Prison Profiteering: How a Multi-Billion-Dollar Industry Drives Mass Incarceration

Thursday, July 29, 2021
12:00 PM, PST
Live webinar

The San Mateo County Bar Association’s Race & Social Justice Committee invites you to attend a webinar  on Prison Profiteering: How a multi-billion-dollar industry drives mass incarceration, with Sivani Babu.

Prison profiteers have made fortunes on mass incarceration, and, in doing so, have become an important factor driving the incarceration of adults and children in the U.S. In this presentation, Sivani Babu brings context to the conversation about the prison-industrial complex by drawing on existing research as well as her experiences as an assistant federal public defender in South Texas. From for-profit facilities to telecom and healthcare services, she sheds light on the impact of decades of privatization in our prison system and what we can do to effect change.

Sivani Babu is an award-winning conservation and exploration journalist and the co-founder and co-CEO of Hidden Compass — a women-led, exploration-focused media company. She is also a former assistant federal public defender for the Southern District of Texas. Working in one of the busiest districts in the nation, she represented defendants charged with a wide variety of federal felonies, from immigration to financial fraud and drug trafficking offenses. Part of that representation often included working to secure basic healthcare for clients held in for-profit facilities.

Cost of Attendance: FREE for SMCBA members and $20 for non-SMCBA members.

MCLE Credit: This event qualifies for 1-Hour of General Law MCLE Credit. 

Registration: Please log in on the SMCBA website to register for this event. If you wish to pay by check, please still register online first and send your check payable to SMCBA, to: 333 Bradford St., Ste. 150, Redwood City, CA 94063. Attn: Events. *Please note for which event you are paying and the name of the attendee.

Logistics: Your Zoom credentials will automatically be emailed to you shortly after you register online, as well as the day and hour before the event. Please note that you’ll need to be logged into a Zoom account to join the webinar. The written materials for the webinar will be emailed to attendees the morning of the event. 

Cancellations must be received at least 48 hours prior to the event for a full refund of the registration fee. If you do not cancel within 48 hours or do not show up to the event, you will be charged the full amount.