Elizabeth Warren gains momentum in the 2020 race plan by plan.

You might ask: Isn’t this just because there are more women and people of color running than ever before?

It’s not that simple. My experience as a civil rights attorney addressing systemic employment discrimination shows there is a world of difference between processes in which only one diverse candidate is interviewed (the 2016 presidential elections, for example) and processes in which two or more diverse candidates are interviewed (the 2020 Democratic primary). A single diverse candidate faces an enormous headwind—and a tiny chance of being picked for the job in the end. In contrast, when interviewers take the time to interview multiple diverse candidates in a fair and competitive process, the dynamic shifts norms and expectations, and creates a situation in which a diverse candidate is much more likely to end up winning the position.

A 2016 study by Stefanie K. Johnson, David R. Hekman and Elsa T. Chan published in the Harvard Business Review revealed just that. Their research showed there is statistically zero chance of a woman being hired if she is the only woman in the finalist pool. But those odds go up dramatically when she is joined by a second female finalist. The same effect was seen when examining pools with more than one person of color. The difference was staggering: Companies were 79 times more likely to hire a woman and 194 times more likely to hire a person of color when the finalist pool included more than one woman or minority. This held true regardless of the number of finalists. (The researchers looked at pools ranging from 3-11 candidates, with an average size of four).

(CNN) — Sen. Elizabeth Warren unveiled a plan Friday to ban private prisons and detention facilities, should she be elected president in 2020.

The Massachusetts Democrat wrote in a post on Medium that, as president, she would end all contracts the Federal Bureau of Prisons and US Immigration and Customs Enforcements has with private detention providers.

"We need significant reform in both criminal justice and in immigration, to end mass incarceration and all of the unnecessary, cruel, and punitive forms of immigration detention that have taken root in the Trump Administration," Warren wrote.

The US government has a "a basic responsibility to keep the people in its care safe -- not to use their punishment as an opportunity for profit," she said.

The senator would prohibit contractors from charging incarcerated and detained individuals "for basic services they need, like phone calls, bank transfers, and healthcare."

"Washington works hand-in-hand with private prison companies, who spend millions on lobbyists, campaign contributions, and revolving-door hires -- all to turn our criminal and immigration policies into ones that prioritize making them rich instead of keeping us safe," Warren said.

Shares of private prison operators dropped following Warren's released remarks. Warren's campaign, in response, said it was unfazed by the stocks' slump, with campaign spokeswoman and director of communications Kristen Orthman saying, "They shouldn't have a share price because they shouldn't exist."

The senator in her post also lambasted former White House chief of staff and retired Marine Gen. John Kelly for joining the board of directors for Caliburn International, the parent company of Comprehensive Health Services, which operates shelters for unaccompanied migrant children.

The senator previously characterized Kelly's career shift as "corruption at its absolute worst."

"John Kelly oversaw many of the Trump Admin's most morally repugnant immigration policies," she tweeted in May. "Now he could be making big bucks serving on the Board of a company that's profiting from the same cruel plans he put in place."

In her plan, Warren pledged to create an independent Prison Conditions Monitor within the Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General that would set quality standards, audit and investigate contractors and terminate contractors who fail to abide by the standards.

Warren, at a CNN town hall in April, called for-profit private prisons an "outrage in America" and said they should be banned.