PRIVATE, FOR-PROFIT PRISONS ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE IN THE U.S.

…The CoreCivic prison logo

Private prisons are not appropriate for the United States

One of my readers sent me a note asking that I look into and inform my readers as to what is occurring in our nation’s prisons.

The United States is the home for the largest prison system in the world.  It houses 25% of the world’s prisoners while it costs the American tax payers more than $80 billion a year.  Since the beginning of the US using private prisons, the incarceration rates in the United States have increased well over 100% in the last four decades, even though crime has dramatically decreased. 

I have been aware that in the US, today less than 10% of the federal and state prisons are privately owned and operated.  But even at that current percentage (which is growing), that still means that over 150,000 individuals are being held in these private facilities and their for-profit prison oversite is marginal at best. 

In addition, the expansion of for-profit, private prison ownership is one of the fastest growing industries in the US.

The individual that asked that I look into this situation was concerned about the circumstance that these prison inmates have to deal with and the conditions under which they are forced to live.

Based on that request, I decided to select and look into a private, for-profit prison right here in San Diego, California.  The prison is owned and run by one of the largest, private prison companies, CoreCivic, and what I found was totally unacceptable.

The majority of the inmates in this prison are immigrants.  This is because the prison is located close to the US/Mexico border and most illegal immigrants that are caught at the border end up in the closest border prisons. 

But it’s under the conditions that these prisoner’s live that is unacceptable.

The immigrants detained in this private prison are being subjected to forced labor and they are threatened with solitary confinement or restricted visitation rights if they refuse to work.  In some cases, if an inmate’s doesn’t fulfill their “job” properly, they may also be refused food.

The “work” that is required at CoreCivic pays them, at most, $1.50 a day and includes being kitchen staff, janitors, barbers and various other labor roles.  Word has it that this forced labor is very common for these private prisons such as those in Oklahoma that requires their inmates, which were sentenced to rehabilitation, to work in chicken and pig farms.  They seldom if ever, have actual access to a real re-hab program.  

Many prisoners in California are also forced into labor.  But they are required to risk their lives fighting the state’s wildfires.  All of that for a dollar an hour, or less.

Forced labor in prisons is not just an immigration issue, it’s an American prison issue that is being replicated worldwide.

Among those incarcerated in the US, more than 60% are people of color. And a black man is six times more likely to be incarcerated than a white man.

This system of mass incarceration, at a rate per capita that is larger than every country on earth, is discriminatory, and it disproportionately affects communities of color.  All of this while creating a never-ending pool of people being exploited by forced labor in for-profit prisons and detention centers across the country.

As has been expected in the Trump era, Trump has called for an increase of prisons and detainment centers by upwards of 350%.  This would  perpetuate and embed a system that exploits these inmates for private financial benefit.  It’s just one more example of Trump rolling back President Obama’s progress on minimizing private prison industry contracts, 

The Thirteenth Amendment of the US Constitution, was supposed to end slavery, but the system still permits forced labor as a punishment for crimes.  CoreCivic claims to be aligned with international standards.  However, over the years, CoreCivic has faced multiple complaints for violating prisoners’ rights.

CoreCivic, and all private prisons, must address these allegations of forced labor.  They must stop their forced labor tactics and they should be required to raise wages for voluntary work by prisoners and detainees that is comparable with outside labor.  They must stop this prisoner exploitation.

CoreCivic is currently facing a class-action complaint for attempting to defraud its investors,  The lawsuit claims that CoreCivic falsely represents improved operational policies and procedures around the rights and dignity of prisoners and detainees in all of their detention centers. 

Americans must speak out and let all private, for-profit prisons know that forced labor in detention is totally unacceptable and will not be allowed in the United States.

Copyright G. Ater  2018