Private prisons have minimum prisoner quotas embedded in their contracts with states. These quotas require states to keep various levels of occupancy. For a concrete example, these are the 4 highest quotas.
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State: Occupancy Requirement:
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There were a total of “62 contracts between states and local jurisdictions and private prison companies.” (EJI, 2013)
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Who The Contracts |
A Step in the Right Direction, but is it Enough? |
The advocacy group In the Public Interest “reviewed more than 60 contracts between private prison companies and state and local governments across the country and found language mentioning quotas for prisoners in nearly two-thirds of those analyzed.” (Kirkham) It was challenging to find recent articles on this issue. The first ones that appear in an internet search are from 2013. This is especially important because many of these contracts are up for renewal in a few years.
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Biden took a step in the right direction when he signed an order terminating the federal private prison contracts. States still have the right to negotiate with private prisons themselves though, so people view Biden's move as largely symbolic. More needs to be done at the state level in every state. It has been eight years since the original articles highlighting the issue of private prison quotas was written and if all we have to show for it is a “symbolic move” we have moved absolutely nowhere.
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Kirkham, Chris. “Prison Quotas Push Lawmakers To Fill Beds, Derail Reform.” HuffPost, 20 Sept. 2013, www.huffpost.com/entry/private-prison-quotas_n_3953483?utm_hp_ref=business.
Admin, M. (2013, September 26). Private Prison Quotas Drive Mass Incarceration and Deter Reform, Study Finds. Equal Justice Initiative. https://eji.org/news/private-prison-quotas-drive-mass-incarceration/ |