Sanders and Activists Say DOJ Ban on Private Prisons Doesn't Go Far Enough

Progressives and prison reform advocates hailed the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) announcement Thursday that it would phase out federal private prisons—and celebrated the resulting plummet in private prison stocks—but many also argued that the decision does not go far enough.

“Until DHS and state governments around the country break ties with these corporations, justice in this country will continue to be undermined by private profit motives, and innocent people will continue to suffer.”
—Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.)

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and other progressive members of Congress issued statements Wednesday urging President Barack Obama and state governments to go further and end the use of for-profit state prisons and private detention facilities for immigrants.

“We have got to end the private prison racket in America as quickly as possible,” Sanders said.

Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) said: “Until [the Department of Homeland Security] and state governments around the country break ties with these corporations, justice in this country will continue to be undermined by private profit motives, and innocent people will continue to suffer. This isn’t simply unjust detainment, this is the exploitation of human captivity—including young children—for the sake of money.”

“Today’s announcement from the Justice Department is an important first step,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). “But it is not enough. […] Incarceration should not be a for-profit business.”

And as Common Dreams reported, the Center for Constitutional Rights urged the government to address private detention facilities in a statement: “Locking up immigrants, including families and children fleeing extreme violence in Central America, should not be a source of profit for huge corporations, particularly given private contractors’ terrible record providing inadequate medical and mental health care to dying immigrants.”

In response to the push against private prisons, the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a statement [pdf] reaffirming its resolve to use for-profit facilities to detain immigrants—and so the progressive fight against that system continues.