Following his inauguration last week, President Biden has not wasted time in signing a number of executive orders. Two days ago, this included ordering the Department for Justice to end contracts with private prisons.
This order could be seen as a step forward to ensure more humane settings of detention. It may also be a move towards racial equity. But others see this as a purely political statement that does not solve the myriad underlying problems within American’s criminal justice system. For example, it does not benefit immigration detention centres; there is no news as to when action might be taken to improve their conditions.
We continue to hope that the new administration will act on capital punishment. As of yet though, no post-inauguration mention has been made of ending the execution of prisoners who may have committed their crimes whilst seriously mentally unwell. Mr President, we urge you to consider the mental, emotional and lethal consequences of putting off this decision.
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