Keri Blakinger

| Wearing a dapper black suit and an almost triumphant expression, Robert James glanced down at the crowd gathered at the foot of the gallows.

Your morning catch-up: Eating in the L.A. area on a budget, flu season gears up in California and more big stories.

Many of the problems the agency is facing now are not new, but staff and prisoners fear an exodus of officers could make life behind bars even worse.

Corrections officers are leaving in droves for ICE Topline:

If you work at a federal prison and know about wrongdoing, we want to hear from you.

After the former Honduran president was pardoned, ICE dropped its detainer on him, and he was whisked away to a luxury hotel in New York City.

The former Honduran president was pardoned and was whisked away to a luxury hotel in New York City

Citing a ProPublica investigation that found that workers at federal lockups had been lured away to ICE, lawmakers asked how the Federal Bureau of Prisons plans to address the agency's “unsafe conditions” and “pervasive” shortages of critical staff.

Four House Democrats demanded the top Federal Bureau of Prisons official explain how he plans to address the agency's “persistent, unsafe

This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive The Big Story newsletter as soon as it’s published.