Indeed. Federal inmates report substandard conditions in private prisons that many of us would classify in our own minds as barbaric. Getting rid of the profit motive in warehousing inmates is a step in the right direction.

But it doesn’t cut to the bone of the problem in our prison industrial complex, which is that too many people are in the pipeline, being put away for long years for little reason, mostly out of racism.

Once inside, inmates face conditions almost guaranteed to make eventual reintegration into society difficult. They’re practically (financially) cut off from contact with friends and families, they have little to no opportunity for education, and they are treated in most cases without basic human dignity.

I wonder how many people in the United States know that the federal prison system and most state prison systems have abandoned rehabilitation as either necessary or desirable.

We have a long way to go.