BOP Program Statement 3420.14 § 5

Employees are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that contributes to the orderly

running of Bureau facilities. The following behavior will not be tolerated in the Bureau:

a. Alcohol/Illegal Drugs. The use of illegal drugs; the abuse of any drug; or the misuse of any

drug or medication including prescription-controlled substances, is strictly prohibited. Prohibited

drugs include, but are not limited to:

■ Marijuana and synthetic marijuana products.

■ Cocaine.

■ Ecstasy.

■ Heroin.

■ Amphetamines (“speed” or “crank”).

■ Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD).

■ Opiates or opioids.

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Regardless of individual state legislation or initiatives, the use of any Federal Controlled

Substances Act, Schedule I drug, to include marijuana and synthetic marijuana products, whether

for medical, ostensible medical, or non-medical/recreational purposes, violates and is prohibited

under federal law, the Federal Controlled Substances Act, and Bureau testing requirements. As

such, any employee testing positive for or found to be under the influence of any such drug will

be subject to appropriate discipline, up to and including removal, notwithstanding any conflicting

non-federal laws, rules, regulations, or policies.

Use of cannabinoids such as cannabidiol (CBD) and delta-8 THC are not currently regulated by

the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) federal regulations and employees using these

products assume all risks and liability associated with such use. Employees found to test positive

for THC while using these products will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action, up to and

including removal, in accordance with this Program Statement and the Program Statement Drug

Free Workplace.

Use of alcoholic beverages or being under the influence of alcohol while on duty or immediately

before reporting for duty are prohibited. Employees found to possess a .02 or greater blood

alcohol content while on duty or upon reporting for duty will be subject to appropriate

disciplinary action up to and including removal.

Failure or refusal by an employee to submit to a random or reasonable suspicion drug test,

alcohol test, or breathalyzer, may result in discipline up to and including removal.

b. Sexual/Personal Relationships/Contact with Inmates. Employees may not show partiality

toward, or become emotionally, physically, sexually, or financially involved with inmates;

former inmates; or family members, associates, or close friends of inmates or former inmates.

Employees may not have contact with inmates; former inmates; or family members, associates,

or close friends of inmates or former inmates, except as authorized within the scope of their

employment or by the CEO. Chaplains, psychologists, psychiatrists, and other clinical or medical

employees designated by the CEO may continue a previously established therapeutic relationship

with a former inmate in accordance with their codes of professional conduct and responsibility.

These employees must obtain prior approval from the CEO to communicate with former inmates,

their family members, or associates. All communication must occur from an institution setting.

Employees must report any unauthorized communication with inmates; former inmates; or

family members, associates, or close friends of inmates or former inmates within 24 hours of the

contact or communication.

Bureau employees may not serve as volunteers in Bureau facilities or programs, regardless of the

purpose or content of the program. Bureau employees may not act as participants in any inmate

programs without authorization from the CEO.

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An employee may not engage in, or allow another person to engage in, sexual behavior with an

inmate. There is no such thing as consensual sex between employees and inmates.

Title 18, U.S. Code Chapter 109A provides penalties of up to life imprisonment for sexual abuse

of inmates where force is used or threatened. Sexual contact is defined as the intentional

touching of the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or buttocks with the intent to abuse,

humiliate, harass, degrade, arouse, or gratify the sexual desire of any person.

Penetration is not required to support a conviction for sexual contact. All allegations of sexual

abuse will be thoroughly investigated and, when appropriate, referred to the appropriate

authorities for prosecution.

Employees are subject to disciplinary action, up to and including removal, for any inappropriate

communication, contact, sexual behavior, or relationship with inmates; former inmates; or family

members, associates, or close friends of inmates or former inmates, regardless of whether such

contact constitutes a prosecutable crime. Physical contact is not required to subject an employee

to discipline up to and including removal for misconduct of a sexual nature.

An employee may not offer or give to inmates; former inmates; or family members, associates, or

close friends of inmates or former inmates, any gift, article, favor, or service that is not

authorized in the performance of the employee’s duties.

Employees are prohibited from accepting any gift, article, favor, or personal service from

inmates; former inmates; or family members, associates, or close friends of inmates or former

inmates, that is not authorized in the performance of the employee’s duties. This prohibition

includes becoming involved with family members, close friends, or associates of inmates.

An employee may not show favoritism or give preferential treatment to one inmate, or a group of

inmates, over another.

Employees must report to the CEO immediately (but not later than 24 hours after becoming

aware) if the employee’s family members, close friends, or other associates are or may be

incarcerated, regardless of whether that incarceration is in a Bureau, Bureau contracted, or non-Bureau federal facility, or otherwise under the supervision of a federal court.

