Five students from Harvard university are suing school officials over the Ivy League institution’s investment in what they describe as the “prison-industrial complex.”

The group of students are accusing the university's president, a senior fellow of Harvard Corporation, and Harvard's endowment manager, Harvard Management Company (HMC), of a "violation of fiduciary duty and breach of the Harvard charter."

Jason Newton, a spokesman for Harvard, confirmed the university received a copy of the complaint on Wednesday (February 19) but wouldn't provide further comment.

Jarrett Drake, one of the plaintiffs, described the "prison-industrial complex" to CNN as the mixture of overlapping interests between the government, prisons, police, and corporations in "keeping bodies confined and controlled."

According to HMC’s website, Harvard uses its endowment to "help ensure Harvard University has the financial resources to confidently maintain and expand its leadership in education and research for future generations,"

The students contend in the lawsuit though that the money "funds the opulent lifestyles of Harvard's top administrators who are prison profiteers."

The defendants in the suit include Harvard President Lawrence Bacow, Senior Fellow of the Harvard Corporation William Lee, and HMC.

The plaintiffs are members of the Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign (HPDC), a student group pushing for Harvard's divestment from the prison industry. 

In 2019, the HPDC claimed Bacow told a group of donors that the school had roughly $18,000 invested in private prisons via holdings in exchange traded funds (ETFs) that track stock indexes like the S&P 500.

Harvard didn’t confirm Bacow made the comment about the investment.