California’s teacher-pension fund is pulling its investments out of two private prison companies that have contracts to house immigrants detained at the Mexican border.
The California State Teachers’ Retirement Board this month voted to withdraw about $12 million it had invested in CoreCivic of Nashville, Tenn., and Geo Group of Boca Raton, Fla.
The retirement board’s decision followed intense activism from teachers and left-leaning organizations that wanted the $229 billion pension fund to dissociate itself from private prisons.
Their calls for divestment led the pension fund to conduct its own investigation, which it published in a 28-page report that did not include a formal recommendation. “Based on all the information and advice we were provided, the board decided to divest according to the policy criteria,” said board member Harry Keiley.
