The 1980s is often credited with being the start of mass incarceration policies that have caused the prison population to swell to over one million people and disproportionately affected communities of color in the United States. The Episcopal Church has long spoken out against mass incarceration, the school-to-prison pipeline, and other policies that harm communities and do not enhance public safety. We have also been devoted advocates of policies that support deterrents of incarceration, such as access to education, anti-poverty programs, and labor policies. 

As prison populations grew in the 1980s and 1990s, the federal and state governments began to rely more on private prisons to meet the expanding incarceration rate as a cost-cutting measure, resulting in the emergence of private or for-profit prisons. These are prisons owned by third-party contractors who get contracts based on the number of incarcerated inmates and the length of sentences completed. One of the most notable contrasts between private and public prisons is the lack of oversight: private prisons do not have to report their income and where it was spent, nor are they compelled to release inmate population or personnel data. Limited oversight can frequently result in hazards to safety or well-being.

There are also significant links between private prisons and harmful immigration policies. The Brennan Center reports that large-scale deportation initiatives could lead to an increase in private prison contracts, as these companies are often well-equipped to handle surveillance, transportation, and detention.

In 2021, the Biden Administration issued an executive order directing the Department of Justice not to renew any contracts with private prisons, and yet in 2022, twenty-seven states and the federal government incarcerated over ninety thousand people in private prisons. In 2022, General Convention urged the Episcopal Church to advocate ending the use of private prisons. Please join us in living in this call today!

General Convention Resolutions:

2022-D008: Call on Congress and States to Address Mass Incarceration

2022-D009: Encourage a Moratorium on and Abolition of Private Prisons

2015-A011: Urge Advocacy for Policy Changes to End Mass Incarceration Practices

 

Shareable Link