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GEO Group

January 03, 2023

The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO) is a publicly traded C corporation that invests in private prisons and mental health facilities in North America, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, the company's facilities include illegal immigration detention centers, minimum security detention centers, and mental-health and residential-treatment facilities. It also operates government-owned facilities pursuant to management contracts. As of December 31, 2021, the company managed and/or owned 86,000 beds at 106 facilities.[1] In 2019, agencies of the federal government of the United States generated 53% of the company's revenues.[1] Up until 2021 the company was designated as a real estate investment trust, at which time the board of directors elected to reclassify as a C corporation under the stated goal of reducing the company's debt.[1]

The GEO Group, Inc.
TypePublic company
NYSE: GEO
S&P 600 component
IndustrySecurity
PredecessorThe Wackenhut Corporation
Founded1984; 38 years ago (1984) (as Wackenhut Corrections Corporation (WCC))
FounderGeorge Zoley
HeadquartersBoca Raton, Florida, U.S.
Number of locations
102 facilities
Area served
  • United States
  • Australia
  • South Africa
  • United Kingdom
Key people
Products
Revenue $2.256 billion (2021)
$77.2 million (2021)
Total assets $4.537 billion (2021)
Total equity $975 million (2021)
Number of employees
18,000 (2021)
Subsidiaries
Websitewww.geogroup.com
Footnotes / references
[1]
The headquarters of the GEO Group in Boca Raton, Florida
GEO Transport

The company has been the subject of civil suits in the United States by prisoners and families of prisoners for injuries due to riots and poor treatment at prisons and immigrant detention facilities which it has operated. In addition, due to settlement of a class-action suit in 2012 for its management of Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility in Mississippi, the GEO Group lost its contract for this and two other Mississippi prisons (which it had been operating since 2010). Related federal investigations of kickback and bribery schemes associated with nearly $1 billion in Mississippi state contracts for prisons and related services have resulted in the criminal prosecution of several public officials in the state. In February 2017, the state attorney general announced a civil suit for damages, to recover monies from contracts completed in the period of corruption. In August 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice announced its intention to phase out contracts with privately operated prisons. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said it was reviewing its contracts with private firms, which operate several immigrant detention facilities. In the spring of 2017, officials of the Donald Trump administration said they would be reviewing this policy. In September 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he would terminate California's contract with GEO's Central Valley Modified Community Correctional Facility in McFarland.[2]

GEO Group has also developed several programs to reduce recidivism by assisting prisoners in returning to civilian life by providing therapy, life skills courses, job training, and housing assistance.[3][4][5][6]

History

Wackenhut Corrections Corporation (WCC) was formed as a division of the Wackenhut Corporation (now a subsidiary of G4S Secure Solutions) in 1984 after George Zoley presented the idea of a separate prison management company to Wackenhut founder George Wackenhut. It was incorporated as a Wackenhut subsidiary in 1988.[7] In July 1994, the company became a public company via an initial public offering.[8]

In 2003, WCC management raised funds to repurchase all common stock held by G4S, and in 2004, the company changed its name to The GEO Group, Inc.[7] In 2005, the company acquired Correctional Services Corporation (CSC) for $62 million in cash, and the assumption of $124 million in debt.[9] The company sold CSC's juvenile services division to James Slattery, CSC's former CEO, for $3.75 million. Slattery renamed this business as Slattery's Youth Services International.[10] In December 2008, the company opened the 654-bed Maverick County Detention Center in Eagle Pass, Texas.[11]

On August 12, 2010, the company acquired Cornell Companies, formerly Cornell Corrections, for $730 million in stock and cash.[12] In February 2011, GEO acquired BI Incorporated, provider of electronic offender-tracking equipment and services, founded in 1978 and based in Boulder, Colorado, for $415 million.[13] At the time, BI was the exclusive U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) provider of Intensive Supervision and Appearance Program (ISAP) monitoring and supervision services. In summer 2018, this subsidiary received media attention for the $500 million in contracts it has received from ICE since 2004.[14]

In 2015, GEO launched its Continuum of Care program to assist prisoners in returning to society.[3][4] In 2016, the firm's revenues totaled $2 billion,[15] and on April 4, 2017, GEO announced the closing of a $360 million cash purchase of Community Education Centers ("CEC"), which owned or managed more than 12,000 beds in the U.S., including over 7,000 community re-entry beds. It provided in-prison treatment services at over 30 government-operated facilities.[16][17][18] In January 2020, local Pennsylvania lawmakers announced a potential plan to deprivatize the George W. Hill Correctional Facility in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, the last private prison in the state, with which GEO Group had a nine-year $495 million county contract.[19] The lawmakers alleged that GEO Group had covered up liabilities at the facility.[20]

In 2018, GEO Group entered into a collaboration with the National Federation of Federal Employees called Reentry Success DC, designed to enhance "GEO Group's pre- and post-release services by connecting returning citizens to gainful employment". The program is available to prisoners returning to Washington, D.C., from the Rivers Correctional Facility in North Carolina.[21] By February 2020, the company had expanded the Continuum of Care program to 18 prisons.[4] Later in 2020, the company also opened its Connection and Intervention Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho, for this purpose.[22][23]

Facilities

In 2010, the company was reported to operate more than a dozen facilities in the state of Texas, and nearly three dozen in the rest of the United States. In addition to prison facilities operated under contract with U.S. states, the GEO Group owns and operates the Broward Transitional Center, a 720-bed facility in Pompano Beach, Florida; the Aurora Detention Facility in Colorado;[24] and the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, all under contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012, GEO managed 96 facilities worldwide totaling about 73,000 beds, including 65,949 active beds and 6,056 idle beds. The company had an average facility occupancy rate of 95.7% for 2012.[25]

Other GEO Group facilities include the Reeves County Detention Complex, a three-part complex in Texas described as the largest private prison in the world. It houses more than 3700 inmates, mostly immigrants held for low-level crimes before being deported after serving their sentences. Riots here by prisoners in 2008 and 2009 because of poor conditions resulted in more than $21 million in damages.[26][27] A detention center operated by GEO Group in the state of Washington has a capacity of 1,575 immigrant detainees. When ICE had renewed its contract for ten years in 2015, GEO estimated the center would receive $57 million each year, operating at full capacity.[15]

 
Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre, Queensland, Australia

Internationally, in 2010, GEO operated a total of another 10 facilities in Australia, England, South Africa, and Cuba.[26] As of 2016, subsidiary GEO Group Australia operated four prisons (Junee Correctional Centre,[27] Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre,[28] Parklea Correctional Centre, and Fulham Correctional Centre[29]), with a fifth facility expected to open in late 2017.[30]

In the UK, GEO Group are associated with several contracts.[31] The organisation runs the Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre, expanded in 2013 to hold 249 detainees, male and female.[32] In 2004 the Children's Commissioner for Scotland described conditions at the facility as "morally upsetting" and threatened to report the UK and Scottish governments to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.[33] In London, it runs the Harmondsworth migrant detention centre. This facility can hold up to 661 detainees.

