Biden Will End the Justice Department's Use of Private Prisons

[Rick Rolle]

For four years, the Trump administration embraced private prisons, signing contracts with corporations to incarcerate detainees, immigrants, and people serving federal sentences. Now, that era is coming to a close as President Joe Biden signs an executive order Tuesday afternoon instructing the Department of Justice to allow its contracts with for-profit prison companies to expire.

The executive order “will ultimately end the Justice Department’s use of private prisons, an industry that houses pretrial detainees and federal prisoners,” Biden said Tuesday in a speech on his racial equity policy agenda. The decision means the gradual end for a dozen private prisons that currently incarcerate about 14,000 people—about 9 percent of the federal prison population. Most of those are men without US citizenship serving short federal sentences under low security. It could also affect for-profit jails run by private prison companies under contract with US Marshals Service, a DOJ division that holds pretrial detainees.

Remainder of article here: https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2021/01/biden-order-justice-department-private-prisons/

It's long past time to do away with private prisons. If a government, whether it be local, state, or federal, is going to incarcerate someone, that government should be responsible for the safety, housing, health, and welfare of that person. Prisons should never be a for profit business.

[Dream Girl]

1. Excellent! I'm starting to love this man...

[Faux pas]

2. YES!

[brewens]

3. I never thought this day would come in my lifetime, but Idaho may be shown as a great example

on this one. I really don't understand how it could have happened, but our illustrious state legislature booted the Corrections Corp. of America out. It couldn't have been that the stupidity and looting was too much for them. I guess the money just wasn't going to the right people.

[Rick Rolle]

4. I like that the individual states are taking control and cutting ties with private prisons.

The so-called War on Drugs has been a massive boon to private prisons. I'd be interested to see how much $$$ private prison companies have paid to get "tough on drugs" judges elected, and how much $$$ they have spent on lobbying legislators to pass "tough on crime" laws.