Forum Post: Smackdown: ACLU Calls Out Private Prison Giant

The American Civil Liberties Union has invited the leader of the nation's largest private prison enterprise, Corrections Corporation of America, to a public debate on the merits of prison privatization.

The organization's May 8 letter to CEO Damon T. Hininger notes that CCA "has repeatedly criticized the views of the ACLU regarding for-profit incarceration. If you truly believe that private prisons are right for our country, we see no reason why you would be unwilling to defend that position in a public debate." The letter, signed by David Fathi, director of the ACLU’s National Prison Project and David Shapiro, a staff attorney, goes on to suggest that Hininger debate Shapiro for 90 minutes "at a mutually agreeable time and public venue."

Of course, the challenge is largely a publicity stunt, but it's a cogent one considering that CCA performs a public function, gets most of its revenues from the government (see chart below), and yet is relatively free from public accountability: "Exempted from the Freedom of Information Act," notes an ACLU press release, "CCA and other private prison companies are shielded from public scrutiny by a veil of secrecy, despite locking up nearly 130,000 prisoners and an additional 15,000 immigration detainees each year while receiving billions of taxpayer dollars.'" read the rest here

Nail these bastards to the wall.