According to the memo released by Yates, private prisons “do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs, and resources” and says the Department of Justice will not renew contracts with private prisons, The Washington Post reported.
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In an August 18 memo, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to decline to renew or reduce in scope its contracts with privately operated prisons.
The number of prisoners held in privately run facilities at both the state and federal levels had been slowly decreasing since its peak in 2013.
The department is citing a decline in the prison population as a reason for the move.
The Deputy Attorney General says the federal prison population has gone down from almost 220,000 inmates in 2003 to fewer than 195,000 inmates today.
In addition, private prisons used by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which house about 34,000 immigrants awaiting deportation, are not covered by the policy shift. The bureau of prisons spent $639 million on private prisons in fiscal year 2014, according to the report.
But some of the private prison companies that operate these facilities said they are hopeful the federal government contracts up for renewal in the next few months will be approved and allow them to continue running several of the prisons.
Corrections Corp. of America and GEO both briefly plunged more than 40 percent in midday trade. They also said they disagreed with the conclusions of an inspector general’s audit that preceded the Justice Department’s decision.
The Justice Department will end its use of private prisons, declaring that the facilities are less safe and “compare poorly” with government-run institutions in the country’s largest prison system.
And Hawaii is locked in with the new contract with CCA for three years – or up to five years, if the state exercises its option to extend it twice on one-year increments.
Though not a total victory, the Bureau of Prison-specific announcement was an unexpected triumph that reformers hope is the beginning of the end for the private prison industry, which they say creates less accountability and a lobby that benefits from incarcerating more people.
“The DOJ plan notes that there are 13 private prisons run by companies like GEO and CXW”.
Immigration and human rights advocates have long-complained about the conditions in privately-run prisons. California state Sen. Ricardo Lara, who authored a bill up for consideration in Sacramento that would ban state governments from contracting with the corporations, was quick to voice his opinion Thursday. Bernie Sanders, in particular, was vocal about his opposition to private prisons from the start of his campaign, and on Thursday, he applauded the Justice Department’s announcement. Some states, such as Kentucky, already have.
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Private prison companies claim that the facilities represent a cost-effective solution to America’s prison overcrowding problem, but Yates disputed that point..
