The Shelby County Commission is in the process of trying to privatize our criminal justice system. Private prisons have a well-documented history of inefficient security, poorly trained and underpaid workers, high turnover rates, scant benefits and unprofessional and unsupervised treatment of inmates.
The Coalition Against Private Prisons has been created to fight this privatization plan. So far this coalition involves Grassroots Leadership, the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center, the AFSCME local 1733, Shelby County Corrections Officers, Women’s Action Coalition, Mid-South Interfaith Network, educators, faith leaders, artists, and activists.
To address this we are working with our coalition partners and other community organizations to educate Memphians about the dangers of privatization, and to mobilize Memphians around the issue.
Download our new report, Progress or Profit? Positive Alternatives To
Privatization and Incarceration in Shelby County, Tennessee. It proposes
a set of solutions that will help the county cut spending and reduce its
jail population while continuing to protect public safety.
Download PDF
of Full Report
We are happy to announce that the Coalition Against Private Prisons' battle
to fight the privatization of Shelby County's prisons is featured in a
new documentary produced by SourceCode. The show can be viewed online at
sourcecode.freespeech.org starting
February 28th, and on Free Speech TV, DISH Network Channel 9415. Working
with activists and artists, FSTV uses television to cultivate an informed
and active citizenry in order to advance progressive social change.
To see the video click here.
Free
Voice Media Alliance has produced a new episode of SourceCode, Free Speech
TV’s original news magazine program. This episode is “Private
Prisons: Commerce in Souls.”
Corruption and collusion are nothing new for private prisons, but with back-room boosts from the Department of Homeland Security, the stakes are getting higher. SourceCode looks inside the private prison boom, and at the growing opposition to this state-administered slavery. In These Times reporter Silja Talvi talks with The Sentencing Project, and Grassroots Leadership shares their success story in Memphis. Plus, former inmates create moving images to tell their stories in a multi-media community arts project.
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