NYC Pensions Invest in Buyout Funds Union Says Profit From Jails
- Funds hold companies providing telecom and monitoring services
- Holdings seen at odds with decision to divest prison stocks
New York City’s pensions have invested $1 billion in private equity firms that the second largest U.S. teachers’ union says profit from mass incarceration, including a buyout fund that owns the phone provider to the city’s jails, despite the retirement system’s push to avoid prison-related businesses.
The pensions have invested in Platinum Equity, LLC and American Securities LLC, owners of Securus Technologies, Inc. and Global Tel*Link Corp., respectively, according to a review of city investments. The companies dominate the market for phone and video visitation services to prisons and have been sued by inmates and their families for charging exorbitant fees. Securus provides phone service to New York City’s 8,000 inmates. The pensions also invest in Apax Partners, which bought 3M’s electronic monitoring business Attenti in 2017.