Justice Dept. Phases Out Private Caging of Humans

08-18-2016
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Decades ago the federal government had a problem. Prison populations were exploding. Between 1980 and 2013, the population increased by nearly 800 percent.

The feds needed help and relied on private prisons. Three years ago 30,000 inmates, or 15 percent, of the federal prison population were being housed at private or for-profit prisons.

That's coming to and end. The deputy attorney general has directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to reduce and ultimately end contracts with private prisons. When contracts reach the end of their terms the bureau should either not renew them or reduce the number of beds it's contracting out.

The process has already begun. Last month the bureau declined to renew 1,200 private beds and today, amended an existing contract from 10,800 beds to 3,600.

This is possible because inmate populations are decreasing due to efforts to change sentencing guidelines and the Obama administration's clemency initiative.

Prison reform advocates are cheering the decision. They’ve long had concerns about the moral implications of supporting an industry that makes money off of caging humans.

The Justice Department points out that private prisons also don't provide the same level of correctional services, programs and resources critical to reducing recidivism and improving public safety.

According to a recent report by the inspector general, private prisons also fail to maintain the same level of safety and security as government run institutions.

Perhaps this is one example where the federal government does it better than the private sector.

 

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