Sanders introduces bill to ban privatization of prisons

On September 17,  2015  Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced the "Justice is not for sale act". This act would give the federal government three years to phase out private prisons in place for ones ran by the federal government, in addition, this ban would also apply to state and local governments.

Image pulled from Washington Post (Originally from Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Privatization of prisons all began in the 1980's as a way for local and state governments to save money. Governments would contract third party companies (such as CCA and G4S) to run and maintain prisons an jails and in return the government would pay them for each prisoner they had. While this might have been a good way to save money, there have been some unforeseen consequences that have come with privatization. One of the main issues has been that

"Profits [have been] so good that now there is a new business: importing inmates with long sentences, meaning the worst criminals. [For example,] when a federal judge ruled that overcrowding in Texas prisons was cruel and unusual punishment, the CCA signed contracts with sheriffs in poor counties to build and run new jails and share the profits." (Globalresearch)

With Sanders new bill, he aims to stop the profiting of putting people in jail as well as increasing conditions for prisoners by making all prisons run federally (or by the state/local government). In addition Sanders has also added some previsions to

"dramatically reduce the number of immigrants who are held in detention facilities while awaiting court hearings on their legal status." (WashingtonPost)

So what do you think?

Do you agree with saving money with privatization or government ran prisons?

Do you think there are any political motivations behind this (Presidential ones in particular)?

Sources

Washington Post [Link]

Bill  [Link]

Global Research [Link]