GEO Group is also contracted to the deportation of migrants, operating the Migrant Operations Center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from 2006 to 2012.[34][35] In the late 2010s, activists accused the company of detaining immigrants under inhumane conditions while complying with the Trump administration's family separation policy. GEO Group denied claims of separating families or housing unaccompanied minors,[36]

Business segments

GEO conducts its business through four business segments – U.S. corrections segment, international services segment, GEO Care segment, and facility construction and design segment. The U.S. corrections segment primarily encompasses GEO's U.S.-based privatized corrections and detention business for federal and state authorities.

The international services segment primarily consists of GEO's privatized corrections and detention operations in South Africa, Australia, and the United Kingdom. International services reviews opportunities to further diversify into related foreign-based governmental-outsourced services on an ongoing basis. The GEO Care segment, which is operated by GEO's wholly owned subsidiary GEO Care, Inc., comprises GEO's privatized mental-health and residential-treatment services business. As of 2016, it conducts this business in the U.S. only. GEO's facility construction and design segment primarily consists of contracts with various state, local, and federal agencies for the design and construction of prison and related facilities for which GEO has been awarded management contracts.[25]

U.S. federal contracts

On August 18, 2016, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates announced that the Justice Department intended to end its Bureau of Prisons contracts with for-profit prison operators, generally.[37] As of 2015, GEO Group operated 26 federal prison centers, for the departments of both Justice and Homeland Security, which would have been affected by this change in policy. These centers had a total capacity of 35,692 prisoners, representing 45% of the company's revenue.[38]

On February 23, 2017, newly confirmed Trump administration Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the August 2016 guidance.[39] In March 2017, Pablo Paez, GEO Group vice president, defended the legality of his company's $225,000 donation to a pro-Trump political action committee. He said that the donation was made by a subsidiary, GEO Corrections Holdings Inc., which has no contracts with any governmental agency, rather than directly from GEO Group itself. Democratic Congressmen Emmanuel Cleaver and Luis Gutiérrez disputed that claim in a letter to GEO and its rival, CoreCivic. The Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint challenging the contribution with the Federal Elections Commission.[40] GEO and CoreCivic, each donated $250,000 supporting Trump's inaugural festivities, according to the corporations' spokesmen. GEO gave $275,000 to the pro-Trump super PAC Rebuilding America Now, according to FEC filings. A $100,000 donation had been made only a day after Sally Yates, at the Department of Justice, announced it would be phasing out its for-profit prison and detention contracts.[41]

In April 2018, a wholly owned subsidiary of GEO Group called GEO Acquisitions II gave $125,000 to a political action committee in violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act, which bars companies with active contracts with the federal government from making political donations.[42]

On January 26, 2021, United States President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14006 directing the United States Department of Justice to cease renewal of federal contracts with private prisons.[43] As a result, in 2021 Geo Group reported that they had closed six of their faculties as a result of the contracts not being renewed by the federal government and that their last facility under direct contract with the Bureau of Prisons would phase out in September 2022. They reported that this resulted in a decline of $240 million in revenue for the 2021 fiscal year.[1]

Australian contracts

GEO operated the Parklea prison from 2009 to 2018, when the government ended the contract and excluded GEO from bidding on the new contract, while allowing industry competitors to do so. Serious security breaches over the preceding few years included a guard being stabbed. Chronic problems had surfaced, including an inmate in another prison being discovered with the secret architectural plans for a new maximum-security wing at Parklea. Another inmate filmed himself with a weapon and illegal drugs, and the video was distributed widely throughout the country.[44]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the disease became widespread in prisons, including those operated by GEO Group, leading for calls for low-risk inmates to be released to stem the spread of the disease in those environments.[45]

Assisting prisoners in returning to civilian life

GEO Group has developed several programs to reduce recidivism by assisting prisoners in returning to civilian life. In 2015, GEO launched its Continuum of Care program,[3] which "uses cognitive behavioral treatment — an approach based on the idea that you can change a person's behavior by changing how they think and feel — to prepare inmates for life after prison".[4] In 2018, GEO Group entered into a collaboration with the National Federation of Federal Employees called Reentry Success DC, designed to enhance "GEO Group's pre- and post-release services by connecting returning citizens to gainful employment". The program is available to prisoners returning to Washington, D.C., from the Rivers Correctional Facility in North Carolina.[21] By February 2020, the company had expanded the Continuum of Care program to 18 prisons.[4] Later in 2020, the company also opened its Connection and Intervention Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho, for this purpose.[22][23]

One report noted that GEO "spends 11% of its revenue in Florida on inmate education and rehabilitation".[4] Several inmates credited the Continuum of Care program with helping them to adjust to post-prison life by providing "classes, training and one-on-one case managers within the facility",[5] and "teaching [them] basic life skills like dealing with [their] anger".[6] In order to facilitate post-incarceration employment, prisoners received professional training and materials, and an opportunity to take professional qualification exams.[4][6] The program also provides support for former prisoners, helping them to find housing, providing counseling, and following up on their living conditions.[3][4][5][6] These services are provided at no cost to the former prisoners.

In other philanthropic work, beginning in 2007, GEO Group annually awarded scholarships to students in Webb County, Texas, in support of their efforts to attend college. GEO Group thereafter "continued to provide $25,000 every year, on a year-to-year basis, raising the scholarship contribution to $375,000" as of mid-2021.[46] In May 2021, GEO Group staff and inmates at a state prison in Golden Valley, Arizona, built a house for a homeless veteran residing in that city.[47]

Controversies and criticisms

Public relations issues

In February 2013, the GEO Group's private foundation pledged US$6 million to company founder George Zoley's alma mater, Florida Atlantic University. In return, the GEO Group received naming rights to the university's football stadium.[48][49] In April, after pressure from students, faculty, and alumni, GEO Group withdrew the gift.[50]

Public relations firm Edelman supported GEO Group and was characterized by one source as helping in "laundering the reputation of private US concentration camps" in July 2019.[51] In May 2019, The New York Times reported that executives from the Washington, D.C., office, including office president Lisa Ross and former Trump White House deputy press secretary, Lindsay Walters, traveled to Florida to present the pitch.[52]

In terminating California's contract with GEO's Central Valley Modified Community Correctional Facility in McFarland, Governor Gavin Newsom said that this was a step intended to, "end the outrage of private prisons once and for all." Newsom further stated: "Private, for-profit prisons have been used for many years to help the state overcome prison overcrowding challenges, but it is time to end our reliance on them."[2]

Protests and pension divestment

In November 2018, CalSTRS, the $220 billion-dollar California teachers pension fund, voted to divest from GEO Group and CoreCivic because of concerns expressed by teachers in the Bay Area.[53] In November, 2019, CalPERS, the $370 billion public employee pension fund, quietly divested from GEO Group and CoreCivic, as well. CalSTRS and CalPERS constitute the largest public pension funds in the United States. Both divestment campaigns were led by Emily Claire-Goldman of Educators for Migrant Justice,[54] a non-profit organization targeting public pension funds that it says are "aiding and abetting the administration's egregious abuses of migrant families, children, and asylum seekers."[55]

A predominantly Jewish organization called "Never Again", as part of demonstrations held around the U.S., protested outside GEO Group's Century City headquarters on August 5, 2019,[56] shutting down the building for five hours, hoisting a banner characterizing ICE facilities as "concentration camps", and refusing to leave the lobby, resulting in the arrest of several activists.

