Monday, April 23, 2012

Immigrant Rights Groups Want DeConcini Out of CCA, Private Prison Industry

Mark as Favorite

Posted By on Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 2:00 PM

In "Morals Before Profit," the Weekly wrote about local immigrant rights groups organizing to pressure former U.S. Senator Dennis DeConcini to resign from the board of Corrections Corporation of America—a private company that's been used as an example of what's wrong with our state government's love affair with the private prison industry. Go to another story we wrote "No Disclosure," for a look at the American Friends Service Committee's report on private prison abuses in Arizona and across the country.

A press conference will take place on Tuesday, April 24, with the coalition, now called Fuerza Comunitaria Contra la Industria Carcelaria, with community members affected by detention in CCA facilities and Beau Hodai of In These Times. It all takes place at ground zero for this campaign: DeConcini, McDonald, Yetwin & Lacy, P.C., 2525 E Broadway Blvd., at noon.

From Fuerza's press release:

Tucson, AZ —Tucson’s Fuerza! Coalition will hold a press conference and vigil outside Senator DeConcini's law firm to call attention to the connections between anti-immigrant legislation and prison industry profiteering. On April 24th, lifetime Tucson resident and three-term Democrat Senator Dennis DeConcini is expected to testify at a U.S. Senate Hearing in Washington D.C. against SB1070. Yet Senator DeConcini is a Corrections Corporation of American (CCA) shareholder and Board member and profits directly from the incarceration of Tucson families due to SB1070. As the nation’s largest private prison company and leading jailer of immigrant detainees, CCA stands to profit substantially from recent legislative attacks on migrant communities and supports laws like SB 1070. The day before the U.S. Supreme Court considers Arizona’s SB 1070 and people take to the streets in Phoenix against racism and deportation, Fuerza! holds CCA responsible for its targeting of migrant communities in Arizona and calls on Senator DeConcini to immediately resign from the CCA Board and denounce the company.

(Update: CCA requested a correction on this story. Here is our response.)

Tags: , , , ,

Mark as Favorite