TAKE ACTION
Notorious private prison companies The GEO Group and CoreCivic are being called on to be part of an unprecedented expansion in capacity as part of the Trump administration's mass detention, deportation, and surveillance policies.
To accommodate the planned increase in detention capacity, GEO and CoreCivic must undertake expensive construction and renovation projects. Since 2019, though, most of their lenders have cut ties with the two companies, which have faced allegations from forced labor to securities fraud.
NOW IS THE TIME.
Citizens Bank has instead deepened its relationship with the private prison industry, taking on new roles in financing both CoreCivic and GEO, all while continuing to tell their customers that they're focused on strengthening our communities.
We won't quietly stand by as Citizens continues to finance the private prison & ICE detention companies that are harming our communities. The 2019 exodus of banks from the industry in response to activism should be a reminder to us that our voices matter. Now it's time to use them.
SEVEN THINGS YOU CAN DO TODAY
Send Citizens Bank a clear message: financing private prison and immigration detention facility operators The GEO Group and CoreCivic is bad for business. Sign and share the petition.
SPREAD THE WORD
Most people we've talked to don't want to do business with a bank that is financing human rights abuses, but it can be hard to know which companies are involved. You can help by sharing what you've learned about Citizens' ties to The GEO Group and CoreCivic.
We don’t need to reach everyone—we need to reach the right people, in the right ways. Here’s what works:
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Local, in-person outreach. Protests, flyering, and sidewalk conversations near Citizens branches help people connect to the issue in their own communities. The goal of this outreach isn’t confrontation; it’s visibility.
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Social media that’s personal and specific. A post about why you closed your account will be more powerful than a general statement. Photos of signs, flyers, or account closures remind others that they can take action too. Use #BoycottCitizens and tag local media and elected officials when possible.
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Community-based sharing. Focus your early efforts on people who already share a commitment to standing for the dignity of all our neighbors. Faith groups, unions, mutual aid networks, and neighborhood events are great places to circulate flyers. People will more likely to act when they hear about the boycott from someone they know.
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Local press and letters to the editor. Media mentions are one of the best ways to reach company leaders and show this isn’t just online chatter; it’s real people raising concerns in the places where Citizens does business.
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Reaching employees and investors. Respectful outreach to employees (via flyers, anonymous tips) can create internal pressure. Investors are important, too; shareholder activism was a key component of the pressure campaign on JPMorgan Chase in 2019.
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Contacting organizations with ties to the company or its executives. Citizens sponsors many community events, nonprofits, and local venues. Several of its executives also have prominent roles or affiliations at universities and civic institutions. These groups may not know who Citizens is financing. A thoughtful, well-documented outreach effort can prompt them to ask hard questions —or even reconsider the partnership. Here's a partial list of Citizens' partnerships & affiliations.
The most important thing you can do is to make it easy for others to get involved. Clear flyers, short scripts, ready-to-share posts, branch locators—small things can lower barriers to action and grow the campaign.
We've included some of these things in the #BoycottCitizens toolkit. We're also happy to help with special requests if we're able. Just reach out to us at info@boycottcitizens.org.
CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT
Citizens Bank has a Consumer Affairs rating of 1 star and a Trust Pilot rating of 1.2 stars, so chances are that if you're a Citizens customer, you might already be thinking about switching banks.
This guide from NPR's LifeKit can help you think about your options. We recommend finding a credit union that meets your needs. If you decide on a regional or larger bank, you can search this database to check for private prison ties.
When you're ready to make it official, make sure to let Citizens Bank know why you're taking your business elsewhere. Let others know why you're leaving Citizens with the hashtag #BoycottCitizens.
LEAVE A
REVIEW
Citizens Bank customers and others who have had interaction with the bank or used its app can leave honest reviews of their experiences. It is important that your reviews be focused on your own genuine experiences, or they may be flagged as "off-topic" or "fake engagement."
Here's what Google's guidelines say about off-topic content:
And some of Yelp's guidelines for good reviews:
With those guidelines in mind, here are some places departing customers may want to leave reviews, plus their ratings for Citizens as of June 2025: local branches on Google Maps, Yelp! (2.8 stars), the Better Business Bureau (1.08 stars), and Trustpilot (1.2 stars).
If you have used Citizens' app, don't forget to head to Apple App Store (4.7 stars) or Google Play Apps (4.8 stars), too. Citizens has emphasized a shift to digital banking, so they may be more likely to take note of what you have to say there than on reviews for a brick-and-mortar branch location.
WRITE A LETTER
Share your concerns directly with the C-suite at Citizens Bank and the other banks still financing private prisons. Our friends at #EyesOnICE have organized a letter-writing campaign to encourage people around the country to tell the leaders of these banks know that profiting off pain is bad for business.
CLEAN YOUR PORTFOLIO
Citizens Financial Group, The GEO Group, and CoreCivic are among many publicly traded companies profiting from private prisons and the mass detention, deportation, and surveillance of immigrant communities.
So far, institutional investors like Vanguard, BlackRock, and Fidelity have resisted calls to divest from the private prison industry, but that doesn't mean you have to settle for investment funds that profit from our neighbors' pain. Check your retirement funds for private prison stock and find better options at prisonfreefunds.org.
If you want to look beyond your own portfolio at the investments of educational, professional, and religious institutions you're a part of, this article from LittleSis.org offers helpful advice for getting started on research.
ORGANIZE A PROTEST
Big protests like the ones we've seen around the country this year are important to show leaders that we are watching, but we don't always need huge numbers to make an impact. Even a much smaller protest can get the attention of a business, especially if it gets media coverage.
With just 3+ people, you can help spread the word about Citizens' ties to GEO & CoreCivic among their customers, partners, and local press.