Private Prisons

05/16/2013
Private Prisons

Open Letter to the Corrections Corporation of America after 30 Years of Locking People Up for Profit

By Vanita Gupta, Center for Justice at 12:41pm

What do I have to say to the Corrections Corporation of America?

After 30 years, CCA should be ashamed.

For thirty years, CCA's profits have grown because more people are behind bars. For CCA, the fact that America incarcerates more people than any other nation in the world isn't a human tragedy – it's something they celebrate, because it makes them rich.

When CCA's shareholders hold their annual meeting today in Nashville, I hope they will remember that the cost of their riches is thirty years of human rights abuses, escapes, violence, understaffing, and preventable deaths in CCA's prisons. In Mississippi alone, CCA has had two deadly prison riots in the past twelve months. And in Idaho, CCA recently admitted that their officers falsified nearly 5,000 hours of time records, billing the state for security posts that they left unfilled. After 30 years of this, you should be ashamed.

Read More»
05/01/2013
Private Prisons

Eighteen Months of Sometimes Deadly Screw-Ups: Ohio Must Get Out of the For-Profit Prison Business

By Mike Brickner, ACLU of Ohio at 3:44pm

Eighteen months after the first state-owned prison sold to a for-profit prison company, and there is no doubt that the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) is woefully unfit for the job. From dirty conditions, rampant drug use, and staggering increases in violence, the Lake Erie Correctional Institution is in a dangerous decline, leaving many to questions whether the state needs to step in and assume greater control. To illustrate the deterioration of the for-profit prison, the ACLU of Ohio released a timeline showing the disturbing series of events at Lake Erie.

Read More»
05/06/2013
Private Prisons

Two Weeks of Protests Start Tomorrow! 30 Years of For-Profit Prisons Is Nothing to Celebrate

By Carl Takei, ACLU National Prison Project at 11:23am

Join us tomorrow in Washington, DC to protest the Corrections Corporation of America or follow the protest on Twitter @ACLULive.

At its annual shareholder meeting next week, the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) will celebrate thirty years of incarcerating people in its for-profit prisons. This gives the company the dubious distinction of being the oldest for-profit prison company in modern America. And it's why the ACLU is working with civil rights organizations, labor, faith-based groups, and immigrant rights advocates to organize anti-CCA events around the country from now through their May 16 shareholder meeting in Nashville. Our message is clear: Thirty years of for-profit prisons is nothing to celebrate!

Read More»
01/29/2013
Private Prisons

Happy Birthday to the Corrections Corporation of America? Thirty Years of Banking on Bondage Leaves Little to Celebrate

By Carl Takei, ACLU National Prison Project at 10:53am

Thirty years ago yesterday, two retired military officers and a former prison administrator...

Read More»
02/21/2012
Private Prisons

Is CCA Trying to Take Over the World?

By Rachel Bloom, ACLU at 5:29pm

The Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) sent a letter to 48 state governors offering to buy up their state-owned and operated prisons and put them under CCA control.

Read More»
05/07/2013
Private Prisons

Three Reasons to Join Our Protest of 30 Years of Private Prisons Today in D.C.

By Seema Sadanandan, Organizer, ACLU of the Nation's Capital at 10:53am

Join us at noon today in Washington, DC at 19th Street S.E. between C and Burke to protest the Corrections Corporation of America...

Read More»
04/30/2012
Private Prisons

Private Prisons Are the Problem, Not the Solution

By Margaret Winter, National Prison Project & Gabriel Eber, ACLU National Prison Project at 4:38pm

For the past two years, the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center have been investigating and exposing a horrifying pattern of abuse against juveniles and the mentally ill in two Mississippi prisons operated by the GEO Group, one of the biggest for-profit prison operators in the world.

Recently, we got some good news and some bad news.

Read More»
03/29/2012
Solitary Confinement

"A Picture of Such Horror as Should Be Unrealized Anywhere in the Civilized World"

By Margaret Winter, National Prison Project at 1:27pm

A federal court judge has put a stop to the state of Mississippi's practice of putting kids convicted as adults in solitary confinement.

Read More»
02/04/2013
Private Prisons

States Should Run Screaming From the CCA to Avoid Dangerous and Disgusting Prisons

By Mike Brickner, ACLU of Ohio at 12:11pm

Given the terrifying tales coming out of Ohio...

Read More»
02/08/2013
Private Prisons

Private Prison Company Celebrates Black History Month -- Wait, What?!

By Alex Stamm, ACLU Center for Justice at 11:21am

We can honor Dr. King's legacy by embracing his dream of equality for all people – regardless of race, creed or color. We can also make a decision to be of service – to take actions that improve our communities and, ultimately, our society.

Read More»

Related

podcast

3/11/2013
Stop Solitary: Maine's Commissioner of the Department of Corrections Joseph Ponte on Reducing His State's Solitary Confinement Population

case

12/21/2012
Henderson et al. v. Thomas et al.

case

12/13/2012
Winston v. Salt Lake City Police Deptartment, et al.

case

10/23/2012
Graves v. Arpaio

case

10/1/2012
C.B. et al. v. Walnut Grove Correctional Authority, et. al.
Statistics image