An employee who becomes involved in circumstances as described in this section (or any

situation that might give the appearance of improper involvement with inmates or former

inmates or their families, or known associates, including employees whose relatives are inmates

or former inmates) must report the contact in writing to the CEO as soon as practicable (but not

later than 24 hours after becoming aware). This includes, but is not limited to, telephone calls,

written communications, or other electronic communications such as text messages or social

media with such persons outside the normal scope of employment. The employee will then be

instructed as to the appropriate course of action by the CEO or their designee.

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c. Associations with Criminal Organizations. Association with criminal organizations is

incompatible with the Bureau’s law enforcement mission. As such, all employees (regardless of

whether they are considered primary law enforcement, secondary law enforcement, or non-law

enforcement) must avoid associating or the appearance of association with known criminal

organizations or members or associates of known criminal organizations. This includes, but is

not limited to social activities, social media posts, photographs, videos, or personal conduct such

as tattoos, use of gang related language, speech, terminology, or hand gestures; or romantic,

sexual, or financial relationships with known or suspected members of criminal organizations

recognized as such by the Bureau or other law enforcement entities.

d. Supervisor/Subordinate Relationships. Romantic, sexual, emotional and/or financial

relationships between a supervisor and subordinate employee have the potential to create

significant problems within the workplace. Supervisors are responsible for ensuring their

interactions do not impact their impartiality or appearance of impartiality with subordinate

employees. Supervisors must not engage in a sexual, emotional, romantic, or financial

relationship with a subordinate employee(s), including employees over whom the supervisor may

exert supervisory control. When such a relationship exists, appropriate steps will be taken, in

consultation with the Bureau Ethics Officer, to determine whether to sever the supervisor-subordinate relationship. Additionally, if appropriate, the supervisor may be recused from all

official matters (including rating or reviewing employee performance, assigning work, approving

leave, granting awards or any involvement in personnel recommendations and decisions)

affecting (or appearing to affect) the subordinate with whom the relationship exists and

potentially other subordinate employees within the same work group as determined to be

necessary. Supervisors who engage in any such relationships with a subordinate(s) may be

subject discipline up to and including removal. This provision does not prohibit supervisors from

attending the same social events, religious institutions, or social clubs or organizations as their

employees, or from generally socializing outside of work, provided such activities do not impact

their impartiality or create the appearance of impacting their impartiality.

While sexual, romantic, emotional, and financial relationships are generally not otherwise

prohibited among employees, care must be taken to ensure such relationships do not lead to

behavior which could be construed as harassment, creating a hostile work environment, bullying,

or other inappropriate conduct. Such behavior may subject the employee to appropriate

disciplinary action, up to and including removal.

e. Social Media. While engaging in social media activity, employees are responsible for

following statutes, regulations, and policies that govern federal employees generally, and DOJ

employees specifically. This includes but is not limited to, the Hatch Act, the Standards of

Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch, and the DOJ Personal Use of Social

Media policy, which apply to an employee’s personal use of social media, including closed and

restricted access social media groups. Social media may never be used in a way that violates

Bureau or DOJ policies or compromises correctional or informational security. This includes, but

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is not limited to, the following Program Statements:

■ Release of Information

■ Anti-Discrimination Policy

■ Anti-Harassment Policy

■ Workplace Violence Prevention, Staff

Employees must not post any material on social media sites that could adversely affect the

confidence of the public in the integrity of the DOJ or the Bureau; or which could be construed

as damaging the efficiency of the DOJ or Bureau and the work it performs through its

employees. Specifically, employees may not use social media in a way that affects the

maintenance of trust and confidence between supervisors and employees; that hinders the social

media user’s ability to perform the essential functions of their role as a federal employee; or that

presents obvious risks to professional and mutually respectful collaboration among employees

and may impact the orderly and efficient running of the correctional facility or office.

Employees may not use social media in a manner which creates the appearance of engaging in

criminal activity or associating with criminal actors or entities. Employees may not use social

media to engage in harassing or discriminatory conduct toward others (individuals or groups)

based on their race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability (physical or mental),

genetic information, status as a parent, sexual orientation, marital status, political affiliation, or

any other protected status. Likewise, employees may not use social media to make threatening

statements toward other employees or groups of employees.

Employees must not post on social media non-public information gained through federal

employment and/or that the employee knows or reasonably could have known is not accessible to

the general public. This includes, but is not limited to, information that is exempt from disclosure

under 5 U.S.C. 552; is protected from disclosure by statute, Executive order, or regulation; is

designated as confidential by an agency; or has not actually been disseminated to the general

public and is not authorized to be made available to the public upon request.

