BETWEEN 1980 and 2013, the federal prison population increased by 800 percent, according to the Department of Justice, at a far-faster rate than the Bureau of Prisons could handle. By 2013, approximately 15 percent of BOP’s prisoners were housed in for-profit prisons.
In August, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it will no longer contract with private prisons for housing federal prisoners. “[Private prisons] simply do not provide the same level of correctional service, programs, and resources,” said Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates. “They do not save substantially on costs; and as noted in a recent report by the Department’s Office of Inspector General, they do not maintain the same level of safety and security.”
Within weeks, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson responded to DOJ by directing his teams “to evaluate whether the immigration detention operations conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE] should move in the same direction” — to evaluate whether ICE should eliminate contracts with for-profit immigration detention companies. There is no need for a review. Multiple reports, from human rights organizations and the Department of Justice itself, give damning evidence against the inhumane practices of for-profit prisons and detention centers.
As the leader of a Christian denomination, I feel a deep obligation to pay attention to foundational passages from our sacred texts in the midst of the current challenges we face as a country. When it comes to prisoners and immigrants, two passages are bedrock for me. Leviticus 19:34 reminds us to love foreigners as we love ourselves. In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus prioritizes the vulnerable. He issues a clear call for those who follow him to care for the stranger, the prisoner, the naked, the hungry, and the thirsty.
Incarceration in for-profit detention prisons is one of the cruelest treatments immigrants endure. These facilities are known for their inhumane treatment of those detained, for conditions that leave detainees malnourished and poorly bedded. These companies are run with a lack of accountability or transparency, encourage high recidivism rates, and underpay their employees. The private-prison industry is a scourge.
Contracts that call for states and federal agencies to guarantee high occupancy rates are coupled with a business mandate to return a profit to investors. These conspire to motivate private prison operators to foster a larger prison population while reducing costs (primarily in the areas of medical care, education, housing, and food).
Politicians with personal fiduciary interests in private prisons have discovered that they can mobilize their voting base by scapegoating the powerless, such as undocumented immigrants. For example, Arizona’s SB 1070, which at the time of its passage in 2010 was the broadest and most restrictive anti-immigrant legislation in the country, was championed by politicians or their spouses with direct ties to Corrections Corporation of America, the largest for-profit incarceration company in Arizona.
Private prisons diminish America’s reputation as a land of freedom and justice. As people of faith, we have a moral obligation to support legislators in pulling the plug on for-profit incarceration companies. We urge Homeland Security and ICE to move swiftly and stop their contracts with private prison corporations. We urge states to follow their examples.
Our faith compels us to treat the foreigner as a native and to love her as ourselves. We cannot do that and at the same time allow injustices by the private-prison industry to be perpetrated on people of color and immigrants in our communities.
We must work together to stop private prisons. That is the just and faithful thing to do.
Rev. Dr. John Dorhauer is General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ.
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