Say No to Prison Privatization

National Call-in Day Wednes­day, April 18, 2012

On Wednes­day, April 18, in part­ner­ship with the Samuel DeWitt Proc­tor Con­fer­ence, join with peo­ple of faith for the National Call-in Day to our state gov­er­nors to say No to Prison Privatization!

On Wednes­day, April 18, join us by call­ing your gov­er­nor with the clear mes­sage that peo­ple of faith say “no” to profit from the incar­cer­a­tion of our sis­ters and brothers.

“Gov­er­nor, as a Chris­t­ian, I am call­ing to ask you for a pub­lic com­mit­ment by June 1st to reject CCA’s recent offer to pri­va­tize pris­ons in our state. Prof­it­ing from the incar­cer­a­tion of oth­ers directly con­tra­dicts United Methodist/Presbyterian/UCC [fill in your denom­i­na­tion] stances on restora­tive jus­tice and bib­li­cal teach­ing. As a per­son of faith, I believe no one should profit from the incar­cer­a­tion of human beings.”

Two ways to call in on Wednes­day, April 18:

1. Call in from your phone using the num­bers below.
2. Call in from the Web, using the “mobile con­nect” form, by enter­ing in your phone num­ber and zip code. Get a reminder email/text on April 18.

The private-prison indus­try is fast grow­ing with the two largest com­pa­nies, Cor­rec­tions Corp. of Amer­ica and GEO Group, post­ing prof­its of $2.9 bil­lion by the end of 2010. Pri­vate prison cor­po­ra­tions actively lobby for laws that incen­tivize fill­ing pris­ons to increase their own prof­its at the expense of our communities.

Pri­vate pris­ons are also respon­si­ble for neglect and abuse in pris­ons and directly con­tra­dict United Methodist, Pres­by­ter­ian, and other denom­i­na­tional stances on restora­tive jus­tice and bib­li­cal teach­ing. In Jan­u­ary, the United Methodist Board of Pen­sion & Health Ben­e­fits announced its deci­sion to divest and pro­hibit invest­ments in pri­vate pris­ons. Accord­ing to David Zell­ner, the board’s chief invest­ment offi­cer, “It came down to that prof­it­ing from the incar­cer­a­tion of oth­ers was just not con­sis­tent with our view of what the [denomination’s] Social Prin­ci­ples ask for.”

As far back as 2003, the Pres­by­ter­ian Church (U.S.A.) Gen­eral Assem­bly called for the abo­li­tion of pri­vate pris­ons. On March 1, 2012, the newly formed Pres­by­ter­ian Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Net­work hand-delivered let­ters to their gov­er­nors, say­ing no to pri­vate pris­ons: not in our state, not anywhere.

Cor­rec­tion Corp. of Amer­ica recently sent a let­ter to 48 U.S. gov­er­nors announc­ing its “Invest­ment Ini­tia­tive” to spend up to $250 mil­lion to buy pris­ons from state, local and fed­eral gov­ern­ments. The “ini­tia­tive” requires states to com­mit to a min­i­mum of 20 years for the facil­ity, main­tain­ing 90% capac­ity over the 20-year period. We, as Chris­tians, believe that prof­it­ing from pri­vate pris­ons, earn­ing profit from the incar­cer­a­tion of our sis­ters and broth­ers, is incom­pat­i­ble with bib­li­cal teaching.

To that end, join with our col­leagues at the Samuel DeWitt Proc­tor Con­fer­ence and all peo­ple of faith in urg­ing our state gov­er­nors to pub­licly com­mit to decline CCA’s offer to buy up and pri­va­tize state prisons.

Your state’s gov­er­nor can be con­tacted by calling:

