#decommercializejustice

"The Private Equity Stakeholder Project is calling on public pensions in states such as Massachusetts and Ohio to stop investing with H.I.G. if the firm refuses to shed its ownership of food services and commissary company TKC Holdings Inc. and inmate health care service provider Wellpath, claiming in a report that they’ve cut corners to rake in huge profits at the expense of inmates. . "The effort is the latest pushback against the for-profit prison industry by advocacy groups that say public pensions shouldn’t invest in a mass incarceration system that disproportionately locks up minorities and houses immigrants fleeing violence. . "The campaign to divest from the prison industry is having some success. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, the two biggest public pensions in the U.S. with more $600 billion in assets combined, have sold their investments in prison operators CoreCivic Inc. and Geo Group Inc." — "Jim Baker, who leads the Stakeholder Project, said pension funds that invest in firms such as H.I.G. face financial and political dangers that aren’t worth the potential return. Loans issued by two prison phone providers, for example, dropped in value to record lows this month amid concerns that the industry might attract greater political scrutiny ahead of next year’s presidential election. . "In fact, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who’s running for the Democratic presidential nomination, signed onto a letter sent at the end of September to a group of private equity firms, including H.I.G., expressing concerns about a business model they say often delivers poor services for high fees to a customer base that’s literally 'captive.'" — #DecommercializeJustice #PeopleOverProfits #LiberateOurPensions #privateequity https://www.instagram.com/p/B55PmYNlcGu/?igshid=t6bfej8fq1ll

#FreeAllMyBrothers #TeamBiggaThreat Emmett Sanders explores the question: Is an ankle monitor better than prison? He is a researcher and writer who spent more than 22 years in Illinois prisons and found a shackle strapped to his ankle upon release. –– “We should take great care not to assume that [incarceration and electronic monitoring] are the only two options here. This is a false binary, an either/or scenario that exists because we cannot envision other alternatives… EM didn’t always exist. It shouldn’t be that difficult for us to envision ways to exist without it. . “Though I chose to navigate EM myself, I know a number of people imprisoned in Illinois who opted to self-violate parole rather than be subjected to electronic monitoring and the conditions that come with it. In Illinois, violating parole in this way means you do half of your parole time in prison before being released without conditions. Which means there are some who view EM as such an insurmountable obstacle to reconstructing their lives that they prefer to remain in a cell instead—so that they can be fully done with the criminal legal system once they’ve completed their sentence.” –– #DecommercializeJustice #NoMoreShackles #NoDigitalPrisons #criminaljustice #socialjustice #racialjustice #massincarceration https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp93qpuFOkE/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=chnuxyol36wb

#FreeAllMyBrothers #TeamBiggaThreat “Private companies aren’t alone in commercializing prisoner calls. In exchange for granting monopoly rights to operate telecommunications inside a jail or prison system, local governments typically take a portion of the revenue collected off each call, in what’s known as a commission fee. . “Under its current contract with service provider Global Tel, Shelby County is guaranteed a commission of at least $1 million per year, according to documents obtained through public records request. . “But the deal contains a termination clause. And the Global Tel contract is potentially at a crossroads, with new leadership at the helm of county government. . “Meanwhile, a new era of fairer pricing has begun to unfold in other states. . “In Michigan, the fee per deposit has been eliminated. In Texas, bipartisan state leadership slashed rates to 6 cents a minute at the start of the current fiscal year. And in New York City, calls will soon be free. –– #DecommercializeJustice #phonejustice #peopleoverprofits #massincarceration #socialjustice #criminaljustice https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp93OjllkeW/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1a79zefdyjl3a

#FreeAllMyBrothers #TeamBiggaThreat “More than 150 years after the ratification of the US Constitution’s 13th Amendment, Colorado has officially abolished slavery. Coloradans voted Tuesday for Amendment A, a measure removing language in the state constitution that allowed prison labor without pay. . “Colorado is one of more than a dozen states whose state constitution technically still allows involuntary servitude as a form of criminal punishment. The state’s language closely resembles a contested passage that remains in the US Constitution 13th Amendment, which outlawed chattel slavery, but allowed those convicted of crimes to be forced into labor.” –– “The previous language was strongly opposed by local activists like Jumoke Emery, a lead organizer with Abolish Slavery Colorado, one of the groups that has worked alongside the state ACLU and NAACP to build support for the new amendment. . “’I hope that this puts forth the message that our past doesn’t have to be our future, that by and large we as Americans are interested in fixing our mistakes,’ Emery told CNN last month when discussing the amendment.” –– #DecommercializeJustice #peopleoverprofits #endprisonslavery #massincarceration #criminaljustice #racialjustice #socialjustice #laborrights #fairwages #voting #colorado #election2018 #vote https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp93AxflQuu/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1wjmckskgf76j

#FreeAllMyBrothers #TeamBiggaThreat “In 2012, Endeavour Capital Fund VI, in which Oregon's pension system invested $95 million, bought Aladdin Bail Bonds, which claims to be the ‘largest pre-trial release service provider in America.’ Since the buyout, the company has expanded its operations from three states to seven. . “The ACLU, along with many other interest groups, says the cash bail system is inherently discriminatory against poor and minority defendants, who often can't afford the price of pre-trial release. They say the commercial bail bond industry exploits its clients, serving as expensive subprime or payday lenders to defendants who have no other recourse.” –– “The ACLU is running a national campaign against the bail bond industry, and will be making the same pitch to Washington state's pension fund. But Wednesday's call came in a state that abolished the commercial bail industry and related business of bounty hunting three decades ago for many of the same reasons cited by the organization. Oregon lawmakers have also resisted lobbying efforts by Aladdin and other industry players to reestablish the industry in Oregon.” –– “The ACLU campaign also coincides with a push for institutional investors like pension funds to place a higher emphasis on environmental, social and governance factors – so-called ESG investing – when making investment decisions.” –– #DecommercializeJustice #prisonprofiteers #peopleoverprofit #massincarceration #socialjustice #criminaljustice #prisondivestment https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp92hM8lHaZ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1xy3osto5tolg

#Repost @correctionsproj ・・・ “Incarcerated workers across the nation are standing up to protest their inhumane living conditions and buck the horrific yoke of prison slavery with organized labor’s strongest weapons—solidarity and collective action.” –– “Unlike most other workers, prisoners cannot simply walk off the job; they are forced to get more creative. Participants in the strike have several options available to them, including commissary boycotts, work stoppages, sit-ins, and hunger strikes, and reports of participation are continually coming in from different facilities. In addition, these workers also have much more to fear in terms of retaliation, and several organizers say that they have already endured punitive measures. . “Participating in a prison strike is a matter of life or death, but for prisoners seeking justice, if not freedom, there is really no other option.” –– “Ending prison slavery and supporting incarcerated workers is absolutely a labor issue, and every union and labor activist in the nation should be standing up to support their efforts. The companies who profit off of this modern day slavery have blood on their hands, just like history’s craven factory owners and coal bosses who oversaw the deaths and degradation of previous generations. We need to equate monetarily supporting companies that use prison labor with crossing the picket line, and to scabbing for enslavement.” –– #DecommercializeJustice #endprisonslavery #August21 #peopleoverprofits #massincarceration #socialjustice #criminaljustice https://www.instagram.com/p/BnhXj9dHl7I/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=fe5t6cy8s595