PoliticsBernie SandersBernie Sanders 2016bernie sanders private prisons

Bernie Sanders Will Introduce Legislation To End Private Prisons

He also wants to do more to help former inmates.
Open Image Modal
By 

Senior Editor, Breaking News, HuffPost

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said he'll introduce legislation aimed at ending private prisons when Congress is back in sessions.

Sanders, who is running in the Democratic presidential primary, made the announcement at a campaign rally on Tuesday.

Open Image Modal
Scott Olson via Getty Images

"When Congress reconvenes in September, I will be introducing legislation which takes corporations out of profiteering from running jails," Sanders said.

Watch a video of his remarks below at 1:02:30:

Sanders added that former inmates need programs to help them learn how to live outside prison once they're released.

"We need a rational path for them to return to civil society," Sanders said. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out that if somebody leaves jail without an education, without a job, without money, without housing and sometimes with mental health issues, that person is going to return to jail. Makes no sense to me."

This announcement from Sanders follows his unveiling of a a detailed platform on combating racial inequality and reforming criminal justice laws that included a proposal to end measures that keep convicted felons from voting. That platform was released one day after Sanders was interrupted by Black Lives Matter activists during a campaign rally. 

For more from The Huffington Post, download our app for iOS or Android.

Also on HuffPost:

Bernie Sanders' Most Interesting Quotes
On Youth Unemployment(01 of15)
Open Image Modal

"We got to put young people to work, we got to give them an education, rather than putting them in jail," Sanders said in an interview on MSNBC's "The Ed Show."

 (credit:Getty Images)
On The Middle Class(02 of15)
Open Image Modal
"Ordinary people are profoundly disgusted with the fact that the middle class is being destroyed and income going to the top 1 percent," Sanders tweeted. (credit:Justin Sullivan via Getty Images)
On Gun Control(03 of15)
Open Image Modal

"Folks who do not like guns [are] fine. But we have millions of people who are gun owners in this country -- 99.9 percent of those people obey the law. I want to see real, serious debate and action on guns, but it is not going to take place if we simply have extreme positions on both sides. I think I can bring us to the middle," Sanders said in a CNN interview.

 (credit:Getty Images)
On Free Tuition(04 of15)
Open Image Modal

"It is insane and counter-productive to the best interests of our country, that hundreds of thousands of bright young people cannot afford to go to college, and that millions of others leave school with a mountain of debt that burdens them for decades. That must end," Sanders said during his campaign announcement.

 (credit:Getty Images)
On Wanting Top Marginal Tax Rate Over 50 Percent(05 of15)
Open Image Modal

"In the last 30 years there has been a massive -- we’re talking about many trillions of dollars being redistributed from the middle class to the top one-tenth of 1 percent. It is time to redistribute money back to the working families of this country from the top one-tenth of 1 percent," Sanders said on PBS's "Charlie Rose."

(credit:Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images)
On Marijuana(06 of15)
Open Image Modal

“I coughed a lot, I don’t know. I smoked marijuana twice -- didn’t quite work for me,” Sanders told Yahoo.

 (credit:Win McNamee/Getty Images)
On Universal Health Care(07 of15)
Open Image Modal

"So I do believe that we have to move toward a Medicare-for-all, single-payer system. I think it's not going to happen tomorrow, but that certainly should be the goal," Sanders said on ABC’s "This Week."

 (credit:Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)
On Police Reform(08 of15)
Open Image Modal

"We’ve got to demilitarize the police -- we don’t need tanks, you don’t need heavy military equipment in the communities of the United States. We gotta pay attention to the African-American communities, to poverty so these kids get the education and job training they need," Sanders told Yahoo.

 (credit:Getty Images)
On His American Citizenship(09 of15)
Open Image Modal
"Well, no, I do not have dual citizenship with Israel. I'm an American. I don't know where that question came from. I am an American citizen, and I have visited Israel on a couple of occasions. No, I'm an American citizen, period,” Sanders said in an interview with a D.C. NPR affiliate. (credit:Tom Williams via Getty Images)
On Health Care And Education(10 of15)
Open Image Modal

"Please don't tell me that the United States of America, our great country, cannot guarantee health care to all people. Don't tell me that every person in this country should not be able to get all the education that they need regardless of their income," Sanders said in Portland, Maine.

(credit:Win McNamee/Getty Images)
On Campaign Finance Reform(11 of15)
Open Image Modal

"A major problem of our campaign finance system is that anybody can start a super PAC on behalf of anybody and can say anything. And this is what makes our current campaign finance situation totally absurd," Sanders said to the Burlington Free Press.

(credit:SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
On Undocumented Immigrants(12 of15)
Open Image Modal

"Despite the central role that undocumented workers play in our economy and in our daily lives, these workers are too often reviled by many for political gain and shunted into the shadows," Sanders said at the National Association of Latino Elected Officials conference.

 (credit:NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)
On Bank Bailouts(13 of15)
Open Image Modal

"If a bank is too big to fail, that bank is too big to exist," Sanders said in Denver, Colorado.

(credit:Alex Wong/Getty Images)
On Raising The Minimum Wage(14 of15)
Open Image Modal

"Our goal as a nation is that if somebody works 40 hours a week, that person will not be living in poverty," Sanders said in Iowa.

(credit:Scott Olson/Getty Images)
On The War On Drugs(15 of15)
Open Image Modal
"What I can tell you is this: We have far, far, far too many people in jail for nonviolent crimes, and I think in many ways, the war against drugs has not been successful, and I think we've got to rethink that," Sanders told Yahoo News' Katie Couric. (credit:MICHAEL B. THOMAS via Getty Images)

Our 2024 Coverage Needs You

As Americans head to the polls in 2024, the very future of our country is at stake. At HuffPost, we believe that a free press is critical to creating well-informed voters. That's why our journalism is free for everyone, even though other newsrooms retreat behind expensive paywalls.

Our journalists will continue to cover the twists and turns during this historic presidential election. With your help, we'll bring you hard-hitting investigations, well-researched analysis and timely takes you can't find elsewhere. Reporting in this current political climate is a responsibility we do not take lightly, and we thank you for your support.

to keep our news free for all.

Support HuffPost
Suggest a correction
|
Submit a tip