Justice Department Ends Use Of Private Prisons

[Reddie]

Citing safety concerns the Justice Department plans to phase out the use of privately owned prisons.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-37124183

"They do not save substantially on costs and ... they do not maintain the same level of safety and security," Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates said explaining the decision.

Senator Sanders sponsored a bill during his campaign attempting to end the use of private prisons in September 2015 saying "we cannot fix our criminal justice system if corporations are allowed to profit from mass incarceration".

Will this force the U.S to fix its criminal justice system? Will there be fewer people being jailed for petty crimes?

 

[hades_leae]

Sure will be fewer people going to jail for longer sentences for petty shit, but that doesn't mean fewer people will be going to jail. I doubt this will actually happen, for profit prisons will continue to be around as they are of interest to certain groups of people who own politicians.

I once read that they were cheaper to run than regular prison, and I don't personally care about that, this is why we pay taxes. I don't care what it cost, it's a prison. This gives peace officers the incentive to make more arrest. For profit prison pay by the bed, they need people there and it's not going away I don't believe.

 

[dogtowner]

Makes no difference at all.
Sanders is just union whoring.

 

[Alexia]

The criminal justice system needs a huge overhaul and the main thing is lack of funds for a proper defense. Even when there is a public defender there is no guarantee that they will provide an adequate defense. It's a system that is fragmented, and what is the solution? You need to look at the cause of the crimes first and prevent it there.

 

[dogtowner]

We lack justice swift and sure and the constitutionally required speedy trial.
There us little sense of deterrent with the process so slow.
And prison is pointlessly nice.
But mainly there is no paying ones debt to society.
Make prison so boring you don't want to come back and when your sentence is up your slate is wiped clean. They gave to be able to work or they will be back.

 

[rz3300]

Just think about the notion of private prisons for a second. I don't understand how that does not make the hair on anyone's arms raise, but I guess that is just where we are as a society at this point in time. I am glad to hear this news, though, and it does seem like it has been a long time coming. I cannot say that I know all the implications that the decision will have, though, but that said it should be really interesting to follow and see where things go from here. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Dybbuk Jones]

We didn't get into this mess overnight and we are not going to get out of it overnight either. Ending for-profit prisons seems to be a step in the right direction, but we also need to be more cognizant of our own guilt in making this justice system. We do not want anti-recidivist programs as much as we want revenge and "lock them up and throw away the key" justice.

 

[bms00]

I would like to see state governments follow the Justice Department's lead. Police power is a core function of the state, and no aspect of it should be provided by private corporations. The existence of these private prison companies then creates a lobby that is interested in putting more people in jail, while we already have a far higher rate people in jail in the USA than any other industrialized country.