监狱人员短缺如何导致心理健康工作人员流失

联邦监狱多年来一直陷入危机，这一点已被反复记录在案。

Federal prisons have been in crisis for years, and that fact has been documented over and over.

我们的系统正处于崩溃的边缘。

We have a system on a brink of failure.

这是约翰·韦茨尔在2024年2月的发言。

That's John Wetzel back in February 2024.

他曾是宾夕法尼亚州矫正事务秘书，当时正在国会作证，说明监狱设施人员严重不足的问题。

He's the former Pennsylvania Secretary of Corrections, and he was testifying to Congress about understaffing at correctional facilities.

时间快进到2025年5月。

Fast forward to May 2025.

让我直言不讳。

So let me be blunt.

联邦监狱局不是一个只需要些许改进的系统。

The Bureau of Prisons is not a system in need of some minor improvements.

它亟需一场真正的彻底清算。

It is in need of a true reckoning.

那是来自新泽西州的共和党国会议员杰夫·范德鲁在另一场国会听证会上的发言。

That's Republican Congressman Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey at a different congressional hearing.

目前，联邦监狱局存在数千个空缺职位，工作人员比授权编制少了近6000人。

The bureau is currently operating with thousands of vacancies, including nearly 6,000 fewer staff than its authorized level.

照这样下去是不可持续的。

This is not sustainable to go in this direction.

人员短缺情况极其严重，以至于没有足够的狱警能够应对突发事件。

The shortages are so severe that there are not enough correctional officers to respond to crises.

以下是来自德克萨斯州的民主党国会议员贾斯敏·克罗克特在2025年的发言。

Here's Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett of Texas, also speaking in 2025.

由于联邦监狱局狱警严重不足，被迫让监狱教师、厨师、护士和监控人员兼任狱警职责。

Having staff like prison teachers, cooks, nurses, and monitors being forced to serve as correctional officers because BOP has too few officers to actually do the job.

这简直荒谬至极。

It's absolutely ridiculous.

国会议员杰夫·范德鲁说得更直白一些。

Congressman Jeff Van Drew put it more bluntly.

长期人员不足和囚犯人数上升，使监狱内部的环境对所有人来说都越来越不安全。

Chronic understaffing and rising inmate numbers have created an increasingly unsafe environment for everyone on the inside.

包括心理学家在内。

Including psychologists.

想想看，监狱的心理健康工作人员被要求兼任狱警，这正导致他们纷纷离职。

Consider this, prison mental health staff are being asked to step in as guards and it is making them leave their jobs.

来自NPR，我是朱安娜·萨默斯。

From NPR, I'm Juana Summers.

今年，在NPR的历史播客《Throughline》中。

This year on Throughline, NPR's history podcast.

几代人以来，一个美国式的追求塑造了世界。

For generations, an American quest has shaped the world.

生命、自由和对幸福的追求。

Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness.

如今，距此提出已过去二百五十年，这一追求究竟意味着什么？

Now two hundred fifty years in, what is that pursuit really about?

每周二请收听我们的全新系列节目《美国的追求》，来自Throughline，可在NPR应用或您收听播客的任何平台收听。

Join us each Tuesday for an essential new series, America in Pursuit from ThruLine, on the NPR app, or wherever you get podcasts.

接下来在《此刻随时听》播客中，我们将讲述松鼠、雪貂和驼鹿的故事。

Coming up on the Here and Now Anytime podcast, squirrels, ferrets, and moose.

天哪。

Oh my.

如今，气候变化正让哺乳动物的生存变得更加艰难。

Climate change is making it harder to be a mammal these days.

我们的报道项目《逆转方向》再度归来，带来从明尼苏达州冰冻的北方森林到亚利桑那州沙漠的科学实践故事。

Our reporting project reverse course returns with stories of science in action from the frozen North woods of Minnesota to the desert of Arizona.

请在您收听播客的任何平台收听《此刻随时听》。

Listen to here and now anytime wherever you get your podcasts.

这是来自NPR的《就此而言》。

It's Consider This from NPR.

联邦监狱的狱警正在离职。

Correctional officers are leaving their jobs at federal prisons.

当这些监狱人员不足时，心理学家和其他工作人员会被要求担任狱警。

And when these prisons are understaffed, psychologists and other staff are asked to act as guards.

最近马歇尔计划的报道指出，这正迫使心理健康专业人员离开监狱系统。

And a recent reporting from the Marshall Project says it's pushing mental health professionals out of prisons.

