The Senate Private Detention Ban bill (SB 6442 Saldaña) will be heard on Wednesday in the Human Services, Reentry & Rehabilitation Committee at 8 AM. FAN is part of an immigrant advocacy coalition with over 150 organizations endorsing these companion bills. Incarceration is inherently a governmental function that cannot be outsourced because of the public interest in humane treatment and transparency. Private prisons fail the public and harm individuals – inmates, their families, and staff. This bill will phase out the use of private prisons by prohibiting any new contracts and extensions of existing private contracts to provide prison or detention services, with exceptions for private contracting for mental health, drug, and juvenile rehabilitation, and for tribally owned jails. The House bill (HB 2576 Ortiz-Self) will be heard in early February. For more information, see the one pager on this issue.
Please send a message to your Senator to support this bill, especially if they sit on the Human Services, Reentry & Rehabilitation Committee. Click here to see Senate Committees and members.
For any other bills on our agenda, contact your legislators using the email formula firstname.lastname@leg.wa.gov, or call the Legislative Hotline: 1-800-562-6000between 8 AM and 7 PM, Monday through Friday. To find out who your legislators are, click here. You can also check out the Seattle/King County League of Women Voters’ 2020 They Represent You online directory of Washington legislators.
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