\nWe write in reference to a letter you recently received from Harley\nLappin, Chief Corrections Officer at Corrections Corporation of\nAmerica (CCA), announcing the Corrections Investment Initiative \u2013\nthe corporation’s plan to spend up to $250 million buying prisons\nfrom state, local, and federal government entities, and then\nmanaging the facilities. The letter from Mr. Lappin states that CCA\nis only interested in buying prisons if the state selling the prison\nagrees to pay CCA to operate the prison for 20 years — at minimum.\nMr. Lappin further notes that any prison to be sold must have at\nleast 1,000 beds, and that the state must agree to keep the prison\nat least 90% full during the length of the contract.\n
\nThe undersigned faith organizations urge you to decline this\ndangerous and costly invitation. CCA’s initiative would be costly\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n
\nto\ntaxpayers in your state. CCA would be buying not only a physical\nstructure but a guarantee that your state will fill a large prison\nand continuously pay the corporation taxpayer money to operate the\ninstitution for at least two decades. Your state will incur\nlong-term costs associated with increasing incarceration rates,\nwhile CCA’s profits will only continue to increase as well.\n\n
\nCCA’s initiative would be costly to the moral strength of your\nstate. The requirement to ensure that the prison remains 90% full\nfor at least two decades would pose a tremendous obstacle to more\ncost-effective criminal justice policies. The United States\nimprisons far more people than any other nation in the world. The\nmillions of people who are directly impacted by this explosive rate\nof incarceration included families and communities of the\nincarcerated. Families and communities can be strengthened through\nevidence-based alternatives to incarceration and reentry policies\nthat quicken the reintegration of those coming out of prison into\ntheir home communities.\n
\nThe current incarceration rate has been spurred over the last four\ndecades by criminal laws that impose steep sentences. Mass\nincarceration deprives record numbers of individuals of their\nliberty, disproportionately affects people of color, and has not had\nthe impact on public safety that equals the financial and moral\ncosts that are being paid. In addition, the crippling cost of\nimprisoning increasing numbers of people burdens government budgets\nwith rising debt and only exacerbates the current fiscal crisis\nconfronting states across the nation. Despite the increasing costs\nto states and the nation as a whole that results from mass\nincarceration, CCA continues to reap enormous profits. We believe\nthe profits CCA receives are not worth the costs paid by the states\nand by the people who will be incarcerated and their families who\nwill be impacted by the requirement to keep prisons filled rather\nthan the greater need for the criminal justice system to truly be\njust and fair.\n
\nWe urge you to reject the initiative sent to you from CCA. Criminal\njustice policies do not need to rely on the privatization of\ncorrectional services, but rather, should be evidence-based policies\nand practices that are proven to reduce recidivism and can lead to a\nreduction in the prison population. Mr. Lappin’s proposal is an\ninvitation to deepening state debt, increased costs to people of\ncolor who are disproportionately impacted by mass incarceration as\nwell as their families and communities, and decreased public safety.\n
\nSincerely,\n
\n
\nAfrican American Ministers in Action\n
\nAfrican American Ministers Leadership Council\n
\nAfrican Methodist Episcopal Church \u2013 Social Action Commission\n
\nAmerican Baptist Home Mission Societies\n
\nAmerican Friends Service Committee\n
\nChurch of the Brethren\n
\nDisciples Home Missions-Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada\n
\nDisciples Justice Action Network\n
\nDominican Sisters of Sparkill, NY\n
\nFranciscan Action Network\n
\nFriends Committee on National Legislation\n
\nHealing Communities\n
\nHoly Family Institute\n
\nHoly Spirit Missionary Sisters, USA \u2013 JPIC\n
\nIrish Apostolate USA\n
\nMaryknoll Fathers and Brothers\n
\nMennonite Central Committee, U.S. Washington Office\n
\nMuslim Public Affairs Council\n
\nNational Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd\n
\nNational Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order, OSF\n
\nNETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby\n
\nOffice of Peace and Justice, Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters\n
\nPICO National Network\n
\nPresbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness\n
\nSocial Justice Committee, Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, KS\n
\nSisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary\n
\nSisters of St. Dominic of Caldwell, NJ\n
\nThe Episcopal Church\n
\nTri-State Coalition for Responsible Investment\n
\nUnitarian Universalist Association of Congregations\n
\nUnited Church of Christ\/Justice and Witness Ministries\n
\nUnited Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society\n
\nFor information about the letter from faith groups, please be in touch with Bill Mefford at bmefford@umc-gbcs.org\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Quakers to Catholics, “Our organizations advocate for a criminal justice system that brings healing for victims of crime, restoration for those who commit crimes, and to maintain public safety.” religious groups oppose privatization of prisons. Here is the text of a letter many of them sent to all 50 state governors, joining the ACLU […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[176,97,1113,14,15,70,19,72,20,21,22,1908,73,74,178],"tags":[8747,8736,8817,2858,8728,8701,8709,8730,2695,7,75,1281,2952,8846,6,180],"class_list":["post-1046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aclu","category-activism","category-cca","category-economy","category-education","category-ethics","category-history","category-incarceration","category-law","category-planning","category-politics","category-religion","category-safety","category-security","category-vlcia","tag-aclu","tag-activism","tag-cca","tag-corrections-corporation-of-america","tag-ethics","tag-georgia","tag-history","tag-incarceration","tag-justice","tag-lowndes-county","tag-prison","tag-private","tag-protest","tag-religion","tag-valdosta","tag-valdosta-lowndes-county-industrial-authority"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-gS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1046\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/topics\/incarceration\/protest\/tiny\/micon.png\")
<\/a>\nYou can help\n\ndrive away CCA<\/a>, 5PM this Tuesday, March 6th<\/sup><\/small>.\nOr sign the\n\npetition to the Industrial Authority<\/a>\nto reject the private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia.\n![](\"http:\/\/www.umc.org\/atf\/cf\/%7BDB6A45E4-C446-4248-82C8-E131B6424741%7D\/umns12_013_1_480.jpg\")
<\/a>\ntraditions from across the religious and political spectrum. Our\norganizations advocate for a criminal justice system that brings\nhealing for victims of crime, restoration for those who commit\ncrimes, and to maintain public safety.\n