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Bank of America Cuts Ties With Private Prison, Detention Industry

The move comes one day after company officials reportedly visited Homestead detention center in Florida.

Bank of America has decided to stop providing loans to companies that run private prisons and detention centers after touring a migrant detention facility in Florida earlier this week, The Miami Herald reports. Sources cited by the newspaper said company officials visited the Homestead detention facility for unaccompanied migrant teenagers on Tuesday, though the company would not confirm that the visit occurred. The Homestead center reportedly houses 3,000 teenagers and the center’s operator—Caliburn—was given a $380 million loan and $75 million revolving line of credit from the bank. “We have decided to exit the relationships we have with companies providing prisoner and immigrant detention services for federal and state governments, as expeditiously as possible,” a Bank of America spokeswoman said in a statement. The bank was reportedly the last Wall Street bank to provide funding to the industry, with Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase severing ties with the private prison industry in March.