"The BOP has implemented a national lockdown as of 4 p.m. [20:00 GMT] due to the ongoing unrest and riots nationwide. We will assume lockdown protocols for everyone’s safety and until it is calm around the nation", a BOP letter obtained by the media outlet Government Executive read.
The bureau consists of 122 jails across the United States, in which there are about 165,500 inmates as well as nearly 37,000 staffers.
The last time US federal prisons went into a full nationwide lockdown was in October 1995 following a series of riots over Congress's unwillingness to reduce sentences for crimes involving drugs.
Mass protests hit multiple cities across the country last week, with demonstrators protesting against police brutality and racism following African American man George Floyd's death. Floyd was detained in Minneapolis last Monday over allegedly paying for cigarettes with a counterfeit bill. During the arrest, a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on Floyd's neck for several minutes, until the man was unresponsive.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner in the US state of Minnesota in an official medical report ruled earlier in the day that Floyd's death while in police custody was a homicide.
The four police officers present during the incident were later fired. Derek Chauvin has since been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.
