California asks review of order tossing ban on private jails

By DON THOMPSON
Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California officials are asking the full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider a ruling that rejected the state’s first-in-the-nation ban on for-profit private prisons and immigration detention facilities. Last month’s ruling by a three-judge appellate panel maintained a key piece of the nation’s detention system for immigrants. The 2019 state law was aimed at phasing out privately run immigration jails located in California by 2028. Attorney General Rob Bonta wrote the law when he was in the state Assembly. He said Wednesday the private prisons prioritize profits. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and The Geo Group Inc. sued California over the law and did not immediately comment.