Private prisons will be making a comeback in the Trump administration.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo saying he would roll back the Obama administration's policy of whittling down the number of prisons run by companies instead of the government.
The move isn't a surprising one. The day after President Donald Trump's victory, stock prices for prison companies skyrocketed — one by more than40 percent.
In the U.S., three companies have 12 different contracts with the Department of Justice to hold more than 21,000 inmates. The Obama administration wanted to phase out those facilities.
Advocates say corporately-owned prisons make incarceration more cost effective, saving thousands of dollars per inmate per year.
Opponents say those savings come at a cost. They accuse prison companies of cutting corners to protect profits at the expense of inmates. The ACLU called privatized prisons "a recipe for abuse and neglect."
The U.S. inspector general found that private prisons had higher rates of assaults on inmates and prison staff, and more contraband items were found there.
