Columbia University Will Divest From Private Prison Companies

Columbia University trustees voted Monday to divest from for-profit prison companies because of concerns about mass incarceration, becoming the first major university to do so.

Columbia, in New York, owned more than 230,000 shares of Corrections Corp. of America, the largest private prison company, headquartered in Nashville, Rolling Stone reported last year. The school no longer owns those shares"

This action occurs within the larger, ongoing discussion of the issue of mass incarceration that concerns citizens from across the ideological spectrum," Columbia trustees said in a statement. "

Gordon, chair of an advisory subcommittee, said the group is considering whether Columbia should divest from fossil fuel companies as a stand against global warming.

Students protested for months to get Columbia to divest from for-profit prisons, citing alleged violence and human rights abuses.

An article in The Guardian described a G4S facility in England as rife with drugs and alcohol. An American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit accused a Corrections Corp. of America-owned prison as permitting excessive violence and prison guards who laughed as they declined to treat prisoners' injuries.

According to the ACLU, "several studies suggest that prisoners in for-profit prisons face greater threats to their safety than those in publicly-run prisons."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/22/columbia-divest-prison_n_7640888.html