13th Page #8

We are America's leader

in partnership corrections.

We are CCA.

And so, through ALEC,

CCA had a hand in shaping crime policy

across the country,

including, not just prison privatization,

but the rapid increase in criminalization.

I think this accusation, you know,

quite frankly, is just false.

That somehow ALEC was in favor

of imprisoning a bunch of people, uh,

because of private prisons...

I think that's just, unfortunately,

one of these tactics they do on ALEC.

ALEC pushed forward a number of policies

to increase the number of people in prison

and to increase the sentences

of people who are in prison.

I'm trying to think how you address it.

It's hard to address something that's like

almost like folklore at this point.

They are not doing anything

to really clean up that past

or to address the real consequences

for real people

of the extreme policies they've pushed.

In fact, it doesn't talk about

its past history.

I mean, it's hard for me

to even understand, uh,

what they're even talking about.

A lot of it.

CCA directly benefited,

directly profited from its investment

in ALEC,

the American Legislative Exchange Council.

And the American people, in many ways,

were harmed by these policies

due to the mass incarceration

of people, particularly people of color.

Look, right now our position

is that we want less people in prison.

I don't think that helps the private

prison industry, quite frankly.

I think myself and the lawmakers,

we're just always looking for better,

innovative ways to run government.

I think that's one thing

as conservatives, who believe in

the free market and limited government,

we pride ourselves on.

We're supposed to be

the party of innovation.

Another bill

that ALEC innovated was SB 1070.

CCA was on the ALEC task force

that pushed that law

that gave police

the right to stop anyone

they thought looked like an immigrant.

This law filled

immigration detention facilities,

and it directly benefited

an ALEC member, CCA.

CCA could potentially reap

huge financial benefits from SB 1070,

since 1070 was designed to lock up

a lot more people in Arizona

on federal immigration charges.

Cha-ching!

An influx of undocumented

immigrants, many of them children...

In Arizona, Corrections

Corporation of America, or CCA,

holds the federal contract

to house detained immigrants.

It's worth more than $11 million

every month.

Our, uh, immigration facilities

are a disgrace.

There are families kept there,

uh, in horrible conditions.

They're called "detention facilities,"

but they're really prisons for immigrants.

Calling them "detention facility"

doesn't make them not a prison.

They're a prison.

They just have a different name.

We're having what some people are saying

is a creation of a "crimmigration" system.

That there's the merger

of our immigration enforcement

and our law enforcement system.

And so, that's some of the same things

that were used in the war on drugs,

are now migrating to other populations.

You heard it, uh, with Donald Trump,

not about blacks but with Mexicans.

You know,

"Oh, well, they're rapists, murderers.

Oh, and by the way,

some of 'em may be good people."

Oh, boy. You know, where do you start

on something like that?

In late 2010, CCA left ALEC

after a big NPR story came out

accusing ALEC of pushing SB 1070.

ALEC doesn't do anything on immigration.

No. No which way. Not to the right,

not to the left. Nothing.

So, I don't really have anything

for you on that one. Sorry.

ALEC has recently made

what I would describe as a PR move

to say that it's gonna be right on crime.

That it's gonna be on the right side

of criminal justice policy and reform.

That move comes in the wake of its loss

of a massive number of corporations.

What ultimately happened is our board

looked at the issues that ALEC worked on

and decided

that we don't do social issues,

we're focused on economic issues.

We jettisoned basically almost

all of our legislation that was pre-2007.

So we basically...

Fresh slate going forward.

A fresh start going forward.

This industry knows that it's dying...

and is actually preparing

for the next thing.

And the animating factors that have

led to such a system like bail.

We're always gonna see

new permutations of a cancer. Right?

And that's what this is.

And over the last couple years,

since 2008,

we've been involved really

in a wholesale reform effort,

where 31 states have now adopted

positive changes on sentencing,

on parole and probation reforms.

ALEC has a concerted effort to privatize

almost every aspect of government,

but we had no idea

that they were also aiming

to try to privatize probation and parole.

ALEC is no longer concerned

about CCA and CCA's interest.

CCA no longer has

a seat at the table with ALEC,

so it doesn't have a financial interest

in advancing policies

that increase the profits of CCA.

But the American Bail Coalition

is still part of ALEC.

Today, our state penitentiaries

are filled to the brim

and overflowing with inmates.

When I think

of systems of oppression,

uh, historically, in this country

and elsewhere, they're durable.

And they tend to reinvent themselves,

and they do it right under your nose.

One of the things they want to do

is GPS monitoring.

Having a home confinement system

for juveniles, I think, is a great thing

'cause it forces the parents

to take responsibility and step up.

Prisons would be

more embedded in our homes.

Some of them would be monitored

on GPS and things like that.

So folks won't be locked up in a cage,

in a cell, inside of an institution,

but they will have ankle bracelets on.

They'll have wrist bracelets on.

Would that help to solve

the prison overcrowding problem?

Absolutely.

And what I worry about is that

we fall asleep at the wheel and wake up,

and realize that we may not

have people in prisons

in rural communities all over America,

but that we're incarcerating people

right in their communities.

That is what I see,

what a lot of the focus is on,

is taking people from prison,

putting them in community corrections

parole and probation,

and really investing in those programs.

How much progress is it really,

if communities of color are still under

perpetual surveillance and control,

but now there's a private company

making money off the GPS monitor,

rather than the person

being locked in a literal cage?

If we can help you...

save crime victims

in your legislative district...

you don't mind me making a dollar.

And so, ALEC continues

to be a body that,

while it may have some

really strong rhetoric

on why it supports

crime reform now, suddenly,

uh, sort of out of the blue,

it actually has real financial interests.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

If you're in the prison business,

uh, you don't want reform.

You may say you do, but you don't.

And there are a bunch of people out there

desperately trying to make sure

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