"We will only see the same ugly cycle repeat, with those private companies once again lobbying for punitive and dehumanizing policies in order to increase their profit margin," said a coalition of immigrant advocacy groups.
BEIJING, March 2 (Xinhua) -- One of the United States' largest private prison companies, according to recent media reports, is set to run a new pilot program that would place hundreds of immigrants under house arrest.
The approach allowing companies to retain a strong foothold in immigration enforcement is widely criticized as an extension of the highly controversial for-profit detention which U.S. President Joe Biden has vowed to end.
"We will only see the same ugly cycle repeat, with those private companies once again lobbying for punitive and dehumanizing policies in order to increase their profit margin," a coalition of immigrant advocacy groups said in a statement protesting against the move.
HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES
Ever since they were founded in the 1980s to make up for bed shortages in federal and state prisons, private prisons have been rife with alleged human rights abuses.
A recent example is the prison labor on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic that worked without protective equipment -- "mopping, serving food, and sanitizing cells," according to an article published on U.S. news organization The Appeal.
The Leavenworth Detention Center, owned and run by private prison company CoreCivic, was described as an "absolute hellhole" by a judge, wher multiple stabbings and a fatal beating took place in 2021. "Guards said weapons such as improvised shanks and drugs are rampant behind bars," CNN reported.
William Rogers, a former correctional officer of Leavenworth, said he was assaulted seven times in the detention center over his four and a half years working there, including three times that sent him to the hospital.
The situation in Leavenworth is just the tip of the iceberg. "It's about the profit for them. They don't care to make it better," Rogers told CNN.
A CASH MACHINE
Over the decades, for-profit detention has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry in the United States. Two of the biggest private prison companies, CoreCivic and The GEO Group, are publicly traded.
Business model of such private prison companies, as multiple studies have shown, depends on high rate of incarceration, therefore, they are inclined to seek for more inmates and longer sentences, sometimes, through unlawful means.
In 2011, two Pennsylvania judges were convicted of throwing out thousands of juvenile convictions while taking kickbacks from owners and builders of private prisons. That kids-for-cash scandal involved at least 2,400 juveniles.
Over time, an intricately connected web of political influence has developed alongside the growth of for-profit detention.
According to the Justice Policy Institute of the United States, for-profit private prison companies primarily use three strategies to influence policy: lobbying, direct campaign contributions, and building networks.
Money just streams in. In contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) only, CoreCivic and GEO Group together made about 1.3 billion U.S. dollars in 2019. According to Associated Press, each company relies on ICE for around 30 percent of its revenue.
ORDER IN VAIN
With domestic criticism and arguments about the private prison industry rising, Biden signed an executive order shortly after taking office in January 2021, supposedly to stop renewing Department of Justice (DOJ) contracts with privately operated detention facilities.
What Biden didn't touch, however, was two other major sources of government contracts for these companies -- immigrant detention, and post-incarceration "services" like electronic monitoring.
The executive order "does not affect ICE contracts because ICE is part of the Department of Homeland Security, not DOJ," the Brennan Center for Justice explained.
In addition, it may create a scenario wher companies sign more contracts with counties that then directly contract with the federal government, allowing the companies to essentially circumvent the order.
Three months after the order, CoreCivic signed a new three-year contract with Mahoning County, Ohio for 990 beds at their Northeast Ohio Correctional Center, said the Brennan Center.
Whether the companies can play a perfect maneuver remains unknown. The known fact, at this point, is that the profit makers are unhappy with any attempt to impact their business.
"Our efforts are fully aligned with the administration's goal to prioritize rehabilitation and redemption for individuals in our criminal justice system," CNN reported, quoting the email of CoreCivic spokesperson Ryan Gustin to show objection to Biden's move.
