private prisons

FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS RELEASE OF DOZENS OF MEDICALLY VULNERABLE PEOPLE AT OTAY MESA DETENTION CENTER

By Miriam Raftery
 
Photo (Google): CoreCivic's Otay Mesa Detention Center
 
May 5, 2020 (San Diego) – Judge Dana Sabraw in San Diego issued an order on April 30 directing the federal government to release more than 50 medically vulnerable individuals who are in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody at the Otay Mesa Detention Center. According to the ICE website, at least 105 detainees at the facility have tested positive for COVID-19.
 
Judge Sabraw wrote in his decision, “The Court HEREBY DECLARES that current conditions of confinement for Otay Mesa Medically Vulnerable subclass members held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center are unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment because the conditions of their confinement place subclass members at substantial risk of serious illness or death.”

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U.S. JUSTICE DEPT. TO STOP USING PRIVATE PRISONS DUE TO ABUSES, BUT IMMIGRATION FACILITIES AND CALIF. CONTINUE TO RELY ON FOR-PROFIT PRISONS

 

Story and photo by Miriam Raftery

Photo:  Federal immigration detention facility in Otay Mesa run by Corrections Corporation of America, a private prison company exposed for abusive actions at other locations investigated

August 21, 2016 (Washington D.C.) — Private, for-profit prisons are more dangerous and less effective than government-run prisons, a new report by the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General concludes.   On August 18th, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates announced that the Justice Dept. will be “reducing—and ultimately ending—our use of privately operated prisons.”


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UC SYSTEM DIVESTS OF HOLDINGS IN PRIVATE PRISON CORPORATIONS

By Miriam Raftery

Photo: A private detention facility run by Corrections Corporation of America at Otay Mesa for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

December 26, 2015 (San Diego) – The University of California has divested over $25 million of its holdings in private prison corporations, in response to a resolution by the Afrikans Black Coalition, a student advocacy group.

“The goals of the private prison industry are to profit from the incarceration, labor and rehabilitative treatment of black and immigrant lives,” said Kamilah Moore, organizer with the coalition.  In an e-mail statement, she added  that by selling the shares, the UC system has sent a message that it is “against human rights abuses,” the Daily Bruin reports.

The rise of private prisons in modern times began in 1984 and has mushroomed since then. According to the U.S. Justice Department, by 2013, private prisons were housing 19.1% of all federal prisoners and 6.8% of state prisoners, reaping billions of dollars in revenues.  Private prison corporations also operate immigrant detention facilities, with over 23,000 immigrants currently behind bars. But serious questions have been raised about both racial injustice and failure to live up to promised cost savings.


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WILL POWER REPORT: PRIVATE PRISONS?

Nothing but the Truth!

By Will Power

 
October 27 , 2011 (San Diego)--The USA now has more people in prison than China and Russia combined. Sentencing enhancements and Three Strikes law can put an unemployed drug user into prison for life in a heartbeat. Many State prisons are so overcrowded that private prisons are used to house out-of-state prisoners who get no judicial review when they are shipped from one state to another.

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PRIVATE PRISON GROUP USES UNREGISTERED LOBBYISTS WHILE GIVING MONEY TO SHERIFF GORE


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