How it works
Prison Free Funds methodology
Prison Free Funds sources company data from American Friends Service Committee and fund data from Morningstar, an investment research company. Our database covers thousands of the most popular mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the type of investments most common in personal portfolios and retirement plans like employer-offered 401(k)s.
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Invest Your Values data is based on monthly updates to mutual fund holdings.
Apr 15, 2023
April 2023 dataset. Screen list updates: Fossil Free Funds "Carbon Underground 200" screen updated to use latest Fossil Free Indexes data (2023 Q1). Fossil Free Funds "fossil fuel finance" screen updated to use latest Banking on Climate Chaos data (2023).
Mar 9, 2023
March 2023 dataset. Screen list updates: Gender Equality Funds updated to use latest Equileap company data (2023 Q1).
Feb 24, 2023
February 2023 dataset. Screen list updates: Fossil Free Funds "Clean200™" screen updated to use latest Corporate Knights data (2023).
Jan 27, 2023
January 2023 dataset. Screen list updates: Fossil Free Funds "Carbon Underground 200" screen updated to use latest Fossil Free Indexes data (2022 Q4). Gun Free Funds civilian firearm manufacturer and civilian firearm retailer screens updated. Weapon Free Funds screens updated to remove several companies no longer included on SIPRI Arms Industry Database.
Dec 16, 2022
December 2022 dataset. Screen list updates: Fossil Free Funds coal industry and fossil-fired utilities screens updated to use latest Global Coal Exit List data (2022). Fossil Free Funds oil/gas industry screen updated to use latest Global Oil/Gas Exit List data (2022). Gender Equality Funds updated to use latest Equileap company data (2022 Q4).
Nov 9, 2022
November 2022 dataset. Screen list updates: Fossil Free Funds "Carbon Underground 200" screen updated to use latest Fossil Free Indexes data (2022 Q3). Fossil Free Funds fossil fuel insurance screen updated to use latest Insure Our Future data (2022).
Sep 14, 2022
September 2022 dataset. Screen list updates: Fossil fuel finance and insurance screens added to Fossil Free Funds. Gender Equality Funds updated to use latest Equileap company data (2022 Q3). Tobacco Free Funds "Tobacco producers" screen updated to use latest Morningstar industry data.
Aug 8, 2022
August 2022 dataset. Screen list updates: Fossil Free Funds "Carbon Underground 200" screen updated to use latest Fossil Free Indexes data (2022 Q2). Fossil Free Funds "Macroclimate 30" screen updated to use latest Macroclimate data (2022).
Jul 15, 2022
July 2022 dataset. Screen list updates: Prison Free Funds prison industry and border industry screens updated to use latest American Friends Service Committee data (Jul 2022).
Jun 14, 2022
June 2022 dataset. Screen list updates: Fossil Free Funds "Carbon Underground 200" screen updated to use latest Fossil Free Indexes data (2022 Q1). Gender Equality Funds updated to use latest Equileap company data (2022 Q2).
May 11, 2022
May 2022 dataset. Screen list updates: Prison Free Funds prison industry and border industry screens updated to use latest American Friends Service Committee data (Apr 2022).
Mar 16, 2022
March 2022 dataset. Screen list updates: Gender Equality Funds updated to use latest Equileap company data (2022 Q1). Prison Free Funds prison industry and border industry screens updated to use latest American Friends Service Committee data (Jan 2022). Gun Free Funds civilian firearm manufacturer and civilian firearm retailer screens updated.
Feb 16, 2022
February 2022 dataset. Screen list updates: Fossil Free Funds "Clean200™" screen updated to use latest Corporate Knights data (2022).
Feb 9, 2022
February 2022 dataset. Screen list updates: Fossil Free Funds "Carbon Underground 200" screen updated to use latest Fossil Free Indexes data (2021 Q4).
Dec 14, 2021
December 2021 dataset. Screen list updates: Fossil Free Funds oil/gas industry screen updated to use latest Global Oil/Gas Exit List data (2021). Gender Equality Funds updated to use latest Equileap company data (2021 Q4).
Nov 13, 2021
