California Lawmakers Phase Out Profit-Hungry Prison Companies

Lawmakers have passed a bill to upend the private prison industry in California, as well as four major Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers, wiping out profit motive from incarceration.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has shown support in ending “the outrage of private prisons once and for all”, is left to sign the AB32 bill.

AB32 was amended in September to let for-profit prison companies continue operating after 2020 but only to assist the state in fulfilling a court-ordered prison population cap. Otherwise, private prisons for state inmates will no longer exist by 2028.

“This legislation is the most powerful we’ve had. It’s a very big step,” says Lizbeth Abeln of the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice.