of the reduction made by the House. The amendment requested consists of the following items: 1. For design of a specialized medical facility at Butner, N.C., $550,000. In his directive of November 13, 1969, the President reiterated, and emphasized the Administration's view that our understanding of mentally disturbed and violent offenders is distressingly inadequate, and that the need for specialized study and treatment of this particular group of offenders is most urgent. The President, therefore, asked that the design and construction of the long-delayed Butner, North Carolina faciilty be expedited, so that a systematic and intensive program aimed at this most dangerous kind of offender can be developed and implemented without further delay.

The facility at Butner will be designed as a special purpose study and treatment center, providing flexible modular units that permit a variety of groupings for multiple and simultaneous study and treatment programs.

2. For site acquisition and design of a metropolitan correctional center in the San Francisco area, $1,100,000.

To provide detention housing for its prisoners awaiting trial the Federal government must contract for spaces and services in local and state facilities. In the San Francisco area (70-mile radius) a chronic and serious shortage of such detention facilities has forced the Federal government to house its prisoners in overcrowded, unsanitary, and understaffed jails. The San Francisco County Jail is designed for a total capacity of 432; the average population has been about 485 of which some 50 are federal prisoners. An additional 110 federal prisoners are boarded in other local jails in the area. The planned federal facility in San Francisco would handle some 700 persons annually including those under detention, in pre-release status, and those undergoing diagnostic observation.

Because the local jurisdictions have planned no improvement or expansion of their jails, the Federal government must now proceded at once to build and operate its own detention facility. Failure to do this on a planned and programmed basis will probably lead to an emergency of grave proportions requiring a crash program of high cost and marginal value.

3. For site acquisition and design of correctional facilities for women in the western area, $2,055,000.

New facilities are needed for women offenders to relieve present and anticipated inmate population pressures and to meet treatment program needs which cannot now be met in the traditional, existing institutions operated by the Bureau of Prisons. Only two federal facilities are available for the commitment of women: Alderson, West Virginia, in the east and Terminal Island, California, in the west. The needs for facilities are the most critical in the west.

At Terminal Island, women are confined in a division separate from the larger part serving as an institution for male offenders. Here, the number of women confined is larger than the rated capacity of the division; the normal capacity is 180, but there are currently over 200 confined. The facilities themselves are well below Bureau standards.

Completion of new facilities designed for the particular needs of women offenders will allow the demonstration of innovative programs, provide a location for state participation in regional compacts for the care of certain of their female offenders, and will contribute to a general relief of west coast population problems through more suitable utilization of the entire Terminal Island correctional complex.

4. For site acquisition and design of a metropolitan correctional center in the northeast area, $650,000.

In the majority of metropolitan areas, there is a critical lack of suitable detention facilities for federal prisoners. In addition to New York, Chicago and San Francisco, most serious deficiencies exist in Baltimore, Cleveland, the New Jersey area and in Boston. The Boston situation is expected to be relieved as new local facilities reach completion. No such relief is foreseeable for Baltimore, Cleveland or in New Jersey. As part of a longer range plan, the Bureau of Prisons must take steps to make available its own facilities in these areas as well as certain other metropolitan areas.

The Bureau of Prisons, therefore, wishes to undertake in 1971 the planning and the acquisition of a site in one of the critical areas. The primary area for selections would be Baltimore where an expected 625 persons would be handled annually. In the Baltimore City Jail, which has a capacity of 1,833, there are presently some 60 federal prisoners in a population that averages close to 1,850. In addition to the federal prisoners in the Baltimore jail, there are about 400 prisoners in other Maryland and Northern Virginia contract jails; on completion of a Federal facility many of these would be diverted from the contract jails to the Federal one.

STATEMENT OF ATTORNEY GENERAL MITCHELL

Senator MCCLELLAN. We will make a part of the record at this point the statement of John N. Mitchell, the Attorney General. (The statement follows:)

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the subcommittee: I welcome this opportunity to present and support the request for appropriations for the Department of Justice for Fiscal Year 1971.

The amount requested totals $1,127,510,000, which is an increase of $279,364,000 over the 1970 appropriation adjusted for pay increase costs effective last July 1. The estimates do not reflect the costs associated with the recently enacted Federal Employees Salary Act of 1970. The funds requested would finance 39,233 permanent positions, an increase of 1,256 positions over the 1970 authorized levels. The House of Representatives in its consideration of our request reduced our estimate by $10,287,000 to a figure of $1,117,223,000. The effect of this action was to reduce the positions requested by 144.

While the amounts approved by the House are not all we would have liked, they are sufficient under present circumstances to substantially permit the Department to operate effectively in Fiscal Year 1971. However, there is one area of reduction which is of concern to me.

BUILDINGS AND FACILITIES, BUREAU OF PRISONS

The appropriation for Buildings and Facilities for Bureau of Prisons was reduced by $5,550,000. Four projects, totaling $4,355,000, that were eliminated are of utmost priority and should be restored. All are integral parts of the President's program to develop modern facilities necessary to house an effective program of rehabilitation designed to reduce recidivism. I should like to discuss briefly each of these four items. Mr. Carlson will discuss them in detail when he appears before you.

Women's regional institution

The budget included $2,055,000 for planning, design and site acquisition for a Women's Regional Institution to be constructed on the West Coast. This institution is vitally needed to relieve inmate population pressures and to provide for facilities designed for the particular needs of women offenders.

Metropolitan correctional centers

The House eliminated $1,750,000 which the Department sought for planning, design, and site acquisition for two Metropolitan Correctional Centers to be located in San Francisco and at an eastern location. The amount budgeted for the San Francisco project was $1,100,000, and $650,000 was included for the eastern project.