Prison riots

Several prison riots occurred in the mid-to-late 2000s. On April 24, 2007, inmates rioted for two hours at the GEO Group's state-owned New Castle Correctional Facility in Indiana. The riot resulted in fires and minor injuries to staff and inmates.[57] The Indiana Department of Correction concluded that its recent transfer of 600 inmates over six weeks from Arizona to a new section at New Castle increased tensions at the facility, as the inmates comprised a large group and prison staff lacked experience. The department held the inmates responsible for the riot. Following the riot, Indiana authorities suspended further transfers of Arizona inmates, pending measures to help out-of-state inmates adjust to Indiana prison policies, and to ensure that inmates were transferred more gradually to be able to integrate them into the prison population at New Castle.[58] In 2008 and 2009, prisoners at the Reeves County Detention Complex in Texas, the largest privately owned prison in the United States, rioted over poor conditions. The complex housed more than 3700 prisoners, mostly immigrants serving short sentences prior to deportation. They caused damages of $1 million and $21 million, respectively, as the second riot resulted in a severe fire.[26]

On July 9, 2017, a facility-wide, eight-hour riot broke out in GEO Group's Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton, Oklahoma. Four hundred of the 1,940 federal inmates refused to leave the recreation yards and took control of a building. Three guards suffered injuries and two were taken hostage. Regaining control required the intervention of eight law enforcement agencies to secure the perimeter to prevent escapes, including the Caddo and Canadian County Sheriffs' deputies, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, and the Hinton, Hydro, Geary, and Binger, Oklahoma, police departments," as well as GEO's Correctional Emergency Response Team members from its Lawton, Oklahoma, prison, 70 miles south. Tear gas and pepper spray were employed to regain control of the prison.[59][60][61]

Other incidents, lawsuits, and investigations

2000s

In 2001, an inmate was murdered at GEO's Willacy County State Jail in Texas by two other inmates. The inmate's family sued GEO in 2006, resulting in a finding of liability of $47.5 million for destruction of evidence and negligently causing the man's death.[62][63] In 2009, GEO appealed the court's decision; the appeals court reduced the damages to $42.5 million.[64]

Between 2005 and 2009, at least eight people died at the GEO Group-operated George W. Hill Correctional Facility, Pennsylvania's only privately-run jail. Family members then filed lawsuits against the company and facility, alleging that it did not provide adequate medical care or proper supervision for offenders. GEO withdrew from operating the facility in December 31, 2008, "citing underperformance and frequent litigations". As of 2018, GEO is again managing this facility.[65]

In 2007, the Texas Youth Commission (TYC) fired seven employees responsible for monitoring prison conditions after discovering that the GEO Group-run Coke County Juvenile Justice Center had "deplorable conditions". The seven employees had earlier worked directly for GEO.[66] They had failed to report problems at the county facility, but an inspection by the TYC found the facility to be understaffed, ill-managed, and unsanitary. The TYC ordered that all inmates be transferred elsewhere, terminated their state contract with GEO, and subsequently closed the facility. GEO had run the facility since 1994.[67][68]

2010s

 
Sign hoisted during #Never Again protest outside GEO Group's Century City headquarters (August 5, 2019)

In February 2012, GEO Group and Mississippi state authorities settled a class-action suit was that had been filed in 2010 against state authorities and GEO over conditions at the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility in Mississippi, the largest juvenile facility in the United States.[69] The settlement required the state to end its contract with GEO, and put operations at the facility under a federal court monitor. The state transferred juvenile offenders to state-run facilities, and the company additionally lost contracts for operating two other prisons in Mississippi.[70]

In July 2012, two undocumented immigrants in Florida turned themselves in to police in order to get themselves placed in the Broward Transitional Center, which was holding immigration detainees,[71] It is the only privately owned immigration detention center in Florida.[72] assertedly to report on conditions inside the facility, as accounts in the immigrant community alleged substandard conditions.[73] The pair alleged "substandard or callous medical care, including a woman taken for ovarian surgery and returned the same day, still bleeding, to her cell, and a man who urinated blood for days but was not taken to see a doctor".[74] In September 2012, U.S. Congressman Ted Deutch of Pompano Beach wrote a letter to ICE regarding the contract under which GEO operates the facility, requesting a case-by-case investigation. Twenty-five other congressional representatives signed on to the inquiry.[74]

A 2014 lawsuit filed on behalf of nine immigrant plaintiffs in Denver alleged they were threatened with solitary confinement if they refused to work without pay. Not having been convicted of a crime, they asserted that they could not be required to work like convicts in prison.[75] This eventually grew into a March 2017 class-action lawsuit alleging violations of the U.S. Constitution and federal antislavery laws with respect to 60,000 current and former immigrant detainees at the Denver Contract Detention Facility based in Aurora, Colorado. The suit alleged that the detainees were made to work for less than a dollar a day or for nothing at all. On December 2, 2017, 64-year-old Kamyar Samimi, who had come to the U.S.in 1976, was taken into ICE custody at his home due to his having been arrested for a minor drug offense in 2005. He was imprisoned at the Aurora contract facility, where he died 16 days later from cardiac arrest. In 2012, Evalin-Ali Mandza died of cardiac arrest at the same detention center. An investigation of Mandza's death found GEO employees did not know how to use an EKG machine and procrastinated in calling an ambulance.[76] In 2019, the Denver City Council voted to terminate a $10 million contract with GEO and CoreCivic, but later temporarily extended those contracts, and in 2022 approved a new $1.5 million contract for GEO Group to provide electronic monitoring equipment for the city.[77]

In 2018, two Florida employees of Behavioral Intervention Inc., a GEO subsidiary, were arrested for taking bribes of up to $5,000 to have electronic monitoring devices removed from immigrants who were allowed to remain free on bail if they wore the monitors. Elisa Pelaez was sentenced to thirty-three months in federal prison, and others were set to be sentenced later in the year.[78] In December 2019, 13 fathers in Texas sued the company alleging family separation.[79] Due to the controversies surrounding mass incarceration of immigrants in private for-profit detention centers, several banks, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, announced that they would no longer offer lines of credit and term loans to the companies involved.[80]

Operation Mississippi Hustle
Main article: Operation Mississippi Hustle

A federal investigation dubbed Operation Mississippi Hustle, initiated in 2014 or earlier by the United States Attorney and prosecuted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, examined the relationship between officials of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and local jurisdictions, and various prison contractors and subcontractors. The investigation resulted in indictments against the commissioner of the Department of Corrections, and the longtime mayor of Walnut Grove, Mississippi, both of whom resigned from office. As a result of this investigation, in February 2017, Mississippi State Attorney General Jim Hood announced a civil suit against 15 contractors and several persons for damages and punitive damages, to recover the amounts of state contracts awarded under Epps during the roughly decade-long period when he has been found to have been taking bribes. GEO Group was among the for-profit prison management companies named in this suit. Hood said that the company had been awarded $260 million in contracts in an eight-year period.[81]

