NEW YORK, NY — Today, presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren released a platform outlining her vision for eliminating private prisons and ending the transfer of carceral costs onto the vulnerable communities targeted and exploited by the prison industrial complex.

Citing Worth Rises’ Prison Industrial Complex Report, Warren pledged to ban private prisons and detention facilities, stop contractors from charging fees for essential services like communication and healthcare, and hold contractors accountable by expanding oversight, transparency and enforcement.

Bianca Tylek, Executive Director of Worth Rises, responds: “We are glad to see that the prison industrial complex is finally part of the national electoral discussion on criminal justice, and that presidential candidates like Sen. Warren are addressing the issue directly. The intention that roots her plan resonates with our mission to end the exploitation of all people touched by incarceration and offers concrete policies to help us get there.

“While some candidates have talked about their intentions to address our racist criminal legal system, few have discussed the financial interests that perpetuate mass incarceration and surveillance. We would like to see every presidential candidate outline their own plan to stop corporations and their government partners from profiteering off of incarcerated people and those supporting them on the outside.

“Incarceration is a business that annually extracts billions out of communities color and poverty. It’s shameful that this is such an accepted and commonplace practice that it’s taken until 2019 for a presidential candidate to address this problem with concrete solutions.

“It’s crucial that ending prison privatization and profiteering become a more prominent part of the national conversation. Worth Rises will continue to fight every day to make that happen because awareness is the first step in building power against the prison industrial complex. We look forward to hearing more from presidential candidates on the subject.”

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Worth Rises is a national criminal justice advocacy organization dedicated to dismantling the prison industry and eliminating the exploitation of those it touches.