On Jan. 27, President Joe Biden signed an executive order which prevents the Department of Justice from renewing its contracts with federal private prisons. He stated that this order, which also targets discriminatory housing policies, was an effort on his part to prevent large corporations from profiting off of incarcerated people and to set an example for the US government to change its whole approach on the issue of racial equity.
Though this order does not directly end governmental use of private prisons, as immigration detention facilities are still utilizing them, it will curb the industry. Only the 10 percent of all US prisoners who are held in federal custody are affected by this order, but the largest single customer of the privatized prison companies is the federal government, as state governments are the second largest. As the industry loses this support, the system will slowly start to falter. This will not happen immediately after the passing of this order, because the privatized prison system is a multi-billion dollar industry, but it does enact a serious obstacle that could become fatal to it.
Read more: https://novelhand.com/the-outsized-role-of-private-prisons/
