Calls are mounting for Citizens Bank to sever its financial ties with private prison companies, amid growing concerns over the firms' involvement in immigration enforcement and alleged human rights violations. The criticism centers on the bank’s continued provision of credit to companies such as CoreCivic and the GEO Group, which operate private detention facilities often used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Christopher M. O’Keeffe, a former United Way of Massachusetts Bay leader and long-time Citizens Bank customer, expressed disappointment over the bank’s ongoing relationship with these prison corporations. In a letter responding to recent commentary, O’Keeffe noted that Citizens Bank’s support for CoreCivic and GEO Group contradicts the institution’s earlier community-focused reputation.

“While other financial institutions have ceased funding these companies, Citizens Bank has continued profiting from their operations, which include documented allegations of forced labor and medical neglect,” O’Keeffe wrote. He highlighted that the bank has helped these firms secure more than $2 billion in credit over the past 12 years, a period during which many major lenders pledged to withdraw their support from the private prison industry.

Advocates, including the Greater Boston Interfaith organization, are now urging Citizens Bank to reconsider its involvement, emphasizing the social and ethical implications of financing companies implicated in the incarceration of immigrants. The call for reevaluation comes amid a broader debate over the role of financial institutions in sustaining the prison industrial complex and facilitating immigration enforcement policies.

Citizens Bank has yet to publicly address the concerns raised about its lending practices related to private prison firms. Meanwhile, community members and activists continue to press for increased transparency and action, underscoring the tension between financial interests and corporate social responsibility in the current political climate.