Sessions said in an order yesterday that the move last year had reversed a longstanding policy at the Federal Bureau of Prisons to have private companies involved, “and impaired the bureau’s ability to meet the future needs of the federal correctional system.”
The Obama move had only affected a small portion of the US prison system: 13 privately run prisons housing just over 22,000 people, or about 11 percent of the federal prison population. Most are foreign nationals, mainly Mexicans incarcerated for immigration violations.