“Private prisons profit from federal prisoners, and according to a report by the Department of Justice’s general inspection, they are less safe for detainees and guards” than public facilities, he justified at a press conference.
In this way, the Democratic President will order the Department of Justice not to renew contracts with private operators when they come to an end.
This measure is the first in terms of criminal justice, an area where Joe Biden has undertaken deep reforms. In particular, it promised to combat record US incarceration rates and the excessive presence of minorities in prisons.
However, the measure is limited by the fact that only 116,000 of the more than two million prisoners were held in private facilities in 2019, constituting 7% of the prison population in state prisons and 16% in federal prisons, according to the Department of Justice.
Private operators emerged in the 1980s in the United States, when the prison population began to increase exponentially, in part due to a tightening of the fight against drug use and trafficking.
At the end of his presidency, Democrat Barack Obama had decided to end this situation, after a report that established a higher level of violence in these establishments.
Upon reaching power, Republican Donald Trump reversed the measures and during his tenure the privateers even reinforced their role in detention centers for migrants.
The measure that will be adopted today by Joe Biden will not include these last establishments, said Susan Rice.
The President will also have to sign three other decrees to reinforce the fight against discrimination in the areas of housing, against racism towards North Americans of Asian origin and in strengthening the dialogue between his administration and the Amerindian nations.
“This is just the beginning,” said Susan Rice, promising new measures to be made soon about possible police reforms.
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