Professor John Pfaff shared his expert opinion on President Biden’s executive order to terminate federal private prison contracts with NBC News.
President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed an executive order that will phase out the Department of Justice’s use of private prisons.
The action is part of the administration’s effort to address racial inequity in the country and make good on Biden’s campaign promises to Black Americans — who were integral to securing his presidential win.
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“When it comes to private prisons, the impact of this order is going to be slight to none,” said John Pfaff, a professor of law at the Fordham University School of Law. “This is not about shrinking the footprint of the federal prison system, it’s just about transferring people to public facilities. Biden is telling an executive agency under his control what kind of contracts they can enter, that’s a core executive function of Biden’s.”
Still states can still choose “who to write contracts with,” Pfaff said. “In practice, this will end up being more symbolic and will have little impact on any issue of racial justice and the system. The symbolism carries the very real risk of making us blind to the nearly identical incentives of the public prison sector, and the public side is so much vaster in scope.”
