Stop United States private prisons

This video says about itself:

Private prisons: How US corporations make money out of locking you up

7 November 2013

Today the US is home to 5% of the world’s population but a quarter of the world’s prisoners. It also has the highest rate of youth imprisonment and on any given day there are more than 70,000 youths in detention. And the biggest winners of this mass incarceration? The for-profit prison companies whose business models essentially depend on locking more and more people up.

From Democrats.com in the USA:

The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world, and poor people and people of color suffer the most at the hands of our out-of-control incarceration industry – in part because this industry is simply trying to maximize its profits. Corporations should not be able to profit from mass incarceration. The Justice Is Not For Sale Act, introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Raul Grijalva, bars federal, state, and local governments from contracting with private prisons. Please join our friends at CREDO Action in urging Congress to ban private for-profit prisons. Thanks for all you do! Bob Fertik

Tell Congress: Ban private for-profit prisons Tell Congress: “Fight back against America’s incarceration industry by passing the Justice Is Not For Sale Act, which would ban private, for-profit prisons.” Add your name: Dear Friend, Sen. Bernie Sanders just introduced a bill to end one of the biggest contributors to America’s broken criminal justice system: private, corporate-run, for-profit prisons.1 Today, the U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world, and poor people and people of color suffer the most at the hands of our out-of-control incarceration industry.2 That’s partly because the corporations that operate for-profit prisons are primarily concerned with their bottom lines. To maximize profits, those corporations advocate for increased incarcerations and unreasonably strict parole and release laws. And they win. Corporations should not be able to profit from mass incarceration. The Justice Is Not For Sale Act, introduced by Sen. Sanders and Rep. Raul Grijalva, bars federal, state, and local governments from contracting with private prisons. We need to come out in strong support of this bill. Tell Congress: Ban private for-profit prisons. Out of the 1.6 million people incarcerated in 2013, over 8 percent of them were in private prisons. Reports show that inmates in these facilities suffer worse conditions, including more assaults and higher recidivism.3, 4 For-profit prisons are also incentivized to advocate for laws that reduce basic rights, benefits, and entitlements inmates receive while in prison. And when for-profit prison corporations lobby for harsh laws that lead to more incarcerations, incarceration rates rise throughout the entire U.S. correctional system, leaving taxpayers to foot the bill for maintaining the highest incarceration rate in the world. In addition to banning private prisons, the Justice Is Not For Sale Act would enact a number of other measures to address mass incarceration. One would eliminate the mandatory bed quotas that require U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to hold an average of 34,000 individuals in detention on a daily basis. Another would restore the federal parole system. The abolition of the federal parole system was a major factor in the explosion of the federal prison population since 1980, and makes it impossible for federal prisoners to access parole boards that can look individually at their sentences. Sign the petition now and tell Congress to get behind a bill that provides real solutions to America’s mass incarceration crisis. Thank you for your activism. Heidi Hess, Campaign Manager CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name. John Wagner, “Sanders to push a plan to ban private companies from running prisons,” The Washington Post, September 17, 2015. “U.S. Has World’s Highest Incarceration Rate,” Population Reference Bureau, August 2012. “Emerging Issues on Privatized Justice,” U.S. Department of Justice, February 2001. “The effects of private prison confinement in Minnesota on offender recidivism,” Minnesota Department of Corrections, March 2013.

STUDY: ONE IN 14 KIDS HAS AN INCARCERATED PARENT “One in 14 children have at least one parent behind bars and children in these situations suffer from low self esteem, poor mental and physical health, and other problems, a national research organization says.” [USA Today]

ARBITRATION, A ‘PRIVATIZATION OF THE JUSTICE SYSTEM’ “Over the last 10 years, thousands of businesses across the country — from big corporations to storefront shops — have used arbitration to create an alternate system of justice. There, rules tend to favor businesses, and judges and juries have been replaced by arbitrators who commonly consider the companies their clients, The Times found.” [NYT]

“Today the prison industry is one of the most powerful in the United States. It makes money, and that seems to be the only thing that matters.” (Oscar Lopez Rivera): here.

AFTER AN INMATE’S DEATH, NO REPERCUSSIONS No one cared an inmate died at Clinton Correctional Facility until a jail break revealed the horrors within its gates. [NYT]

Related articles

• Oklahoma prisons on lockdown after four inmates die in private prison
• Court rules that trans inmate told to ‘kill herself’ was mistreated by prison
• Bernie Sanders Reveals Plan To Abolish Private Prisons In America
• Government Cancels Contract With Prison That Inmates Set on Fire
• Prison Food Company Prepares Meals In Maggot-Infested Kitchens, May Have Contract Extended Anyway
• Prison Guard ‘Beat Up’ Squad Accused of Killing Inmate: Why Prison Abuse Is So Common and Overlooked
• Bernie Sanders Unveils Ambitious Plan To End Private Prisons
• The torture of solitary
• 23 Cents an Hour? The Perfectly Legal Slavery Happening in Modern Day America
• ACLU Comment on BOP’s Closing of Willacy Private Prison