BlackRock should require its private prison companies to improve their safety and reduce recidivism, and divest from those that lag behind.

Private, for-profit prisons are facing increasing public disgust and outrage over the squalid conditions of the migrant detention centers they manage. Private prisons are low on oversight and safety [1], are rife with instances of abuse [2] and lack transparency or accountability, even though almost all of their revenue is obtained from government contracts paid with taxpayer funds. [3]

BlackRock is a large investor in private prisons, and it has increased its holdings over the last two years, even as private prisons have been involved in separation of immigrant families. [4][5] But private prisons are actually detrimental to BlackRock's long-term financial outlook because it is invested in all sectors of the economy.

Because prisons take potential workers away from jobs that can grow the economy, a large prison population is detrimental to economic growth. [6] Since private prisons make money based on the number of inmate imprisoned in their facilities, they are incentivized to promote mass incarceration rather than rehabilitation and lowering recidivism. [7] This incentive has played out through prison companies lobbying and political spending activities [8], increasing the prison population, and hurting BlackRock.

As a major investor in private prisons, it is incumbent on BlackRock to take concrete steps to ensure that the prison companies it invests in meet higher safety and transparency standards and implement rehabilitation and anti-recidivism programs to reverse the damage of mass incarceration, and divest from those companies that do not comply.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/12/private-federal-prisons-more-dangerous-justice-department

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/03/us/mississippi-private-prison-abuse.html

[3] https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2015/jul/31/who-owns-private-prison-stock/

[4] http://populardemocracy.org/sites/default/files/20180427%20CBOH%20Digital.pdf

[5] http://inthesetimes.com/article/21234/private-prison-trump-family-separation-immigration-ice

[6] http://fortune.com/2016/04/23/criminal-justice-policies-economy/

[7] https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-economics-of-private-prisons/

[8] http://ses.wsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/How-Private-Prisons-Affect-Incarceration-Likelihood-3.0.pdf

Due to public disgust and outrage over the squalid conditions of migrant detention centers built by private prison companies such as CoreCivic and GEO Group, several major banks such as SunTrust, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase and Bank Of America have publicly committed to discontinue financing for these companies and the private prison industry at large [1] [2] [3] [4]. This demonstrates that public pressure is working, and that the banking industry is beginning to realizes the negative business consequences of financing morally compromising industries such as private prisons. Barclays is one of the largest remaining banks that continues to finance private prisons [5]. We urge Barclays to join its peers in cutting ties with the private prison industry and establishing itself on the right side of history with regards to this issue.

[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/morgansimon/2019/07/08/suntrust-joins-wave-of-banks-exiting-the-private-prison-industry/#7c5bf45f3f63

[2] http://inthesetimes.com/article/21793/private-prison-divestment-jpmorgan-ocasio-cortez-wells-fargo

[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/06/business/jp-morgan-prisons.html?org=1312&lvl=100&ite=463&lea=28574&ctr=0&par=1&trk=

[4] https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/06/27/bank-america-cuts-business-ties-with-detention-centers-private-prisons/?utm_term=.053d1526ff7c

[5] https://populardemocracy.org/sites/default/files/%28Updated%29%202019%20Data%20Brief%20The%20Wall%20Street%20Banks%20Still%20Financing%20Private%20Prisons%20FINAL%20EMBARGOED%20UNTIL%204-8-19%201030am.pdf

Tell Fidelity to stop investing in private prisons or take steps to promote better transparency, safety, and reduced recidivism.

Private, for-profit prisons are facing increasing public disgust and outrage over the squalid conditions of the migrant detention centers they manage. Private prisons are low on oversight and safety [1], are rife with instances of abuse [2] and incentivize undesirable outcomes such as mass incarceration rather than rehabilitation and lowering recidivism [3] due to the fact that they make money based on the number of inmates imprisoned in their facilities. In addition, they are shrouded in secrecy and lack transparency or accountability, even though almost all of their revenue is obtained from government contracts paid with taxpayer funds [4].

Fidelity is one of the largest investors in at least two of the top private prison corporations, CoreCivic (formerly known as the Corrections Corporation of America) and GEO Group [4] [5]. The Trump administration is intending to increase its use of private prisons [6], ensuring these issues are about to get much worse. Yet, Fidelity has made no commitment to divest from private prisons or encourage its private prison companies to improve transparency or performance, opting instead to generally support of management [7].