Washington state lawsuit

In September 2017, Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued GEO Group for not paying immigrant detainees the state's $11 hourly minimum wage, characterizing the detainees as "a captive population of vulnerable individuals who cannot easily advocate for themselves". The corporation was paying detainees with snacks or $1 per day for their labor which provided all the non-security employment at its Northwest Detention Center, a facility in Tacoma, Washington.[15] In 2021, a Seattle jury found for the detainees, setting compensation for them in the amount of $17.3 million, with U.S. District Judge Robert Jensen Bryan ordering an additional $5.9 million to be paid to the state of Washington, bringing the total to $23.2 million.[82]

See also

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External links

  • Official website
  • Charleston DePriest v. Christopher Epps and Tom Burnham, 2012 Settlement of 2010 Class action suit at Walnut Grove Juvenile Correctional Facility

January 03, 2023
group, publicly, traded, corporation, that, invests, private, prisons, mental, health, facilities, north, america, australia, south, africa, united, kingdom, headquartered, boca, raton, florida, company, facilities, include, illegal, immigration, detention, ce. The GEO Group Inc GEO is a publicly traded C corporation that invests in private prisons and mental health facilities in North America Australia South Africa and the United Kingdom Headquartered in Boca Raton Florida the company s facilities include illegal immigration detention centers minimum security detention centers and mental health and residential treatment facilities It also operates government owned facilities pursuant to management contracts As of December 31 2021 the company managed and or owned 86 000 beds at 106 facilities 1 In 2019 agencies of the federal government of the United States generated 53 of the company s revenues 1 Up until 2021 the company was designated as a real estate investment trust at which time the board of directors elected to reclassify as a C corporation under the stated goal of reducing the company s debt 1 The GEO Group Inc TypePublic companyTraded asNYSE GEOS amp P 600 componentIndustrySecurityPredecessorThe Wackenhut CorporationFounded1984 38 years ago 1984 as Wackenhut Corrections Corporation WCC FounderGeorge ZoleyHeadquartersBoca Raton Florida U S Number of locations102 facilitiesArea servedUnited StatesAustraliaSouth AfricaUnited KingdomKey peopleJose Gordo CEOGeorge Zoley Executive ChairmanBrian R Evans CFOProductsPrivate prisonsMental health facilitiesRevenue 2 256 billion 2021 Net income 77 2 million 2021 Total assets 4 537 billion 2021 Total equity 975 million 2021 Number of employees18 000 2021 SubsidiariesGEO Care Inc The GEO Group AustraliaGEO Transportation Inc The GEO Group UK Ltd GEO Corrections Holdings Inc Websitewww wbr geogroup wbr comFootnotes references 1 The headquarters of the GEO Group in Boca Raton Florida GEO Transport The company has been the subject of civil suits in the United States by prisoners and families of prisoners for injuries due to riots and poor treatment at prisons and immigrant detention facilities which it has operated In addition due to settlement of a class action suit in 2012 for its management of Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility in Mississippi the GEO Group lost its contract for this and two other Mississippi prisons which it had been operating since 2010 Related federal investigations of kickback and bribery schemes associated with nearly 1 billion in Mississippi state contracts for prisons and related services have resulted in the criminal prosecution of several public officials in the state In February 2017 the state attorney general announced a civil suit for damages to recover monies from contracts completed in the period of corruption In August 2016 the U S Department of Justice announced its intention to phase out contracts with privately operated prisons The U S Department of Homeland Security said it was reviewing its contracts with private firms which operate several immigrant detention facilities In the spring of 2017 officials of the Donald Trump administration said they would be reviewing this policy In September 2019 California Governor Gavin Newsom announced that he would terminate California s contract with GEO s Central Valley Modified Community Correctional Facility in McFarland 2 GEO Group has also developed several programs to reduce recidivism by assisting prisoners in returning to civilian life by providing therapy life skills courses job training and housing assistance 3 4 5 6 Contents 1 History 2 Facilities 3 Business segments 3 1 U S federal contracts 3 2 Australian contracts 4 Assisting prisoners in returning to civilian life 5 Controversies and criticisms 5 1 Public relations issues 5 2 Protests and pension divestment 5 3 Prison riots 5 4 Other incidents lawsuits and investigations 5 4 1 2000s 5 4 2 2010s 5 4 2 1 Operation Mississippi Hustle 5 4 2 2 Washington state lawsuit 6 See also 7 References 8 External linksHistory EditWackenhut Corrections Corporation WCC was formed as a division of the Wackenhut Corporation now a subsidiary of G4S Secure Solutions in 1984 after George Zoley presented the idea of a separate prison management company to Wackenhut founder George Wackenhut It was incorporated as a Wackenhut subsidiary in 1988 7 In July 1994 the company became a public company via an initial public offering 8 In 2003 WCC management raised funds to repurchase all common stock held by G4S and in 2004 the company changed its name to The GEO Group Inc 7 In 2005 the company acquired Correctional Services Corporation CSC for 62 million in cash and the assumption of 124 million in debt 9 The company sold CSC s juvenile services division to James Slattery CSC s former CEO for 3 75 million Slattery renamed this business as Slattery s Youth Services International 10 In December 2008 the company opened the 654 bed Maverick County Detention Center in Eagle Pass Texas 11 On August 12 2010 the company acquired Cornell Companies formerly Cornell Corrections for 730 million in stock and cash 12 In February 2011 GEO acquired BI Incorporated provider of electronic offender tracking equipment and services founded in 1978 and based in Boulder Colorado for 415 million 13 At the time BI was the exclusive U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE provider of Intensive Supervision and Appearance Program ISAP monitoring and supervision services In summer 2018 this subsidiary received media attention for the 500 million in contracts it has received from ICE since 2004 14 In 2015 GEO launched its Continuum of Care program to assist prisoners in returning to society 3 4 In 2016 the firm s revenues totaled 2 billion 15 and on April 4 2017 GEO announced the closing of a 360 million cash purchase of Community Education Centers CEC which owned or managed more than 12 000 beds in the U S including over 7 000 community re entry beds It provided in prison treatment services at over 30 government operated facilities 16 17 18 In January 2020 local Pennsylvania lawmakers announced a potential plan to deprivatize the George W Hill Correctional Facility in Delaware County Pennsylvania the last private prison in the state with which GEO Group had a nine year 495 million county contract 19 The lawmakers alleged that GEO Group had covered up liabilities at the facility 20 In 2018 GEO Group entered into a collaboration with the National Federation of Federal Employees called Reentry Success DC designed to enhance GEO Group s pre and post release services by connecting returning citizens to gainful employment The program is available to prisoners returning to Washington D C from the Rivers Correctional Facility in North Carolina 21 By February 2020 the company had expanded the Continuum of Care program to 18 prisons 4 Later in 2020 the company also opened its Connection and Intervention Center in Idaho Falls Idaho for this purpose 22 23 Facilities EditIn 2010 the company was reported to operate more than a dozen facilities in the state of Texas and nearly three dozen in the rest of the United States In addition to prison facilities