Community Corrections

This category includes companies that operate “community” supervision that is enforced on people as part of the U.S. criminal punishment system, either after incarceration (“reentry”) or as an “alternative to incarceration” program. These services and systems include probation and parole supervision, day reporting centers, jail and community-based “reentry” centers, post-incarceration vocational training programs, drug and alcohol treatment programs, and other “diversion” programs.

While marketed as programs that reduce recidivism and assist formerly incarcerated individuals with transitioning back into their communities, these for-profit “community corrections” services have long been criticized for expanding the reach of the criminal punishment system and prolonging periods of state monitoring.

This category does not include two industries typically considered a part of “community corrections” that we have documented separately: bail bonds and e-carceration (electronic monitoring). 

For our 2018 report on the “community corrections” industry, see here.

Further Information
Community Corrections, Worth Rises
Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2024, Prison Policy Initiative
Treatment Industrial Complex: How For-Profit Prison Corporations are Undermining Efforts to Treat and Rehabilitate Prisoners for Corporate Gain, AFSC, 2014
The list of companies involved in this sector
Select private companies are listed below publicly-traded companies.
(!) symbol means this company is on our divestment list
Publicly-Traded Companies
CoreCivic Inc Our Divestment List
USA

The world’s largest private prison company. It owns and operates prisons and jails, including immigration jails and “community corrections” centers, and uses forced prison labor. It also provides e-carceration technologies, transportation, and other services as part of the criminal punishment system.

SuperCom Ltd Our Divestment List
Israel

An Israeli provider of electronic monitoring, cybersecurity, and digital identity products. Its subsidiary Leaders in Community Alternatives sells e-carceration tools and and operates "community corrections" programs in the US and internationally. 

The GEO Group Inc Our Divestment List
USA

The world’s second-largest private prison company. It owns and operates prisons and jails, including immigration jails and “community corrections” centers, and uses forced prison labor. It also provides e-carceration technologies, transportation, and other services as part of the criminal punishment system.

 

Private Companies
Avalon Correctional Services Inc
Oklahoma

A private prison company, owned by CoreCivic. Owns and manages private halfway houses in Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming.

G4S PLC Our Divestment List
UK

A subsidiary of Allied Universal, the world's largest private security company. It runs private prisons in Australia and the UK and deports immigrants in the US. It divested from all of its activities with the Israeli government following a global campaign.

ViaPath Technologies
Virginia

Formerly Global Tel*Link (GTL), ViaPath Technologies is the second-largest prison communications company in the US, controlling approximately 37% of the market as of 2021. It provides phone and video "visitation" services, tablets, kiosks, and other products to nearly 2,000 prisons and jails across all 50 US states and serves as a customer-facing partner for prison telecom competitors that provide only backend telecom infrastructure. It also operates in the "community corrections" industry and, in 2022, launched an expanded "reentry services" program that includes vocational training, career planning, substance use and mental health treatment, and other so-called treatment-oriented programs.

This page was last updated on
7 August 2024