As a major investor in private prisons, it is incumbent on Fidelity to either divest entirely from this problematic industry or take concrete steps to ensure that the prison companies it invests in meet higher safety and transparency standards and implement rehabilitation and anti-recidivism programs to reverse the damage of mass incarceration.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/12/private-federal-prisons-more-dangerous-justice-department

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/03/us/mississippi-private-prison-abuse.html

[3] https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-economics-of-private-prisons/

[4] https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2015/jul/31/who-owns-private-prison-stock/

[5] https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/mvpzkp/whos-getting-rich-off-the-prison-industrial-complex

[6] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/one-winner-under-trump-the-private-prison-industry/

[7] https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060_www_fidelity_com/documents/Full-Proxy-Voting-Guidelines-for-Fidelity-Funds-Advised-by-FMRCo-and-SelectCo.pdf

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is currently engaged in human rights abuses at the US Southern border. Together with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which is presently responsible for the housing of migrant children, they are caging and harming asylum seekers, separating children from parents, illegally detaining refugees and US citizens, and perpetrating a system of abuse and malign neglect that has led to the deaths of at least 7 children in detention camps. These abuses are illegal under international human rights law, and immoral by any standard.

In January of 2017 thousands of Googlers, including our executives, joined together to protest the Trump administration’s Muslim Ban. This was the right thing to do and we are proud to invest in a company that reflects these values.

It has recently come to light that CBP is gearing up to request bids on a massive cloud computing contract. [1] The winning cloud provider will be streamlining CBP’s infrastructure and facilitating its human rights abuses. We demand that Google publicly commit not to support CBP, ICE, or ORR with any infrastructure, funding, or engineering resources, directly or indirectly, until they stop engaging in human rights abuses.

Google has repeatedly advertised its commitments to implementing ethical guardrails on its tech. Google’s AI Principles [2] state that Google will not build technologies “whose purpose contravenes widely accepted principles of international law and human rights.” By any interpretation, CBP and ICE are in grave violation of international human rights law. The company has also pledged to create a diverse, inclusive, [3] and psychologically safe [4] workplace for all its workers, including immigrants and Latinx people — the very populations whose communities, families, and friends are being terrorized by CBP and ICE.

In working with CBP, ICE, or ORR, Google would be trading its integrity for a bit of profit, and joining a shameful lineage. We have only to look to IBM’s role [5] working with the Nazis during the Holocaust to understand the role that technology can play in automating mass atrocity.

History is clear: the time to say NO is now. We refuse to be complicit. It is unconscionable that Google, or any other tech company, would support agencies engaged in caging and torturing vulnerable people. And we are not alone — the world is watching and the facts are clear. We stand with workers and advocates across the industry who are demanding that the tech industry refuse to provide the infrastructure for mass atrocity.

[1] https://www.fbo.gov/index.php?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=a446f92b2c19e736a05538056d12c7e0&tab=core&tabmode=list

[2] https://www.blog.google/technology/ai/ai-principles/

[3] https://diversity.google/commitments/

[4] https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/magazine/what-google-learned-from-its-quest-to-build-the-perfect-team.html

[5] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/mar/29/humanities.highereducation

GEO Group manages migrant detention centers throughout the U.S. and earns hundreds of millions of dollars from ICE contracts. GEO Group donated $225,000 to a Trump Super PAC in the 2016 election, and contributed to his inaugural committee.

Support this petition to the GEO Group, letting it know that investors do not support subjecting migrants to horrible living conditions. It makes moral sense and it's good business. JP Morgan and Bank of America have stopped lending to private prisons.[1][2] Popular politicians have proposed banning private prisons. [3] Continued involvement in mistreatment of human beings will make it hard for GEO Group to be a sustainable business.

Tell GEO Group to end its involvement in migrant detention camps now.

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[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/morgansimon/2019/03/05/jpmorgan-chase-is-done-with-private-prisons/#538902d6690d

[2] https://www.axios.com/bank-of-america-private-prisons-immigrant-detention-7f42d0d7-8488-45e3-b167-1c410a54a4d2.html

[3] https://prospect.org/article/banning-private-prisons-and-prisoner-exploitation

CoreCivic manages migrant detention centers throughout the U.S. and earns hundreds of millions of dollars from ICE contracts. CoreCivic donated to Trump's inaugural committee, and its CEO Damon Hiniger is a major architect of the prison industrial complex. 

