Treasurer
Magaziner urges Wyatt bondholder Invesco to address community concerns over
prison
Rhode Island Treasurer Seth Magaziner has sent a letter to Invesco CEO Martin Flanagan, over concerns with the situation at the Donald D Wyatt Detention Facility in the City of Central Falls, Rhode Island.
Invesco runs Rhode Island’s CollegeBound Saver and CollegeBound
529 plans, and is also the majority bondholder for the Wyatt Detention
Facility following the company’s merger with Oppenheimer in 2019.
Magaziner was approached by activists with AMOR (Alliance
to Mobilize Our Resistance) and agreed to meet with them to discuss their
concerns. On January 29, Magaziner sent the following letter to Invesco:
Mr. Flanagan
I write to express my concern with the situation at the Donald D
Wyatt Detention Facility in the City of Central Falls, Rhode Island.
With 19,000 residents occupying just 1.3 square miles, Central
Falls is the smallest and most densely populated city in Rhode Island. Despite
its small size, Central Falls maintains a strong community and a rich culture
that is diverse and inclusive.
In recent years, members of the Central Falls community, including
Mayor James Diossa and the City Council, have expressed growing
concerns with policies and practices at the Wyatt that are contrary to the
values of their community.
Wyatt began housing detainees for U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2005. Concerns over operating conditions in
the prison emerged in 2008 when an ICE detainee died in custody. ICE withdrew
its remaining detainees later that year and the chair of the board that
oversees the prison was fired after saying: “I’m looking at it like I’m running
a Motel 6… I don’t care if it’s Guantanamo Bay. We want to fill the beds.”1
In 2019, the Wyatt began housing ICE detainees once again.
Members of the community, remembering lessons learned a decade prior, gathered
to protest the decision. Their advocacy was met with violence when a veteran
Wyatt guard drove his pickup truck into a crowd of protestors.
City leaders and community members have asked the leadership of
the Wyatt to cease housing ICE detainees and to reform its practices, but have
been told that the possibility for such reforms is limited by the Wyatt’s
obligation to bondholders.
As you and I discussed over the phone on January 12, 2020,
Invesco became the majority bondholder for the Wyatt Detention Facility
following your merger with Oppenheimer in 2019. As one of Rhode Island’s
business partners, you know the importance of maintaining positive
relationships with the populations we jointly serve. I ask you work with relevant
stakeholders to take any measures available to address the concerns of
community members in the Wyatt dispute.
Sincerely,
Seth Magaziner
Seth Magaziner
Invesco is not the only bondholder for the Wyatt Detention
Center/ Here’s a list:
- Invesco Ltd $49,155,000
- T Rowe Price Group Inc $17,200,000
- Eaton Vance Corp $10,825,000
- Credit Agricole Group $9,320,000
- BlackRock Inc $8,345,000
- Legg Mason Inc $980,000
The T Rowe Price and BlackRock are the other two Wyatt
Bondholders currently doing business with the State of Rhode Island. These two
companies are investment options in the state’s 457 plans.
The companies don’t maintain the plans, the plans are actually
run by Fidelity and Voya. Fidelity and Voya have to bid for that
business and the state is required by statute to offer three and only three 457
plans. (The third 457 provider is TIAA.)
Rhode Island has no money invested in the Wyatt bonds, at least
not directly.
Steve
Ahlquist is a frontline reporter in Rhode Island. He has covered
human rights, social justice, progressive politics and environmental news for
half a decade. Uprise RI is his new project, and he's doing all he can to make
it essential reading. atomicsteve@gmail.com.
https://upriseri.com
