T he following bill was presented to Associated Students (UCS D) on Wednesday March 5, 2014. It passed with a vote of 22 (yes), 1 (no), and 1 (abstention).

We encourage students at the remaining UCs to draw on this document in mobilizing their own divestment campaigns. Our hope is that one year from now each ASUC will have divested,

and our various groups can bring a unified divestment bill to T he

Regents of the University of California.

In solidarity,

Students Against Mass Incarceration

Sami.ucsd@ gmail.com

Students Against Mass Incarceration

UCSD Black Student Union

UCSD Students for Justice in Palestine

UCSD Queer People of Color

UCSD Student and Worker Collective

UCSD Asian and Pacific-Islander Student Alliance

UCSD Kaibigang Pilipin@

UCSD People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty through Education

Student Sustainability Collective at UCSD

Student Affirmative Action Committee

Campus Wide Senator, Jehoan Espinoza

Arts & Humanities Senator, Kourtni Gouch

Associate Vice President of Diversity Affairs, Thomas Thao

President, Andy Buselt

External Vice President, Vanessa Garcia

Associate Vice President Local Affairs, Allyson Osorio

Enlace

Californians United For a Responsible Budget

Human Rights of the Incarcerated at CAL

Committee Against Police Brutality

All of Us or None

A New PATH (Parents for Addiction Treatment and Healing)

Mujeres de Maiz Collective

United Against Police Terror San Diego

Black and Pink San Diego

San Diego Immigrant Youth Collective

T he following bill is written in solidarity with those who authored and sponsored the prison divestment bills at ASUC Berkeley, ASUC Santa Barbara, and ASUC Los Angeles. Much of our language is inspired by their documents. It is also written in solidarity with the UCSD Divest For Palestine, UCSD Divest Fossil Fuels campaigns, and Enlaces National Prison Divestment Campaign.

T he authors and sponsors of this bill write with the hope that the remaining ASUCs will take up divestment campaigns at their campuses, and that together, our campuses can mobilize a broader cross-campus effort to divest the University of California from the Prison Industrial Complex.

given that:

It functions as a new form of slavery by incarcerating more black men than were enslaved in 1850,1 including 1 of every 9 black men between the ages of 20 and 34. The U.S. legal tradition2 maintains that prisoners are slaves of the state, meaning that they do not have the legal rights of a citizen and the State can exploit their unfree labor3

It incarcerates poor people of color, especially black people, Latina/os and Native Americans, at extremely disproportionate rates compared to the rest of the population4

It subjects the entire prison population, particularly women, LGBTQ, and gender non-conforming communities to systemic sexual violence5

1 Alexander, Michelle, T he New Jim Crow

2 13th Amendment; Ruffin v. Commonwealth; See also: http://www.prisonpolicy.org/prisonindex/prisonlabor.html

3 Davis, Angela, From the Prison of Slavery to the Slavery of Prison and http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/gilmoreprisonslavery.html

4 Davis, Angela, Are Prisons Obsolete (pp. 20)

5 http://srlp.org/files/warinhere.pdf ; see also http://truth-out.org/news/item/13280-women-prisoners- endure-rampant-sexual-violence-current-laws-not-sufficient

It subjects black women, who make up the fastest growing prison population, to increasingly disproportionate rates of incarceration6

It is a capitalist institution that overwhelmingly targets poor people, as the greatest proportion of the over 2.5 million people in US prisons, jails, and immigrant detention camps were in poverty at the time of their arrest

It subjects people to inhuman and inhumane forms of punishment that far exceed the parameters defined by the United Nations.7 According to the U.N., 15 days in solitary confinement constitutes torture.8 U.S. Supermax prisons routinely cage thousands of people in solitary confinement for decades, leaving them with unimaginable and well-documented physical and psychological traumas

U.S. prisons cage the highest number of human beings in the world, far exceeding other nations. Though the U.S. has 5% of the worlds population it cages a quarter of the worlds prisoners (2.5 million prisoners)9

given that:

National crime rates were falling by the time the prison construction boom began10

Communities without access to legal opportunities for employment are more likely to produce people who are imprisoned. In the 1970s and 1980s, manufacturing industries, including textile, steel, and auto industries, laid off millions of workers and moved operations overseas for cheaper

6 Davis, Angela, Are Prisons Obsolete (pp. 19)

7 http://ccrjustice.org/solitary-factsheet

8 https://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=40097

9 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/world/americas/23iht-23prison.12253738.html?pagewanted=all

10 Davis, Angela, Are Prisons Obsolete (pp. 17)

labor. This shift left large segments of the population unemployed and impoverished. Since black communities and other urban communities of color statistically have fewer resources at their disposal (because of economic and structural inequalities), the decline of U.S. manufacturing impacted them more dramatically than other groups.11 Prisons cannot address this.

given that:

In the last few decades, prisons have become a $70 billion industry. This industry is fueled by taxpayer money, private construction and defense contractors, banks that underwrite and finance prisons, and segments of the manufacturing and service industries that employ extremely low-wage or no-wage prison labor. While the U.S. prison system remains predominantly a public system that serves as a form of population management and warehousing of the poor, people of color, and the marginalized, it also generates profits for private actors, such as for-profit prisons and private contractors.

Privately-operated federal facilities have grown 600 percent faster than state-level contract facilities since 2010, and now represent the single most quickly-growing corrections sector

State and local prisons are embedded in a web of private interests. Private companies invest in state and local facilities by speculating on human entombment through lucrative private-public contracts ranging from long-distance services, construction, surveillance technologies, etc.

Poor and unemployed people outside the prison are subject to extremely low-wage or no-wage labor inside the prison

Nearly a million prisoners are currently performing a range of tasks manufacturing office furniture, license plates, textiles, shoes, clothing, and Victorias Secret lingerie, making hotel and air travel

11 Goldberg and Evans, T he Prison Industrial Complex and the Global Economy (pp. 9)

reservations, raising hogs, shoveling manure, performing data entry for Chevron, and constructing circuit boards, limousines, and waterbeds while getting paid somewhere between 93 cents and $4.73 per day12

The prison industrial complex further incentivizes warehousing people in prisons, while social services such as education and drug rehabilitation programs lose more and more funding13

given that:

Across the United States, the lowest-performing schools are consistently situated in neighborhoods with the highest rates of incarceration. In LA county alone, 69 of the 90 least funded and lowest-performing schools are in neighborhoods with the highest rates of incarceration14

Over 20 prisons have been built in California over the past 30 years, while only 1 UC and 3 CSUs have been built15

Millions of dollars from CA Proposition 30, which were intended for investment in public education, are now being funneled into prison expansion16

given that:

12 ibid. (pp.13); see also www.alternet.org/story/155061/getting_paid_93_cents_a_day_in_america_corporations_bring_back_the_19th_cent ury

13 http://www.cacs.org/ca/article/44; see also http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/02/29/prisons

14 http://naacp.3cdn.net/ecea56adeef3d84a28_azsm639wz.pdf (pp. 20-22)

15 http://curbprisonspending.org/?p=950

16 http://www.thenation.com/article/176238/will-california-choose-prisons-over-schools-again#

An overwhelming majority of the imprisoned population has been convicted for nonviolent crimes committed out of economic need (violent injury occurs in only 3% of all crime)17

Fifty years after the United States Supreme Court ruled in Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) that the Sixth Amendment guarantees to every criminal defendant in a felony trial the right to a lawyer, only 24 states have public defender systems,18 and in cases where defendants do have a lawyer, they often spend less than six minutes with that lawyer19

Wealthy investors, bankers, and executives consistently engage in white collar crimes including fraud, insider trading, money laundering, and other schemes designed to make the poor poorer and the rich richeryet these individuals have the money and lobbying power to walk free

given that:

Despite the fact that black and white people consume drugs at approximately the same rate, drug-related arrests of black people have been 5 times higher than arrests of white people and imprisonment rates for black people have been even more disproportionate20

Cruel and excessively harsh laws such as three strikes (extremely long sentences for minor, nonviolent second and third offenses) and mandatory minimums (long sentences with no opportunity for parole) have focused on landing low-level drug-dealers from communities of color in prison

17 Goldberg and Evans, T he Prison Industrial Complex and the Global Economy (pp. 7)

18 eji.org/node/752

19 brennancenter.org/publication/community-oriented-defense-start-now

20 Goldberg and Evans, T he Prison Industrial Complex and the Global Economy (pp. 11)

21 http://www.democracynow.org/2013/12/20/obama_commutes_8_unfair_crack_cocaine

for several years to decades at a time. Over 2000 people are serving life without parole for nonviolent drug crimes and many thousands more are serving years and decades in prison for nonviolent drug crimes21

The United States government has never officially acknowledged its own involvement in the proliferation of drug use in the United States, stemming from operations including the importation of heroin from U.S.-allied Vietnamese traders during the American War in Vietnam and the cocaine-for-weapons sales with U.S.-allied insurgent groups in Central America in the 1980s. The US governments complicity in the importation of drugs makes it largely responsible for the life-threatening effects of drug use in poor communities of color22

given that:

UC San Diego is built on occupied Kumeyaay land in the most affluent part of the City. It primarily serves middle class and affluent communities, while using a manufactured budget crisis to implement fee hikes and cutbacks to transportation and support services, effectively excluding working class people and poor people from the promises of public education. By restricting access to the public university, UC San Diego has created a pipeline to the military or prison that most drastically affects the native Kumeyaay, African American, Chicana/o, Latina/o, Middle Eastern, and refugee communities of San Diego.

UC San Diego is situated in the U.S.-Mexico border region. This border has divided indigenous communities for generations. Further, anti-immigrant policies and laws have torn families apart and led to the arrest, detention, and deportation of more than 2 million men, women, and children since 2008. The majority of detained immigrants are held in for-profit private prisons run by either the GEO group or Corrections

22 Goldberg and Evans, T he Prison Industrial Complex and the Global Economy (pp. 11)

23 http://prisondivestment.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/2012-10-24-final-tool-kit.pdf (pp. 3)

Corporation of America whose combined revenue in 2011 totaled more than $3 billion23

Construction is set to begin in the coming months to expand the Richard J. Donovan prison in Otay Mesa (38 miles from UCSD). This project, which costs $187 million, is one way in which the California State Legislature continues to sidestep the U.S. Supreme Courts order to reduce the State prison population. Instead of taking practical steps toward reducing the prison population, the State legislature and private contractors have devised strategies for spreading the prison population out to different parts of the state and country (as if incarcerated people are surplus goods rather than people with communities, families, and loved ones). By expanding rather than reducing, and by ignoring the well-researched alternatives offered by grassroots community-based organizers, the Legislature and these contractors have shown where their priorities lie: with profits rather than with the people.

given that:

The three categories that can implicate a corporation as participating in the use of inmate labor are the following: (1) Corporations, businesses, and companies that use direct inmate labor for manufacturing and service jobs; (2) Corporations, businesses and companies that contract with other companies to purchase products or services made by inmate labor (such as McDonalds); or (3) Individuals, corporations, and organizations and investment companies that support the use of prison labor or enable prison industry operations by contributing financial support to those directly involved in using inmates for labor or invest in or support private prison corporations

The University of California currently holds investments in the Russel 3000 Index and the Standard & Poor 500 Index,24 which include holdings

24 http://www.ucop.edu/investment-office/_files/report/UC_Annual_Endowment_Report_FY2012-2013.pdf (pp. 42)

