WASHINGTON The Justice Department plans to stop using privately run prisons that typically house undocumented federal inmates following a report finding they are less safe than those that are federally run, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates said Thursday.

Yates said the Justice Departments goal is reducing and ultimately ending our use of privately operated prisons, according to a memo Yates issued Thursday. The memo was first reported by The Washington Post .

Private prisons served an important role during a difficult period, but time has shown that they compare poorly to our own Bureau facilities. They simply do not provide the same level of correctional services, programs, and resources; they do not save substantially on costs; and as noted in a recent report by the Departments Office of Inspector General, they do not maintain the same level of safety and security, Yates wrote in the memo.