Executive Order on Reforming Our Incarceration System to Eliminate the Use of Privately Operated Criminal Detention Facilities

JANUARY 26, 2021 • PRESIDENTIAL ACTIONS

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1.  Policy.  More than two million people are currently incarcerated in the United States, including a disproportionate number of people of color.

There is broad consensus that our current system of mass incarceration imposes significant costs and hardships on our society and communities and does not make us safer.

To decrease incarceration levels, we must reduce profit-based incentives to incarcerate by phasing out the Federal Government’s reliance on privately operated criminal detention facilities.

We must ensure that our Nation’s incarceration and correctional systems are prioritizing rehabilitation and redemption.  Incarcerated individuals should be given a fair chance to fully reintegrate into their communities, including by participating in programming tailored to earning a good living, securing affordable housing, and participating in our democracy as our fellow citizens.

However, privately operated criminal detention facilities consistently underperform Federal facilities with respect to correctional services, programs, and resources.  We should ensure that time in prison prepares individuals for the next chapter of their lives.

The Federal Government also has a responsibility to ensure the safe and humane treatment of those in the Federal criminal justice system.  However, as the Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General found in 2016, privately operated criminal detention facilities do not maintain the same levels of safety and security for people in the Federal criminal justice system or for correctional staff.  We have a duty to provide these individuals with safe working and living conditions.

Sec. 2.  Contracts with Privately Operated Criminal Detention Facilities.  The Attorney General shall not renew Department of Justice contracts with privately operated criminal detention facilities, as consistent with applicable law.

Sec. 3.  General Provisions.  (a)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b)  This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c)  This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

THE WHITE HOUSE,
January 26, 2021.