Joseph R. Biden Jr. · 2021-2025 term
End the federal use of private prisons and detention centers
Biden moved to phase out private prisons in the federal criminal system, but the broader detention footprint, especially in immigration detention, remained in place.
Latest reviewed action recorded: Dec 6, 2024
Record Note
Approved mission-aligned Promise Tracker import. Focused on incarceration conditions, DOJ authority, and racially unequal exposure to detention systems. Sources are tracked separately in a manual manifest.
Original Promise
The Biden Administration will end the federal government's use of private prisons.
Action Timeline
Actions document what the federal government did. Outcomes below describe what changed, and each source list shows where the public record comes from.
Jan 26, 2021
Biden orders the Justice Department to phase out private criminal prisons
Biden directed the Attorney General not to renew Justice Department contracts with privately operated criminal detention facilities.
Dec 31, 2021
Justice Department reduces federal private-prison footprint
The federal criminal-justice side moved away from several private-prison contracts, reflecting partial progress on the promise.
Dec 6, 2024
Private immigration detention remains in use
The administration did not extend the phaseout promise across the broader federal detention system, especially immigration detention.
Outcomes
Outcomes are the part of the record that can contribute to public scoring. They stay visible here with impact direction and linked sources so readers can verify what shaped the record.
Administrative Outcome
Biden partially reduced the federal use of private prisons, but the broader federal detention system did not fully exit private detention contracts.
Measured or documented impact: The Justice Department narrowed private-prison use in the federal criminal system, while private immigration detention remained a major unresolved exception.
Black community impact: This was highly relevant to Black communities because detention conditions, private incarceration incentives, and racial disparities in incarceration all shape Black-community exposure to state confinement systems.
Evidence strength: Strong
Linked sources: 0
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