Justice
The Persistence of Private Prisons for Immigrants
The Department of Justice plans to phase out private prisons. Too bad this won’t affect the civil detention centers that are run by the same for-profit companies.
On Thursday, the Justice Department announced that it would be phasing out its reliance on private prisons, which have faced growing criticism for their inhumane conditions and opaque operations.
What this decision does not affect, however, is the Department of Homeland Security’s vast and problematic detention machinery. These facilities often hold asylum seekers, including young women and children, while they wait for legal outcomes or deportation. This is called civil detention, and is not meant to be punitive. And yet, it often is, activists argue—both in private- and government-operated facilities.