Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), recently sent a letter to nearly every state announcing the Corrections Investment Initiative -- CCA's plan to spend up to $250 million buying prisons from state, local, and federal government entities, and then managing the facilities.
According to ACLU's Anthony D. Romero, there's a proposal sitting on Washington State's Christine Gregoire's desk offering to buy and run prisons in Washington - but only if Washington agrees to keep the prisons at least 90% full.
ACLU offers a sample letter to governors:
It is my understanding that Harley Lappin, Chief Corrections Officer at Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), recently sent a letter to nearly every state announcing the Corrections Investment Initiative -- CCA's plan to spend up to $250 million buying prisons from state, local, and federal government entities, and then managing the facilities. I urge you to decline this dangerous and costly invitation.
While a prison sale might provide a short-term infusion of revenue, taxpayers in your state would be left paying for this until at least 2032. In short, this proposal to sell a valuable state asset is a backdoor invitation for your state to take on additional debt, while increasing CCA's profits.
The current incarceration rate deprives record numbers of individuals of their liberty, disproportionately affects people of color, and has at best a minimal effect on public safety. Meanwhile, the crippling cost of imprisoning increasing numbers of Americans saddles government budgets with rising debt and exacerbates the current fiscal crisis confronting states across the nation. As this sprawling and costly system of mass incarceration damages the nation as a whole, CCA reaps lucrative benefits.
Selling off prisons to CCA would be a tragic mistake for your state. Mr. Lappin's proposal is an invitation to fiscal irresponsibility, prisoner abuse, and decreased public safety. It should promptly be declined.
A September 28, 2011 New York Times editorial warned of this danger:
An Invitation to Overreach
The rise in mandatory minimum sentences has damaged the integrity of the justice system, reduced the role of judges in meting out punishment and increased the power of prosecutors beyond their proper roles.... prosecutors can often compel suspects to plead guilty rather than risk going to trial by threatening to bring more serious charges that carry long mandatory prison terms. In such cases, prosecutors essentially determine punishment in a concealed, unreviewable process — doing what judges are supposed to do in open court, subject to review.
This dynamic is another reason to repeal mandatory sentencing laws, which have proved disastrous across the country, helping fill up prisons at a ruinous cost. ...
Mandatory minimums have created other problems. As the United States Sentencing Commission concluded, such sentences have fallen disproportionately on minorities. African-Americans recently made up 24 percent of the federal prison population but 33 percent of those given mandatory minimum sentences. Excluding immigration cases, Hispanics accounted for 30 percent of the prison population but almost 40 percent of such sentences.
These laws have helped fill prisons without increasing public safety. In drug-related crime, a RAND study found, they are less effective than drug treatment and discretionary sentencing. ...
Mandatory sentences and prison expansion backfired in this country. We have only 5% of the global population and but 25% of all the world’s prisoners. Today, state after state is in crisis and is repealing those laws. Experience shows that society should focus on proven strategies to prevent crime, rehabilitate people and reintegrate them into society.
Reviews of studies comparing costs to build and operate public or private prisons found little evidence that significant savings have occurred; final costs to taxpayers are about the same. Private prisons may cost less to build, but operational expenses may not be included in the final costs calculated by state or federal auditors.
High turnover rate, poorly trained guards, and medical emergencies drive up operational costs. Profit made by a private prison goes to a private corporation, not the state. Any push to increase profit means cutting corners, skimping on food, medicine and other basic needs.
Some states have reported that incidents of abuse in private prisons are about 28 percent higher than in state prisons. Prison riots, escapes, and assaults on staff are results of this grotesque addiction to profit making. Riot-suppression or manhunts are done by public law enforcement agencies, costing taxpayers even more, and causing some states to cancel private prison contracts and demand reimbursement for public funds used.
And, of course, this opens up the door to dirt-cheap prison labor which effectively cripples labor unions and U.S. workers in competing for jobs.