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September 19th, 2016
Grijalva, Sanders Call for US Marshalls Service to End Reliance on For-Profit Prison Industry

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) today sent a letter to Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch urging she direct the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) to follow the Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) lead in phasing out private prison contracts as they come up for renewal.

The letter reads in part:

We ask that you use your existing authority to hold USMS facilities to the same standards as BOP by immediately initiating a review of privately operated prison and detention centers under their jurisdiction and beginning a phase-out of all for-profit prison contracts moving forward.

Rep. Grijalva released the following statement:

“The Department of Justice’s decision directing the Bureau of Prisons to sever ties with the private prison industry was a vital and necessary first step towards ending our nation’s involvement with this morally reprehensible industry,” Rep. Grijalva said. “But it was exactly that – a first step. The DOJ should immediately build on this progress and review the U.S. Marshal Service’s for-profit prison contracts. They should disassociate from captivity profiteering immediately. A larger portion of USMS’s prison population sleeps on privately operated beds than BOP’s, making their use of private contractors an even greater concern. Until they, and others like the Department of Homeland Security do, our nation will remain ensnared in financial dealings that undermine our values and promote human suffering. That is simply unacceptable.”

The full text of the letter is available here.

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