Voice of Witness’ previous books Surviving Justice and Underground America explored human rights issues faced by America’s wrongfully convicted prisoners and undocumented immigrants. As more information becomes available about the passing of Arizona’s recent immigration laws, these two issues may become more linked than ever. Yesterday, in a story for NPR, journalist Laura Sullivan explored the connection between for-profit prisons and the momentum behind Arizona’s new immigration laws. She writes:
NPR spent the past several months analyzing hundreds of pages of campaign finance reports, lobbying documents and corporate records. What they show is a quiet, behind-the-scenes effort to help draft and pass Arizona Senate Bill 1070 by an industry that stands to benefit from it: the private prison industry.
The law could send hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to prison in a way never done before. And it could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in profits to private prison companies responsible for housing them.
To read the rest of the story and learn more, click here.