operated under contract with U S states the GEO Group owns and operates the Broward Transitional Center a 720 bed facility in Pompano Beach Florida the Aurora Detention Facility in Colorado 24 and the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma Washington all under contract with U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement As of the fiscal year ended December 31 2012 GEO managed 96 facilities worldwide totaling about 73 000 beds including 65 949 active beds and 6 056 idle beds The company had an average facility occupancy rate of 95 7 for 2012 25 Other GEO Group facilities include the Reeves County Detention Complex a three part complex in Texas described as the largest private prison in the world It houses more than 3700 inmates mostly immigrants held for low level crimes before being deported after serving their sentences Riots here by prisoners in 2008 and 2009 because of poor conditions resulted in more than 21 million in damages 26 27 A detention center operated by GEO Group in the state of Washington has a capacity of 1 575 immigrant detainees When ICE had renewed its contract for ten years in 2015 GEO estimated the center would receive 57 million each year operating at full capacity 15 Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre Queensland Australia Internationally in 2010 GEO operated a total of another 10 facilities in Australia England South Africa and Cuba 26 As of 2016 subsidiary GEO Group Australia operated four prisons Junee Correctional Centre 27 Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre 28 Parklea Correctional Centre and Fulham Correctional Centre 29 with a fifth facility expected to open in late 2017 30 In the UK GEO Group are associated with several contracts 31 The organisation runs the Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre expanded in 2013 to hold 249 detainees male and female 32 In 2004 the Children s Commissioner for Scotland described conditions at the facility as morally upsetting and threatened to report the UK and Scottish governments to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child 33 In London it runs the Harmondsworth migrant detention centre This facility can hold up to 661 detainees GEO Group is also contracted to the deportation of migrants operating the Migrant Operations Center at Guantanamo Bay Cuba from 2006 to 2012 34 35 In the late 2010s activists accused the company of detaining immigrants under inhumane conditions while complying with the Trump administration s family separation policy GEO Group denied claims of separating families or housing unaccompanied minors 36 Business segments EditGEO conducts its business through four business segments U S corrections segment international services segment GEO Care segment and facility construction and design segment The U S corrections segment primarily encompasses GEO s U S based privatized corrections and detention business for federal and state authorities The international services segment primarily consists of GEO s privatized corrections and detention operations in South Africa Australia and the United Kingdom International services reviews opportunities to further diversify into related foreign based governmental outsourced services on an ongoing basis The GEO Care segment which is operated by GEO s wholly owned subsidiary GEO Care Inc comprises GEO s privatized mental health and residential treatment services business As of 2016 it conducts this business in the U S only GEO s facility construction and design segment primarily consists of contracts with various state local and federal agencies for the design and construction of prison and related facilities for which GEO has been awarded management contracts 25 U S federal contracts Edit On August 18 2016 Deputy U S Attorney General Sally Yates announced that the Justice Department intended to end its Bureau of Prisons contracts with for profit prison operators generally 37 As of 2015 GEO Group operated 26 federal prison centers for the departments of both Justice and Homeland Security which would have been affected by this change in policy These centers had a total capacity of 35 692 prisoners representing 45 of the company s revenue 38 On February 23 2017 newly confirmed Trump administration Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded the August 2016 guidance 39 In March 2017 Pablo Paez GEO Group vice president defended the legality of his company s 225 000 donation to a pro Trump political action committee He said that the donation was made by a subsidiary GEO Corrections Holdings Inc which has no contracts with any governmental agency rather than directly from GEO Group itself Democratic Congressmen Emmanuel Cleaver and Luis Gutierrez disputed that claim in a letter to GEO and its rival CoreCivic The Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint challenging the contribution with the Federal Elections Commission 40 GEO and CoreCivic each donated 250 000 supporting Trump s inaugural festivities according to the corporations spokesmen GEO gave 275 000 to the pro Trump super PAC Rebuilding America Now according to FEC filings A 100 000 donation had been made only a day after Sally Yates at the Department of Justice announced it would be phasing out its for profit prison and detention contracts 41 In April 2018 a wholly owned subsidiary of GEO Group called GEO Acquisitions II gave 125 000 to a political action committee in violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act which bars companies with active contracts with the federal government from making political donations 42 On January 26 2021 United States President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14006 directing the United States Department of Justice to cease renewal of federal contracts with private prisons 43 As a result in 2021 Geo Group reported that they had closed six of their faculties as a result of the contracts not being renewed by the federal government and that their last facility under direct contract with the Bureau of Prisons would phase out in September 2022 They reported that this resulted in a decline of 240 million in revenue for the 2021 fiscal year 1 Australian contracts Edit GEO operated the Parklea prison from 2009 to 2018 when the government ended the contract and excluded GEO from bidding on the new contract while allowing industry competitors to do so Serious security breaches over the preceding few years included a guard being stabbed Chronic problems had surfaced including an inmate in another prison being discovered with the secret architectural plans for a new maximum security wing at Parklea Another inmate filmed himself with a weapon and illegal drugs and the video was distributed widely throughout the country 44 During the COVID 19 pandemic the disease became widespread in prisons including those operated by GEO Group leading for calls for low risk inmates to be released to stem the spread of the disease in those environments 45 Assisting prisoners in returning to civilian life EditGEO Group has developed several programs to reduce recidivism by assisting prisoners in returning to civilian life In 2015 GEO launched its Continuum of Care program 3 which uses cognitive behavioral treatment an approach based on the idea that you can change a person s behavior by changing how they think and feel to prepare inmates for life after prison 4 In 2018 GEO Group entered into a collaboration with the National Federation of Federal Employees called Reentry Success DC designed to enhance GEO Group s pre and post release services by connecting returning citizens to gainful employment The program is available to prisoners returning to Washington D C from the Rivers Correctional Facility in North Carolina 21 By February 2020 the company had expanded the Continuum of Care program to 18 prisons 4 Later in 2020 the company also opened its Connection and Intervention Center in Idaho Falls Idaho for this purpose 22 23 One report noted that GEO spends 11 of its revenue in Florida on inmate education and rehabilitation 4 Several inmates credited the Continuum of Care program with helping them to adjust to post prison life by providing classes training and one on one case managers within the