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Statement

VICTORY! Moms Celebrate that JPMorgan Chase Will No Longer 'Bank the Private Prison Industry'

March 5, 2019
Immigration

Lisa Lederer, 202-371-1996

Statement of Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director and CEO of MomsRising, an online and on-the-ground organization of more than one million mothers and their families, on JPMorgan Chase's decision to no longer bank the private prison industry.

"Today’s announcement from JPMorgan Chase that: 'We will no longer bank the private prison industry,' is a tremendous victory for the moms, activists, and the more than 100 organizations in the #FamiliesBelongTogether Corporate Accountability Coalition, which MomsRising coordinates. These more than 100 organizations have worked tirelessly to end JPMorgan Chase’s financing of private prison companies, which are profiting from detention of immigrant families.  

“We thank JPMorgan Chase for listening to the voices of consumers and committing to ‘no longer bank the private prison industry’ -- and we call on other banks to follow suit.

"Across the country, more than 500,000 people, and over 100 organizations, made it clear the funding of private prisons by JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo is unacceptable, including those with the Families Belong Together coalition, Make the Road NY, Candide Group, Presente.org, Center for Popular Democracy, National Domestic Workers Alliance, Hand in Hand, ICCR, LittleSis, In The Public Interest, CREDOMobile, Mujeres Unidas y Activas, La Colectiva de Mujeres, Global Exchange, DailyKos, RAN.org, MomsRising, MamasConPoder, and many more. These actions have taken place from coast to coast as part of the nationwide Families Belong Together Corporate Accountability campaign. 

“As part of this effort, more than 60,000 members of MomsRising signed letters and raised their voices, and more than 7,000 MomsRising members committed to deliver letters along with information to their local Chase and Wells Fargo bank branches in September of 2018, in coordination with the Families Belong Together Coalition. From there, we had sustained engagement from our members, including in a multifaceted campaign effort with tens of thousands of MomsRising members and a coalition of more than 100 Families Belong Together coordinated organizations in February 2019.

“Today’s announcement is a testament to the power of moms and families, but there's more work to be done. Right now, 71% of the average daily population in ICE custody are held in privately operated jails, many with documented histories of human rights abuses, and since ICE’s creation, detention centers have reported 176 deaths. MomsRising will not rest until all children and families are safe. We ask our banks to be part of the solution, not the problem. Women will continue to use our consumer power, ‘the power of the purse,’ until all banks stop financing and/or banking private prisons.”

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MomsRising.org is an on-the-ground and online grassroots organization of more than a million people who are working to increase family economic security, decrease discrimination against women and moms, and to build a nation where businesses and families can thrive. Established in 2006, MomsRising and its members are organizing and speaking out to improve public policy and to change the national dialogue on issues that are critically important to America’s families, including criminal justice reform, immigration policy reform, and gun safety. MomsRising is working for paid family and medical leave, affordable, high quality childcare and early learning, and for an end to the wage and hiring discrimination which penalizes women — particularly moms and women of color — and so many others. MomsRising advocates for access to healthy food for all kids, health care for all, earned sick days, and breastfeeding rights so that all children can have a healthy start. MomsRising maintains a Spanish language website: MamásConPoder.org. Sign up online at www.MomsRising.org — and follow us on our blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.