• Neil Aber­crom­bie, Hawaii, (808) 586‑0034
• Mike Beebe, Arkansas, (501) 682‑2345
• Robert Bent­ley, Alabama, (334) 242‑7100
• Steven L. Beshear, Ken­tucky, (502) 564‑2611
• Terry Branstad, Iowa, (515) 281.5211
• Jan Brewer, Ari­zona, (602) 542‑4331
• Jerry Brown, Cal­i­for­nia, (916) 445‑2841
• Sam Brown­back, Kansas, (877) 579‑6757
• Phil Bryant, Mis­sis­sippi, (601) 359‑3150
• Lin­coln Chafee, Rhode Island, (401) 222‑2080
• Chris Christie, New Jer­sey, (609) 292‑6000
• Tom Cor­bett, Penn­syl­va­nia, (717) 787‑2500
• Andrew Cuomo, New York, (518) 474‑8390
• Jack Dal­rym­ple, North Dakota, (701) 328‑2200
• Mitch Daniels, Indi­ana, (317) 232‑4567
• Den­nis Dau­gaard, South Dakota, (605) 773‑3212
• Mark Day­ton, Min­nesota, (800) 657‑3717
• Nathan Deal, Geor­gia, (404) 656‑1776
• Mary Fallin, Okla­homa, (405) 521‑2342
• Chris Gre­goire, Wash­ing­ton, (360) 902‑4111
• Nikki R. Haley, South Car­olina, (803) 734‑2100
• Bill Haslam, Ten­nessee, (615) 741‑2001
• Dave Heine­man, Nebraska, (402) 471‑2244
• Gary R. Her­bert, Utah, (801) 538‑1000
• John Hick­en­looper, Col­orado, (303) 866‑2471
• Bobby Jin­dal, Louisiana, (225) 342‑7015
• John Kasich, Ohio, (614) 466‑3555
• John Kitzhaber, Ore­gon, (503) 378‑4582
• Paul Lep­age, Maine, (207) 287‑3531
• John Lynch, New Hamp­shire, (603) 271‑2121
• Dan Mal­loy, Con­necti­cut, (860) 566‑4840
• Jack Dal­rym­ple, North Dakota, (701) 328‑2200
• Susana Mar­tinez, New Mex­ico, (505) 476‑2200
• Bob McDon­nell, Vir­ginia, (804) 786‑2211
• Matthew Mead, Wyoming, (307) 777‑7434
• Jere­miah W. Nixon, Mis­souri, (573) 751‑3222
• Mar­tin O’Malley, Mary­land, (410) 974‑3901
• C.L Otter, Idaho, (208) 334‑2100
• Sean Par­nell, Alaska, (907) 465‑3500
• Deval Patrick, Mass­a­chu­setts, (413) 784‑1200
• Bev­erly Per­due, N. Car­olina, (919) 733‑2391
• Rick Perry, Texas, (512) 463‑2000
• Pat Quinn, Illi­nois, (217) 782‑0244
• Brain San­doval, Nevada, (775) 684‑5670
• Brain Schweitzer, Mon­tana, (406) 444‑3111
• Rick Scott, Florida, (850) 488‑7146
• Peter Shum­lin, Ver­mont, (802) 828‑3333
• Rick Syn­der, Michi­gan, (517) 373‑3400
• Earl Ray Tomblin, W. Vir­ginia, (304) 558‑2000
• Scott Walker, Wis­con­sin, (608) 266‑1212

Thank you for your bold wit­ness. If you are inter­ested in get­ting more involved in follow-up action after the call-in day, send an email to ldownton@umc-gbcs.org to learn more.

For Fur­ther Study and Action

• To Be Free At Last: A move­ment of the Samuel DeWitt Proc­tor Con­fer­ence, com­mit­ted to nur­ture, sus­tain, and mobi­lize the African Amer­i­can faith community.

• The New Jim Crow: Mass Incar­cer­a­tion In The Age of Col­or­blind­ness Book & Study Guide

• Pres­by­ter­ian Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Net­work: Learn about its for­ma­tion, first action, and how to get involved.

• ACLU’s Bank­ing on Bondage: Pri­vate Pris­ons and Mass Incarceration

• Immi­grants for Sale video

• Jus­tice Pol­icy Institute’s Gam­ing the Sys­tem: How the Polit­i­cal Strate­gies of Pri­vate Prison Com­pa­nies Pro­mote Inef­fec­tive Incar­cer­a­tion Policies

• Deten­tion Watch Net­work on the Influ­ence of the Pri­vate Prison Indus­try in Immi­gra­tion Detention

Arti­cles

• “Peo­ple, Not Profit: Pres­by­te­ri­ans Form Crim­i­nal Jus­tice Net­work”, Unbound

• “Town Relies on Trou­bled Youth Prison for Prof­its”, NPR

• “Prison Eco­nom­ics Help Drive Ari­zona Immi­gra­tion Law”, NPR

• “Who Ben­e­fits When a Pri­vate Prison Comes to Town?”, NPR

• “Com­pa­nies Use Immi­gra­tion Crack­down to Turn a Profit”, New York Times

• “Pri­vate Pris­ons Found to Offer Lit­tle in Sav­ings”, New York Times