今天来讨论这个问题的是亚历克斯·麦克拉伦。

Here to talk about it is Alex McLaren.

她曾担任国家矫正局的代理局长，该机构隶属于联邦监狱局。

She was the acting director for the National Institute of Corrections, which is housed under the Bureau of Prisons.

她还曾担任联邦监狱的心理学家。

She also worked as a federal prison psychologist.

你好。

Hi there.

非常感谢您邀请我。

Thank you so much for having me.

感谢您的到来。

Thanks for being here.

所以，亚历克斯，据我理解，你2003年加入联邦监狱局，直到2024年退休。

So, Alex, as I understand it, you joined the Bureau of Prisons back in 2003 and then retired in 2024.

当你回想起刚入职时，心理学家们的人员配置和士气如何？

When you think back to the start of your time there, what were staff levels and morale like for psychologists?

联邦监狱局曾经不仅被我和同事认为，也被全国的矫正工作者和矫正心理学家视为黄金标准，是其他所有系统都努力效仿的典范。

So the Bureau of Prisons was once considered not just by me or those who worked there, but by correctional workers and correctional psychologists around the country as the gold standard, as the system that every other system was striving to be like.

我刚入职时，这真是一种莫大的荣誉。

And when I hired on, it was such an incredible honor.

联邦监狱局当时有一个非常完善的实习项目，这是心理学家进入该系统的主渠道。

BOP had a robust internship program, and that was the pipeline in for psychologists.

但那时的讨论根本不是关于人手不足的问题。

But the conversations really were not about understaffing.

我们讨论的是如何提升服务质量和矫正科学的发展，以及如何实施当时开始被广泛讨论的回归社会服务——因为整个国家正逐渐转向更注重康复，关注服刑期间对人的改造。

They were about improving services and the science of corrections starting to grow and how we were going to implement reentry services that were starting to be discussed as we really pivoted as a nation more to rehabilitation and what we did with people during their incarceration.

相比之下，看看这个机构在过去二十年里走到了哪里，如今的情况正如你所说，陷入了严重的人手危机。

Contrast that to where the agency got, you know, over the last two decades and where they are now, where it is a staffing crisis, as you mentioned.

我提到的这个实习渠道，用于引进心理学家。

And that internship pipeline that I mentioned, bringing in psychologists.

去年，联邦监狱局退出了那个吸引心理学领域顶尖人才的匹配机制。

Last year, the Bureau of Prisons withdrew from the match that brings you the cream of the crop in psychology.

因此，这种损害将在未来多年持续存在。

So that harm is gonna be there for years to come.

亚历克斯，这可能是个基础问题，但我希望你能为我们详细说明一下。

Alex, this may be a bit of a basic question, but I'm hoping you can just spell it out for us.

在你看来，心理学家在联邦监狱系统中为何如此重要？

In your view, why are psychologists so important within the federal prison system?

联邦监狱局的心理学家承担着许多职责。

Psychologists in the Bureau of Prisons do so many things.

他们是重返社会方面的专业人士。

They are reentry professionals.

他们不仅做你传统上认为的心理学家会做的临床工作，比如治疗抑郁症或双相情感障碍，还帮助囚犯规划重返社会的事宜。

So not only are they doing what you would traditionally think of a psychologist doing in clinical work treating depression or bipolar disorder but they're working to help people plan for their reentry.

他们可能在帮助囚犯与家人建立联系，因为这种社区连接至关重要。

They may be helping people to engage with their family because that community connectivity is so important.

他们还参与人员配置和职场冲突问题，以及暴力预防。

They're involved in staffing and workplace conflict issues, violence prevention.

这远远不止是治疗精神疾病的症状。

That's a lot more than just treating symptoms of mental illness.

那么，当监狱里心理学家数量不足时，会引发哪些问题呢？

So then, when there aren't enough psychologists working at a prison, what kind of problems can that create?

你能给我们举一两个例子吗？

Can you give us one or two examples?

当然可以。

Sure.

当你不优先聘用心理学家时，你就是在制造危机。

When you don't prioritize the hiring of psychologists, you're creating crises.

因为心理学家所做的，是将任何出现的风险转化为切实可行的安全措施。

Because what the psychologists are doing are transforming any risk that arrives into some kind of actionable steps towards safety.

