California Bans Private Prisons, Including ICE Detention Centers
- California bans private prisons including Ice detention centers.- Bill removes profit motive from incarceration and marks latest clash in states battle with Trump over treatment of immigrants. The Guardian, Sept. 12, 2019.
The private prison industry is set to be upended after California lawmakers passed a bill on Wednesday banning the facilities from operating in the state. The move will probably also close down four large immigration detention facilities that can hold up to 4,500 people at a time. The legislation is being hailed as a major victory for criminal justice reform because it removes the profit motive from incarceration. It also marks a dramatic departure from Californias past, when private prisons were relied on to reduce crowding in state-run facilities.
Private prison companies used to view California as one of their fastest-growing markets. As recently as 2016, private prisons locked up approximately 7,000 Californians, about 5% of the states total prison population, according to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics. But in recent years, thousands of inmates have been transferred from private prisons back into state-run facilities. As of June, private prisons held 2,222 of Californias total inmate population.
The states governor, Gavin Newsom, must still sign AB32, but last year he signaled support for the ban and said during his inaugural speech in January that the state should end the outrage of private prisons once and for all. Currently, one company, the Geo Group, operates four private prisons in California under contract with the California department of corrections and rehabilitation. The contracts for these four prisons expire in 2023 and cannot be renewed under AB32, except to comply with a federal court order to reduce crowding in state-run facilities.
In addition to signaling a major criminal justice reform, AB32 also has become a flashpoint in Californias fight with the Trump administration over the treatment of immigrants.
The bills author, the assembly member Rob Bonta, originally wrote it only to apply to contracts between the states prison authority and private, for-profit prison companies. But in June, Bonta amended the bill to apply to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agencys four major California detention centers. Bontas amendment, say immigrant rights advocates, appears to have caught Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (Ice) and the private prison companies at a moment when their current contracts are expiring...
More, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/12/california-private-prison-ban-immigration-ice
Marthe48
(16,696 posts)Prison shouldn't be run for profit. There are too many ways for human rights violations to happen.
Immigrants, migrants and refugees shouldn't be treated like criminals.
I love California!
Hangingon
(3,071 posts)appalachiablue
(41,056 posts)"According to a report by the California state auditor, this complicated subcontracting model allowed Ice and Adelanto to forgo competitive bidding for the centers operations subcontract."
SCantiGOP
(13,856 posts)This would only ban the State from funding private prisons; the Feds can still operate them inside the state.
grumpyduck
(6,199 posts)"The legislation is being hailed as a major victory for criminal justice reform because it removes the profit motive from incarceration."
The profit motive. Yup.