How Sen. Elizabeth Warren would try to ban private prisons

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Friday proposed a plan for banning private prisons, calling the for-profit system “exploitation, plain and simple.”

“Our criminal and immigration systems are tearing apart communities of color and devastating the poor, including children,” the Massachusetts Democrat said in introducing the plan.

What would the plan do?

Warren would end federal contracts with the Bureau of Prisons and Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for detention facilities and private prisons. Warren would try to extend this ban to states and localities as well. In addition, the plan calls for prohibiting contractors from collecting service fees for “essential services” such as phone calls, health care, and bank transfers.

How would it work?

The Obama administration began phasing out contracts for private prisons in the summer of 2016 but the Trump administration reversed the move soon after his inauguration. A Warren Justice Department could reverse it back for federal inmates. Warren also says she would extend the private prison ban to states and localities by “conditioning their receipt of federal public safety funding on their use of public facilities.”

What are the weaknesses in the proposal?

It takes time and money
A Warren administration would likely have to wait for contracts to come up for renewal to phase private detention centers out. Also, states and the federal government embraced private prisons partly in an attempt to save taxpayer dollars as prison populations grew despite reports of substandard conditions in private facilities. Ending contracts may require additional appropriation of taxpayer dollars.

State and localities
The federal government only houses a small percentage of the nation’s prison population. A Warren administration has more control over federal contracts than private prison contracts with states and localities even if they leverage public safety money.

How much would it cost?

Unknown.

What have other Democrats proposed?

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) proposed something similar during his 2016 presidential run. One difference is that Sanders bill called for increased oversight for companies providing banking and phone calls to prisons whereas Warren calls for the elimination of service fees for those two services. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) has pledged to “end private prisons and the profiting off of people in prison.” Sen. Cory Booker applauded the Obama administration’s move to begin phasing out private prisons in 2016 and said at the time he hoped to see “for-profit prisons phased out entirely at the federal and state level as soon as possible.”

Who would it help?

The plan would help the incarcerated who are in substandard for-profit facilities. A 2014 inspector general report from the Justice Department found that private facilities had higher instances of violence and lockdowns. Families of people in prison would also benefit from the elimination of fees for services like phone calls, banks, and healthcare that can sometimes be exorbitant.

Who opposes it?

The private prison industry would clearly oppose it, and they donate money and lobby across the political spectrum. Some conservatives also believe that contracting out to private prisons is more efficient and saves taxpayer money and would likely oppose the plan.

Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine

Source: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/21/elizabeth-warren-2020-election-private-prisons-1296863
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Alex Thompson

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