In Historic Shift, U.S. Government to End Use of Deadly, Costly, Negligent Private Prisons

In what some are calling a historic change in policy, the Justice Department says it will phase out the use of privately run federal prisons. In a memo describing the policy shift, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates said research showed private prisons "simply do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs, and resources" and "do not save substantially on costs," either. Yates added that government education and training programs for prisoners "proved difficult to replicate and outsource” in the private sector. In the memo, she said as the contracts for 13 private federal facilities come to the end of their terms over the next five years. Some 22,000 federal prisoners out of a total of 193,000 will eventually be impacted by the move. Most are immigrants convicted of crossing the border without permissioncharges that currently account for 50 percent of all federal prosecutions. This follows a series of reports by investigative journalists. In our first segment, we speak with reporter Seth Freed Wessler, whose yearlong probe for The Nation and Reveal News uncovered dozens of questionable deaths and years of dire warnings from internal monitors at the private prisons now set to lose their contracts.

Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs weekdays on nearly 1,400 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream 89AM ET

Please consider supporting independent media by making a donation to Democracy Now! today

FOLLOW DEMOCRACY NOW! ONLINE:

Daily Email

Stitcher Radio