Private Prison Lobbyists Are Fundraising for Hillary Clinton

Whatever party you support, one thing we should all be able to agree on is the fact that the private prison industry should not decide who is the next President of the United States. But lobbyists for two major private prison companies have been among the top fundraisers for Hillary Clinton.

The lobbies are from the Corrections Corporation of America and the Geo Group. They both know that their future profits are entirelydependent on how many people remain incarcerated in the United States, down the line.

This should be of particular concern, since just last week, Hillary Clinton, along with other candidates told us that a number of lobbyists serving as “bundlers” for their campaigns – collecting contributions on behalf of the campaign – are associated with these corporations.

Bundlers are typically rewarded with special favors, including, but not limited to access to the candidate.

As The Intercept reported yesterday, there are five Clinton bundlers who are employed by the lobbying and law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. Corrections Corporation of America. This is the largest private prison company in the United States. They paid Akin Gump a full $240,000 in lobbying fees alone, just last year.

The very same law firm also works for the prison giant Corrections Corporation of America, and has represented them in court.

The Intercept reported that “Akin Gump lobbyist and Clinton bundler Brian Popper disclosed that he previously helped CCA defeat efforts to compel private prisons to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests.”

Richard Sullivan, the lobbying firm Capitol Counsel, has now brought in $44,859 in contributions in just a few months for the Clinton campaign.

Sullivan also works as a registered lobbyist for the Private Prison Industry giant, Geo Group.

The Intercept noted the following:

Hillary Clinton has a complicated history with incarceration. As first lady, she championed efforts to get tough on crime. “We need more police, we need more and tougher prison sentences for repeat offenders,” Clinton said in 1994. “The ‘three strikes and you’re out’ for violent offenders has to be part of the plan. We need more prisons to keep violent offenders for as long as it takes to keep them off the streets,” she added.

In recent months, Clinton has tacked left in some ways, and now calls for alternatives to incarceration and for greater policeaccountability. And while Clinton has backed a path to citizenship for undocumented people in America, she recently signaled a willingness to crack down on so-called “sanctuary cities,” a move that could lead to more immigrant detentions.

The future of both criminal justice reform and immigration are critical for private prison firms. The Geo Group, in a disclosure statement for its investors, notes that its business could be “adversely affected by changes in existing criminal or immigration laws, crime rates in jurisdictions in which we operate, the relaxation of criminal or immigration enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction, sentencing or deportation practices, and the decriminalization of certain activities that are currently proscribed bycriminal laws or the loosening of immigration laws.”

Would you still vote for Hillary knowing what you know now about her connections to the private prison industry?

(Article by Jackson Marciana; h/t The Intercept) and submitted by JEFFREY DAUGHERTY (www.jeffreydaugherty.com) Visit for more stories and info of this type.