Although Justice Department No Longer Will Use Private Prisons - It Will Not affect other federal agencies –Immigration and Customs Enforcement, for example – or state and local contracts
For over half of the United States and its federal government this has translated into the systematic incorporation of privately-operated prisons; throughout corrections, contracting has facilitated whole industries unto themselves, from video visitation to drone detection to food services, helping drive the direction of prison policy much more quickly through new technology, marketing, and the power of the commission than through data and debate.
The incarceration ecosystem is vast. Private prisons are perhaps the most explicit example of murky monied interests, but they’re far from the only one. They’re further still from going away. [MORE]