The Profit Motive to Detain Immigrants

The Christmas season is often thought of as a time to spread joy, hope, and generosity. What better time to think about how our country treats immigrants, particularly asylum seekers. They come to this country seeking mercy because they are unable to return home due to the risk of death or injury as a result of their… Read More

The True Price of For-Profit Prisons

Much more needs to be done to address the horrors of the for-profit prison system in our country. Both state and federal governments give large sums of money to a few mega-companies that privately run most of the prisons. The contracts with these companies require the government to keep prison beds full, so governments must… Read More

For-Profit Immigration Detention Centers

Imagine a prison: where more than half of the people held are infants or children (average age nine); where everyone there is being held for committing a civil violation, not a criminal offense; where almost no one there has access to a lawyer; and where almost everyone is denied bond, not because of posing any… Read More

The Era of Mass Incarceration

In one of her first speeches of the 2016 presidential campaign, Hillary Clinton spoke of ending the “era of mass incarceration” and furthered the spotlight on the troubling issue of over-incarceration in this country.  Tony Newman, of the Huffington Post, recently noted that “America is the number one jailer in the planet, with under five… Read More