facility 5 and teaching them basic life skills like dealing with their anger 6 In order to facilitate post incarceration employment prisoners received professional training and materials and an opportunity to take professional qualification exams 4 6 The program also provides support for former prisoners helping them to find housing providing counseling and following up on their living conditions 3 4 5 6 These services are provided at no cost to the former prisoners In other philanthropic work beginning in 2007 GEO Group annually awarded scholarships to students in Webb County Texas in support of their efforts to attend college GEO Group thereafter continued to provide 25 000 every year on a year to year basis raising the scholarship contribution to 375 000 as of mid 2021 46 In May 2021 GEO Group staff and inmates at a state prison in Golden Valley Arizona built a house for a homeless veteran residing in that city 47 Controversies and criticisms EditPublic relations issues Edit In February 2013 the GEO Group s private foundation pledged US 6 million to company founder George Zoley s alma mater Florida Atlantic University In return the GEO Group received naming rights to the university s football stadium 48 49 In April after pressure from students faculty and alumni GEO Group withdrew the gift 50 Public relations firm Edelman supported GEO Group and was characterized by one source as helping in laundering the reputation of private US concentration camps in July 2019 51 In May 2019 The New York Times reported that executives from the Washington D C office including office president Lisa Ross and former Trump White House deputy press secretary Lindsay Walters traveled to Florida to present the pitch 52 In terminating California s contract with GEO s Central Valley Modified Community Correctional Facility in McFarland Governor Gavin Newsom said that this was a step intended to end the outrage of private prisons once and for all Newsom further stated Private for profit prisons have been used for many years to help the state overcome prison overcrowding challenges but it is time to end our reliance on them 2 Protests and pension divestment Edit In November 2018 CalSTRS the 220 billion dollar California teachers pension fund voted to divest from GEO Group and CoreCivic because of concerns expressed by teachers in the Bay Area 53 In November 2019 CalPERS the 370 billion public employee pension fund quietly divested from GEO Group and CoreCivic as well CalSTRS and CalPERS constitute the largest public pension funds in the United States Both divestment campaigns were led by Emily Claire Goldman of Educators for Migrant Justice 54 a non profit organization targeting public pension funds that it says are aiding and abetting the administration s egregious abuses of migrant families children and asylum seekers 55 A predominantly Jewish organization called Never Again as part of demonstrations held around the U S protested outside GEO Group s Century City headquarters on August 5 2019 56 shutting down the building for five hours hoisting a banner characterizing ICE facilities as concentration camps and refusing to leave the lobby resulting in the arrest of several activists Prison riots Edit Several prison riots occurred in the mid to late 2000s On April 24 2007 inmates rioted for two hours at the GEO Group s state owned New Castle Correctional Facility in Indiana The riot resulted in fires and minor injuries to staff and inmates 57 The Indiana Department of Correction concluded that its recent transfer of 600 inmates over six weeks from Arizona to a new section at New Castle increased tensions at the facility as the inmates comprised a large group and prison staff lacked experience The department held the inmates responsible for the riot Following the riot Indiana authorities suspended further transfers of Arizona inmates pending measures to help out of state inmates adjust to Indiana prison policies and to ensure that inmates were transferred more gradually to be able to integrate them into the prison population at New Castle 58 In 2008 and 2009 prisoners at the Reeves County Detention Complex in Texas the largest privately owned prison in the United States rioted over poor conditions The complex housed more than 3700 prisoners mostly immigrants serving short sentences prior to deportation They caused damages of 1 million and 21 million respectively as the second riot resulted in a severe fire 26 On July 9 2017 a facility wide eight hour riot broke out in GEO Group s Great Plains Correctional Facility in Hinton Oklahoma Four hundred of the 1 940 federal inmates refused to leave the recreation yards and took control of a building Three guards suffered injuries and two were taken hostage Regaining control required the intervention of eight law enforcement agencies to secure the perimeter to prevent escapes including the Caddo and Canadian County Sheriffs deputies the Bureau of Indian Affairs the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and the Hinton Hydro Geary and Binger Oklahoma police departments as well as GEO s Correctional Emergency Response Team members from its Lawton Oklahoma prison 70 miles south Tear gas and pepper spray were employed to regain control of the prison 59 60 61 Other incidents lawsuits and investigations Edit 2000s Edit In 2001 an inmate was murdered at GEO s Willacy County State Jail in Texas by two other inmates The inmate s family sued GEO in 2006 resulting in a finding of liability of 47 5 million for destruction of evidence and negligently causing the man s death 62 63 In 2009 GEO appealed the court s decision the appeals court reduced the damages to 42 5 million 64 Between 2005 and 2009 at least eight people died at the GEO Group operated George W Hill Correctional Facility Pennsylvania s only privately run jail Family members then filed lawsuits against the company and facility alleging that it did not provide adequate medical care or proper supervision for offenders GEO withdrew from operating the facility in December 31 2008 citing underperformance and frequent litigations As of 2018 GEO is again managing this facility 65 In 2007 the Texas Youth Commission TYC fired seven employees responsible for monitoring prison conditions after discovering that the GEO Group run Coke County Juvenile Justice Center had deplorable conditions The seven employees had earlier worked directly for GEO 66 They had failed to report problems at the county facility but an inspection by the TYC found the facility to be understaffed ill managed and unsanitary The TYC ordered that all inmates be transferred elsewhere terminated their state contract with GEO and subsequently closed the facility GEO had run the facility since 1994 67 68 2010s Edit Sign hoisted during Never Again protest outside GEO Group s Century City headquarters August 5 2019 In February 2012 GEO Group and Mississippi state authorities settled a class action suit was that had been filed in 2010 against state authorities and GEO over conditions at the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility in Mississippi the largest juvenile facility in the United States 69 The settlement required the state to end its contract with GEO and put operations at the facility under a federal court monitor The state transferred juvenile offenders to state run facilities and the company additionally lost contracts for operating two other prisons in Mississippi 70 In July 2012 two undocumented immigrants in Florida turned themselves in to police in order to get themselves placed in the Broward Transitional Center which was holding immigration detainees 71 It is the only privately owned immigration detention center in Florida 72 assertedly to report on conditions inside the facility as accounts in the immigrant community alleged substandard conditions 73 The pair alleged substandard or callous medical care including a woman taken for ovarian surgery and returned the same day still bleeding to her cell and a man who urinated blood for days but was not taken to see a doctor 74 In September 2012 U S Congressman Ted Deutch of Pompano Beach wrote a letter to ICE regarding the contract under which GEO operates the facility requesting a case by case investigation Twenty