Hillary Clinton Pledges to Stop Accepting Money From Private Prison Lobbyists

Civil rights group ColorOfChange announced Thursday that the Hillary Clinton campaign has agreed to stop accepting contributions from lobbyists and campaign committees that serve the private prison industry.

The announcement came after a series of protests from activist groups about the ties between private prison lobbyists and the Clinton campaign. In one act of protest, United We Dream’s Juan Carlos Ramos interrupted a Clinton speech earlier this month to raise the issue.

The protests began after a report by The Intercept in July detailing how many of Clinton’s top fundraisers simultaneously serve as lobbyists at firms representing the biggest names in the private prison industry, including Geo Group and Correction Corporation of America.

According to Fusion, the Clinton campaign promised to donate any previous direct contributions from private prison lobbyists to charity.

ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson said the Clinton campaign’s decision came after meetings with representatives of Black Lives Matter, Get Equal, Presente, and United We Dream.

Photo: Black Lives Matter and Get Equal protestors Angela Peoples and Rian Brown hold signs as Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks to guests gathered for a campaign event on the campus of Case Western Reserve University.