The absurdity of privatizing prisons, institutions whose purpose is to rehabilitate, so that their economic motivations no longer match up with their social missions, has for years been at the forefront of conversations regarding criminal-justice reform... [Last] week, the Justice Department announced its plans to phase out their use in the federal system... The distorted incentives of the for-profit prison industry have even managed to find bright sides to undisputed social problems like unemployment... The U.S. prison system, over all, disproportionately affects black and brown people, but people of color are overrepresented to a greater degree in private prisons... 

The moral abhorrence of private prisons has been brought to our attention by courageous acts of investigative journalism, illuminating scholarship, and the work of activists who have decried the social stratification brought about by our prison systems. Closing thirteen private prisons is a small step, but it renews the conversation on how to move forward. [refers to Corrections Corporations of America, Corizon Health]