Bernie Sanders Wants To End Private Prisons. That's Really Ambitious.

[portlander23]

Bernie Sanders Wants To End Private Prisons. That's Really Ambitious

"We have got to do everything that we can as a nation to end that reality of locking up so many people, and we have got to do it as rapidly as possible," Sanders said at a press conference on Thursday.

Privately run prisons are unpopular among many criminal justice reform advocates because they have a financial incentive to keep people locked up. Companies like the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) have emerged as major lobbying forces. Idaho took over a CCA-run prison last year after multiple lawsuits against the prison. But government-run facilities are not immune from allegations of abuse, as damning reports on the Rikers Island jail complex in New York City have shown.

The ban on private prison contracts also extends to immigrant detention centers, some of which are run by the same companies that operate criminal facilities. The legislation also aims to eliminate the use of family detaining families and end a bed mandate for detention centers.

Given the proportion of people who are held in privately run facilities, implementing Sanders' and Grijalva's bill on the immigration side would be a heavy lift. But it's something critics of mass immigrant detention -- including Grijalva himself -- have for years said is possible. Many of the immigrants in detention could be released and monitored, whether it be through ankle bracelets or required check-ins with immigration agents, they argue. Government officials say they are already moving toward that strategy for women and children in detention.

[AtomicKitten]

1. Within 3 years. Truly ambitious.

[randys1]

2. It is one area where he and Hillary probably differ, and this is an example

of why we need debates NOW.

[Maedhros]

3. What? Is he crazy? The private prison industry donates huges sums of money

to certain Democratic politicians, and they will certainly withdraw that support if a Democratic candidate goes after them!

Why would he want to unilaterally disarm by giving up all those campaign funds?



(But not really for some, because I've seen that argument made with a straight face.)

[Catherina]

4. Oh Bernie, go, go, GO! "They were denied adequate health care, denied adequate food,"

"They were denied adequate health care, denied adequate food," Ellison said after the press conference. "Of course they were. Because this company is trying to make money."