Vermont’s supply of a few hundred prisoners is set to close a Michigan prison this summer. If all of them go home, just Hawaii and California will remain as states that outsource their inmates to out-of-state for-profit prisons.

When Bradley Campbell asked the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for a list of all their labs operating at the highest biosafety level - and therefore dealing with the deadliest pathogens - the CDC rejected the request on national security grounds, claiming thy could “neither confirm nor deny” that information. When Campbell pushed back, their response was somewhat troubling: they didn’t have the list.

A year ago, the New Mexico Department of Corrections tried to change private operators for its sex offender population. Soon after, citizens stepped up to say no.