Presente | Bank of America & SunTrust - Stop Financing Pain For Corporate Gain!
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Bank of America & SunTrust - Stop Financing Pain For Corporate Gain!

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    The Message

    Dear Brian T. Moynihan (Bank of America CEO) and William H Rogers Jr. (SunTrust CEO),

    The private prison industry is detaining over 70 percent of immigrants in ICE custody and is complicit in the epidemic of mass incarceration that devastates our communities. Horrifically, for-profit prison companies have long histories of human rights abuses, including the tragic deaths of young children in private prison facilities.

    Private prison companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group depend on funding from banks like yours to conduct their day-to-day business operations, finance new facilities, and acquire smaller companies. A 2019 analysis of GEO Group and CoreCivic’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 2018 filings, show that Bank of America and SunTrust have had a major role in financing these private prison companies. In doing so, Bank of America and SunTrust are complicit in and profiting from mass incarceration and the criminalization of immigration. We demand that you immediately stop financing private prisons.

    Sincerely,

    [Your Name]

    YES!!! Following enormous grassroots pressure, including from Presente members like you, we are seeing a powerful wave to defund private prisons. So much that Florida-based prison profiteer, the Geo Group, acknowledged that divestment of big banks like Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase have a "material adverse effect" on its operations.1 Thank you for making this possible!

    Any bad news for the for-profit prison industry is good news for our families. And every petition you sign, every direct action you show up to and amplify online makes an impact. Now, Bank of America, Suntrust, and other banks must confirm they will also stop financing private prisons.

    What’s happening at the border reflects what’s happening in our nation politically and culturally, and we realize we need massive public action to stop the flow of money to this torture-for-profit industry.2

    It's been over two years since the Trump Administration began tearing families apart at the border, and over 500 children are yet to be reunited with their loved ones.3 Families are still being separated at the border and caged in facilities where companies like the Geo Group and CoreCivic continue to profit from this cruel business. Our fight to protect and free our families will continue, powered by members like you.

    Let's make certain that all banks exit the private prison industry and let's continue to expose those who continue to finance it. Join in pressuring Bank of America and others to make the right decision — our communities depend on it.

    References:
    [1] "Private Prison Company GEO Group Says Activists Pose Risk to Bottom Line." Newsweek. May 8, 2019.
    [2] "ACLU: Government Must End Use of Private Prisons For Immigration Detention." ACLU. October 3, 2016.
    [3] "Lawyers say they can't find the parents of 545 migrant children separated by Trump administration." NBC News. October 20, 2020.

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