The official said the cost consequences of leaving the private prison were not a motivating factor.
‘The motivating factor, however, was the fact that private prisons are not only encouraged to exploit human lives, but more importantly: the report of the Inspector General of the Department of Justice has shown that I am subparate in terms of security and security for those locked up, ”the official said.
Biden will also state that it is his government’s policy to condemn and denounce anti-Asian prejudice, the official told reporters on Tuesday.
“He will also instruct the Department of Health and Human Services to develop best practices to eliminate anti-Asian bias in the federal government’s Covid-19 response and recommend that the Department of Justice cooperate with the “Asian Americans and the Pacific Islands” to prevent bullying, harassment and hate crimes, “the official said.
Biden will issue a memorandum directing Housing and Urban Development to take steps to promote affordable housing, and the administrative official will say the memorandum will instruct the department “to mitigate racial prejudice in housing and to reduce our country’s affirmatively promote fair housing laws. “
The memorandum will also ‘make clear’ that we need to recognize the role that the federal government played during much of the 20th century and the implementation of discriminatory housing policies across the United States from renewal to mortgage discrimination, to destructive federal highway construction around this history to correct, “the official said.
Biden will also take steps to reaffirm the federal government’s commitment to tribal sovereignty and consultation.
Reporters also said through a senior administration official that “the president (the office of management and budget) has asked to explore opportunities to capture racial equity in his work (.)”
Biden specifically asked the office, which plays a role in drafting the administration’s annual budget proposals, to evaluate opportunities to “allocate funding more fairly to target groups that have been maintained or disadvantaged under federal investment in the past”. said the official.
The official said that although previous presidential governments “had an interest in promoting justice and fairness”, Biden’s government intends to holistically integrate equity policy into its domestic policy efforts.
“There has never been this whole government approach, where every part of the White House, every agency in all its work, not in a silo, not in an office of diversity, equality and inclusion, but throughout everything they do , ‘said the official.
The official indicated that Tuesday’s executive action is the first of the more Biden administrative initiatives related to equity, including supporting future legislation in Congress.
An earlier draft of Tuesday’s plans indicated the president would issue an executive order to create a police commission, something he promised to create if elected. It also indicated that Biden would sign an order reinstating an Obama-era policy banning the transfer of military equipment to local police departments.
Biden’s voting history in Congress on criminal matters and prison reform issues has had an impact on his presidential campaign. And Tuesday’s actions, which come less than a week into his presidency, appear to be an apparent attempt to rectify what he acknowledged was one of his shortcomings.
Biden helped draft the 1994 Crime Bill, which enacted strict federal sentencing and, according to critics, led to an era of mass incarceration.
“We have predators in our streets that society has created, in part because of neglect,” Biden said. “They’re out of the pale a lot of those people, beyond the pale,” Biden continued. “And that’s a sad comment on society. We have no choice but to take them out of society.”
Biden’s vice president, who was once his opponent of the presidential race in 2020, said in 2019 that she believes the bill is causing mass incarceration.
“The crime bill – that bill in 1994 – did contribute to mass incarceration in our country. It encouraged the first time we had a federal law on three strikes. It encouraged the construction of more prisons in the country. “So, unfortunately, I do not agree,” Harris said.
CNN’s DJ Judd, Daniel Dale, Andrew Kaczynski and Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.
This story has been updated to include additional reporting.