Let’s get rid of private prisons

Imagine you are the defendant in a New Mexico courtroom where the police, witnesses, the prosecutor, the judge and your lawyer all own stock in corporations that make more money when people are convicted of a crime and placed in a prison. In fact, this scenario is the reality in almost every courtroom in America.

Private prisons exist to make profits and have become a multibillion-dollar industry. They are less safe than government-operated facilities, and they do not save money for taxpayers. They oppose decriminalization (such as marijuana laws) and alternatives to incarceration, and they have supported laws that both criminalize more behaviors and impose much harsher sentences. All to keep their facilities full.

The retirement pension plans of most government employees, including those who work in courtrooms, are invested in private prison corporations. This is true for every state in the union, as well as for federal and local levels of government. With only a few notable exceptions such as New York City, the government-managed pension plans for judges, police and prosecutors are betting on the profitability of private corporations that lock people up.

To influence laws that govern the criminal justice system, the private prison industry then invests heavily on lobbyists at work in state capitols and in Washington, D.C. Those same corporations also spend lavishly on direct campaign contributions to state and federal politicians who are deemed friendly to the private prison industry.

These investments embed an apparent bias in favor of incarceration in our criminal justice system and further the continued growth of private, for-profit prison corporations.

This is business as usual in today’s criminal justice system — but it should not be. The justice system must be trustworthy in appearance and in fact, not only to those who work within the system but also to the members of the public. Quite simply, these corrosive investments must stop.

Ideally, those who work within the criminal justice system should demand that their pension funds be divested from private prisons. The public can demand laws and policies that prohibit such investments, as may civic and faith-based organizations. New laws and policies are needed to prohibit such investments.

We know that divestment is possible because California — through CalPERS, its pension fund — and several colleges have done so.

When everyone but the defendant is financially invested in the success of the private prison industry, fair trials in an American courtroom are highly unlikely.

Unless the public demands change, business as usual in criminal justice will include such investments. These investments not only embed bias in the system; they also sustain the influence and growth of the private prison industry.

John Dacey and Robert Craig are attorneys at Abolish Private Prisons. Write them at contact@ abolishprivateprisons.org.