Prison Divestment in the West!

Recognizing that we all have ties to the for-profit private prison industry, labor councils and cities are working to cut those ties.In the Pacific Northwest, home of GEO Group’s notorious Northwest Detention Center, city divestment resolutions are moving forward in Seattle and Portland. Last week, the Human Rights Commissions of both cities endorsed resolutions calling on their cities to divest from private prisons and their major investors.

Major investors in private prisons provide the support for the private prison industry to lobby for policies that unjustly imprison immigrants and people of color in out-sourced facilities where sexual abuse and other atrocities are rampant.

Live in Portland? Sign the petition demanding that your city stop supporting for-profit immigrant prisons!

Live in Seattle? Sign the petition demanding that your city and US Senators stop supporting outsourced immigrant prisons!

Last month, the Sacramento Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO passed a resolution calling on all public institutions to divest their holdings in private prisons. The two largest pensions in California, CalPERS and CalSTRS, own millions in the powerful CCA and GEO prison corporations. The Labor Council’s resolution also called on California’s US Senators to stop federal contracting with private prisons. Read the resolution, and learn how to start your public pension divestment in our new toolkit, Unload Your Pension.