five other congressional representatives signed on to the inquiry 74 A 2014 lawsuit filed on behalf of nine immigrant plaintiffs in Denver alleged they were threatened with solitary confinement if they refused to work without pay Not having been convicted of a crime they asserted that they could not be required to work like convicts in prison 75 This eventually grew into a March 2017 class action lawsuit alleging violations of the U S Constitution and federal antislavery laws with respect to 60 000 current and former immigrant detainees at the Denver Contract Detention Facility based in Aurora Colorado The suit alleged that the detainees were made to work for less than a dollar a day or for nothing at all On December 2 2017 64 year old Kamyar Samimi who had come to the U S in 1976 was taken into ICE custody at his home due to his having been arrested for a minor drug offense in 2005 He was imprisoned at the Aurora contract facility where he died 16 days later from cardiac arrest In 2012 Evalin Ali Mandza died of cardiac arrest at the same detention center An investigation of Mandza s death found GEO employees did not know how to use an EKG machine and procrastinated in calling an ambulance 76 In 2019 the Denver City Council voted to terminate a 10 million contract with GEO and CoreCivic but later temporarily extended those contracts and in 2022 approved a new 1 5 million contract for GEO Group to provide electronic monitoring equipment for the city 77 In 2018 two Florida employees of Behavioral Intervention Inc a GEO subsidiary were arrested for taking bribes of up to 5 000 to have electronic monitoring devices removed from immigrants who were allowed to remain free on bail if they wore the monitors Elisa Pelaez was sentenced to thirty three months in federal prison and others were set to be sentenced later in the year 78 In December 2019 13 fathers in Texas sued the company alleging family separation 79 Due to the controversies surrounding mass incarceration of immigrants in private for profit detention centers several banks including Bank of America Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase announced that they would no longer offer lines of credit and term loans to the companies involved 80 Operation Mississippi Hustle Edit Main article Operation Mississippi Hustle A federal investigation dubbed Operation Mississippi Hustle initiated in 2014 or earlier by the United States Attorney and prosecuted in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi examined the relationship between officials of the Mississippi Department of Corrections and local jurisdictions and various prison contractors and subcontractors The investigation resulted in indictments against the commissioner of the Department of Corrections and the longtime mayor of Walnut Grove Mississippi both of whom resigned from office As a result of this investigation in February 2017 Mississippi State Attorney General Jim Hood announced a civil suit against 15 contractors and several persons for damages and punitive damages to recover the amounts of state contracts awarded under Epps during the roughly decade long period when he has been found to have been taking bribes GEO Group was among the for profit prison management companies named in this suit Hood said that the company had been awarded 260 million in contracts in an eight year period 81 Washington state lawsuit Edit In September 2017 Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued GEO Group for not paying immigrant detainees the state s 11 hourly minimum wage characterizing the detainees as a captive population of vulnerable individuals who cannot easily advocate for themselves The corporation was paying detainees with snacks or 1 per day for their labor which provided all the non security employment at its Northwest Detention Center a facility in Tacoma Washington 15 In 2021 a Seattle jury found for the detainees setting compensation for them in the amount of 17 3 million with U S District Judge Robert Jensen Bryan ordering an additional 5 9 million to be paid to the state of Washington bringing the total to 23 2 million 82 See also Edit Companies portal Law portalIncarceration in the United StatesReferences Edit a b c d e The GEO Group Inc 2019 Form 8 K Annual Report U S Securities and Exchange Commission a b Strode Maureen September 27 2019 CDCR stops housing inmates at 700 bed private prison in McFarland Bakersfield Californian Retrieved September 28 2019 a b c d Collins Sam P K September 16 2020 Program Heralded as Crucial for D C s Returning Citizens Washington Informer a b c d e f g h Martinez Amy February 26 2020 Rehabilitation programs at Florida s private prisons Florida Trend a b c Jones Dakota June 1 2021 How re entry program gave me tools to succeed Arizona Capitol Times a b c d Golden Elmo March 11 2021 I Spent 17 Years in a Private Prison Here s What Happened When I Got Out Inside Sources a b Rigby Michael June 15 2004 Wackenhut Changes Name to Geo Group Politics Remain the Same Prison Legal News Company News Wackenhut Plans a Public Offering for its Prisons Unit The New York Times Bloomberg News May 25 1994 Correctional Services Corporation Enters Agreement to Be Acquired by The GEO Group Inc Press release Business Wire July 14 2005 Juvenile correctional services business acquired American City Business Journals November 7 2005 The GEO Group Announces Opening of 654 Bed Maverick County Detention Center in Texas and Closure of U K Transportation Division Recruitment Solutions International Press release Business Wire December 22 2008 The GEO Group Closes 730 Million Merger with Cornell Companies Press release Business Wire August 12 2010 Archived from the original on December 3 2013 The GEO Group Closes 415 Million Acquisition of B I Incorporated BusinessWire Business Wire February 11 2011 Archived from the original on August 22 2018 High Lucas Boulder s BI Incorporated has earned more than half billion dollars from ICE contracts DailyCamera com Archived from the original on July 18 2018 Retrieved July 19 2018 a b c Connelly Joel September 20 2017 AG sues immigrant detention center over 1 a day wages Seattle PI Retrieved November 7 2021 The GEO Group Closes 360 Million Acquisition of Community Education Centers Press release Business Wire April 6 2017 BRIEF Geo Group announces 360 million acquisition of Community Education Centers Reuters February 22 2017 GEO Group closes 360 million acquisition of Community Education Centers Archived 2017 04 07 at the Wayback Machine Sun Sentinel April 6 2017 Retrieved 23 May 2017 GEO Group to Lose 495M George W Hill Correctional Facility Contract YC NEWS January 24 2020 Retrieved January 24 2020 Delaware County Jail Cleans House Before Surprise Prison Inspection YC NEWS January 21 2020 Retrieved January 24 2020 a b Reentry Success DC A PArtnership of GEO NFFE amp the Community Retrieved February 12 2022 a b Hogan Johnathan December 21 2020 IDOC private prison company open intervention center to reduce recidivism Idaho State Journal a b Callahan Brenna May 4 2021 Idaho Governor Brad Little Tours New Connection and Intervention Station CSG Justice Center Denver Contract Detention Facility Archived 2013 10 19 at the Wayback Machine U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement Retrieved November 28 2013 a b 2012 Annual Report PDF GEO Group Archived from the original PDF on April 23 2013 Retrieved April 7 2013 a b c Gorman Peter March 10 2010 Private Prisons Public Pain Fort Worth Weekly Archived from the original on February 11 2017 Retrieved February 10 2017 a b Locations GEO Group Archived from the original on December 3 2013 Retrieved November 30 2013 Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre Queensland Corrective Services Archived from the original on May 5 2012 Retrieved February 12 2017 Downsley Anthon Buttler Mark January 17 2012 Prison riot rocks Fulham Correctional Centre in Sale Melbourne Herald Sun Archived from the original on October 21 2018 Retrieved February 12 2017 Ravenhall Prison Project Corrections Victoria Archived from the original on February 13 2017 Retrieved February 12 2017 Case Studies The GEO Group UK Ltd Case Studies The GEO Group UK Ltd Archived from the original on December 29 