The feds have decided to back away from using profiteering prisons. The news sent stock in the private prisons plummeting. This is by no means the dismantlement of the racist Prison Industrial Complex. However. It is a victory for the many (former) prisoners and their families along with organizations who have been consistently whacking away at this complex for years–those working for dis-investment and those working for the human rights of prisoners. And as I always say, change could be deeper and faster, if more people walked the talk.
The hostile takeover by the state
The attempt to seize local control from the citizens of St. Louis will be met with organized—and might I add–hostile resistance (think pension, think future raises). That’s because citizens voted for local control of their police department in 2013 by a majority of citizens. That historic vote was the result of more than a decade of tireless organizing under the leadership of the Coalition Against Police Crimes and Repression (CAPCR).
