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WP Staff

Sen. Karen Carter Peterson Files Legislation to End Private Prison Contracts


Sen. Karen Carter

New Orleans, La – Sen. Karen Carter Peterson introduced a bill for the 2021 legislative session to end and ban private prison contracts in Louisiana.


Beginning in January 2022, SB16 would bar the state and any local government from entering into or renewing a contract with a private, for-profit prison company. The legislation also provides that no Louisiana inmate will be housed in a for-profit prison facility after January 2028.


Sen. Karen Carter Peterson released the following statement after the bill’s filing:

“Our criminal justice system is broken. For too long, we’ve allowed corporations to line their pockets and make millions off of the backs of incarcerated people. For-profit prisons regularly sacrifice safety, exploit prisoners, and lobby for harsher sentencing laws – all to help their bottom line.


“Louisiana has the highest percentage of our citizens behind bars in the world, and a disproportionate amount are people of color. We need a complete overhaul to reform the system and end this cycle that tears apart our communities. That begins with making sure the corrections system is about justice and redemption, not private profiteering off of punishment.”

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