Federal Bureau Of Prisons Aims To Improve LGBT Outreach

In a groundbreaking move, the Federal Bureau of Prisons(BOP) has announced that every federal prison in the U.S. will appoint an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) representative to their long-standing Affirmative Employment Program.  The BOP employs approximately 40,000 nationwide, and until now, the LGBT staff did not have a designated representative in the program.

With the addition of an LGBT representative to the BOP’s Affirmative Employment Program, each of the more than 120 BOP facilities will hold at least one event each year that will serve to educate and inform the staff about LGBT diversity issues.

The directive also requires each facility to designate one person as the LGBT Special Emphasis Program Manager, to ensure that equal opportunity issues and concerns affecting LGBT employees are adequately addressed.

The announcement comes just one year after Brian Winfield, managing director of Equality Florida, met with a small team of courageous employees at Florida’s Coleman Federal Correctional Complex to plan the first-ever LGBT staff event within the BOP.  Read More