Private detention centers - most of which are operated by CCA - are key to the federal government's goal of "ensuring the departure from the United States of all removable aliens," which are estimated to total about 12 million.
The math is simple. More demand for immigrant detention beds, plus more government funding, equals more business for Corrections Corporation of America. Every year since 2003, the company has made record profits.
In San Diego, the ACLU lawsuit prompted ICE to move some of the detainees to other detention centers. It also prompted CCA to propose constructing a new facility nearby that would hold four times more detainees.
CCA plays the game of politics like a pro. After all forty percent of its revenue comes from federal contracts. The company backs key politicians who support an immigration crackdown, and has intensified its lobbying in order to influence those still on the fence.
Judy Greene, A criminal justice analyst with Justice Strategies, discusses CCA's dominance in the immigrant detention business.
Bob Libal, an opponent of private prisons, says detention centers will likely grow in number after the 2008 election.
CCA spokesman, Michael Davis, talks about CCA's first private prison, the Houston Processing Center.
Luisanna Santibanez speaks on her mother who was in a detention center.
Learn more about T.Don Residential Center, which has been dubbed "America's Family Prison."
Gregg Klein, a financial analyst for BNP Paribas, speaks on the privatized detention industry.
Sergia Santibanez speaks on her experience inside a detention center before she was deported.
Tom Jawetz, a lawyer with ACLU's National Prison Project, speaks on immigrant rights in detention centers.
Changes in the immigration policy and expansion of CCA's detention focus.
Immigration detention centers owned and operated by CCA for ICE and USMS.
Check out the CCA's connections in State and Federal government.
Comparison of a five year comulative total return amoung CCA, S&P 500 index, and competitors.
See ICE's detention bed expansion from 2003 to 2009.
CCA lobbying expenditures from 1998 to 2007.
The nation's largest private prison company has partnered with the federal government to detain close to 1 million undocumented people in the past 5 years until they are deported. In the process, Corrections Corporation of America has made record profits. Critics suggest the CCA cuts corners on its detention contracts in order to increase its revenue at expense of humane conditions. Thanks to political connections and lobby spending, it dominates the industry of immigrant detention. CCA now has close to 10,000 new beds under development in anticipation of continued demand.
The Tennessean reported June 26 that the Tennessee state appeals court will determine if Corrections Corporation of America, the largest U.S. private detention operator, is an equivalent to a government entity, and therefore should release public records to the same extent.
CCA says that “the release of such records will set a bad precedent with other private companies who contract with the state,” reported the newspaper. Currently, private prison operators do not have to release public records.
Alex Friedmann, Prison Legal News Associate Editor and vice president of advocacy group Private Corrections …
Two more detention facilities will be going up in California.
Last week, the AP reported that ICE was seeking proposals to build a privately run 2,200 immigration bed facility in Los Angeles. The facility will be located within a 120 mile radius of the DHS/ICE Los Angeles Field Office currently located at 300 N. Los Angeles Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Currently, ICE can house up to 1,400 detainees at a facility owned by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department as well as other local jails it contracts.
Meanwhile, Corrections Corporation …
Terra Magazine columnist and New York-based writer, Pablo Calvi, spoke with the authors of this website about their reporting on privatized immigrant detention under the Bush administration, and what type of detention policies they anticipate from the Obama administration.
This is the first time BusinessofDetention.com has been profiled in a Spanish language publication.
You can read the story, with excerpts from the complete interview here.
The Secure Communities program, targeting criminal aliens and E-Verify are just three of the Department of Homeland Security’s priorities, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano spoke about in a hearing in front of the House Appropriations Committee on Homeland Security Tuesday.
One key thing to note is that when asked about alternatives to detention, Napolitano expressed that alternatives were as expensive as detention, which could suggest that the current demand for detention beds will continue.
From Napolitano’s written testimony:
E-Verify: Total funding of $112 million and 80 new positions are requested to support improvements to …
The nation’s largest private prison provider has more empty beds than this time last year - occupancy rates at Corrections Corporation of America facilities now average 89.4 percent, compared to 97 percent in 2008.
But CCA is not seeing a downturn in demand. It added 9,300 new beds into service between 2008 and 2009, and saw an increase of 4.2 percent in population, company officials said Thursday in a conference call with investors to discuss their 2009 First Quarter earnings.
Many of these new beds will be filled with immigrants detained along …
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No drinking water, changes of clothing, soap or shower – those are the conditions inside a Los Angeles jail for immigrants that prompted the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California to sue the federal government. Detainees also lack access to mail and attorneys.
The facility is designed to detain immigrants for 12 hours or less, but the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency uses it to house immigrants for several weeks. The jail, known as B-18, is located in a basement.
“The facility fails on every level to house detainees in a …
Immigration Detention Immigration, Customs, & Enforcement Corrections Corporation of America
