Justice Department To End Use Of Private Prisons

The Department of Justice is planning to phase out the use of privately run federal prisons.

In a memo Thursday, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates said the private facilities don't provide the same level of services, don't save substantially on costs and don't maintain the same level of safety and security as the government-run prisons.

The decision comes on the heels of a report by the DOJ's inspector general last week that found privately run prisons had more safety and security incidents than prisons run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Beth Schwartzapfel, staff writer for The Marshall Project. She tweets @schwartzapfel.