The Obama Administration announced last week that the federal Bureau of Prisons will end its reliance on privately-run, for-profit
prisons. The facilities, which the Justice Department calls unsafe and expensive, currently house about 22,000 inmates, almost all of whom are not U.S. citizens. While the move will do little to reduce the nation’s overall prison population — now numbering more than 2.2 million — supporters say it’s a crucial step in bringing about broader criminal justice reforms. We discuss the details of the policy change and the prevalence of private prisons across the United States.
More Information:
- Special Investigation: Dying in Private Prisons (The Nation)
- Sick on the Inside: Behind Bars in Immigrant-Only Prisons (RevealNews.org)
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The Justice Department Used Shaky Statistics to Drop Private Prisons (Bloomberg.com)