25 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/12/14/928611/-INSOURCING-Identifying-businesses-involved-in-prison- labor-or-supporting-those-who-are#

in the following companies that exploit prison labor for financial gain or are otherwise funders of the lobbying group American Legislative Exchange Council25 (which has claimed responsibility for passing of legislation authorizing the use of prison labor and private prisons)

Russel 3000 Index26:Abbot Laboratories*, Allstate Corp*., American Electric Power Association*, Archer Daniels Midland Corp.*, AT&T, Autozone Inc.*, Bank of America*, Boeing Co.*, Caterpillar Inc.*, Chevron Corp.*, Consolidated Edison Co.*, Corrections Corporation of America, Deere & Co.*, Exxon Mobil*, International Paper Co.*, Johnson and Johnson*, JP Morgan Chase and Co.*, McDonalds*, Merck and Co.*, Microsoft Corp., Motorola Inc.*, Newmont Mining Corp.*, Pfizer Inc.*, PG&E Corp., Procter and Gamble*, Service Corp. International,, State Street, Sprint, United Parcel Service*, Verizon Communications*, Wal Mart Stores Inc.*, Wells Fargo

S&P 50027:3M, American Express Co., International Game Technology

UC Retirement Plan (UCRP)28:Russel 3000 Index companies mentioned above, Cargill Inc.

UC San Diego Endowment Investment Pool also includes holdings in the Vanguard Group29, a company which finances the private prison companies CCA and GEO

Of all the above companies, 3M, State Street, Corrections Corp. of

26 http://www.russell.com/indexes/documents/Membership/Russell3000_Membership_list.pdf (companies with an asterisk are also included in S&P 500 Index)

27 http://money.cnn.com/data/markets/sandp/?page=1

28 http://www.ucop.edu/investment-office/_files/invpol/UCRP_Holdings.pdf

29 http://foundation.ucsd.edu/_files/endowment-performance-pdfs/endowment-June2013.pdf

America (a for-profit prison), and The Vanguard Group maintain the most direct connection to the prison-industrial complex

3M30 produces its products with prison labor, while State Street31 and The Vanguard Group32 maintain medium to high levels of financial support (stock) in prison labor and private prisons respectively

that no University of California assets shall be invested in: The Prison Industrial Complex, including but not limited to:

Corporations, businesses and companies that use direct inmate labor for manufacturing and service jobs

Corporations, businesses and companies that contract with other companies to purchase products or services made by inmate labor

Individuals, corporations, organizations and investment companies that support the use of prison labor or enable prison industry operations by contributing financial support to those directly involved in using inmates for labor or invest in or support private prison corporations, and

Any bank or other financial institution that underwrites, buys, or sells any public bond whose proceeds will be used to build new prisons or jails

30 http://www.nationalcia.org/national-training-conference/enterprise-2013-sponsor (3M)

31 http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=CCA+Major+Holders ; see also http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=GEO+Major+Holders

32 http://prisondivestment.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/2012-10-24-final-tool-kit.pdf (pp. 8)

the ASUCSD urge the UC Board of Regents and the UC asset managers to divest from all companies profiting from the Prison Industrial Complex.

that the ASUCSD External Affairs Vice President shall be obligated to advocate for the Private Prison Information Act of 2013.

the ASUCSD reassert our commitment to fairness, equity, and equality by investing solely in companies that provide moral and fair services and products.

that the ASUCSD urge university administrators and local politicians to support grassroots strategies of prison reduction33 rather than prison expansion and the shameless transport of human beings to warehouse-prisons far removed from their kin and their communities.

that the ASUCSD will participate in mobilizations of the university community and its allies to ensure that parties invested in the prison industrial complex feel sustained popular pressure to divest from the aforementioned companies.

the ASUCSD support student efforts across the UC system that aim not only at prison divestment but also at the formation of a society where true public education and prison abolition are possible.

33 http://curbprisonspending.org/?p=2555