AB 32 (People Not Profit) signed in 2019 and effective January 2020, outlaws criminal and civil private incarceration in California, with some exceptions. Some brief months after AB 32 was signed, private prison company GEO Group Inc. and the Trump administration sued California aiming to strike down this momentous law. Federal District Court Judge Sammartino largely upheld AB 32, afterwhich GEO and the Biden administration appealed to the Ninth Circuit.
In defense of the law, the California Dignity not Detention coalition held an action during the Ninth Circuit oral argument, in addition to filing several amici briefs. On October 5, 2021, the Ninth Circuit regrettably ruled to strike down AB 32. This summary provides a review of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision.
