Coalition against private prisons in Shelby County, Tennessee

In at least one southern county, church groups are working together with other groups to prevent private prisons. Why not here, too?

The Mid-South Peace and Justice Center is organizing a broad coalition against private prisons in Shelby County, Tennessee:

No Private Prisons The Shelby County Commission is in the process of trying to privatize our criminal justice system. Private prisons have a well-documented history of inefficient security, poorly trained and underpaid workers, high turnover rates, scant benefits and unprofessional and unsupervised treatment of inmates.

The Coalition Against Private Prisons has been created to fight this privatization plan. So far this coalition involves Grassroots Leadership, the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, the AFSCME local 1733, Shelby County Corrections Officers, Women’s Action Coalition, Mid-South Interfaith Network, educators, faith leaders, artists, and activists.

To address this we are working with our coalition partners and other community organizations to educate Memphians about the dangers of privatization, and to mobilize Memphians around the issue.

They've got a report, Progress or Profit? Positive Alternatives To Privatization and Incarceration in Shelby County, Tennessee.

It proposes a set of solutions that will help the county cut spending and reduce its jail population while continuing to protect public safety.

And a video documentary.

Corruption and collusion are nothing new for private prisons, but with back-room boosts from the Department of Homeland Security, the stakes are getting higher. SourceCode looks inside the private prison boom, and at the growing opposition to this state-administered slavery. In These Times reporter Silja Talvi talks with The Sentencing Project, and Grassroots Leadership shares their success story in Memphis. Plus, former inmates create moving images to tell their stories in a multi-media community arts project.

Yes, "state-administered slavery" is about right.

We don't need a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia. SPend that tax money on rehabilitation and education instead.

-jsq