The partial U.S. government shutdown is now in its third week, due largely to President Trump’s insistence that Congress give him more than $5 billion for a border wall he says will keep criminals from entering the country through Mexico.
Meanwhile, the federal employees tasked with keeping the nation safe from people convicted of crimes—prison guards—are laboring without pay.
Because the federal Bureau of Prisons is operating without funding, it has furloughed up to half of its 36,000-person staff, including many who provide therapeutic programs for prisoners and other services considered not to be “essential.” And the agency is asking its remaining employees to keep working unpaid, focusing on maintaining security even if that’s not usually their primary job.
[For more on this story by ELI HAGER, go to https://www.themarshallproject...side-federal-prisons]
For another story on a similar topic, see The Shutdown Causes Some Parents To Pay Twice for Child Care.
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