JAN 24: PROTEST BIG BANKS THAT INVEST IN PRIVATE PRISONS!

Stop the CCA/GEO Immigrant Moneymaking Machine!

Invest in the people, not in prisons!

Next Tuesday, January 24th, at 1:30 pm, we will protest the GAIM USA Conference in Boca Raton, FL to demand that major financial institutions divest their holdings in the for-profit prison industry.

The GAIM USA conference is the largest annual gathering of the 1% in the US:  hedge funds and large institutional investment managers. Major investors in private prisons who will be participating include: Wells Fargo, Bank of America, General Electric, Vanguard, FMR/Fidelity, BlackRock, Lazard, and others.

These big financial institutions are major investors in CCA (Corrections Corporation of America) and GEO, the nation’s two largest for-profit companies. These are two immigration prison monsters with very close ties to Florida: The GEO Group has its headquarters in Boca Raton, and CCA has plans to build a massive immigration prison in Southwest Broward.

Join us to demand the 1% divest their holdings in private prison companies like CCA and the GEO Group.

The 1% and immigration prisons

Over the past three years, hundreds of thousands of non-criminal immigrants have been subjected to excessively abusive treatment in for-profit prisons run for the federal government by the Geo Group (GEO) and Corrections of America (CCA). These big financial institutions are major investors in CCA and GEO, the nation’s two largest for-profit companies. Enlace is coordinating the Prison Divestment Campaign that is asking institutions, public and private, to divest and cut all political ties from the prison industry.

For-profit prison companies, which rely on billions of tax dollars as their primary source of revenue, have successfully lobbied federal and state governments to adopt and implement policies that have led to the incarceration of over one million immigrants over the past three years.  Recent reports by the Houston Chronicle and PBS showed that rape and sexual abuse of detainees is rampant across the increasingly privatized federal immigrant detention system.

Wells Fargo, a recipient of billions of bailout dollars, is a major contributor to politicians who have championed the increased incarceration of immigrants.  Wells Fargo has also played a key role supporting GEO business ventures.

Peter Cervantes-Gautschi stated “The United Methodist Church divested its entire holdings from CCA and GEO; these investors should follow the UMC’s responsible investment example.  It is immoral to make $ millions from putting human beings in cages.” The UMC Pension is one of the largest faith-based pension funds in the United States and ranks among the top 100 pension funds in the country.  Prominent hedge fund, Pershing Square Management Fund, divested its over $180 million in CCA holdings after the launch of the Prison Divestment Campaign last year.

Since the divestment campaign began on May 12, 2011. CCA’s stock value dropped from $26.02 to $20.67, a 21% drop at year’s end.  Geo Group stock has taken a similar plunge, from a high of $26.12 on May 12 to $16.75 on December 31, a drop of over 34%. The campaign has hammered steadily at Geo through one of its major investors, Wells Fargo.