FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 30, 2026
September 30, 2026
Contact:
Tim Kauffman
202-374-6491
[email protected]
Federal Judge Orders Bureau of Prisons to Reinstate Correctional Officers’ Union Contract
Categories:
BOP, Contracts
Ruling restores workplace rights and protections for 30K BOP officers and staff represented by AFGE
WASHINGTON – A federal judge has ordered the Bureau of Prisons to reinstate the union contract covering about 30,000 correctional officers and staff represented by the American Federation of Government Employees.
On Tuesday, Sept. 29, U.S. District Judge Vernon Oliver of the District of Connecticut granted a preliminary injunction setting aside the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ termination of the collective bargaining agreement and ordered the agency to immediately reinstate the union contract. The case was brought by the National Council of Prison Locals (AFGE Council 33) and AFGE Local 1661, which represents employees at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut.
“We look forward to BOP promptly complying with Judge Oliver’s decision and reinstating our contract,” AFGE Council 33 National President Brandy Moore White said. “Our members believe in the mission of this agency and in the protections the contract provides to advance that mission. We are hopeful that management will work with us in a productive, good-faith partnership going forward to make our institutions safer for staff and the public alike.”
BOP Director William Marshall III terminated the contract on Sept. 25, 2025, stripping protections from employees at the agency’s 122 facilities across the United States. The same day, Marshall posted a public “Message from the Director” on BOP’s website indicating that his decision to terminate the contract was based on his view of the union council.
On Nov. 13, 2025, Council 33 and Local 1661 filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut challenging the termination. The lawsuit alleges that the termination violated the Administrative Procedure Act because it was arbitrary and capricious, and that it violated the First Amendment because it was unlawful retaliation for the union’s protected activity. On Dec. 22, 2025, the unions moved for a preliminary injunction on their APA claim, arguing that the termination was causing irreparable harm to the employees they represent, including by eliminating contract provisions that protect employee health and safety.
In granting the motion, Judge Oliver found that the unions are likely to succeed on their claim that the termination was arbitrary and capricious. In particular, the court found that BOP’s stated justification was pretextual. BOP “published two incongruent explanations for the termination” on the same day, the court wrote, and while “an agency may have multiple reasons for its action, it cannot offer an entirely pretextual explanation that is undermined by its own contradictory assertions made the same day.”
Judge Oliver also found that the unions and their members are suffering irreparable harm. He cited evidence that since the termination, BOP has disciplined and fired employees without due process protections, forced employees to work overtime in dangerous conditions, blocked union representatives from traveling to Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress, and barred them from speaking with the media.
The court ordered BOP to immediately reinstate the contract for the remainder of its term and rejected the government’s demand that the unions post an $8.75 million bond, requiring a nominal $1,000 bond instead.
“I am proud of our brothers and sisters in the Council of Prison Locals for fighting for their members’ rights and safety,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said. “The court’s decision rightly restores a contract that protects our correctional officers and the public. The government’s termination of this contract was nothing more than an arbitrary attack on hardworking Americans, and the court saw it for exactly what it was.”
###
Click here to Donate to the AFGE Federal Employee Defense Fund.
For the latest AFGE news and information, visit the AFGE Media Center.
Follow us on:
