At the turn of this century, the United States saw increased use of private prisons because of more incarceration, aging local prisons, and a belief that contracting private prisons was cheaper. Cities, counties, and states began to contract with the private sector to handle their inmates. At the same time, the industry began consolidating, and CoreCivic (formerly Corrections Corporation of America) and GEO Group dominated the field. The faith community, with a long history of prison chaplaincy, was concerned with what they saw in these facilities. Reports included untrained and limited staff, problems with health care and food, inability to meet families, and an increase in violence. Faith-based organizations such as Wespath and the Presbyterian Church (USA) began to exclude private prisons from their investments. 

Shareholders began engaging the industry in 2005. In 2011 both CoreCivic and GEO Group were asked to develop a human rights policy. Both companies responded by developing a policy, but research kept showing incidents. Engagements continued to address implementation of the policies, development of staff training, and the underlying causes of incidents. Productive dialogues with CoreCivic continue to this day, with CoreCivic assessing its policies, practices, and standards against the UN Guiding Principles.

GEO was a different story. We have held ongoing engagements with GEO around human rights concerns for seven years and appreciate that, given the enormous risks inherent in its business, the company saw the importance of adopting a human rights policy in 2013.  An increase in recent contracts with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and disturbing reports about detainee safety seem to have exacerbated GEO’s exposure to these human rights risks. We needed to better understand how that policy was being operationalized to mitigate them.  This led shareholders to file a resolution asking GEO to detail its human rights policy implementation addressing “respect for our inmates and detainees.”

The resolution, co-filed by 13 institutional investors, struck a chord with fellow investors. In light of high-profile, ongoing controversies concerning human rights performance at GEO-owned and operated facilities, as well as the importance of safeguarding GEO's reputation and long-term growth, shareholders recognized the benefit of more information on how the company ensures awareness of its commitment to inmate/detainee human rights, assesses human rights performance, and remedies shortcomings. As the annual meeting approached, the resolution clearly had significant support. At the last minute, GEO withdrew its opposition to the resolution but did not remove the ballot from the proxy. 

Following the extraordinary 88 percent vote of support, GEO agreed to develop a report. When the report was published in October 2019, however, shareholders issued a press release saying it falls far short of expectations and fails to meet current standards for human rights policies and processes, leaving the company exposed to numerous legal, reputational, and financial risks.   Dialogue with the company will continue.

Mary Baudouin
Provincial Assistant for Social Ministries for the Jesuits of the US Central and Southern Province

Bryan Pham
SJ, JD, USA West Province Society of Jesus

Pat Zerega
Senior Director of Shareholder Advocacy, Mercy Investment Services