In San Francisco area, there is a chronic and serious shortage of detention facilities, and the Federal Government is now housing its prisoners in overcrowded, unsanitary, and understaffed jails.

We are faced with similar problems, in several locations, including specifically Boston, and Baltimore. Fortunately, the situation in Boston will improve as new local facilities are completed. Unfortunately, relief is not foreseeable at Baltimore, and the Bureau of Prisons considers the situation there now to be most critical.

Psychiatric study and treatment center

Finally we are seeking restoration of $550,000 for planning and design funds for a psychiatric study and treatment center at Butner, North Carolina. A Government land site is already available for the project.

Our knowledge to treat mentally disturbed and violent offenders is inadequate and the need for specialized study and treatment of this particular group is urgent. Both for the benefit of society and the offender, we must expand our capability in this area and develop systematic and intensive programs of treatment.

These four items are the only ones for which the Department is seeking restoration of the House reductions.

I should now like to briefly describe our plans for the other programs of the Department and to comment on the effect of House action on those programs.

BUREAU OF PRISONS, SALARIES AND EXPENSES

The Department sought an additional $8,971,000 and 238 positions for this appropriation. The House reduced the request by $2,280,000, allowing an increase of $6,691,000. The increase will support 171 additional positions. The Bureau of Prisons will adjust its programs to live within the House allowance and no appeal is sought.

GENERAL LEGAL ACTIVITIES

The Department requested an increase of 191 positions and $3,331,000 in the General Legal Activities appropriation in 1971. The House granted the full position increase requested but reduced the amount of the appropriation by $195,000. We will absorb this reduction by delaying slightly recruitment to fill the additional positions and by minor adjustments in other objects of expense. The increase allowed will permit an expansion of 114 positions in the Criminal Division, 56 in the Civil Rights Division, and 21 in the Tax Division. These additional positions will permit intensification of criminal prosecuton efforts partcularly in organized crime through the establishment of seven additional strike forces and will provide for expanded enforcement of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968.

ANTITRUST DIVISION

The Department sought an increase of 24 positions and $636,000 for the Antitrust Division. The House reduced our request by $147,000 and in doing so did not specify the positions involved. We feel the funds appropriated will permit us to support 15 additional positions in 1971 and that the increase will enable us to accelerate our efforts to prosecute anticompetitive practices and illegal mergers.

UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS AND MARSHALS

The Department requested 70 additional positions and an increase of $2,725,000 for this appropriation. The House allowed the requested positions, all of which are in the United States Attorney's offices, and $2,505,000 of the increase in funds requested. The reduction of $220,000 is all applied to the Marshals Service and will not work an undue hardship on the Department. The bulk of the reduction related to proposed uniforms for the Marshals. The increased positions provided will enable the Department to apply greater effort to the backlog of cases pending in the courts and to accelerate organized crime efforts.

COMMUNITY RELATIONS SERVICE

The Department sought an increase of 95 positions and $1,689,000 for the Community Relations Service to expand coverage of conciliation services, to staff a new regional office, and to expand the liaison activities with the States. The House

reduced the request for this activity by 695,000 and did not specify the position effect of that reduction. Careful review of the House action indicates that depending upon lapse experience we can fund up to 57 additional positions in 1971.

IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE

The House reduced the increase of $9,933,000 requested for Immigration and Naturalization Service by $500,000. The reduction will have no effect on the 7,230 positions requested by the Service for Fiscal Year 1971 but rather is related primarily to disapproval by the committee of funds for the construction of a fence on the Mexican Border. The amount provided by the House will provide additional staff for enforcement of the laws controlling illegal entry of aliens and for maintaining records of alien residents.

LAW ENFORCEMENT ASSISTANCE ADMINISTRATION

The House approved a 1971 appropriation of $480,000,000 for the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration. This is an increase of $212,182,000 over the 1970 level and it is the full amount requested by the Department. The House Committee in its report directed the shift of $11.5 million of the funds we had requested for research and development to the action grant program.

INVESTIGATIVE BUREAUS

The House approved fully the budget requests for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs. The increase of 20 positions and $7,382,000 for the Federal Bureau of Investigation will provide the expanded coverage of the National Crime Information Center and for equipping the new FBI Academy at Quantico, Virginia.

The additional 223 positions and $7,238,000 approved for the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs will support establishment of new investigative task forces to detect major drug conspiracies and provide assistance to State and local agencies.

UNCONTROLLABLE ITEMS

The House approved the Departments full request of $9.5 million for Support of United States Prisoners and $5.5 million for Fees and Expenses of Witnesses. As you are aware expenditures from these appropriations are substantially outside effective administrative control.

GENERAL ADMINISTRATION

Finally I should like to discuss the General Administration appropriation which encompasses the Department staff functions, certain quasi-judicial functions, and administrative services. The Department sought 38 additional positions and $1,267,000 for this appropriation. The House approved eight of the positions, all for the expansion of the Board of Parole, and denied the 30 positions requested for the Administrative Division. The entire reduction of $700,000 assessed against this appropriation was specifically applied to the Administrative Division. I have considered carefully whether the Department should appeal this reduction. I am convinced that there is a compelling need for an expansion in this Division to provide me with the central staff assistance that I need and to serve areas of the Department which are growing. It is apparent that we have not persuaded the House Committee as to the necessity of our request and thus I have concluded that it would serve no useful purpose to appeal this item at this time. Instead, we will concentrate on ways to do more with less thus developing a stronger justification for presentation with the 1972 budget which will clearly demonstrate the compelling needs of this Division.

SUMMARY

In closing I should like to say that the budget request submitted by the Administration for the Department of Justice was carefully conceived and sought the resources necessary to implement effectively the Department's programs.