From 2000 to 2016, the United States’ use of controversial for-profit prisons to lock up inmates increased by nearly half, according to a new report by The Sentencing Project called “Capitalizing on Mass Incarceration.” During a similar period, between 2002 and 2017, the number of immigrant detainees in private prisons soared 442 percent.
In 2016, there were 128,063 prisoners—or 8.5 percent of the state and federal prison populations—housed in private prisons, an increase of 47 percent over 2000, when there were 87,369 in the facilities. In comparison, the overall prison population rose by 9 percent during those years—one-fifth of the rate of for-profit prison populations.
The private prison population more than doubled in six states during those years, and the federal government increased its use of private prisons by 120 percent.
[For more on this story by Taylor Walker, go to http://witnessla.com/privatize...rofit-prison-growth/]
Comments (0)