John,

Did you know that there are over 2 million people incarcerated in the United States right now? Did you also know that, despite making up 13% of the total U.S. population, Black people comprise 30% of the total U.S. prison population?

According to an analysis, there are 1.5 million “missing” Black men in the U.S.—that is, for every 100 Black women in our communities nationwide, there are only 83 Black men. While high mortality rates (which are falling) make up a large portion, almost 600,000 of the men are incarcerated. Almost 1 in 12 Black men ages 25 to 54—prime age years—are in prison. Those are men who aren’t in their communities being active fathers, husbands, uncles, and community members.¹ And a significant number of them are incarcerated in private prisons. The growing private prison industry benefits from high incarceration rates; they have a vested interest in keeping them up, and maximizing their profits through inhumane conditions.

Federal and state lawmakers are pouring money into private prisons, even as many fight to strip funding for our health care system, rural schools, and social services. California—which has the second highest prison population in the country—spends $106,131 per inmate per year, meanwhile, the median household income in the state is $84,097.^2,3

It’s time for lawmakers to stand up to the private prison industry and stop the exploitation of our communities. Add your name to demand state and federal lawmakers end contracts with private prisons!

Private prison facilities are notorious for overcrowding, medical negligence, inhumane living conditions, and physical and sexual abuse of inmates, and now they’re expanding into immigration detention.

In 2020, a nurse at the Irwin County Detention Center—a private prison run by LaSalle Corrections—alleged that dozens of immigrant women were forcibly sterilized without their informed consent. A Congressional investigation followed which found that the women were “subjected to excessive, invasive, and often unnecessary gynecological procedures.” In May 2021, the Biden administration ordered the facility to close, but LaSalle was still able to receive a portion of the $20 million in contracts from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to expand their network of private prisons in Louisiana.

We cannot allow these corporations to continue to prey on Black, brown, and immigrant communities for profit. Join us today and demand that state and federal lawmakers commit to ending all contracts with private prisons.

Thank you for all you do,

Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs

¹ https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/04/20/upshot/missing-black-men.html
² https://lao.ca.gov/policyareas/cj/6_cj_inmatecost
³ https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/CA/INC110221