by Viktoria Sundqvist CTNewsJunkie
The Judiciary Committee heard testimony this week in favor of a bill that would prohibit the privatization of prisons in Connecticut.
Senate Bill 1238, introduced by the committee, would prevent private ownership, operation, or management of any state correctional facility.
Connecticut does not currently have any such privately owned facilities, but 27 states and the federal government do.
The private prison industry has been rapidly expanding across the country and has been turned into a $5 billion industry, according to Jess Zaccagnino, policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut.
“Profit, rather than rehabilitation, is the goal of for-profit prisons,” she said in submitted testimony on the bill. “These companies will do anything to make more money,” she stated.
Private-run prisons can be rife with problems, often fail to allow inmates the appropriate medical care they need, are shielded from accountability, and make their profits when people remain incarcerated, the ACLU said.
“It is patently unconscionable to allow private prisons to own, operate, or manage state correctional facilities in Connecticut,” Zaccagnino said in her statement.
Brian Anderson, legislative and political director for Council 4 of the Connecticut American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME), said he and the corrections department employees represented by his union also support the bill.
“There are some things that are sensitive enough and important enough that they should be run by the government and be directly accountable to the people. Prisons are one,” he said in his testimony. “Around the country, privatized prison corporations have been found to have higher levels of assaults on inmates and staff, higher levels of inmate murder and have been found to not save taxpayers any funds,” he noted.
Staffing levels in private prisons are also a concern, as private companies often reduce operational costs to lower their overall costs, according to Shar Habibi, research and policy director at In the Public Interest. Private prisons are also known to cherry-pick their inmates, she said.
“Private prisons are not likely to house maximum security, death row, or female inmates, or inmates that have serious medical or mental health conditions, all of which are more expensive to incarcerate,” Habibi said in her submitted testimony.
Ed Hawthorne, president of Connecticut AFL-CIO, also submitted testimony in favor of the bill.
“Private companies operate correctional facilities with the primary goal of making money,” he said in his testimony. “The idea that they could benefit financially from our criminal justice system raises numerous ethical concerns.”
There is currently no testimony submitted in opposition to the bill.