Another Sunday, another church group against private prisons;
this time, a group of churches.

Dan Heyman wrote 12 January 2010 for Public News Service – WV,

Churches: No Private Prison For Immigrants In WV,

CHARLESTON, WV – West Virginia’s largest church group has asked
U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd and the rest of the state’s congressional delegation
to oppose funding a private prison for undocumented immigrants in
Pendleton County near the Virginia border.


The Council of Churches is
one of several groups discussing immigration reform ahead of expected
congressional action on the issue. The Council has asked federal
lawmakers’ help in the effort, arguing private prison operations have
been rife with abuse. GSI Professional Corrections is seeking county
commission approval to build the detention center near Sugar Grove to
house 1,000 nonviolent immigrant detainees awaiting possible deportation.

Rev. Dennis Sparks, the Council’s executive director, complains private
prisons operate outside the mainstream legal

system. Young people have
been trapped in them unprotected, he says, simply for being members of
undocumented families, even if they were born in the U.S.

“There have been a lot of abuses of children in these facilities:
no way to communicate adequately, no way to get legal protection or
representation. So, they’re stuck.”

GSI Corrections has said the prison would create 300 jobs, but Sparks
sees private prisons as a bad idea in general. In other places, he adds,
the jobs have not materialized.

We don’t need a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia.
Spend that tax money on rehabilitation and incarceration instead.

-jsq