Columbia University has become the first university to divest from prisons, and given that the University has a $9 billion endowment, this divestment will amount to no small sum.
G4S, a private British security and prison firm, is one of the companies being shown the door. Columbia has announced that it will sell of all of its 220,000 shares. With shares currently selling for approximately $280, the number of shares to be sold actually tops $60 million.
Columbia will also be divesting from Corrections Corporation of America, the United States’ largest private prison firm. CCA has long been a source of controversy, having been accused by the ACLU of abuse and neglect in its prisons.
While Columbia has become the first university to publicly divest from private prisons due to ethical concerns, it took a considerable amount of pressure for the university to do so.
In early 2014 Columbia students became aware of the University’s investments and launched a campaign to get the university to dump prison stocks. The campaign coalesced into the Columbia Prison Divest program, which can now claim victory.
A 20 year old organizer told CNN, “The private prison model is hinged on maximizing incarceration to generate profit — they’re incentivized by convicting, sentencing, and keeping people in prison for longer and longer times.”
Indeed, profit maximization and increasing incarceration rates has long been a major concern for private prisons.
In 2008, the infamous Kids for Cash prison scandal unfolded when a pair of judges in Pennsylvania were found to have been sending children to juvenile detention over minor offenses. It was later found that the judges were receiving kickbacks.