因此，你会遇到一些患有精神疾病的人，他们可能变得不稳定，却得不到必要的支持来避免自残或暴力行为。

So you will have people that have a mental illness that may be destabilized, and they're not getting the support that they require to refrain from self harm, to refrain from violence.

这些问题不仅影响他们自己，还会波及整个设施的社区、工作人员以及被监禁的其他人。

Those things don't just impact them, but they impact the entire community of the facility, the staff and the people who are incarcerated there.

我的意思是，我知道在机构中，导致人员短缺的原因往往有很多。

I mean, I know institution, there are often a lot of reasons that contribute to staffing shortages.

但当我们谈到联邦监狱局时，你认为最主要的原因是什么？

But when we talk about the Bureau of Prisons, what do you think is the most significant reason who for this?

你知道，你几乎得从一个漏斗的角度来看这个问题。

You know, you almost have to look at it through a funnel.

在本届政府下，政府工作人员感到自己受到了攻击。

Under this administration, government workers feel under attack.

你看看监狱局的具体情况。

You look at BOP specifically.

在过去的几年里，它连续两次被评为联邦政府中最差的工作场所。

It was ranked the worst place to work in federal government twice in a row in the last few years.

领导层一直不稳定。

There's been unstable leadership.

所有这些因素都在影响着曾经或可能成为联邦监狱局心理学家的人。

All of those things are then feeding into people who have been or would be BOP psychologists.

我提到过，联邦监狱局已退出实习项目，而该项目每年本应为其输送约80个职位。

I mentioned that BOP withdrew from the internship program, which is how it gets, I think, about 80 positions every year.

这些是最新、最富有活力、最有技能的人才，他们是招聘的中坚力量。

Those are your newest, freshest, skilled people, and they're the backbone of your recruitment.

心理学家和其他在那里工作的人一样，首先被视为矫正工作人员，这意味着他们也要承担执法职能。

Psychologists, like everyone that works there, are considered correctional workers first, which means that they do serve law enforcement functions.

他们需要随时待命，但薪资不仅低于其他一些政府机构，甚至低于私营部门的同行。

They're on call, but they're getting lower pay not only than some other government agencies, but then folks in the private sector.

把这些因素都加在一起，这份工作就没什么吸引力了。

That's not very appealing when you stack all of that up.

亚历克斯·麦克拉伦曾在联邦监狱局担任心理学家，并担任国家矫正研究所的代理主任。

Alex McLaren worked in the Federal Bureau of Prisons as a psychologist and as the acting director for the National Institute of Corrections.

亚历克斯，谢谢。

Alex, thank you.

非常感谢你。

Thank you so much.

我们联系了联邦监狱局以获取评论。

We reached out to the Federal Bureau of Prisons for comment.

他们回复了一封电子邮件，称改善心理健康服务是首要任务，并详细说明了正在采取的一些关键措施。

They responded with an email stating that improving mental health services was a top priority and detailing some of the key actions being undertaken.

这封邮件部分写道：这一届政府并未造成人员短缺危机，但正在直接应对它。

The email read in part, this administration did not create the staffing crisis, but it's confronting it directly.

通过有针对性的投资、劳动力现代化和运营创新，联邦监狱局正在采取措施稳定并加强其各机构的心理健康服务。

Through targeted investment, workforce modernization, and operational innovation, the bureau is taking steps to stabilize and strengthen mental health services across its institutions.

本集由杰森·富勒和凯伦·扎莫拉制作，音频工程由泰德·尼班负责。

This episode was produced by Jason Fuller and Karen Zamora with audio engineering by Ted Nibane.

本集由珍妮特·伍兹和考特尼·多宁编辑。

It was edited by Jeanette Woods and Courtney Dorning.

我们的执行制片人是萨米·严根。

Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigan.

这是NPR的《就此而言》。

It's Consider This from NPR.

我是胡安娜·萨默斯。

I'm Juana Summers.

想在没有广告中断的情况下收听这个播客吗？

Wanna hear this podcast without sponsor breaks?

亚马逊Prime会员可以通过亚马逊音乐无广告收听《就此而言》，或者您也可以支持NPR的重要新闻报道，并通过+.npr.org获取《就此而言》Plus版。

Amazon Prime members can listen to consider this sponsor free through Amazon Music, or you can also support NPR's vital journalism and get consider this plus at +.npr.org.

网址是+.npr.org。

That's +.npr.org.