The Influence of the Private Prison Industry in Immigration Detention | Detention Watch Network

The Influence of the Private Prison Industry in Immigration Detention | Detention Watch Network

The Influence of the Private Prison Industry in Immigration Detention

Introduction

Since the late 1990’s, the number of people held in immigration detention has exploded. On any given day, ICE detains over 33,000 immigrants; this is more than triple the number of people detained in 1996. In the last 5 years alone, the annual number of immigrants detained and the costs of detaining them has doubled: in 2009, 383,524 immigrants were detained, costing taxpayers $1.7 billion at an average of $122 a day per bed. Nearly 2.5 million individuals have passed through immigration detention facilities since 2003.

Although private corporations have long exercised influence over detention policy in a variety of contexts, a recent accumulation of evidence indicates that the main contractors involved in the explosive growth of the immigration detention system have been involved in heavy lobbying at the federal level.

Presented here is a compendium of research identifying the companies most heavily invested in the immigration detention business, and charting the increase in their lobbying activities over the last decade -- not only in terms of dollars spent but also in terms of the variety of government entities targeted.

More research is needed in order to determine the extent to which the private prison lobby is responsible for increasingly anti-immigrant policies being enacted at the federal and state levels. This initial data, which represents only the tip of the iceberg, is being made available to members of the public and the media with the hope of provoking more in depth investigation.

This research was conducted in partnership with Grassroots Leadership and Sarah V. Carswell.

Overview of the History of Private Prison Corporations in the Immigration Detention Business. Read more here.

Highlights of Research: The Scope of the Corporate Stake in Immigration Detention

In 2009, ICE had an adult average daily population (ADP) of 32,606 in a total of 178 facilities. Of these, 15,942 detainees – or 49% – were housed in 30 privately-operated detention centers. Of the private facilities, the states with the highest ADP were Texas (6,115), Georgia (1,804) and Arizona (1,779).