Scott White urges Howard County Council to pass bills banning private prisons

Scott White, a resident of Ellicott City, urged the Howard County Council to pass CB 16 (2026) and CB 17 (2026) and said privately owned prisons should have no place in the county.

"There shouldn't be privately owned prisons or detention centers here in Howard County or anywhere," Scott White said, speaking during the council's public comment period. He said allowing private detention would permit "people to extract profit from the kidnapping, abuse, and incarceration of others."

White identified a local property owner and facility, saying, "The company who owns the building in Elkridge, Genesis GSA Strategic 1, would use the facility and ICE's cruelty to do just that." He argued that the county should bar private operators from profiting from detention and immigration enforcement.

White described broader harms he attributed to private detention, saying such facilities "disproportionately [house] people of color" and force detained people "to work to maintain them for a dollar a day or sometimes nothing at all." He also said "many people have died in those facilities" and called for accountability for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and officials he said enable those harms.

While expressing support for CB 16 (2026) — which White said would ban private prisons in Howard County — he urged the council to consider more expansive changes, including abolition of the carceral system and prosecution of agents he described as perpetuating grievous harms. White invoked historical comparisons and listed individuals he said should be remembered as the basis for action.

He closed by thanking council leadership for the opportunity to speak. The council's consideration of CB 16 (2026) and CB 17 (2026) was the focus of his comments.