Booker Calls Private Prisons ‘Repugnant’ Amid Investor Shifts

(Bloomberg) -- Senator Cory Booker highlighted his opposition to private prisons during the Democratic presidential debate on Wednesday night, saying it was “repugnant” that profits were being made from them.

“I have been to some of the largest private prisons, which are repugnant to me, that people are profiting off incarceration and their immigration lockups,” Booker said while discussing immigration reform.

His comments come as financial firms have been changing their approach to companies that own and operate private prisons. Earlier Wednesday, an officer of Bank of America Corp. said the bank would stop lending to companies that run private prisons and detention centers.

“We have decided to exit the relationship," said Vice Chairman Anne Finucane in an interview with Bloomberg News.

The decision follows earlier moves by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co.

Shares of two of the largest private-prison companies, GEO Group Inc. and CoreCivic Inc., fell as much as 4.4% and 4.5%, respectively, Wednesday. They both dropped at least 17% last year.

“Our country has made so many mistakes by criminalizing things, whether it’s immigration, whether it’s mental illness, whether it’s addiction,” Booker said. "We know this is not the way to deal with problems.

--With assistance from Lananh Nguyen.

To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Flatley in Washington at dflatley1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, John Harney, Wendy Benjaminson

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