SunTrust to stop lending to detention centers

New York CNN Business — SunTrust is the fourth major US bank to end its business relationships with owners of immigrant detention centers on the border between the United States and Mexico. Reducing exposure to prisons A spokesperson for Bank of America said last month that while the bank appreciates “steps have taken to properly execute their contractual and humanitarian responsibilities,” it ultimately decided to “exit the relationships.” “Lacking further legal and policy clarity, and in recognition of the concerns of our employees and stakeholders in the communities we serve, it is our intention to exit these relationships,” the spokesperson said at the time. “As part of this process, we will no longer bank the private prison industry.” Scandal-ridden Wells Fargo also disclosed earlier this year that it’s paring back its relationships with prison companies. Prison operators respond CoreCivic said in a statement on its website Monday that what it called “politicized banking decisions” send “a terrible message to others in the private sector who are working to help our government solve serious problems in ways it could not do alone.” “Like others before it, this decision is about caving to political pressure based on false and misleading statements about our company,” CoreCivic said. A spokesman for GEO said in a statement to CNN Business on Monday that “it’s unfortunate that misleading political activism has been allowed to impact a decade-long banking relationship.” “The divestment efforts against our company are based on a false narrative and a deliberate mischaracterization of our role as a long-standing government services provider,” the spokesman added.