The Department of Justice announced Thursday that it would begin “phasing out” the use of private prisons for federal prisoners citing superior safety and rehabilitation outcomes at state-run facilities... The move has been widely hailed by advocates as one that could signal positive change for about 22,000 federal inmates...but many have also paused to note that the Justice Department decision only affects about a quarter of inmates and detainees held in US private facilities.

“While the Justice Department’s announcement is a step in the right direction, much more action is needed to scrub private prisons from our criminal justice system,” said Rashad Robinson, executive director of Color of Change, an online racial justice organization.

The decision, for example, does not apply to people held in Department of Homeland Security detention centers for immigration violations, which tally at about 34,000 on any given day, and about 400,000 over the course of a year. About 60% of those detainees are held in private facilities... “Refugees, children, parents and everyday people seeking a better life are routinely locked up, abused and even killed by corporate-run immigrant detention facilities and despite the evidence, the Department of Homeland Security refuses to shut them down,” said Greisa Martinez, advocacy director for United We Dream Action, an immigrant rights activist organization. [refers to Corrections Corporation of America]