Grassroots Leadership Blog

Welcome to The Hump Day Hall of Shame:  Every Wednesday we highlight the private prison industry’s influence on public policy through campaign contributions, lobbying, and the revolving door of public and private corrections.

30 years ago, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) became the first for-profit company to contract with governments to operate correctional facilities.  They are the founders of the industry and, though other companies have joined the prison business, CCA continues to be the largest provider of private corrections in the United States.  As a company they have announced a year-long celebration of their successes and industry leadership.  As an advocacy community opposed to prison privatization we will also be commemorating this anniversary as a call to action to put an end to profiteering from incarceration.

Ten years ago Grassroots Leadership published a comprehensive report on CCA; in the years following, Grassroots Leadership and our partners have continued documenting CCA’s egregious history.  Some of the highlights from our blog and the folks over at Texas Prison Bid’ness are below.

At 30 years old CCA and the private prison industry should be retired.  We will be working with our partners this year to continue exposing the abuses of the private prison industry, their influence on policy-making, and the enormous profits that are derived from locking people up.   With this momentum we want to put an end to private corrections for good.

To accomplish these goals, members of the alliance are urging Florida lawmakers to divert nonviolent offenders to private prisons for substance abuse and mental health rehabilitation, arguing that privately operated prisons can house and rehabilitate prisoners for much cheaper, thus saving taxpayer money, reducing recidivism, and improving public safety.

Welcome to our Social Justice Hall of Heroes: once a month we’ll be highlighting someone in the field fighting to end for-profit incarceration and reduce reliance on criminalization and detention through direct action, organizing, research, and public education.  

- We began the year successfully advocating to block the opening of new Hutto-like immigrant family detention centers by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  Now, we’ve undertaken a campaign with our allies to close one of the worst immigrant detention centers in the U.S. - the privately-operated Polk County Detention Center in Livingston, Texas.

- In Florida, we helped local groups win a “miracle campaign” that stopped the state from turning over twenty-nine prisons to for-profit prison corporations andstopped a new private immigrant detention center outside Miami.

- Deep in the heart of Texas, private prison corporation GEO Group wanted to take over the Kerrville State Hospital.  We brought together a coalition of advocacy groups and local leaders to organize against the proposal.  And, we won!  In October, Texas announced it had canceled privatization plans at the hospital.

- Grassroots Leadership’s report Operation Streamline: Costs and Consequences and subsequent advocacy is helping influence the national debate against a program that is driving tens of thousands of migrants into the criminal justice system and is swelling the private prison population.

- Our Grassroots Leadership Blog has taken off with “The Humpday Hall of Shame” entries exposes ties between prison corporations and elected officials and “Social Justice Heroes” posts to highlight good word being done across the country.

All of this work relies on the hard work of our staff, board, and many volunteers.  It also takes resources, and we are deeply grateful for every donation.

Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Grassroots Leadership for the holidays. You can contribute online or by mailing a check to Grassroots Leadership, P.O. Box 36006, Charlotte, NC, 28236.  Better yet, become a monthly sustainer of the organization.

Thank you for your support.

Bob Libal
Grassroots Leadership