Crime

Wesson seeks to ban private prisons within city

WAVE NEWSPAPERS — Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson started an effort June 29 to prohibit private prisons from being constructed and operating within the city. Wesson’s proposal would zone the city in such a way that it would effectively ban private detention centers.

Published

7 years ago

July 15, 2019

Wave Wire Services

By Wave Wire Services

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson started an effort June 29 to prohibit private prisons from being constructed and operating within the city.

Wesson’s proposal would zone the city in such a way that it would effectively ban private detention centers.

“Profiting off of locking people up will not fly in Los Angeles,” Wesson said in a statement. “We call on every city and county to join us in preventing this kind of activity from operating within its borders.”

Wesson said he started the effort because of recent reports that young children, who had been separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, were detained in overcrowded areas and kept without basic necessities.

Wesson said private prisons sign contracts with U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement worth millions of dollars every year and carry “horrific records regarding human rights and living conditions for detained immigrants.”

The proposal was seconded by Councilmen Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Gil Cedillo as well as Councilwoman Nury Martinez. The motion by Wesson is scheduled to be discussed by the full council July 3.

The United States incarcerates more people in a year than any other country in the world, and in recent years private prisons have taken on a greater share of the prisoner population, Wesson said, adding “The industry was started at the state level during the height of the war on drugs as governments failed to keep up their capacity with the rising inmate populations.”

Wesson said private detention centers are not subject to the same oversight and scrutiny as public prisons. He cited a U.S. Department of Justice study that found in 2016 that federally contracted private prisons had a significantly higher number of violations per inmate than public prisons.

The proposal also comes after a number of notable politicians pledged to curtail private prisons.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, a presidential candidate, said last week that she would try to ban private prison operations nationally if she’s elected.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom in February also entertained the idea of reeling in the state’s private prison industry.

“Profiting off of locking people up will not fly in Los Angeles.”

This article originally appeared the Wave Newspapers.

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AG Bonta Announces Action on Cryptocurrency, Sextortion Fraud – Increasingly Targeting Gen-Z

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is warning residents about a surge in cryptocurrency fraud and online sextortion schemes that increasingly target Gen Z through social media platforms. With internet-based scams costing Americans nearly $21 billion in 2023, Bonta highlighted how artificial intelligence and deepfakes allow criminals to impersonate loved ones and promote fraudulent investment groups. The Attorney General’s Office has already shut down over 100 fraudulent websites and is now utilizing new legislative tools to recover assets for victims. Read more.

Published

1 week ago

November 3, 2026

Post News Group

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

California Attorney General Rob Bonta warned residents about rising cryptocurrency fraud and online sextortion scams, urging Californians to recognize warning signs and protect themselves as scammers increasingly target younger people through social media.

Speaking at a news conference on Oct. 19, Bonta said Americans lost $20.9 billion to internet-based scams in 2025, including $11.4 billion to cryptocurrency scams. He said artificial intelligence, deepfakes, and malicious smart contracts have made fraud easier to carry out and more difficult to detect and prevent.

While older Californians remain targets, Bonta said his office has seen a sharp rise in reports of Gen Z consumers being targeted on platforms such as Twitch, TikTok, and Instagram.

One growing scheme involves so-called rug-pull scams, in which fraudsters promote low-priced stocks or volatile cryptocurrencies through online investment groups and streaming communities. After generating interest and driving up prices, scammers sell their holdings, causing values to collapse and leaving investors with losses.

Bonta also warned about sextortion, in which scammers trick or coerce victims into sharing explicit images before threatening to distribute them to friends and family unless they pay. He advised victims not to give in to demands, saying scammers often do not release the images when victims refuse to pay. Instead, he recommended ignoring and blocking the perpetrators.

Another scheme, known as recovery fraud, targets people who have already lost money to cryptocurrency scams. Fraudsters impersonate blockchain recovery specialists or law enforcement officials and demand additional payments while promising to recover stolen assets.

Bonta urged Californians to be skeptical of promises of large returns on small investments, fake cryptocurrencies resembling established ones, and celebrity endorsements that may have been generated using artificial intelligence. He also warned that scammers can use AI to impersonate loved ones through manipulated video and audio.

“Never use a crypto ATM,” Bonta said, emphasizing that transactions can be difficult to trace and reverse and that the machines lack adequate consumer protections.

His office has shut down more than 100 fraudulent websites over the past two years that collectively scammed victims out of at least $8.3 million, he said.

Bonta also highlighted Senate Bill 1208, which he said was recently signed into law. The measure allows law enforcement to petition a court to return seized cryptocurrency to victims, including when alleged perpetrators are outside U.S. jurisdiction.

Residents who have fallen victim to scams can report them to the California Department of Justice at oag.ca.gov/report.

Bonta also urged victims not to feel embarrassed, stressing that scammers are responsible for the harm they cause.