Public defenders and civil rights groups say Washington should pull its money out of stock funds that profit from bail bonds.
The group of protesters told the state Investment Board Thursday that requiring a defendant to post cash bail doesn’t facilitate justice but creates a system that penalizes the poor who either can’t afford bail or get trapped in a “predatory” system.
Abbey McMahon, a King County public defender, as well as members of the American Civil Liberties Union, a racial justice group the Color of Change, and the Private Equity Stakeholder Project want the board to divest its holdings in Endeavor Capital Equity funds that have bail bond companies and other businesses they consider questionable among their holdings.
The groups also have a petition drive, which they say has collected about 11,000 signatures, asking for the board to pull money out of Endeavour Capital and not invest new money in funds the group develops.
The Investment Board oversees more than $134 billion in assets for various public employee retirement plans and other funds that support colleges and developmental disability programs. That includes private equity holdings that stood at about $22 billion at the end of 2018. It has about $267 million invested in three Endeavour Capital Funds, or slightly more than 1 percent of its private equity holdings.
The board didn’t take any action on the request Thursday. (Spokesman Review)
