On Sept. 12, the Wall Street Journal ran a story about how CCA, the “nation’s largest private prison company”, “is shifting its focus toward helping release more inmates and keep them out—a reaction, company officials say, to changing policies around the country on the severity of criminal punishment.” CCA, “which has built a profitable business from incarcerating people”, is “expand[ing] the company’s prison rehabilitation programs, drug counseling and its prisoner re-entry work in cities around the country.”

Eric J. Ellman is Senior Vice President for Public Policy and Legal Affairs at the Consumer Data Industry Association (CDIA) in Washington, DC. He also served for eight months as Interim President and CEO of the Association. More