Director Lappin also applauded the efforts of our Union towards increasing funding for the B.O.P. through lobbying Congress. 

Mr. Lappin stated that the money that is being saved by his cost cutting initiatives are going towards buying more bed space, and hopes to see a easing in our financial restrictions in 2006, which would allow Wardens to hire more staff to fill currently vacant positions.  With that though the Director did stress a cautious optimism, as there are several factors that could come into play which could result in further cuts for the B.O.P.

On displaced employees, Mr. Lappin stated "I believe that every displaced employee will be absorbed by the B.O.P., but those employees will have to be flexible."

On Unicor the Director believes that Federal Prison Industries will have to make a move to modernize and move into a service based core versus the traditional manufacturing, and further FPI will have to give up mandatory source, but he does feel confident FPI will be able to compete with private companies.

On the new uniforms, the Director stated that they have been approved, but there are some issues that have to be worked through with the Union, and looks forward to working those issues out in the near future.  Another issue is that the B.O.P. is being sued by the uniform companies that have traditionally provided our uniforms.

Overall, the Director stated that he was happy with this past year because every staff member was able to go home at the end of their shifts, and stressed the importance of staff safety.