The Problem With The DOJ’s Decision To Stop Using Private Prisons
There are many news reports on the Department of Justice’s announcement today that it will stop outsourcing federal prisons to private prison companies after their current contracts expire. (See Kit Johnsons post on this blog about the new policy.). But that doesn’t mean the federal government is actually ending private prisons. The DOJ has internally instructed officials to decline to renew contracts or “substantially reduce” their scope with the ultimate goal of ending the department’s use of privately-operated, for-profit prisons.
Aviva Shen on Think Progress focuses on a BIG limitation on the DOJ announcement: “The private prison industry will still have access to its biggest cash cow: immigrants.”
While the decision will affect 13 federal prisons currently operated by private companies, the bulk of federal private prisons aren’t run by DOJ. In fact, the industry’s biggest client is the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) — a separate agency that relies on private prisons to hold immigrants, often in appalling and unconstitutional conditions.
As Sharita Gruberg detailed in a Center for American Progress report, DHS’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) only operates 11 percent of the beds in 250 immigration detention centers. As of last year, 62 percent of immigration detention beds were operated by corporations. Some are housed in for-profit facilities contracted with ICE, and many more are in state and local prisons that sub-contract with prison companies.
KJ