Wonkbook: Private prisons aren't that big a deal

By Keith Humphreys Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates has announced that the federal government will begin reducing its use of private prisons. Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who campaigned for such a policy change, spoke for many liberal politicians when he praised the move as a major step toward reducing mass incarceration: "It is an international …   The latest economic and domestic policy from Wonkblog   (Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post) By Keith Humphreys Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates has announced that the federal government will begin reducing its use of private prisons. Former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who campaigned for such a policy change, spoke for many liberal politicians when he praised the move as a major step toward reducing mass incarceration: "It is an international embarrassment that we put more people behind bars than any other country on earth. Due in large part to private prisons, incarceration has been a source of major profits to private corporations." Yet despite the outsize attention they draw in some political quarters, private prisons are bit players in the sorry drama of mass incarceration. That 19 percent of federal prisoners are in private facilities may seem to imply a massive presence of corporations within U.S. corrections, but the federal government houses only 12.7 percent of U.S. inmates. As a result, even if the Justice Department went beyond its announced plans and immediately transferred all privately housed inmates to federally operated facilities, only 40,000 of the more than 1.5 million U.S. prisoners would be affected. The American prison system is overwhelmingly operated by states, and state data underscores that incarceration is firmly under public-sector control. Read the rest on Wonkblog.   Top policy tweets "Trump isn't attempting any shift on the wall, on legalization, or cutting legal immigration flows. Only deportation. https://t.co/CDcCRPLmhM" -- @sahilkapur "No seriously y'all, about this mysterious 'border wall' http://bit.ly/2bjTzDy" -- @EricaGreider "Are they students? Or are they employees? NLRB rules that graduate students are employees. https://t.co/xmXpZSkzXW" -- @DaniDougPost ADVERTISEMENT   Most Recent Posts from Wonkblog Why film studios really like movie remakes Studios walk a fine line between enticing viewers with something new and ruining the nostalgia that keeps film franchises alive. By Jacob Bogage  •  Read more »   The times of year you’re most likely to get divorced There's a depressing seasonal predictability of divorce filings. By Christopher Ingraham  •  Read more »   Why cute baby animal photos are actually toying with your brain A powerful force makes us click on cute animal photos. By Ana Swanson  •  Read more »   What life is really like in ‘America’s worst place to live’ The welcome has been warm, but Minnesota winter is coming. By Christopher Ingraham  •  Read more »   Private prisons aren’t that big a deal The reality is that more than 90 percent of U.S. prisoners are directly watched over by the government By Keith Humphreys  •  Read more »   ‘They’ll kill for it': Ramen has become the black-market currency in American prisons Instant ramen has overtaken cigarettes as the go-to currency in U.S. prisons, according to a study. By Amy B Wang  •  Read more »   Mass deportation was never part of Donald Trump’s official plan to begin with He's been saying for a year he wants to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants, but now he might be sticking to the initial plan. By Max Ehrenfreund  •  Read more »   ADVERTISEMENT   Recommended for you   Federal Insider Federal news and policy update, in your inbox daily. Sign Up »         Share Wonkbook:       Twitter      Facebook Trouble reading? Click here to view in your browser. You received this email because you signed up for a Wonkblog newsletter. For additional free newsletters or to manage your newsletters, click here. We respect your privacy. If you believe that this email has been sent to you in error or you no longer wish to receive email from The Washington Post, click here. Contact us for help. ©2016 The Washington Post, 1301 K St NW, Washington DC 20071