Support this petition to the CoreCivic, letting it know that investors do not support subjecting migrants to horrible living conditions. It makes moral sense and it's good business. JP Morgan and Bank of America have stopped lending to private prisons.[1][2] Popular politicians have proposed banning private prisons. [3] Continued involvement in mistreatment of human beings will make it hard for CoreCivic to be a sustainable business.

Tell CoreCivic to end its involvement in migrant detention camps now.

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[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/morgansimon/2019/03/05/jpmorgan-chase-is-done-with-private-prisons/#538902d6690d

[2] https://www.axios.com/bank-of-america-private-prisons-immigrant-detention-7f42d0d7-8488-45e3-b167-1c410a54a4d2.html

[3] https://prospect.org/article/banning-private-prisons-and-prisoner-exploitation

There has been no shortage of information about the cruelty, brutality and racial profiling that undocumented migrants face in the hands of Border Patrol and ICE [1] [2] [3]. Amazon has been aiding ICE's efforts to deport undocumented immigrants by working with Palantir, a Silicon Valley data mining company that enables ICE to carry out deportations [4]. By supplying ICE with its powerful facial recognition software, Amazon has enabled ICE to monitor state driver's license databases in search of undocumented immigrants.

Not only does this constitute a privacy and civil rights violation of undocumented immigrants, many of whom legally applied for drivers licenses in states where it is legal for undocumented immigrants to drive, but the technology is severely flawed and prone to misidentification, especially with regards to minorities and people of color [5] [6]. Amazon employees and immigrant advocacy groups have been vocal about their displeasure with this arrangement, and are ramping up pressure for Amazon to discontinue its relationship with Palantir and ICE [4]. We urge Amazon to cut ties with Palantir and ICE, and vow to never again sell facial recognition technology to organizations with the propensity to misuse it for inhumane purposes.

[1] https://time.com/5623148/migrant-detention-centers-conditions/

[2] https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/migrant-kids-overcrowded-arizona-border-station-allege-sex-assault-retaliation-n1027886

[3] https://www.salon.com/2019/07/07/mexicans-in-us-routinely-confront-legal-abuse-racial-profiling-and-ice-targeting_partner/

[4] https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2019/07/11/internal-email-amazon-faces-pressure-from-more-than-500-employees-to-cut-ties-with-palantir-for-working-with-ice/#17acfbdc7539

[5] https://www.govtech.com/products/Google-Amazon-Part-Ways-When-It-Comes-to-Facial-Recognition.html

[6]https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/07/us/politics/ice-drivers-licenses-facial-recognition.html

In June, Wayfair employees discovered that the company had sold $200,000 worth of furniture to a government contractor running a migrant detention center. In response, Wayfair workers staged 'walkouts' in opposition to their company's role in enabling migrant detention camps. Support this petition to the CEO of Wayfair, to stand as investors in solidarity with Wayfair workers. Wayfair will be a much better investment if they stand on the right side of history. 

As investors, let's call on our assets to stand on the right side of history. If Wayfair's management doesn't listen to their employees, they better listen to their investors. After all, the CEO legally serves us, the shareholders. 

Private, for-profit prisons are facing increasing public disgust and outrage over the squalid conditions of the migrant detention centers they manage. Private prisons are low on oversight and safety [1], are rife with instances of abuse [2] and incentivize undesirable outcomes such as mass incarceration rather than rehabilitation and lowering recidivism [3] due to the fact that they make money based on the number of inmates imprisoned in their facilities. In addition, they are shrouded in secrecy and lack transparency or accountability, even though almost all of their revenue is obtained from government contracts paid with taxpayer funds [4].

Vanguard is one of the largest investors in at least two of the top private prison corporations, CoreCivic (formerly known as the Corrections Corporation of America) and GEO Group [4] [5] [6]. The Trump administration is intending to increase its use of private prisons [7], ensuring these issues are about to get much worse.

As a major investor in private prisons, it is incumbent on Vanguard to either divest entirely from this problematic industry or take concrete steps to ensure that the prison companies it invests in meet higher safety and transparency standards and implement rehabilitation and anti-recidivism programs to reverse the damage of mass incarceration.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/12/private-federal-prisons-more-dangerous-justice-department

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/03/us/mississippi-private-prison-abuse.html

[3] https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-economics-of-private-prisons/

[4] https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2015/jul/31/who-owns-private-prison-stock/

[5] https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/mvpzkp/whos-getting-rich-off-the-prison-industrial-complex

[6] https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/cca-corrections-corperation-america-private-prisons-company-profile/

[7] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/one-winner-under-trump-the-private-prison-industry/