Joaquin Castro: “Studies have shown repeatedly that these private detention centers are of a lower quality than publicly owned…”

“Studies have shown repeatedly that these private detention centers are of a lower quality than publicly owned facilities. There is something very perverse about an industry in the private detention and private prison industry that basically profits off of mass incarceration and that has an economic incentive to get more people into detention, into jail, into prison, and, at the same time, tries to do everything that it can to cut costs and cut corners. In doing so, it fails not only its public charge and its duty, but also terribly fails the people entrusted to it. The fact is that these private prisons, the detention centers, the companies that own them, hired lobbyists in California, for example, within the last few years. They had 70 lobbyists. One of the companies had 70 lobbyists on staff. They lobby for harsher criminal penalties. Why? Because the more people that have to be detained, the more money they make. That simply is not how the criminal justice system should work and that is not how we should do detention within the immigration realm. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.”