During an oversight hearing with the head of federal prisons, Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.) called on the agency to review arrangements with private jailers that require beds to be full.
Testifying before a House Judiciary subcommittee on Wednesday, Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) Acting Director Dr. Thomas Kane stated that the government still includes occupancy guarantees in its contracts with for-profit prisons.
Also known as “lockup quotas,” the provisions require state and federal authorities to keep a certain minimum of prison beds full—generally between 70 and 90 percent—to ensure the private prison’s profitability.
“I don’t see the logic in basically giving an occupancy guarantee…or a guarantee of profit to a private industry that wants to engage in this business,” Rep. Richmond said during the hearing.
He added that the contracts fundamentally undercut the more important mission of drawing down the nation’s prison population, which is the highest in the world, both in real numbers and on a per capita basis.
“If we reduce our federal prison population, we still have an obligation to make sure their beds are full,” the Congressman said.
Kane responded, claiming that the quotas are “used to drive economies of scale” and drive cheaper bid prices.
The majority of individuals incarcerated at BOP private facilities are undocumented citizens serving time for non-violent crimes. The agency does business with three primary contractors: the Management and Training Corporation, GEO Group, and CoreCivic.
Kane told lawmakers that he anticipates that the BOP will likely have to seek “additional capacity” from private jailers in the future due to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Toward the end of his administration, President Obama ordered the DOJ to wean itself off using for-profit prisons. The order has since been rescinded by Attorney General Jeff Session.
Private prison contracts are also prevalent with state and local authorities. A 2013 report found that two-thirds of their contracts around the country included lockup quotas. In Arizona, for example, authorities are required to keep six private facilities at 90-100 percent capacity.
A 2016 review by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General found that private facilities are generally more violent and less secure than government-run prisons.
In response to a scathing audit of a CoreCivic jail in Leavenworth, Kansas, the US Marshall Service said last year that it would begin conducting on-site reviews of its fifteen contracted prisons.
“I would hope we can revisit whether we should guarantee any sort of baseline money that they will receive,” Rep. Richmond urged during Wednesday’s proceedings. “It defies logic.”
