Private prison industry: Black bodies are not for sale

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For-profit companies are making a killing from our broken prison system — raking in billions from longer and harsher terms of confinement that disproportionately locks up Black folks and immigrants. Private prison conditions are some of the most dangerous in the country. In order to maximize profits, companies like CCA, GEO Group, and MTC cut back on staff training, medical care, and rehabilitative services, while spending millions lobbying governments to keep their prisons filled at a high cost to taxpayers and public safety.

We can stop this. Please join us in urging investors and board members of for-profit prison companies to get out of this exploitative business.

Here's the letter we'll send to the leadership of corporations that support the private prison industry and board members of private prison corporations, on your behalf. You can add a personal comment using the box to the right.

Dear President/CEO and Board,

I am writing to ask you to reconsider your stake in the private prison industry. Private prisons are a dangerous and exploitative business. The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world, and tragically, one-third of all Black men will spend part of their lives in prison. For-profit prisons promote and exploit mass incarceration and racial-bias in the criminal justice system — further accelerating our nation's prison crisis.

For-profit prison companies get paid for each person that fills their cells — profiting from longer and harsher periods of confinement. This business model incentivizes a disregard for public safety, justice, and rehabilitation in the interest of increasing profit margins. To make matters worse, inadequate staff training, low wages, and insufficient resources make these some of the most dangerous workplaces in the country.

Profiting from incarceration is shameful. In many parts of the country, the political tide is shifting against the for-profit prison industry. Recently, 3 major companies divested nearly $60 million from private prisons, marking the first time any corporations have publicly divested and condemned private prison investments as unethical and financially unsound. States across the country are realizing the true price of private incarceration as well— chronic understaffing, inmate death, and rising costs to states. Kentucky, Texas, Idaho, New Hampshire, and Mississippi have all broken ties with private prison corporations and the number is rising every day.

I urge you to immediately stop supporting an industry that profits off the exploitation and racism of the criminal justice system.


Sincerely,

[Your Name]

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