Bernie Sanders declares war on the prison-industrial complex with major new bill
Sanders teams up with members of the Congressional Black Caucus to ban private facilities
Bernie Sanders just made good on an early campaign promise and introduced a bill in the Senate to outlaw what he called the “morally repugnant” practice of incarcerating Americans in private prisons and called for the reduction in the nation’s prison population.
On Thursday, the Vermont independent introduced The Justice Is Not for Sale Act which bars the federal government from contracting with private companies. Sanders’ bill was introduced as a part of a package of legislation sponsored by Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva of Arizona, Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Bobby L. Rush of Illinois, aimed at making important criminal justice reforms including increased oversight on the predatory banking and telephone services for inmates.
In August, after a couple of high-profile interruptions of Sanders’ campaign stops by protestors affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement drew scrutiny to Sanders’ appetite to discuss racial justice , the candidate began telling his supporters that he planned to introduce legislation banning private prisons — a practice he’s long opposed.
Sanders said “it makes no sense” that “America has more jails and prisons than college and universities.” Calling the growth of prisons in the United States “unacceptable,” Sanders said “it makes more sense to be investing in our children, making sure they stay in school, making sure they get the mentoring they need, rather than simply locking them up.”
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http://www.salon.com/2015/09/17/bernie_sanders_declares_war_on_the_prison_industrial_complex_with_major_new_bill/
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