Giving Compass' Take:
- Shannon Heffernan discusses the harms of expanding the U.S. prison system to accommodate mass deportation and more severe punishments for certain crimes.
- How can donors and funders advocate against the expansion of the prison system?
- Learn more about key issues in criminal justice and how you can help.
- Search our Guide to Good for nonprofits focused on criminal justice in your area.
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During his first month in office, President Donald Trump has made moves to expand the United States’ already gargantuan carceral system. The Trump administration’s goals, from mass deportation to harsher punishments for some crimes, are reliant on the federal government having access to more prison and jail cells. Without that carceral infrastructure, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to enact his promises on immigration and crime and punishment.
During his presidential campaign, Trump vowed to deport a historic number of people. And while Trump’s focus so far has been on undocumented immigrants, his criminalization efforts extend to U.S. citizens too. Attorney General Pam Bondi has issued memos that could encourage federal prosecutors to seek harsher sentences in many circumstances.
Detaining and incarcerating more people necessitates more places to put them and expanding the prison system, and the administration is already hitting limits. Last week, space inside Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities reached 109% capacity and the agency was forced to release some people.
This lack of space is one of the major barriers to ramping up deportations, and ICE is limited by its budget, demonstrating why expanding the prison system would be important for these new policies. But Trump is now considering tapping into defense funds. Those funds “would allow civilian-run companies to quickly and rapidly expand temporary detention facilities,” such as tents, according to NBC News.
ICE has also begun sending some detainees to the federal Bureau of Prisons. But the BOP was already in crisis before Trump took office, as described by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General. The low ratio of staff to incarcerated people has left the BOP struggling to provide security and basic services to the people imprisoned in its facilities, putting their safety — and that of employees — at risk.
Private prison companies are celebrating the Trump administration’s need for more cells. In a press release and earnings call earlier this week, CoreCivic’s CEO told investors that this was one of the most exciting periods of his career, and it may lead to the “most significant growth in our company’s history.” The company, which has contracts to detain people for ICE, said they expect the immigration agency to massively increase the number of people it will hold behind bars.
Read the full article about expanding the US prison system by Shannon Heffernan at The Marshall Project.