For-profit prisons should not exist. The moment incarceration becomes a business, the goal shifts from justice and rehabilitation to generating profit. Profit depends on full prisons. That means the system is built to keep people locked up, not help them get out.
This model has nothing to do with safety. It creates a pipeline where punishment fuels profit. Lawmakers who defend it are protecting an industry, not the public. That includes Republicans and some Democrats who hide behind budget talk while ignoring the human cost.
Prison is a public responsibility. It is supposed to serve justice, not shareholders. That responsibility needs to come back under government control. States and the federal government can start by ending all new contracts immediately, then phasing out existing ones as they expire. The buildings and infrastructure already exist. The government can take over operations, hire staff directly, and absorb those facilities into the public system.
This is not radical. It is a reset. No one is saying shut down prisons overnight. We are saying the state should run them, not corporations with a profit motive. That is how you restore accountability, ethics, and actual justice.