Sanders teams up with members of the Congressional Black Caucus to ban private facilities
by Sofia Tesfaye | Thursday, Sep 17, 2015 02:18 PM PDT
Bernie Sanders just made good on an early campaign promise and introduced a bill in the Senate to outlaw what he called the “morally repugnant” practice of incarcerating Americans in private prisons and called for the reduction in the nation’s prison population.
The Bill introduced Thursday is titled (check out the provision in the Bill - excellent to drop the hammer on "justice" for profit):
The Justice Is Not for Sale Act
Sec. 3. Bar the federal government from contracting with private entities to provide and/or operate prisons and detention facilities within 2 years.
Sec. 4. Bar state and local governments from contracting with private entities to provide and/or operate prisons and detention centers within 2 years.
Sec. 5. Reinstate the federal parole system.
Sec. 6 and 7. Increase oversight to prevent companies from overcharging inmates and their families for services like banking and telephone calls.
Sec. 8. End the requirement that ICE detain 34,000 immigrants.
Sec. 9. Require ICE to improve the monitoring of detention facilities.
Sec. 10. End immigrant family detention.
This Bill is part of a package put together with members of the congressional Black caucus and Progressive caucus'
..sponsored by Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva of Arizona, Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Bobby L. Rush of Illinois, aimed at making important criminal justice reforms including increased oversight on the predatory banking and telephone services for inmates.
With questions about the concerns from members of #BLM that not enough was being done about racial injustice(s) Bernie Sanders has responded with concrete measures. One is the banning of private profiteering prisons; something Bernie Sanders has long
opposed
Sanders said “it makes no sense” that “America has more jails and prisons than college and universities.” Calling the growth of prisons in the United States “unacceptable,” Sanders said “it makes more sense to be investing in our children, making sure they stay in school, making sure they get the mentoring they need, rather than simply locking them up.”
“It is a national tragedy that a disproportionate number of those who are in jail are black and Hispanic,” Sanders added.
At Bernie Sanders
website
..of the nearly 1.6 million people in federal and state prisons in 2013, 8.4 percent were in private prisons.
Sanders’ bill would also end the detention of immigrant families apprehended at the border
- good deal and very good platform building - imo -
severing that cradle to prison pipeline - at least one of the tentacles - that is
P.S. - apologies if this has already been covered here @ Daily Kos.
I just read it this afternoon and am really pleased that this kind of legislation is happening and hope if it is a repeat post, it'll still be welcome news after so much rwnj idiocy lately
