U.S. to phase out federal use of private prisons

The U.S. Justice Department announced plans on Thursday to phase out its use of privately-operated prisons, calling them less safe and less effective than government-run facilities. Hammering corrections company share prices, the department said it planned to gradually reduce the use of private prisons by letting contracts expire or by scaling them back to a level consistent with the declining prison population, a move that would reverse a practice begun almost 20 years ago. The decision, announ