Sick on the Inside (Reveal podcast)

For decades, the United States has operated a system of private “shadow prisons” to house noncitizens convicted of federal crimes. Now, President Joe Biden has ordered these contracts to be wound down.

We revisit an investigation with Type Investigations and The Nation Magazine into these prisons – and ask what will happen to them now.
Interview: 

https://www.podbean.com/ew/dir-wehjg-daf2444

Why The U.S. Prison System Makes Mental Illness Worse (And How We Might Fix It) (Terry Gross, Fresh Air)

Dr. Christine Montross says in the U.S., people with serious mental illnesses are far more likely to be incarcerated than to be treated in a psychiatric hospital. Montross studied systemic change in the Norwegian prison system, and what the U.S. might learn from it. Her new book is 'Waiting for an Echo.'

Interview: 

https://www.npr.org/2020/07/16/891869209/why-the-u-s-prison-system-makes-mental-illness-worse-and-how-we-might-fix-it

California will end use of for-profit prisons - The Hill

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Friday signed legislation that will effectively ban for-profit prisons, putting at risk several facilities that house both criminal offenders and detained immigrants being held by federal authorities.....
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/465452-california-will-end-use-of-for-profit-prisons

Why jails stay full even as crime falls - The Washington Post

Crime has fallen dramatically in recent decades. The number of people in jail for committing crimes hasn’t. New Bureau of Justice Statistics data reveal that jails held 745,200 inmates in 2017, virtually identical to the 747,500 they held in 2005, and significantly higher than the 584,400 they held in 1998. How does the correctional system keep jails full when there just aren’t as many crimes as there used to be? By locking up an increasing number of people who are awaiting trial and could well be innocent...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/06/06/how-jails-stay-full-even-crime-falls/

Homeland Security watchdog finds 'egregious' conditions at ICE facilities in 2018 - CNN Politics: Exclusive

The Department of Homeland Security inspector general found expired food and dilapidated bathrooms during unannounced visits to four immigrant detention facilities in 2018, according to a not-yet-released report obtained by CNN.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/06/politics/ice-detention-center-ig-report/index.html

The Nationwide Fight Over Fines And Fees (Joshua Johnson, The 1A)

Cash-strapped cities around the nation are increasingly using heavy fines to fund basic services — in turn, sending residents into debt and bankruptcy. Some groups are targeted more than others. A 2017 report from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found that “harmful fines and fees practices are most common in communities of color and, to a lesser degree, in low-income communities.”
Interview:
https://the1a.org/shows/2019-05-23/the-nationwide-fight-over-excessive-fines-and-fees

Trump Has Been Bragging About His Victory on the Big Criminal Justice Reform Bill. Now He's Kneecapping It - Mother Jones

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump released his administration's budget request for the 2020 fiscal year, asking Congress for a record $4.75 trillion in funding. Somewhat predictably, he proposed boosting military spending and allocating billions of dollars for a wall along the US-Mexico border...
https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2019/03/trump-budget-jared-kushner-first-step-act-underfunded/

Cory Booker: It’s time for the next step in criminal justice reform - The Washington Post

Edward Douglas woke up on Jan. 10, 2019, in a federal penitentiary in Pekin, Ill., where he had spent every morning of the past 15 years of his life. He was serving a lifetime sentence for selling 140 grams of crack cocaine — an amount about the size of a baseball...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/03/10/cory-booker-its-time-next-step-criminal-justice-reform/

Inspection finds ICE jail’s conditions endanger detainees’ health, safety - The Washington Post

A spot visit found ‘open packages of raw chicken leaking blood all over refrigeration units.’ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/01/inspection-finds-ice-detainee-conditions-endanger-health-safety/

Another critical watchdog report: Rotten food, decaying mattresses at New Jersey ICE contract lockup - Center for Public Integrity

