Grassroots advocates from communities of color and immigration groups met this week in Florida for a national gathering to examine private prisons, mass incarceration and the “criminalization” of people. 
Their overall goal: To build a national coalition to strengthen neighborhoods and keep residents, especially people of color and immigrants, out of the criminal justice system.
For participants, the meeting at Florida Atlantic University was an opportunity to critique and discuss the criminal justice system which they say involves private prisons, profits, elected officials and people of color. People have criticized the U.S. criminal justice system for having a disproportionate number of racial minorities in prison.
“Private prisons are profiting from separating Black and Brown families, which in essence is an attack on minority communities. No one but the for-profit prison industry benefits from their existence,” Desmond Meade, executive director of Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and a meeting participant, said in a statement.
“We need to unite and fight back against the system because we can no longer afford to work in isolation from one another.”
The gathering started on Sunday and ended on Tuesday, when participants discussed ways to boost cooperation among organizations and efforts to better link the immigrant rights, racial justice, anti-police brutality and criminal justice reform movements.
“We are making history in building a true multiracial national alliance to face this corporate and political power and to collectively build our vision of liberation and justice for all of us,” Daniel Carrillo, New York City-based executive director of Enlace and founder of the Prison Divestment Campaign, said in a statement.
Enlace is an alliance that works with low-wage individuals, community groups and unions, both in the United States and Mexico, on racial and economic justice issues.
Organizers of the meeting – which is formally known as the National Strategy Session to End Criminalization, Incarceration and Immigration Enforcement – said that private companies now operate more than 75 percent of prisons in Florida. The state, they add, has an estimated 101,000 people in prison.
Ruth Jeannoel, a youth organizer, participated in the national meeting. Maria Rodriguez, executive director of Florida Immigrant Coalition, served as a moderator at the gathering. Other meeting participants included the Queer Detainee Empowerment Project and the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, which will focus on how incarceration affects Asian Pacific Islanders.
This story has been updated since it was first posted.