Methodists lobby private prison companies CCA and GEO as shareholders about human rights issues. Seems like this doesn’t help with the 2008 United Methodist Church Resolution 3281, Welcoming the Migrant to the US, which advocated the “elimination of privately-operated detention centers,” but at least they’re doing something. I expect what they’ll accomplish by such lobbying is to demonstrate that private prison companies have no intention of addressing human rights issues, because that would cut into their profits.

Published by General Board of Pension and Health Benefits of The United Methodist Church July 2011, Faith-Based Investors Take a Closer Look at Private Prisons,

In 2011, members of the United Methodist Interagency Task Force on Immigration approached the General Board of Pension and Health Benefits (General Board) with concerns about two private prison companies in the General Board’s investment portfolio: Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and The GEO Group, Inc. The United Methodist Interagency Task Force on Immigration was created following the General Conference of 2004. Membership includes representatives from the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM), the General Commission on Religion and Race, the General Board of Church and Society (GBCS), Methodists Associated to Represent the Cause of Hispanic Americans (MARCHA) and two bishops. In addition, GBCS has shared its concern that CCA and The GEO Group have been accused of human rights abuses of young people, immigrants and people of color.

CCA and The GEO Group are the two largest private prison companies in the U.S., operating and/or owning, respectively, 111 and 118 correctional, detention and/or residential treatment facilities. In 2010, CCA earned nearly $1.7 billion; The GEO Group, $1.3 billion.

Investor Engagement with Private Prisons

Faith-based investors belonging to the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) filed shareholder resolutions at both companies during the 2011 proxy season. These resolutions called upon each company to review its human rights policies and to “adopt and implement additional policies” where necessary. Both companies agreed to meet with investors on human rights issues, so investors withdrew their resolutions. The General Board has alerted CCA and The GEO Group that it will be joining these human rights discussions. In addition, the General Board toured a CCA-operated facility in Marion County, Indiana, in late July. Arrangements to tour a GEO Group facility still are pending.

The General Board will use these traditional shareholder advocacy efforts to bring the concerns of the Church to both companies.

It is CCA that wants to build a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia, aided and abetted by the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority (VLCIA). We don’t need a private prison in Lowndes County, Georgia. Spend those tax dollars on rehabilitation and education.

-jsq

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