Department of Justice to stop using private prisons

Daily Kos Staff

Thursday August 18, 2016 · 9:27 AM PDT

2016/08/18 · 09:27

The prison industrial complex has been one of the great success stories of the last few decades—if “success” can stretch to mean more than tripling the number of Americans locked up. As conservatives privatized prisons in the name of “efficiency” and cost savings, it’s turned into a huge source of profit for those who operate facilities.

The American prison system is massive. So massive that its estimated turnover of $74 billion eclipses the GDP of 133 nations.

It’s made some areas so dependent on the kickbacks from prisons that locking up fewer people is a threat to the economy. A threat great enough to actually encourage locking people up for minor offenses.

However, to drive the cost of warehousing people down to a minimum, private prisons often provide poor housing, inadequate food, negligent medical care, and poor safety for both inmates and guards. So the DOJ has made a momentous decision: it will stop using private prisons.

The Justice Department plans to end its use of private prisons after officials concluded the facilities are both less safe and less effective at providing correctional services than those run by the government. …

“They simply do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs, and resources; they do not save substantially on costs; and as noted in a recent report by the Department’s Office of Inspector General, they do not maintain the same level of safety and security,” Yates wrote.

Not only are the facilities inadequate, the cost savings—as with other instances of privatized government services—have turned out to be a lot smaller than predicted.

It is possible the directive could face resistance from those companies that will be affected.

You can bet that it will. The announcement has already caused a sharp drop in the value of the companies operating the facilities.

Shares of GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America were originally halted on the news, but have since reopened, falling more than 20 percent. Both stocks were then halted again for volatility.

… Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has spoken forcefully about a desire to phase out private prisons as part of the U.S. criminal system

President Obama isn’t going to wait for Hillary to take action on this front. Right now, private prisons hold around 12 percent of federal prisoners. As the prison population is reduced, prisoners will be moved away from private facilities. The facilities won’t be closed right away, but they’re on their way out.

One person who has really benefited from these companies in the past? Once and wanna be Senator Marco Rubio.

Marco Rubio is one of the best examples of the private prison industry’s growing political influence... The U.S. senator has a history of close ties to the nation’s second-largest for-profit prison company, GEO Group, stretching back to his days as speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. While Rubio was leading the House, GEO was awarded a state government contract for a $110 million prison soon after Rubio hired an economic consultant who had been a trustee for a GEO real estate trust. Over his career, Rubio has received nearly $40,000 in campaign donations from GEO, making him the Senate’s top career recipient of contributions from the company. (Rubio’s office did not respond to requests for comment.)

Maybe someone should make that request again.

Department of Justice to stop using private prisons

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