How Private Prisons Are Profiting Under the Trump Administration

The Center for American Progress released a new piece today that looks at how the private prison industry is benefiting from Trump administration policies to expand detention and increase profits.

Following the inauguration of President Donald Trump in January 2017, however, the administration immediately shifted course to robustly support private prisons. In February of that year, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions revoked the Obama administration’s initiative, and by April 2017, the DOJ began requesting bids for contracts to house federal inmates in private prison facilities once again. That same month, the GEO Group won a $110 million contract to build the first detention center under the new administration.

The fact that private prisons have serious, documented flaws raises questions as to why the Trump administration is so eager to support them. It is noteworthy that a pro-Trump PAC and the president’s inaugural committee have benefited from the private prison industry’s financial contributions. The Trump family business has benefited from the industry’s patronage as well.

This issue brief details how Trump administration policies have increased the migrant detainee population—and the profits of private prisons—as well as endangered the lives of migrants being held in detention. The brief then illustrates just how much money private prisons have spent in U.S. political campaigns.

The bottom line:  Trump administration policies have increased the number of migrants in detention

KJ