Social Action Linking Together (SALT) fully supports  SB 1179 Corrections Private Management Act; name change; private management prohibited by Senator Ebbin. Delegate Guzman is co-sponsoring similar legislation in the House of Delegates. 

SALT has documented the reasons for supporting this legislation in a recent Newsletter with Fact Sheets #1, #2, #3, and a recent ABC TV program. 

SALT thinks you will also have reasons for supporting legislation to end the private management of prisons in Virginia after reading the material provided above.

Our research has documented many instances of perilous and poorly managed problems at Lawrenceville. The facility, as you probably know, is operated by the GEO Group, which receives about $25 million in taxpayer funds each year to manage Lawrenceville Correctional Center (LVCC). 

GEO is a publicly traded company with a primary interest in generating profit and enriching shareholders. Their primary goal is clearly not to advance the common good of Virginia citizens or protect the incarcerated from harm that results from deficient maintenance.  The best interest of the Commonwealth would be much better served if the state would assume management. Fortunately, a remedy for addressing this problem is available: legislation proposed by Senator Adam Ebbin would strike language from the state code that allows Virginia to enter into contracts with private for-profit companies for the management and operation of jails and prisons. Three states--Illinois, California, and Nevada--have passed legislation prohibiting the private management of prisons. Virginia should, too!