Obama administration to phase out some private prison use

“Private prisons served an important role during a difficult period, but time has shown that they compare poorly to our own Bureau facilities,” Yates wrote in a memo to the acting director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. As private prison contracts come to an end, the bureau is not to renew the contract or it should at least “substantially” reduce its scope, Yates wrote. She did not specify a timeline for when all federal inmates would be in government-owned facilities.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says the country should move away from using private facilities to house inmates. The Clinton campaign has said it no longer accepts contributions from private prison interests, and if it receives such a contribution, it will donate that money to charity. The private prison industry is a major contributor to Republican political campaigns, particularly in recent years. GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he supports the use of private prisons.

The private prisons on the chopping block are operated by three private companies — Corrections Corporation of America, GEO Group Inc., and Management and Training Corporation. After the announcement Thursday, Corrections Corp. stock dropped $13.22, or 48.6 per cent, to $14 and Geo Group tumbled $13.80, or 42.7 per cent, to $18.49. Both companies get about half their revenue from the federal government.

The Management and Training Corporation and Corrections Corporation of American issued statements saying they were disappointed with the decision. They also said they disagreed with the conclusions of an inspector general’s audit that preceded the Justice Department’s decision.

The federal government started to rely on private prisons in the late 1990s due to overcrowding. As of December 2015, private prisons held about 12 per cent of the total federal prison population, or 22,500 inmates, according to the inspector general report released earlier this month. Many of the inmates are foreign nationals who are being held on immigration offences, the audit said.

Immigration and human rights advocates have long-complained about the conditions in privately-run prisons. Amnesty International, on Thursday, urged states to follow suit. Some states, such as Kentucky, already have.

Before Thursday, the Bureau of Prisons had been working toward the goal of phasing out private prison contracts when, three weeks ago, it did not renew a contract for 1,200 beds, Yates said. Thursday’s policy change also included direction to change a current solicitation for a private prison contract, cutting the maximum number of beds required by 66 per cent.

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Associated Press writers Josh Lederman and Alicia A. Caldwell and Charles Sheehan in New York contributed to this report.

Eileen Sullivan, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Obama administration to phase out some private prison use

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