End Federal Contracts with Private Prison Companies

I am writing to urge you to support legislation that would end federal contracts with private prison companies and prohibit the use of for-profit detention facilities. Recent revelations about GEO Group's operations demonstrate why incarceration should never be a profit-driven enterprise. On December 6, 2023, Frankline Okpu, a 37-year-old man from Cameroon, died in solitary confinement at GEO Group's Moshannon Valley ICE Processing Center in Pennsylvania. An ICE investigation found that medical staff falsified records, failing to complete 42% of required inspections. Of the 219 inspections required every 15 minutes, 33 involved staff not actually looking into his cell, 38 occurred outside the required timeframe, and 23 never happened at all. Staff falsely documented face-to-face encounters and meal consumption that never occurred. Despite discovering these falsified death records, ICE awarded GEO Group an additional $4 million contract just three months after reviewing the death report. This is not an isolated incident but rather evidence of a systemic problem. When a company's revenue depends on maintaining detention contracts, the incentive structure prioritizes cost-cutting over human life. In 2023, 43% of GEO Group's $2.4 billion in revenue came from ICE contracts alone. The profit motive is fundamentally incompatible with the responsibility of detaining human beings. Private prison companies have a financial interest in maximizing occupancy and minimizing operational costs, which leads directly to inadequate staffing, insufficient medical care, and the kind of negligence that killed Frankline Okpu. I urge you to cosponsor legislation that would prohibit federal agencies from contracting with private prison companies and require the transition of all detained individuals to publicly operated facilities with proper oversight and accountability. The federal government should not be enriching corporations that falsify records and allow people to die in their custody.