New Document Reveals U.S. Government Will Continue Use Of Private Prisons

In a new report out on Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security Advisory Council says the U.S. government will continue to use facilities run by private prison companies such as Corecivic Inc CXW and The GEO Group Inc GEO.

The council specifically mentions private prisons in its recommendations of how the department should deal with immigration-related detention.

“Fiscal considerations, combined with the need for realistic capacity to handle sudden increases in detention, indicate that DHS’s use of private for-profit detention will continue,” the document reads.

The council also urged Congress to help the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency with oversight of these facilities.

“Congress should provide to ICE the additional monetary and personnel resources needed to provide for a more robust, effective and coordinated inspection regime, as well as the other improvements identified in this report.”

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton had pledged to eliminate the government’s use of private prisons, but President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign plan for “law and order” suggests there will be plenty of business for private prisons.

The United States has by far the highest incarceration rate of any developed country in the world at 737 people per 100,000. Russia’s incarceration rate is 615 per 100,000, while China’s rate is only 118.

Since Election Day, shares of The Geo Group and Corecivic are up 39.5 percent and 63.6 percent, respectively.