Blog of Rights
David
Shapiro

David Shapiro is a staff attorney at the ACLU National Prison Project, where his work focuses on immigration detention, privatized incarceration, and prisoners' First Amendment rights. Before joining the ACLU, David worked as litigation associate at Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and as a law clerk to Judge Edward R. Becker of the U.S. Court of Appeals of the 3rd Circuit. David graduated from Yale Law School and Harvard College and studied Russian literature in Moscow as a Fulbright Scholar.

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06/18/2012
Private Prisons

A Tale of Two Communities . . . and Zero Private Prisons

By David Shapiro, ACLU National Prison Project at 11:21am

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the world’s largest for-profit prison company, planned to contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to build a new private detention center.   Resistance by the local community gained momentum. Then the plan unraveled.

These sentences describe two entirely different stories—stories that unfolded last week in communities 1300 miles apart. 

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05/16/2012
Private Prisons

All Dressed Up and No Prison CEO To Debate

By David Shapiro, ACLU National Prison Project at 3:18pm

Last week, we challenged Damon Hininger, the head of Corrections Corporation of America – the world’s largest for-profit incarceration company – to a debate on the merits of prison privatization. Today, Mother Jones reported that the company is shrinking from the challenge.

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05/10/2012
Private Prisons

ACLU v. CCA: The Private Prison Debate Challenge

By David Fathi, National Prison Project & David Shapiro, ACLU National Prison Project at 3:37pm

Even as for-profit facilities lock up nearly 130,000 prisoners and take in billions of taxpayer dollars each year, these prisons remain shrouded in secrecy. The time has come for a robust public debate about the role of private prisons in our society.   

That’s why the ACLU just sent a letter to Damon Hininger, the head Corrections Corporation of America – the world’s largest private prison company – challenging him to a public debate on the merits of prison privatization. You can urge him to accept our invitation by taking action here.

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04/18/2012
Private Prisons

Say No to For-Profit Prisons

By David Shapiro, ACLU National Prison Project at 9:50am

Earlier this year, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), the largest for-profit incarceration company in America, sent a letter to officials in 48 states offering to buy state prisons and run them for a profit. We're still waiting to hear what most states will do with the offer.

Sure, at first blush, an injection of CCA money into government coffers might seem attractive to cash-strapped states. But here's the rub: states would be paying CCA for this short-term cash infusion with the liberties and freedoms of their citizens. For the corporation to buy a prison, a state would have to agree to keep it 90 percent full and CCA-operated for at least 20 years.

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03/01/2012
Private Prisons

What Do PETA and CCA Have in Common?

By David Shapiro, ACLU National Prison Project at 4:12pm

Today, a broad coalition of 60 organizations called on states to reject the Corrections Corporation of America's proposal to state governors to buy prisons across the country.

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02/14/2012
Private Prisons

A Sunny Day in Florida (Unless You're a Private Prison)

By David Shapiro, ACLU National Prison Project at 7:00pm

Today, the Florida Senate averted disaster by voting down a proposal to create the largest private prison system in America. The plan would have turned over nearly 30 Florida correctional facilities to private, for-profit companies, which have would run the prisons under contract with the state.

Florida operates the third-largest prison system in the United States, a $2.2 billion-a-year enterprise overseeing nearly 101,000 inmates and another 112,800 on community supervision. The prison population has nearly quadrupled since harsh sentencing laws were passed in the 1980s – Florida incarcerated just 26,471 people in 1980.

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01/11/2012
Arizona

Results of Our Poll for the Worst Prison Innovation of 2011: And the Loser Is...

By David Shapiro, ACLU National Prison Project at 2:24pm

In December, we asked you to pick among three candidates for the worst prison idea of 2011: denying prisoners lunch, charging families to visit prisoners or a pilot program in South Korea involving robotic correctional officers. You cast your votes, and the results are in!

Coming in at first place for worst prison idea of 2011, with 45% of your votes, is Gouging Families: A new law in Arizona allows the Department of Corrections to charge family members and other visitors who want to see prisoners a $25 fee. Visiting loved ones is hard enough without the new charge because, as the New York Times reports, family members “in many cases already shoulder the expense of traveling long distances to the remote areas where many prisons are located.” New fees just make it harder.

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12/19/2011

Cast Your Ballot for the Worst Prison Innovation of 2011: With Solutions Like These, Who Needs Problems?

By David Shapiro, ACLU National Prison Project at 12:07pm

As 2011 comes to end, we’re taking a look back at the year in criminal justice. Over the next few days, we’ll run a series of blog posts on the developments, good and bad, that have shaped our justice system – from overincarceration and sentencing policy to the treatment of prisoners and capital punishment. Read the series here.

As we bid adieu to another year, we can’t help but reflect that, when it comes to prisons and jails, this year witnessed some terrible ideas. Below are our contenders for the worst prison idea of 2011. Go to our Facebook page, then click on "Poll" to vote, and come back in January to find out which idea snagged the dubious prize: Worst Prison Innovation of 2011.

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11/02/2011
Private Prisons

Stop For-Profit Prisons

By David Shapiro, ACLU National Prison Project at 12:47pm

Today, the ACLU released Banking on Bondage: Private Prisons and Mass Incarceration, an in-depth examination of the private prison industry.

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08/01/2011
Department of Homeland Security

No Death Left Behind: House Judiciary Committee Approves the Death in Custody Reporting Act

By David Shapiro, ACLU National Prison Project at 12:29pm

Two years ago, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had no idea how many immigration detainees had died on its watch. Yes, you read that right. In 2009, DHS had simply lost track of the number of immigrants who had died in the detention centers that it operates. It wasn’t until the ACLU brought a lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act that the government finally launched an investigation to uncover the real death toll.

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