New York City’s pension fund is the first in the nation to fully divest from private prisons, according to Comptroller Scott Stringer. Trustees of the city’s pension fund voted unanimously to divest in mid-May, and have since pulled $48 million of stocks and bonds from three companies: GEO Group, CoreCivic, and G4S.

“With Donald Trump in the White House, we’re seeing more and more industries try to profit from backwards policies at the expense of immigrants and communities of color,” Stringer stated Thursday. “But because of this major new step, we are demonstrating that we will not be complicit.”

A 2016 federal audit of private prisons found that these facilities are less safe for inmates than their public equivalents, due to overcrowding and inadequate medical care. Private prisons, including GEO Group and CoreCivic, also operate the majority of the country’s immigrant detention centers.

Pension fund trustees voted to study the possibility of divestment last September—a mandatory step in considering any adjustment to the fund. Stringer’s office worked with outside consultants to determine how divesting from prisons might impact the health of the fund (which covers city employees including teachers, fire fighters and police officers) and concluded that negative impacts would be negligible.

Full Content: Gothamist

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