Resistance to Private Prison Industry Mounts Amid Debate Over Trump’s Immigration Detention Policies

Resistance to Private Prison Industry Mounts Amid Debate Over Trump’s Immigration Detention Policies

The private prison industry is under renewed scrutiny, and things are not going well for it. Prison companies were already under fire, accused of putting profits above the well-being of incarcerated individuals and staff at the dozens of federal and state prisons and local jails they run around the country. Currently, about 8 percent of state and federal prisoners are held in privately operated facilities across 27 states and the federal system.

But these companies aren’t only in the business of housing people convicted of crimes. As of July, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had almost 53,000 people in its custody, and private prison firms are responsible for detaining more than 70 percent of them. Now the industry is getting more attention because of President Trump’s immigration detention policies, such as separating children from their parents, and because of the terrible conditions in many detention facilities, many of which are run by the government and not private firms.

Ironically, because of the Trump administration’s focus on building a border wall and keeping immigrants out, a Republican administration thought to be a boon to the private prison sector has proved one of its biggest problems. As resistance to current immigration policies mount, here is a roundup of some of the high-profile actors targeting the industry.

Presidential election politics

At least 11 Democrats running for president want to eliminate private prisons. Sen. Kamala Harris of California recently tweeted, “One of my first acts of business as president will be to begin phasing out detention centers and private prisons.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts issued a sweeping plan to eviscerate the industry by attempting to phase out federal contracts for private prisons and by reducing states’ reliance on the industry through cutting federal funding to states that contract with these companies. Other candidates have expressed support for immediately canceling all federal contracts with the industry and phasing out the government’s reliance on private prisons.

Kim Kardashian West Helps Free 17 Federal Prisoners in Last Three Months, Announces New Justice Documentary

KIM KARDASHIAN WEST AND HER PERSONAL ATTORNEY, CO-FOUNDER OF BURIED ALIVE PROJECT, BRITTANY K. BARNETT ENTERING THE WHITE HOUSE TO MEET WITH JARED KUSHNER AND PRESIDENT TRUMP ON PRISON REFORM ISSUES. VIA THR

Kim Kardashian West Helps Free 17 Federal Prisoners in Last Three Months

Buzzfeed wrote on Tuesday that Kim Kardashian West has helped free 17 federal prisoners in the last three months.

Lawyers Brittany K. Barnett and MiAngel Cody confirmed Kardashian’s involvement in funding the 90 Days of Freedom Campaign, an entity born from President Trump’s signing of the First Step Act, designed to see sentence reductions for those serving life terms on drug offences.

“She’s using her platform to shine a light on this issue,” said Barnett, who is Kardashian West's personal lawyer and one of the co-creators of the Buried Alive Project. “She really helped us with the work we’ve already been doing, and she’s helping us amplify the voices of the people who are buried alive.”

“People get out of prison when powerful women link arms. Brittany and I linked arms years ago, and Kim has come and linked arms, too," Cody, Barnett’s co-counsel on the 90 Days of Freedom Campaign, said. “It’s about using what resources you have to shine a light on the underbelly of American injustice."

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It seems safe to assert that Kim Kardashian West will be front and center in the battle. It seems safe to assert that Kim Kardashian West will be front and center in the battle. In fact, she just announced Wednesday ‘Kim Kardashian: The Justice Project’, a new two-hour documentary for Oxygen.

Agnes Gund Launches $100 Million Art For Justice Fund: A Movement To End Mass Incarceration

Agnes Gund Launches $100 Million Art For Justice Fund: A Movement To End Mass Incarceration

The new Art for Justice Fund — to be announced Monday at the Museum of Modern Art, where Ms. Gund is president emerita — will start with $100 million of the proceeds from the Lichtenstein (which was sold to the collector Steven A. Cohen through Acquavella Gallery).

Ms. Gund, together with the Ford Foundation as administrator of the fund, hopes that other collectors will also support the Art for Justice Fund, with a collective goal of raising another $100 million over the next five years.