2018 Retrieved December 28 2018 Dungavel House Immigration Removal Centre GEO Group Archived from the original on February 12 2017 Retrieved February 10 2017 Dungavel Detention Centre 12 July 2004 House of Commons Debate archive Archived from the original on February 11 2017 Retrieved February 10 2017 Private Prison Company Gets Haiti Contract Center for Economic and Policy Research Archived from the original on February 12 2017 Retrieved February 11 2017 Dastyari Azadeh July 20 2015 United States Migrant Interdiction and the Detention of Refugees in Guantanamo Bay Cambridge University Press p 174 n 13 ISBN 9781107101005 Archived from the original on February 17 2017 Retrieved February 12 2017 USA Govt contractors accused of profiting from separation amp detention of migrant amp asylum seeking families Business amp Human Rights Resource Centre www business humanrights org Retrieved December 4 2019 Justice Department says it will end use of private prisons Archived 2016 08 19 at the Wayback Machine The Washington Post Matt Zapotosky amp Chico Harlan August 8 2016 Retrieved 19 August 2016 Statement by Secretary Jeh C Johnson on Establishing a Review Of Privatized Immigration Detention Press release DHS August 29 2016 Archived from the original on February 4 2019 Retrieved February 3 2019 Laura Jarrett DOJ walks back guidance discouraging use of private prisons Archived 2017 05 09 at the Wayback Machine CNN 23 February 2017 accessed 22 May 2017 Did companies donations buy a Trump change in private prison policy Archived 2017 03 04 at the Wayback Machine McClatchey Franco Ordnez March 3 2017 Retrieved 4 March 2017 Justice Department will again use private prisons Archived 2017 05 17 at the Wayback Machine The Washington Post Matt Zapotosky February 23 Retrieved 22 May 2017 Shaw Donald March 20 2019 Government Contractors Are Making Political Contributions Despite Longstanding Ban Sludge Archived from the original on March 22 2019 Retrieved March 25 2019 Executive Order 14006 Reforming Our Incarceration System To Eliminate the Use of Privately Operated Criminal Detention Facilities www presidency ucsb edu Retrieved June 7 2021 Three private firms short listed to run Parklea prison Daily Telegraph Lawrence Machado Rouse Hill Times February 26 2018 Retrieved February 27 2018 Farid Farid February 10 2022 Jail reform advocates call for prisoners to be released amid COVID 19 lockdowns AAP 7NEWS 25K in scholarships presented to area students Laredo Morning Times June 4 2021 Hawkins Dave May 30 2021 Homeless vet get a place to call his own Mohave Valley Daily News Bishop Greg February 19 2013 A Company That Runs Prisons Will Have Its Name on a Stadium The New York Times Archived from the original on March 11 2018 Retrieved March 16 2013 Kirkham Chris February 19 2013 Florida Atlantic Football Stadium Will Be Named For Private Prison Company The Huffington Post Archived from the original on February 24 2013 Retrieved March 16 2013 GEO Group withdraws naming rights gift for FAU Stadium CBS Sports April 2 2013 Retrieved April 2 2013 Edelman PR drops GEO Group after employee revolt at the prospect of laundering the reputation of private US concentration camps Boing Boing Retrieved August 16 2019 Hsu Tiffany July 30 2019 Edelman Public Relations Giant Drops Client Over Border Detention Centers The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved August 16 2019 California teachers retirement fund to divest from private prisons San Quentin News February 6 2019 Retrieved December 3 2019 Biggest public pension fund dumps firms that run ICE detention centers NBC News Retrieved December 3 2019 ESGTI thesocialpresskit com Retrieved December 3 2019 Jewish Protesters Arrested at LA Office of Private Prison Company That Runs ICE Concentration Camps Common Dreams Retrieved December 3 2019 Indiana prison riot quelled USA Today April 25 2007 Archived from the original on June 28 2011 Retrieved March 25 2011 Wilson Charles May 24 2007 Report Details Cause of Ind Prison Riot The Washington Post Archived from the original on February 13 2016 Retrieved March 16 2013 Inmates take 2 guards hostage in Oklahoma prison riot Archived 2017 07 13 at the Wayback Machine Associated Press Sean Murphy July 10 2017 Retrieved July 11 2017 Injuries in riot at Hinton Oklahoma prison reported Archived 2017 07 10 at the Wayback Machine NewsOK July 10 2017 Retrieved July 11 2017 Prison officials release statement on riot at Oklahoma facility Archived 2017 07 10 at the Wayback Machine KFOR TV Dallas Franklin July 10 2017 Retrieved July 11 2017 Perez Trevino Emma Grand jury moves forward in GEO case The Brownsville Herald Archived from the original on March 15 2017 Retrieved March 28 2013 42 Million verdict upheld against GEO Group Pro 8 News Archived from the original on June 2 2013 Retrieved March 28 2013 WACKENHUT CORRECTIONS CORPORATION v LA ROSA Court of Appeals of Texas Corpus Christi Edinburg Archived from the original on July 9 2012 Retrieved March 28 2013 Rose Alex January 4 2009 A changing of the guard at county prison Delco Times Archived from the original on March 30 2012 Retrieved March 25 2011 Fired TYC monitors had worked for facility s operator Group fired for failing to report conditions at W Texas facility was employed earlier by GEO Group The Dallas Morning News Archived from the original on October 27 2015 Retrieved April 9 2013 Whittaker Richard Another TYC Prison in Trouble The Austin Chronicle Archived from the original on October 3 2015 Retrieved April 9 2013 Pope Dimitria Coke County Juvenile Justice Center Audit PDF Texas Youth Commission Archived PDF from the original on November 8 2016 Retrieved April 9 2013 Re Investigation of the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility PDF U S Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Archived PDF from the original on June 11 2014 Retrieved March 3 2013 Mohr Holbrook February 27 2012 Groups Say Deal Reached in Juvenile Prison Suit Sun Herald Retrieved February 28 2012 permanent dead link Locations Broward Transitional Center The GEO Group Inc Archived from the original on February 3 2013 Retrieved March 2 2013 O Matz Megan January 5 2013 Immigrants with no criminal history get lengthy stays at little known jail SunSentinel com Archived from the original on March 1 2013 Retrieved March 2 2013 Dream Activist Speaks from Broward Detention Center DemocracyNow Archived from the original on July 12 2015 Retrieved July 13 2015 a b Ordonez Franco October 5 2012 Democrats demand investigation in case of Florida immigration detainees McClatchy Newspapers Archived from the original on March 30 2013 Retrieved March 2 2013 Phillips Kristine March 5 2017 Thousands of ICE detainees claim they were forced into labor a violation of antislavery laws The Washington Post Archived from the original on November 7 2017 Retrieved March 6 2017 Walker Chris December 20 2017 ACLU Investigating Death of Iranian Immigrant at Aurora Detention Facility Westword Archived from the original on December 25 2017 Metzger Hannah January 31 2022 Denver council OKs electronic monitoring contract with private prison company Denver Gazette McMahon Paula March 22 2018 Government contractor who took bribes to remove immigrants ankle monitors gets prison Sun Sentinel Archived from the original on March 23 2018 Petrie Bonnie Lawsuit Claims GEO Guards Illegally Separated 13 Fathers And Sons www tpr org Retrieved December 4 2019 Simon Morgan GEO Group Running Out of Banks as 100 of Known Banking Partners Say No to the Private Prison Sector Forbes Retrieved December 4 2019 Moon Josh May 16 2017 Key player in Alabama prison plan accused of kickbacks by Mississippi AG Alabama Political Reporter Archived from the original on July 10 2017 GEO ordered to pay 23 2M in detainee minimum wage cases The Washington Post Gene Johnson November 2 2021 Retrieved November 7 2021 External links EditOfficial website Charleston DePriest v Christopher Epps and Tom Burnham 2012 Settlement of 2010 Class action suit at Walnut Grove Juvenile Correctional Facility Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title GEO Group amp oldid 1128662440, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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