
Photo: Jon Krieg / AFSC
Private companies are heavily invested in repressive carceral systems. As people have tried to reduce prison populations, these companies have developed new ways to profit. They have pivoted to “rehabilitation programs,” prison food, health care services, and reentry services. But their focus is on their bottom line, not on the well-being of people in prison. These companies have only entrenched the status quo, with its emphasis on punishment.
We need to abolish private prisons, private detention facilities, and all attempts to profit from incarceration. Divesting from corporations profiting off the prison industry is a good place to start.