Page 10
Commentary
Street Roots • Nov. 18-24, 2016
Our tax money is funding private prisons; let’s fix this
approximately 1,000 immigrants, 10
percent of them youths, were transferred
to the Northwest Detention Center from
oday there are 2.3 million people in
Portland in 2015.
prison and 4.7 million on probation
Northwest Detention Center is owned
or parole in the U.S. There are a
and operated by the private for-profit
record-high 41,000 people in immigrant
corporation GEO Group, under a per-
detention centers and 53,000 immigrants
person, per-day contract with the federal
wearing ankle monitors. Every one of
government Prison corporations like GEO
these people has family, has loved ones.
Group not only nm prisons and detention
Thousands of us are residents in this city.
centers like the one in Tacoma; they also
I’d like to share the story of one
lobby heavily for policies that funnel
Portlander who came to the United States
people to these facilities.
from Guatemala at just 10 years old.
In 2014, GEO Group and CoreCivic
Despite entering with refugee status, he
(formerly Corrections Corporation of
was later detained for three years at
America), the two largest prison
Northwest Detention Center, a private for-
corporations in the U.S., spent $5.9
profit immigration detention center in
million on lobbying and campaign
Tacoma, Wash. David (not his actual name)
contributions. Their investment has paid
shared his experience:
off.
Private corporations now control 73
“I was put in solitary confinement
percent
of immigrant detention beds, and
multiple different times, at one point for
a GEO subsidiary has an exclusive contract
six continuous months. I had little to no
with ICE for electronic ankle monitoring.
interaction with other people and was
Women with their children as young as
subject to verbal and physical abuse daily.
infants are now being detained. Some
In the general population, the rooms were
people are held for one, two, three years,
constantly overcrowded with people
even with no criminal charges against
sleeping on the floors. The guards would
them.
physically force people who didn’t speak
In the criminal system, prisons have
English to sign deportation releases
lobbied
for mandatory minimums like
without their consent, and use excessive
Oregon’s Measure 11, three-strikes laws
violence without any repercussions.
and truth in sentencing laws, which
“I would work hard manual labor for up
disproportionately impact communities of
to eight hours and get paid only $1 a day.
color, particularly black communities.
On top of that, the prices of the products
Increased criminalization makes
in commissary were all extremely
shareholders
more money, at the expense
expensive. A 15-minute phone call would
of people’s lives.
cost $10; collect calls were $2.50 a minute.
Whose money is fueling all of this?
... I asked if I could have a few GED books
Ours.
The city of Portland’s.
to study, but they refused and, in fact, said
Wells
Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and a
that immigrants should not be allowed to
handful of other banks are major investors
get an education, especially because they
and lenders in prisons. The city of
shouldn’t been in the U.S. in the first
Portland currently holds millions in
place.”
corporate bonds from these banks, and no
Despite rolling hunger strikes and
screen is available to prevent our money
unlivable conditions, it’s estimated that
BY AMANDA AGUILAR SHANK
CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST
T
Amanda Aguilar
Shank is deputy
director at Enlace, an
international alliance
of organizations
fighting for immigrant
and low-wage worker
rights, and convener of
the national Prison
Divestment Campaign.
FARMERS’ MARKET
P^^E»^
WEDNESDAYS 2-7PM
from being invested in prison expansion.
Wells Fargo is also implicated as a major
funder of the Dakota Access Pipeline that
the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and allies
are courageously blocking in North
Dakota, as well as in a
widespread scandal that
opened millions of false
"Portland can do better than
bank accounts. Portland
this.
The money we pay in
can do better than this.
taxes
to onr cities should not
The money we pay in
taxes to our cities should be turned back on us to fuel
not be turned back on us a system that dehumanizes
to fuel a system that
us, defrauds us, destroys our
dehumanizes us,
natural resources and locks us
defrauds us, destroys our
away."
natural resources and
locks us away.
Soon, prison
divestment will be up for
a vote at the Portland
City Council. We have the opportunity to
set a national precedent that other cities
will follow, to help financially isolate the
prison industry and to stop its growth.
Like many of you, I am still reeling from
Trump’s victory with a campaign rooted in
racism and xenophobia. He has pledged to
deport 2 million to 3 million immigrants
“immediately,” to expand the use of
private prisons, to make Muslims join a
government registry - to name but a few
of his deplorable policy objectives. In this
context, the actions that the City Council
takes will ring especially loud, particularly
in the ears of Portland’s immigrant
community and communities of color.
Dozens of community groups stand with
the Prison Divestment Coalition and will
be testifying from 2 to 5 p.m. on Nov. 30 at
City Hall.
We call on the public to join us with
signs and support, to let City Council know
that we support them in cutting our city’s
ties with the prison industry.
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