A Newark, New Jersey immigrant detention center has been feeding detainees moldy, spoiled and foul-smelling food—an abuse that's led detainees to file scores of grievances and to report symptoms of food poisoning, according to a report released Friday by the Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General...
https://publicintegrity.org/immigration/immigration-decoded/another-critical-watchdog-report-rotten-food-decaying-mattresses-at-new-jersey-ice-contract-lockup/

Michigan governor blocks sale of former prison to private immigrant detention company - Daily Kos

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has canceled the sale of a former state prison site to a for-profit private prison company that sought to reopen the property in order to detain hundreds of immigrants. The Democratic leader said she made the decision after Immigration Centers of America (ICA) wouldn't guarantee that the prison "would not be used to detain adults who had been separated from their children or other family members." ...
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1836336

It's a Disgrace that Private Prisons Are Earning Millions

We have a racist criminal justice system that costs us billions of dollars, ruins lives and allows private prisons to profit off of human misery. The private prison racket has got to end.....
https://youtu.be/-pDN5nqCNfU

Alabama sheriff has personally kept over $1.5M through contract to house undocumented immigrants: report - The Hill

A sheriff in Alabama has personally received large amounts of federal funds by housing undocumented immigrant detainees at the Etowah County Detention Center....
https://thehill.com/latino/423293-alabama-sheriff-has-personally-kept-over-15-million-through-federal-contract-to-house

Following donations, private prison group is getting a say in Trump administration matters - Daily Kos

Following GEO Group's generous donations to the Trump campaign (the company "gave $225,000 to a pro-Trump super PAC before the election," per OpenSecrets), the private prison profiteer is getting plenty of say in administration matters. ....
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1818265

First Step Act Could Be a Big Gift to CoreCivic and the Private Prison Industry - theintercept.com

"...The 2014 report on the “treatment industrial complex” issued a prescient warning against expanding the kind of alternatives to incarceration enshrined in the First Step Act. Community confinement may be preferable to a prison cell, but the increased use of electronic monitoring can risk putting “more people on stricter forms of supervision than is necessary, for longer than is warranted.” The report also urged readers to be wary of allowing companies like CoreCivic to influence legislation. “The role of for-profit prison corporations in these important policy discussions could mean the difference between reforms that truly address human needs and a destructive ‘widening of the net’ that only serves to increase the level of control and surveillance at the expense of public safety..."
https://theintercept.com/2018/12/22/first-step-act-corecivic-private-prisons/

Study: Half of US adults have had close family member jailed - BBC News US

Some 113 million Americans have had an immediate family member jailed, says the report. ....
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46471444

Chris Hedges On American Prisons

https://youtu.be/zVZ7CEzDjwM

Inspectors report nooses in cells, medical neglect in surprise visit to private immigration prison - Daily Kos

An unannounced inspection of a privately-run, pro-profit Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) prison in California uncovered "serious violations," according to a newly-released report from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) inspector general, including "nooses in detainee cells," falsified medical exams, and prison officials placing a disabled man who asked for administrative segregation into disciplinary segregation. ....
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/1801141

He Worked Undercover in a For-Profit Prison and It Got Ugly - The Daily Beast

When Shane Bauer went to work for a private, for-profit prison in Louisiana, he expected to find bad conditions, but he was utterly unprepared for just how awful it was. ....
https://www.thedailybeast.com/he-worked-undercover-in-a-for-profit-prison-and-it-got-ugly

Is Inmate Labor Modern-Day Slavery? (Joshua Johnson, The 1A)

Fighting wildfires in California is a tricky and dangerous job — and some make an average of just $2 a day to do it.

According to The San Francisco Chronicle, low-level offenders in the California corrections system are put to work as firefighters, making an average of one dollar an hour.

As far as getting a job as a firefighter upon release from prison, most former inmates wouldn’t qualify for the job, even though they have key experience.

Labor practices like this motivated prison workers in 17 states across the country to plan a strike, in part, to protest underpaid or forced labor. The strike is planned for at least 21 days...
Interview:
https://the1a.org/shows/2018-08-27/prison-strike