November 2021 dataset. Screen list updates: Fossil Free Funds "Carbon Underground 200" screen updated to use latest Fossil Free Indexes data (2021 Q3).
Oct 29, 2021
October 2021 dataset. Screen list updates: Additional updates to Prison Free Funds prison industry and border industry screens using use latest American Friends Service Committee data. Companies no longer on latest Global Coal Exit List data (2021) removed from Fossil Free Funds coal industry and fossil-fired utilities screens.
Oct 19, 2021
October 2021 dataset. Screen list updates: Fossil Free Funds coal industry and fossil-fired utilities screens updated to use latest Global Coal Exit List data (2021). Prison Free Funds prison industry and border industry screens updated to use latest American Friends Service Committee data.
Sep 9, 2021
September 2021 dataset. Screen list updates: Gender Equality Funds updated to use latest Equileap company data (2021 Q3).
Sep 2, 2021
August 2021 dataset. Target date funds added to dataset. Fossil Free Funds "Macroclimate 30" screen updated to use latest Macroclimate data (2021).
Aug 9, 2021
July 2021 dataset. Screen list updates: Fossil Free Funds "Carbon Underground 200" screen updated to use latest Fossil Free Indexes data (2021 Q2). Gender Equality Funds updated to use latest Equileap company data (2021 Q2).
May 3, 2021
April 2021 dataset. Screen list updates: Fossil Free Funds "Carbon Underground 200" screen updated to use latest Fossil Free Indexes data (2021 Q1). Fossil Free Funds coal industry and fossil-fired utilities screens updated to use latest Global Coal Exit List data (2020). Gender Equality Funds updated to use latest Equileap company data (2021 Q1).
Mar 3, 2021
February 2021 dataset. Screen list updates: Fossil Free Funds "Clean200™" screen updated to use latest Corporate Knights data (2021).
Jan 21, 2021
January 2021 dataset. Screen list and fund results updates: Fossil Free Funds "Carbon Underground 200" screen updated to use latest Fossil Free Indexes data (2020 Q4). Gender Equality Funds updated to use latest Equileap company data (2020 Q4). Fund exposure formula and grading methodologies updated; see "Updating rating methodologies" on the Fossil Free Funds blog.
Nov 11, 2020
November 2020 dataset. Screen list and fund results updates: Fossil Free Funds "Carbon Underground 200" screen updated to use latest Fossil Free Indexes data (2020 Q3). "Sustainability Mandate" label updated to use new Morningstar sustainable investment taxonomy.
Sep 28, 2020
September 2020 dataset. Screen list and fund results updates: Gender Equality Funds updated to use latest Equileap company data, covering 19 criteria and four sub-scores.
Sep 13, 2020
September 2020 dataset. Screen list updates: Tobacco Free Funds "Tobacco-promoting entertainment companies" screen updated to use latest UCSF Smoke Free Movies Campaign data.
Aug 11, 2020
August 2020 dataset. Screen list updates: Prison Free Funds screens added. Tobacco Free Funds "Tobacco producers" screen updated to use latest Morningstar industry data.
Jul 16, 2020
July 2020 dataset. Screen list updates: Fossil Free Funds "Carbon Underground 200" screen updated to use latest Fossil Free Indexes data (2020 Q2). Fossil Free Funds "Macroclimate 30" screen updated to use latest Macroclimate data (2020).
May 19, 2020
May 2020 dataset. Screen list updates: Fossil Free Funds "Carbon Underground 200" screen updated to use latest Fossil Free Indexes data (2020 Q1).
Apr 14, 2020
April 2020 dataset. Screen list updates: Weapon Free Funds "Major Military Contractors" screen updated to use latest SIPRI Arms Industry Database (2018).
How to make your investments align with your values
Step one icon
1
Search for mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by name, ticker, or asset manager. Our database covers 3,000 stock funds available in the U.S.
Step two icon
2
See your results. For each fund, we track investments in a range of companies involved in the prison industrial complex, as well as other environmental and social risks.
Step three icon
3
Look for aligned options. Sort and compare to find funds that fit your investing needs.
Mutual funds