When utilizing social media platforms, unless authorized in the performance of their duties or by

law, employees must not state or imply that their personal opinions and social media content are

authorized or endorsed by the Bureau or the DOJ. In situations in which there may be confusion

about whether an employee is communicating in an official or personal capacity, employees will

include a disclaimer on their personal pages or posts stating that they are communicating in a

personal/individual capacity. Employees may not engage in anonymous online activity (or use a

pseudonym) to engage in conduct or communication that they otherwise would not be permitted

to engage in if their identities were known. Employees may not provide documents or

information to another individual or non-employee to engage in social media communication that

the employee would not otherwise be permitted to engage in themselves. Employees may not

establish social media accounts on behalf of the Bureau without prior authorization through the

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Office of Public Affairs.

Unless authorized to do so, in the performance of their duties, employees may not take or post on

social media photographs, video, or audio recordings from within any Bureau-owned or

contracted correctional or residential facility, training facility, administrative facility (e.g., Central

Office, regional offices, or the Grand Prairie Office Complex), offices, Bureau vehicle, or in the

course of inmate transportation or supervision in the community (e.g., airlifts, medical flights,

and hospital escorts), as such may compromise correctional security, public safety and/or

implicate individual privacy. This does not apply to reposting photographs, video, or audio

recordings, which are otherwise publicly available.

Consistent with the above restrictions, and the DOJ Social Media Policy, employees are not

permitted to:

 Conduct official business on personal social media accounts.

 Include their official DOJ position or title in any social media activity that is related to the

work of the DOJ.

 Repost official DOJ information, such as press releases, or comment on the DOJ’s work.

 Engage in social media activity in a way that may be perceived by a reasonable person as

injecting their political views into the work they perform as a DOJ employee, or that may

cause the public to perceive that their ability to be apolitical and impartial in the

performance of their official duties is tainted.

 Make false statements or statements in reckless disregard for the truth about any person,

particularly those with whom the DOJ engages, such as judges or other public officials.

 Make comments or post, repost, “like,” or upvote the social media content of others that

may be perceived by a reasonable person as conflicting with, or interfering in, the proper

and effective performance of their official duties and responsibilities; that creates an

appearance that their official duties were performed in a biased manner; or that creates an

appearance of official DOJ sanction or endorsement of the position espoused by the

employee.

All employees must properly safeguard confidential, privileged, classified, privacy-protected,

and sensitive DOJ information. Employees are generally restricted from publicly releasing any

comments or information regarding matters the DOJ is involved with that may reasonably be

expected to influence the outcome of that matter, including observations about a criminal

defendant’s or inmate’s character or their opinion as to a criminal defendant’s guilt.

These requirements are not intended to restrict the authority Bureau leaders have to engage in

public communications on social media to promote the Bureau’s work and further valid

community engagement objectives.

Bureau attorneys should also be aware that the rules of professional conduct in their respective

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jurisdictions may further limit their personal use of social media. For example:

 Attorneys should not post personal opinions on social media that are contrary to the

positions that the attorney is advocating for on behalf of the United States, because doing

so may create a conflict of interest, or may cause the attorney to become a necessary

witness in a matter.

 Attorneys must appropriately safeguard the United States’ confidential information from

impermissible disclosure on social media.

 Attorneys are generally prohibited from making statements on social media that have a

substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding, or that are

likely to heighten condemnation of an accused.

 Attorneys are prohibited from making statements on social media the attorney knows to

be false or with reckless disregard as to its truth or falsity concerning the qualifications or

integrity of a judge, administrative judge, or other third-party overseeing a case or

administrative matter in which the Bureau or Bureau employees appear as a party in their

official capacities.

Employees should contact the Ethics Office for additional guidance concerning social media use.

f. Use of Force. Consistent with other Program Statements, policies, and regulations:

An employee may not use brutality, physical violence, or intimidation toward inmates, or use any

force beyond what is reasonably necessary to subdue or control an inmate.

Bureau employees in law enforcement positions must also recognize and act upon the affirmative

duty to intervene to prevent or stop, as appropriate, any fellow Bureau employee from engaging

in excessive force, brutality, physical violence, threats, intimidation, or any other use of force

that violates the Constitution, other federal laws, or Bureau policies on the reasonable use of

force.

g. Additional Conduct Issues. In their official capacity, employees must act professionally in

all interactions and communications and may not use profane, obscene, demeaning, or abusive

language when communicating with inmates, fellow employees, volunteers, contractors, visitors,

or others. Employees must conduct themselves in a manner that will not be demeaning to

inmates, fellow employees, volunteers, contractors, visitors, or others. This requirement extends

to the employee’s off-duty conduct, if there is a nexus between the employee’s conduct and their

position.

Employees must avoid situations that give rise to a conflict of interest or the appearance of a

conflict of interest (see Section 2, Definitions).

Employees must not participate in conduct that would lead a reasonable person to question their

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impartiality.