Mutual funds are collections of stocks bundled together, often hundreds or thousands of companies. Along with similar products called exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, they are some of the most popular investment products for retirement plans and personal investing. Investing in so many different company stocks at once helps diversify investment risk, but it makes it difficult to find out and track exactly what companies are inside the funds you're invested in. That's where we come in. We examine every holding in thousands of funds, checking to see if any of the fund’s investments are flagged by our prison industrial complex screen.

Prison industrial complex screen

Prison Free Funds uses data provided by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) to screen mutual funds for investments in companies with involvement in the prison industrial complex.

The Investigate project, from AFSC’s Economic Activism Program, tracks companies involved in oppressive state violence structures in order to promote standards for corporate social responsibility and respect for human rights. Their research database highlights and profiles the main publicly-traded companies involved in the prison and border industries.

Learn more about AFSC, the Investigate tool, and their company scoring rubric at afsc.org and investigate.afsc.org.

American Friends Service CommitteeInvestigate: a project of American Friends Service Committee
The prison and border industries

On Prison Free Funds, we focus on two aspects of the prison industrial complex: companies involved in the prison industry (such as private for-profit prison operators and prison services providers), and companies involved in the militarization of borders and the policing of immigration.

Higher risk companies and private prison operators

Using a scoring rubric based on company data from AFSC’s Investigate project, some companies are identified as higher risk. These companies received the worst scores on AFSC’s Investigate scoring rubric, and are marked with this symbol:

Additionally, some companies are identified as private prison operators. These companies are identified by AFSC’s Investigate project as directly operating or managing private prison or immigrant detention facilities. They are marked with this symbol:

CoreCivicFerrovialG4SGEO GroupMITIE GroupSercoSodexo
Screening funds

Once we’ve checked to see if any of a fund’s holdings get flagged by our prison industrial complex screen, we calculate some summary statistics. We calculate the total number of flagged holdings in the fund, the total amount in USD of the fund’s assets that are invested in those companies by the fund, and the total percentage of the fund portfolio they account for. These totals are also broken down by holding category (prison industry and border industry), and by holdings that are higher risk or private prison operators. We also show the full list of any holdings that were flagged.

Grading funds

Based on the screen results, a fund is assigned one of five letter grades.

A

None of the fund’s stock holdings were flagged by the prison industrial complex screen.

B

Some of the fund’s stock holdings were flagged by the prison industrial complex screen, but no higher risk or private prison operator companies were found.

C

Some of the fund’s stock holdings were flagged by the prison industrial complex screen, and some higher risk companies were found, but the exposure to higher risk companies was below 1%, and no private prison operator companies were found.

D

Some of the fund’s stock holdings were flagged by the prison industrial complex screen, and some higher risk companies were found, but the exposure to higher risk companies was below 2%, and no private prison operator companies were found.

F

Some of the fund’s stock holdings were flagged by the prison industrial complex screen, and some higher risk companies were found, and the exposure to higher risk companies was above 2%, and/or private prison operator companies were found.

Finding top-scoring investments

On our search page, you can filter and sort results to find the funds that fit your investing needs. For example, you can filter to only see funds that earn a certain grade on Prison Free Funds, or only search for funds that are offered by a specific asset manager. By default, the search results are sorted to highlight the largest funds that earn the top grade and are members of The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment.

Socially sustainable investing

Some funds actively choose to invest responsibly by considering the prison industrial complex or other environmental and social issues when selecting companies to invest in. If you're thinking about avoiding investments in the prison industrial complex, sustainable funds can be a good place to start. These funds often deliberately seek out companies that are not directly benefitting from the prison or border industries.

Funds marked as having a sustainability mandate show this icon:

Socially responsible fund

Funds that are members of The Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment, an industry group advancing sustainable, responsible, and impact investing, show this icon:

Member of US-SIF, the Forum for Sustainable and Responsible Investment
Sustainable investing can offer competitive returns

While people may become interested in sustainable investing because of personal values and goals, that doesn't mean they're not looking for a competitive financial return on their investments. Fortunately, the evidence is clear: sustainable and responsible investors do not have to sacrifice returns to align investments with their values. On Prison Free Funds, you can also see some basic information on fund performance and expense ratio.

Action toolkit to move your money

When you're done looking up funds and finding the data you need, what's next? You can learn how to make a change and move your money with our prison industrial complex-free action toolkit. Whether you’re an individual investor or if your investments are in your employer-sponsored plan at work, our step-by-step toolkit can help.

Can't find what you're looking for?

We don't have everything in our database — we only screen mutual funds that own direct stock investments, and can only display up to 3,000. Looking for your favorite fund and can’t find it? Get in touch and let us know, and we may be able to help. We're also a non-profit, and with more resources, we could expand our site — make a gift today to support our work.

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More from Invest Your Values
See how mutual funds and ETFs are rated on issues ranging from fossil fuels, to deforestation, gender equality, guns, prisons, weapons, and tobacco: