47,869
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
m
Most of the bills GEO Group lobbies for at the federal level are homeland security, immigration, and appropriations bills. For example, in In 2013, GEO Group heavily lobbied for H.R. 2217, the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations act, and S. 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act, according to CRP,<ref name="2013 GEO Group: Lobbying"/> because they provided for more funding to border patrol, fences along borders, and more measures. While many other for-profit prison corporations, such as [[Corrections Corporation of America]], try to deny their involvement in anti-immigration and enhanced border security bills, GEO CEO [[George Zoley]] admitted the company's political preferences in a 2011 letter to stakeholders:<ref name="BusIns">Paul Szoldra, [http://www.businessinsider.com/a-3-billion-industry-is-going-to-be-slammed-by-immigration-reform-2013-1 Private Prisons Will Get Totally Slammed by Immigration Reform], ''Business Insider'', February 2, 2013.</ref>
GEO Group created a [[political action committee]] called At the federal level, top individual recipients of contributions from GEO Group Inc. PAC. The 's PAC was most active in the 2008 election2014, with its $353,259 in spending, followed closely by the 2012 election and 2010 election, with $331,425 and $305,580 spent respectively. The PAC raised more funds in the 2012 most recent election cycle -- $470,564 -- than in any previous cycle, according to CRP.were:<ref name = “GEO Group Inc. PAC”>Center for Responsive Politics, "[http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2pacgot.php?strIDcycle=C003821502014&cyclecmte=C00382150 Recipients, 2014 GEO Group Inc. PAC], ''OpenSecrets.org'' federal political influence " Open Secrets database, accessed September 2013April 27, 2015.</ref><br>'''U.S. Senate'''<br>* Tim Scott (R-SC): $15,000* John Cornyn (R-TX): $10,000* Joni Ernst (R-IA): $10,000* Mary Landrieu (D-LA): $10,000* Marco Rubio (R-FL): $5,000* T. W. Shannon (R-OK): $5,000
Most recent contributions to candidates and members in 2012 and 2014 include Robert B'''U. Aderholt S. House'''* Henry Cuellar (RD-ALTX): $10, Henry Cuellar 000* Pete Gallego (D-TX): $5, Mike Haridopolos 000* Clark Jolley (R-FLOK): $2, Connie Mack 600* John Carter (R-FLTX): $2, and Andrew Crenshaw 500* John Culberson (R-FLTX): $2, according to CRP500* Bob Goodlatte (R-VA): $2,500* Ben R.<ref name="2012 GEO Group Contributions to Federal Candidates">Center for Responsive PoliticsLujan (D-NM): $2, [http500* David Price (D-NC)://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cmte=C00382150&cycle=2012 2012 GEO Group Contributions to Federal Candidates]$2, ''OpenSecrets.org'' federal political influence database500* Hal Rogers (R-KY): $2, accessed September 2013.</ref>500
Text replacement - "{{#badges:" to "{{Show badges|"
{{#Show badges:|AEX|Outsourcing_America_Exposed}}[[image:GEO_Group_Map.png|thumb|GEO U.S. Map<br>(Source:[http://prisondivestment.wordpress.com/private-prison-industry-industria-de-prisiones-privadas/geo-group/ Private Prison Divestment Campaign])|right|500px]]'''The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO)''', formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, "is the world's leading provider of correctional, detention, and community reentry services with 95 facilities, approximately 72,000 beds, and 18,000 employees around the globe," says the corporate website.<ref name="welcome">GEO Group, [http://www.geogroup.com/ Welcome to The GEO Group, Inc.], Company company website, Accessed accessed August 621, 20132014.</ref>according to its corporate website, operating 73 facilities with approximately 81,000 beds worldwide, of which 66 facilities and approximately 73,400 are in the U.S.<ref name="geo10k20122014 annual report">GEO Group, Inc., "[httphttps://geogroupmaterials.proxyvote.com/documentsApproved/36162J/20150310/AR_237329/#/8/GEO_2012_Annual_Report.pdf Annual Report, 2014], February 2013" corporate report, accessed April 2015.</ref> It is the second-largest for-profit prison operator in the United States, behind [[Corrections Corporation of America]] (CCA), with total revenue of $1. The company was founded in 1984 69 billion and is headquartered net profit of $143.84 million in Boca Raton, Florida2014.<ref name="welcome2014 annual report">GEO Group, [http://www.geogroup.com/ Welcome to The GEO Group, Inc.], Company website, Accessed August 6, 2013.</ref>
Since its founding nearly 30 years agoin 1984, <ref name="welcome"/> GEO Group has profited from federal and state policies that have led to a dramatic rise in incarceration and detention in the United States -- an increase of more than 500 percent over the past thirty years.<ref>Katy Hall, [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/11/cca-prison-industry_n_3061115.html CCA Letters Reveal Private Prison Industry's Tactics], ''Huffington Post'', April 11, 2013.</ref><ref>The Sentencing Project, [http://www.sentencingproject.org/template/page.cfm?id=107 Incarceration], organizational website, accessed August 7, 2013.</ref><ref>The Sentencing Project, [http://www.sentencingproject.org/template/page.cfm?id=128 Drug Policy], organizational website, accessed August 1, 2013.</ref> As of 2011, around half of all prisoners in state facilities were there for nonviolent crimes, and half of inmates in federal prisons were serving time for drug offenses.<ref name="BJS 2011">U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, "[http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/p11.pdf "Prisoners in 2011],"] Ufederal government agency website, December 2012.</ref> GEO Group has explicitly identified drug decriminalization and sentencing leniency as factors that could have adverse effects on its business.<ref>Sadhbh Walshe, "[http://www.Stheguardian. Department of Justicecom/commentisfree/2012/sep/27/lawmakers-lobbyists-keep-lock-private-prison-business How lawmakers and lobbyists keep a lock on the private prison business]," ''The Guardian'', September 27, December 2012.</ref>
Studies have shown that for many offenses, incarceration has little if any impact on public safety, and that time in prison actually increases a person's likelihood of committing more crimes.<ref>Ryan S. King, [http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/inc_iandc_complex.pdf "Incarceration and Crime: A Complex Relationship], The Sentencing Project, 2005.</ref><ref>Lynne Vieraitis et al‚ The Criminogenic Effects of Imprisonment: Evidence from State Panel Data, 1974 – 2002, Criminology & Public Policy 6, no. 3 (2007): 589-622.</ref> In combination with stark racial (as well as class and gender) disparities in arrests, convictions, and sentencing, mass incarceration has had especially detrimental impacts on African-American communities.<ref>Bruce Western and Becky Pettit, "[https://www.amacad.org/content/publications/pubContent.aspx?d=808 Incarceration & social inequality]," ''Daedalus'', Summer 2010.</ref><ref>Marc Mauer and Ryan S. King, "[http://www.sentencingproject.org/doc/publications/rd_stateratesofincbyraceandethnicity.pdf Uneven Justice: State Rates of Incarceration By Race and Ethnicity]," The Sentencing Project, July 2007.</ref> Law professor Michelle Alexander has called mass incarceration "the new Jim Crow."<ref>Michelle Alexander, ''The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in an Age of Colorblindness'', The New Press, 2012.</ref> GEO Group has also expanded into immigration detention for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Since 2009, the share of beds operated by private for-profit companies for ICE has grown from 49 percent to 62 percent, and GEO Group increased its share of the total from 15 percent in 2010 to 25 percent in 2014.<ref name="payoff"/> ICE contracts made up 16 percent of GEO Group's revenues in 2014.<ref name="2014 annual report"/>
According to the Justice Policy Institute: "While private prison companies may try to present themselves as just meeting existing 'demand' for prison beds and responding to current 'market' conditions, in fact they have worked hard over the past decade to create markets for their product."<ref name="JPI">Justice Policy Institute, [http://www.justicepolicy.org/uploads/justicepolicy/documents/gaming_the_system.pdf "GAMING THE SYSTEM: HOW THE POLITICAL STRATEGIES OF PRIVATE PRISON COMPANIES PROMOTE INEFFECTIVE INCARCERATION POLICIES,"] June 2011, accessed Sept 8, 2013.</ref>
Although it claims that it has not lobbied for bills that extend or increase sentences for prisoners, for many years GEO Group participated in the task force of the [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org American Legislative Exchange Council] (ALEC) that pushed bills that lengthened time in prison, such as so-called “truth-in-sentencing” and “three strikes” legislation, as models for states to adopt across the nation.
GEO Group is now a multi-billion-dollar corporation whose for-profit prison operations have become increasingly controversial. The two primary critiques are that (1) GEO Group's lobbying and campaign contributions have led to federal and state policies and government contracts that expand its profit margins, but in many cases at the expense of the public interest; (2) the company's profit-increasing and cost-cutting strategies lead to a vicious cycle where lower wages and benefits for workers, high employee turnover, insufficient training, and under-staffing results in poor oversight and mistreatment of detained persons, increased violence, and riots. Other profit-focused measures that affect inmates, such as withholding medical care or inadequate nutrition, add to the volatility of the situation. This, in turn, has led to dangerous working conditions for correctional staff, as well as the communities where GEO Group's prisons operate. <ref> John Burnett, [http://www.npr.org/2011/03/28/134855801/private-prison-promises-leave-texas-towns-in-trouble Private Prison Promises Leave Texas Towns In Trouble], National Public Radio, March 28, 2011. </ref> GEO Group is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida.<ref name="welcome"/>
__TOC__
[[Image:GEO_revenue_08-12.jpg|right|350px]]'''PROFITS AND OWNERSHIP:''' GEO’s revenue in 2012 exceeded 2014 was $1.4 69 billion, and its profit margin was 9profits were $143.11%8 million, up from $115 million the previous year.<ref>Corporate Profile, [http:name="2014 annual report"//www.inthepublicinterest.org/organization/geo-group GEO Group], In the Public Interest, organizational website, Accessed August 6, 2013</ref> It had profits of $134 million in 2012. <ref name="20122013-10K">The GEO Group, Inc., [http://wwwphx.seccorporate-ir.govnet/Archives/edgar/data/923796/000119312513087892/d493925d10kphoenix.htm#tx493925_13 zhtml?c=91331&p=irol-sec Annual Report/Form 10-K], February 27March 3, 20132014.</ref>
'''BUSINESS MODEL:''' GEO "contracts with federal corrections agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Marshals Service, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as eleven state correctional clients and various county and city jurisdictions."<ref name="geo10k2012">GEO Group, Inc., [http://geogroup.com/documents/GEO_2012_Annual_Report.pdf Annual Report], February 2013.</ref> GEO's 2012 annual report states: "Our federal customers generated 43% of our total revenue for both of the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011."<ref name="2012AnnualReport">GEO Group, [https://materials.proxyvote.com/Approved/36159R/20130314/AR_159415/ 2012 Annual Report], corporate document, March 14, 2013.</ref>
</ref> On an August 7, 2013 earnings conference call, GEO Group's Chief Financial Officer Brian Evans said: "Our quarterly results include a tax benefit of $8.4 million associated with our recent REIT conversion. This tax benefit is offset by $1 million after-tax, one time REIT conversion related expenses, and $4.4 million after-tax associated with the write-off of deferred financing fees in connection with our recent financing activities." <ref>[http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/923796/000119312513332798/d583522dex993.htm Q2 GEO Group earnings conference call], August 7, 2013. </ref>
For prisons, "GEO has 95 98 facilities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and South Africa with approximately 7278,000 500 beds, and 18,000 employees around the globe." The bulk of its prisons appear to be within the U.S., where it claims to operate approximately 61,000 beds in 56 correctional and detention facilities. <ref name="welcome"/> It also "has approximately 60 subsidiaries offering services beyond corrections and detention such as transportation services, community reentry facilities, community supervision services, mental health institutions and electronic monitoring technologies."<ref>[http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/923796/000119312513087892/d493925dex211.htm The GEO Group, Inc. Subsidiaries], SEC.gov, Accessed August 6, 2013.</ref>
'''FOUNDING:''' The company that later became GEO Group originally began in 1954 as a private investigation company in Boca Raton, Florida, founded by four former FBI agents, including George Wackenhut. In 1958, Wackenhut bought out his partners and formed the Wackenhut Corporation, which focused on building dossiers of civil rights demonstrators, anti-war protesters and others on the left politically that George Wackenhut, an extreme right-winger, considered communist sympathizers or "derogatory types," according to Frank Donner's book "Age of Surveillance."<ref> Frank Donner, "Age of Surveillance," available via http://www.amazon.com/V771-AGE-SURVEILLNC-Frank-Donner/dp/0394747712</ref> The Wackenhut files included the corporation's investigation of the NAACP, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., The Progressive magazine, and numerous others active in the peace and justice movements.<ref>Index of Archive of Wackenhut Dossiers on "Subversives" and Others held by the Church Collection, available at http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/tam_148/dscref11.html, accessed September 18, 2013</ref> By the time Congress began investigating government and corporate entities that kept dossiers on Americans in the mid-1970s, Wackenhut reportedly had four million names on file, more than any other private entity, according to Donner.<ref> Frank Donner, "Age of Surveillance," available via http://www.amazon.com/V771-AGE-SURVEILLNC-Frank-Donner/dp/0394747712</ref>
== Profiting From More People Behind Bars ==
GEO's business model rests on incarceration. The more individuals locked up, the more GEO and its shareholders profit. Increases in GEO's earnings and stock prices have corresponded with America's incarceration boom -- and laws that criminalize a longer list of conduct and require that those convicted serve longer sentences are good for business.
According to the Justice Policy Institute: "Since private prison companies are in the business to make money, policies that maintain or increase incarceration boost their revenues; from a business perspective, the economic and social costs of mass incarceration are "externalities" that aren’t figured into their corporate bottom line."<ref name="JPI"/>
:"The bed guarantee provisions were the result of an agreement between the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) and the private prison companies in 2008. In this “deal,” the corporations agreed to lower rates for emergency beds meant to temporarily house an overflow of prisoners, in exchange for the state accepting a 100 percent occupancy guarantee for all regularly-rated beds in all three facilities. Even with the addition of the 100 percent bed guarantee clauses, an August 2012 analysis from Tucson Citizen shows that the per prisoner, per day rates for the three facilities have increased by an average of 13.9 percent since the contracts were first awarded."<ref name= "ITPI"/>
===U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement "Immigrant Detention Quota"===
According to a 2015 report by Grassroots Change, in 2009 the U.S. Congress mandated a detention quota for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE), an unprecedented policy for a law enforcement agency. Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) inserted into the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2010 the following language regarding ICE's budget: "…funding made available under this heading shall maintain a level of not less than 33,400 detention beds,"<ref> [http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-111publ83/pdf/PLAW-111publ83.pdf Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act 2010], government document, October 28, 2009.</ref> a number that was increased to 34,000 in 2013. This requirement is known as the "immigrant detention quota" or the "bed mandate."<ref name="payoff">Bethany Carson and Eleana Diaz, "[http://grassrootsleadership.org/reports/payoff-how-congress-ensures-private-prison-profit-immigrant-detention-quota Payoff: How Congress Ensures Private Prison Profit with an Immigrant Detention Quota]," Grassroots Change, report, April 2015.</ref>
According to the report, ICE's detention system has grown by almost 47 percent in the past decade, and nine out of the ten largest immigration detention centers are run by private for-profit prison companies. Since 2009, the share of beds operated by private for-profit companies has grown from 49 percent to 62 percent, and GEO Group increased its share of the total from 15 percent in 2010 to 25 percent in 2014.<ref name="payoff"/> GEO Group's contracts with ICE grew from $33.6 million in 2005 to $216 million in 2012.<ref name="diaz keen coha">Melanie Diaz and Timothy Keen, "[http://www.eurasiareview.com/13052015-how-us-private-prisons-profit-from-immigrant-detention-analysis/ How US Private Prisons Profit from Immigrant Detention – Analysis]," ''Eurasia Review'', May 13, 2015.</ref> The report points out that recent growth has included expansions of private prisons' capacity to hold women and children in "family detention centers,"<ref name="payoff"/> including GEO Group's facility in Karnes County, Texas, whose plan to double its capacity to 1,200 beds was approved in 2014.<ref>Jessie Degollado, "[http://www.ksat.com/content/pns/ksat/news/2014/12/16/karnes-county-approves-family-detention-center-expansion.html Karnes County approves family detention center expansion]," ''ABC News KSAT'', December 17, 2014.</ref>
The National Immigrant Justice Center maintains a timeline of legislative developments related to the immigrant detention quota [http://www.immigrantjustice.org/immigration-detention-bed-quota-timeline here].
===Profiting from Alternatives to Detention===
While as described above, GEO Group derives significant profits from detention quotas, it also has a financial stake in so-called "alternatives to detention" (ATD), such as ankle monitors and at-home supervision programs. In 2010, GEO acquired B.I. Incorporated (BI), for $415 million. According to a press release, BI was "the largest provider of comprehensive electronic monitoring services" and "the sole provider of monitoring and supervision services for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) through the Intensive Supervision and Appearance Program (“ISAP”), which is a core component of ICE’s Alternatives to Detention program." BI also provides "radio frequency and global positioning system equipment, voice identification, and remote alcohol detection systems." The acquisition was expected to add $115 million to GEO's annual revenues.<ref>GEO Group, "[http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/11/idUS114385+11-Feb-2011+BW20110211 The GEO Group Closes $415 Million Acquisition of B.I. Incorporated]," press release, archived by ''Reuters'', February 11, 2011.</ref>
==Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council==
ALEC bills adopted and promoted during Wackenhut/GEO Group's association with the group, which would potentially expand GEO Group's profits, include:
[[Image:ALEC_exposed_logo200px.jpg|right|200px]][[Image:Us_violent_crime_rate_and_incarceration_rate.jpg|thumb|<center>The American Prospect<ref>Paul Waldman, [http://prospect.org/article/six-charts-explain-why-our-prison-system-so-insane Six Charts that Explain Why Our Prison System Is So Insane], ''The American Prospect'', August 15, 2013</ref></center>|350px|right]]
* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/f/f9/7D9-Shock_Incarceration_Act_Exposed.pdf 7D9 Shock Incarceration Act Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/f/f7/7D10-Third_Theft_Felony_Act_Exposed.pdf 7D10 Third Theft Felony Act Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/1/19/7D11-Truth_in_Sentencing_Act_Exposed.pdf 7D11 Truth in Sentencing Act Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/c/c9/7F0-Criminal_Justice_Drug_Testing_Act_Exposed.pdf 7F0 Criminal Justice Drug Testing Act Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/a/ad/7F1-Drug_Dealer_Liability_Act_Exposed.pdf 7F1 Drug Dealer Liability Act Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/3/3a/7F2-Drug-Affected_Infants_Act_Exposed.pdf 7F2 Drug-Affected Infants Act Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/2/25/7F3-Drug-Free_Housing_Project_Act_Exposed.pdf 7F3 Drug-Free Housing Project Act Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/2/2a/7F4-Drug-Free_Post-Secondary_Education_Act_Exposed.pdf 7F4 Drug-Free Post-Secondary Education Act Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/3/3c/7F5-Drug-Free_Schools_Act_Exposed.pdf 7F5 Drug-Free Schools Act Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/4/4e/7F6-Drug-free_Workplace_Act_Exposed.pdf 7F6 Drug-Free Workplace Act Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/a/a9/7H2-Habitual_Violent_Offender_Incarceration_Act_Exposed.pdf 7H2 Habitual Violent Offender Incarceration Act Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/b/b6/7H3-Intensive_Probation_Act_Exposed.pdf 7H3 Intensive Probation Act Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/d/dc/7I0-Money_Laundering_Act_Exposed.pdf 7I0 Money Laundering Act Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/0/08/7J7-Defense_of_Free_Market_and_Public_Safety_Resolution_Exposed.pdf 7J7 Defense of Free Market and Public Safety Resolution Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/6/69/7K3-Immigration_Law_Enforcement_Act_Exposed.pdf 7K3 Immigration Law Enforcement Act Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/0/0d/7K4-Laser_Safety_Act_Exposed.pdf 7K4 Laser Safety Act Exposed]
<div class="red-check">
* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/2/2d/7K5-No_Sanctuary_Cities_for_Illegal_Immigrants_Act_Exposed.pdf 7K5 No Sanctuary Cities for Illegal Immigrants Act Exposed (SB1070)]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/c/c4/7K6-Resolution_Against_Amnesty_Exposed.pdf 7K6 Resolution Against Amnesty Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/0/06/7K7-Resolution_in_Opposition_to_the_REAL_ID_Act_Exposed.pdf 7K7 Resolution in Opposition to the REAL ID Act Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/e/ec/7K10-Resolution_to_Enforce_Our_Immigration_Laws_and_Secure_Our_Border_Exposed.pdf 7K10 Resolution to Enforce Our Immigration Laws and Secure Our Border Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/3/31/7L0-Habitual_Juvenile_Offender_Act_Exposed.pdf 7L0 Habitual Juvenile Offender Act Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/7/74/7L1-Juvenile_Identification_Act_Exposed.pdf 7L1 Juvenile Identification Act Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/4/42/7M4-Mandatory_Sentencing_for_Repeated_Felony_Theft_From_Exposed.pdf 7M4 Mandatory Sentencing for Repeated Felony Theft From a Retail Store Act Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/1/17/7N0-Housing_Out-of-State_Prisoners_in_a_Private_Prison_Act_Exposed.pdf 7N0 Housing Out-of-State Prisoners in a Private Prison Act Exposed]
</div>
* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/5/5e/7N1-Inmate_Labor_Disclosure_Act_Exposed.pdf 7N1 Inmate Labor Disclosure Act Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/c/c4/7N2-Model_State_Bill_Prohibiting_Wireless_Handsets_in_Prisons_Exposed.pdf 7N2 Model State Bill Prohibiting Wireless Handsets in Prisons Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/3/32/7N3-Prevention_of_Illegal_Payments_to_Inmates_Incentive_Act_Exposed.pdf 7N3 Prevention of Illegal Payments to Inmates Incentive Act Exposed]
<div class="red-check">
* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/4/4d/7N4-Prison_Industries_Act_Exposed.pdf 7N4 Prison Industries Act Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/e/ec/7N5-Resolution_on_Prison_Expenditures_Exposed.pdf 7N5 Resolution on Prison Expenditures Exposed]* [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/1/1e/7N6-Targeted_Contracting_for_Certain_Correctional_Facilities_and_Services_Act_Exposed.pdf 7N6 Targeted Contracting for Certain Correctional Facilities and Services Act Exposed]
* [http://heartland.org/sites/all/modules/custom/heartland_migration/files/pdfs/6263.pdf Private Correctional Facilities Act]
[[Image:Governor_scott_walker-200px.jpg|right|200px|frame|<center>WI Governor Scott Walker</center>]]An ''American Radio Works'' report from 2002 analyzing the connections between ALEC, harsh sentencing laws, and for-profit prison companies (particularly GEO competitor Corrections Corporation of America) discussed a case study in Wisconsin:
:"In forming and spreading its ideas, ALEC gets help from corporate leaders. More than a hundred companies co-sponsor ALEC conferences -- including . . . Wackenhut Corrections, a private prison corporation. . . .
:"In Wisconsin, a group of lawmakers led passage of truth-in-sentencing in 1998.
:'Clearly ALEC had proposed model legislation,' Walker recalls. 'And probably more important than just the model legislation, [ALEC] had actually put together reports and such that showed the benefits of truth-in-sentencing and showed the successes in other states. And those sorts of statistics were very helpful to us when we pushed it through, when we passed the final legislation.'
:But a former head of Wisconsin's prison system, Walter Dickey -- now a University of Wisconsin Law Professor -- says he finds it 'shocking' that lawmakers would write sentencing policy with help from ALEC, a group that gets funding and, supposedly, expertise, from a private prison corporation.
:'I don't know that they know anything about sentencing,' Dickey says. 'They know how to build prisons, presumably, since that's the business they're in. They don't know anything about probation and parole. They don't know about the development of alternatives. They don't know about how public safety might be created and defended in communities in this state and other states.'"<ref name="ARWCorporate Crime Laws">American Radio Works, [http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/corrections/laws5.html Truth in Sentencing in Wisconsin], 2002.</ref>
As a legislator, Walker also promoted prison privatization in the state (albeit unsuccessfully).<ref>Richard Jones, "Private prison firms looking at state," ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'', November 11, 1997.</ref>
The Wisconsin state legislature apparently recognized the folly of truth in sentencing and rolled back aspects of the law between 2001 and 2009. When [[Scott Walker]] became governor in 2011, however, he reversed this progress and pushed for legislation fully restoring the ALEC corporate-supported truth in sentencing, despite the costs to taxpayers and despite claiming Wisconsin was "broke." In early July 2011, Governor Walker's office released a statement supporting expanded use of prison labor, another idea promoted in ALEC bills. Some observers speculated that for-profit private prisons would be next.<ref>Brendan Fischer, [httphttps://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/07/10902/alec-profit-criminal-justice-and-wisconsin ALEC, For-Profit Criminal Justice, and Wisconsin], ''PRWatch'', July 18, 2011.</ref>
====Connections to the ALEC/Arizona SB1070 Anti-Immigrant Law====
[[Image:Russell_Pearce200px.jpg|right|200px|frame|<center>Former Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce</center>]]In 2009, Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce (R-Mesa), the ALEC State Chair for Arizona, brought the [httphttps://www.alecexposed.org/w/images/2/2d/7K5-No_Sanctuary_Cities_for_Illegal_Immigrants_Act_Exposed.pdf No Sanctuary Cities for Illegal Immigrants Act] -- later to become known as "S.B. 1070" -- to ALEC for adoption as a "model" bill.
At the time, GEO Group competitor CCA was an executive member of ALEC's [[Public Safety and Elections Task Force]], as was Sen. Pearce, and GEO Group was reportedly a member of ALEC as well.<ref name="Hodai"/> GEO Group stood to profit from increased immigration enforcement and detention.
:"'This is Wayne,' he said. 'I can only believe the opportunities at the federal level are going to continue apace as a result of what's happening. Those people coming across the border and getting caught are going to have to be detained and that for me, at least I think, there's going to be enhanced opportunities for what we do.'"</blockquote>
(In 2012, much of S.B. 1070 was struck down by the Supreme Court in the case [http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/11-182b5e1.pdf Arizona v. United States, 567 US ___ (2012)]).<ref>Brendan Fischer [httphttps://www.prwatch.org/node/11607 U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Parts of ALEC Immigration Law], ''PRWatch'', June 25, 2012.</ref>
===Immigrant Detention Is GEO Group's New Profit Center===
----
{{#evpev:youtube|vuGE1VxVsYo|300|left|Immigrants For Sale|left|310frame}} State prison populations have been declining in recent years, but federal numbers have increased -- thanks in no small part to a rise in immigration detention.<ref name="fangnation1">Lee Fang, [http://www.thenation.com/article/173120/how-private-prisons-game-immigration-system#axzz2ajTXoEy0 How Private Prisons Game the Immigration System], ''The Nation'', February 27, 2013.</ref> GEO's 2012 annual report states: "Our federal customers generated 43% of our total revenue for both of the years ended December 31, 2012 and 2011."<ref name="2012AnnualReport">GEO Group, [https://materials.proxyvote.com/Approved/36159R/20130314/AR_159415/ 2012 Annual Report], corporate document, March 14, 2013.</ref>
From 1970 to 2005, the number of people locked up in the U.S. shot up by 700 percent, according to an ACLU report. Between 1990 and 2009, the number of prisoners behind for-profit prison bars expanded significantly from 7,000 to 129,000 inmates, at a rate of 1600 percent.<ref>American Civil Liberties Union, [http://www.aclu.org/files/assets/bankingonbondage_20111102.pdf Banking on Bondage: Mass Incarceration and Private Prisons], organizational report, November 2011.</ref>
This resulted in significant windfall for private companies such as GEO Group and [[CCA]]: $384 million for GEO Group came from federal contracts with the Bureau of Prisons and the U.S. Marshals Service in 2012.<ref name="2012AnnualReport"/> $546 million was pocketed by CCA in 2012, 30 percent of its revenue from both agencies.<ref>Corrections Corporation of America, [http://big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/cca2012.pdf Supplemental Financial Information For the Quarter Ended December 31, 2012], Annual Report supplemental, accessed September 13, 2013.</ref>
Although for-profit prison companies like GEO Group and [[CCA]] have denied lobbying to influence immigration policy, the evidence suggests otherwise. For example, an analysis by the Associated Press in 2012 found that the three major for-profit prison corporations -- CCA, the GEO Group, and another smaller company -- spent roughly $45 million over the past decade on campaign donations and lobbyists.<ref>Associated Press, [http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/private-prison-companies-making-big-bucks-locking-undocumented-immigrants-article-1.1127465?print Private prison companies making big bucks on locking up undocumented immigrants], ''New York Daily News'', August 2, 2012.</ref>
The for-profit prison corporations specifically target Republican legislators over immigration "reform," according to ''The Nation''.<ref>Francis Reynolds and Lee Fang, [http://www.thenation.com/article/173122/what-does-millions-lobbying-money-buy-5-congresspeople-pocket-private-prison-industry What Does Millions in Lobbying Money Buy?], ''The Nation'', February 27, 2013.</ref> The companies' success in lobbying echoes their harnessing the zeitgeists of the preceding decades, from "Tough On Crime" in the 1980s and 1990s, and terrorism-induced blowback to immigration in the early 21st century.<ref>Lee Fang, [http://www.thenation.com/article/173120/how-private-prisons-game-immigration-system How Private Prisons Game the Immigration System], ''The Nation'', February 27, 2013.</ref>
See also [[#U.S._Immigration_and_Customs_Enforcement_.22Immigrant_Detention_Quota.22|U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement "Immigrant Detention Quota"]].
==Cost Cutting Leads to Violence, Abuse, and Death==
:Gabriel Eber, staff counsel with the ACLU National Prison Project reported: "When you combine solitary confinement, abuse, lack of basic medical and mental health care, and denial of basic human needs, it's a recipe for disaster."<ref>American Civil Liberties Union, [https://www.aclu.org/prisoners-rights/civil-rights-groups-file-lawsuit-alleging-massive-human-rights-violations Civil Rights Groups File Lawsuit Alleging Massive Human Rights Violations at Mississippi Prison], organizational press release, May 30, 2013.</ref>
:{{#evpev:youtube|mppgoNcuiPk|300|right|Security Cameras Capture Horrific Mississippi Prison Conditions|right|310frame}}The suit was filed on behalf of 16 inmates. One of them, Christopher Lindsey, 27, went blind after guards denied him access to treatment for his glaucoma despite repeated pleas for help between 2011 and 2013.<ref>Emily Le Coz, [http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/05/31/prison-lawsuit-mississippi-mentally-ill/2377185/ Conditions at Miss. Prisons 'Barbaric' Suit says], ''USA Today'', May 31, 2013.</ref>
:During its management of EMCF, GEO Group was sued regarding conditions at the facility by the family of Sammy Robinson, a prisoner who died while in custody. The preliminary autopsy performed by the Lauderdale County Coroner's Office and the East Mississippi Correctional Facility declared that he died of asphyxia due to self-hanging, but a secondary provisional autopsy performed by Dr. Matthias I. Okoye of the Nebraska Institute of Forensic Science found that "there were no neck organs including larynx, proximal trachea and neck skeletal muscles available for forensic pathologic evaluation. Next, Dr. Okoye found blunt force trauma to the trunk, the upper extremities, lower extremities, as well as sharp force trauma to the right upper and lower extremities. Dr. Okoye noted several abrasions and contusions all over the body of Mr. Robinson."<ref>Susan Hillman, [http://www.examiner.com/article/family-holding-mississippi-prison-responsible-for-prisoner-s-death Family holding Mississippi prison responsible for prisoner's death], ''Examiner'', June 25, 2011.</ref>
*'''Jury Awards Over $40 Million to Family of Inmate Killed in Beating''' - Gregorio De La Rosa, an honorably discharged former National Guardsman, was serving a six-month sentence for drug possession at a prison in Raymondville, Texas operated by GEO Group (then known as Wackenhut). The details of the case are laid out in a damning 2009 Court of Appeals ruling that upheld most of a $40 million dollar jury verdict against the company and Warden David Forrest. [http://www.privateci.org/private_pics/Dela%20Rosa%20ruling%2009.pdf (PDF)] A few days before his expected release in 2001, Gregorio was beaten to death by two other inmates using a lock tied to a sock, an incident that prompted officers and wardens to smirk and laugh, as well as allegations of a cover-up and destruction of evidence.[http://www.privateci.org/private_pics/Dela%20Rosa%20ruling%2009.pdf (PDF)]. After the Court of Appeals ruling, the case was settled for an undisclosed amount. <ref>Emma Perez-Trevino, [http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/article_7d219672-6121-569a-bb89-43f33119e6b4.html Beating death lawsuit ends in settlement], ''The Brownsville Herald'', January 7, 2010.</ref> <ref>Bob [http://www.texasprisonbidness.org/tags/gregorio-de-la-rosa Settlement reached in record-breaking lawsuit against GEO Group], Texas Prison Bid’ness, January 23, 2010.</ref>
*'''GEO Settles Suit with Family of a Woman who Committed Suicide after Reporting Rape''' – A woman committed suicide at GEO Group-Operated Val Verde County jail in Texas. Shortly before her death, the woman reported that she had been raped and assaulted by male inmates who were housed in the same cell block. She also reported being sexually humiliated by a GEO guard after reporting to the warden that guards allowed male and female inmates to have sex. The [httphttps://www.sourcewatch.org/images/8/83/Tapia_complaint.pdf woman’s family sued The GEO Group] and several of its guards. In March 2007, the company reportedly settled with the family for $200,000.<ref>Erin Rosa, [http://www.socialistviewpoint.org/mayjun_09/mayjun_09_15.html Private Prisons Turn a Handsome Profit], Socialist Viewpoint, March 3, 2009.</ref> Additionally, an investigation into sex abuse allegations at another GEO-run Texas prison led to the firing of a guard who was a convicted sex offender.<ref>John Miller, [http://lubbockonline.com/stories/070807/nat_070807073.shtml Suicide exposes squalid conditions at Spur prison], AP-''Lubbock Avalanche-Journal'', July 08, 2007</ref>
*'''Class Action Strip-Search Lawsuit Against GEO Group''' - Stephen Dimitri Bussy filed a [httphttps://www.sourcewatch.org/images/1/12/Bussy_complaint.pdf nationwide civil rights class action lawsuit] under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 challenging the practice of strip searches conducted in detention facilities operated by the GEO Group Inc. In July 2007, Bussy was arrested and charged with DUI and transported to a jail in Pennsylvania operated by the GEO Group, where he was strip searched. The plaintiffs allege that the GEO Group’s policy of strip searching all pre-trial detainees regardless of the crime charged and in the absence of a reasonable suspicion that the detainee possesses weapons or contraband violates the Constitution. [httphttps://www.sourcewatch.org/images/a/ab/Bussy_may-21010-update_settlement.pdf In May 2010, the parties settled] the lawsuit for nearly $3 million. The agreement covers up to 10,000 inmates in six facilities who were subjected to strip searches upon admission between January 2005 and January 2008.<ref>Mari A. Schaefer, [http://articles.philly.com/2010-05-20/news/25218197_1_strip-searched-geo-group-inmates Settlement reached over strip searches The $2.9 million will go to affected inmates, including some at Delaware County Prison], ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', May 20, 2010.</ref><ref>[http://www.chimicles.com/geo-strip-searches GEO Strip Searches] Chimicles & Tikellis LLP., Accessed August 13, 2013.</ref>
*'''State of Texas Fines Company $625,000 and Terminates $12 Million Contract for Mismanagement of Jail; 12 Employees Charged with Sexual Assault''' – In 1999, the AP reported that the state of Texas terminated Wackenhut's $12 million a year contract to run a jail in Travis County due to mismanagement that eventually led to eleven guards and one case manager being charged with sexually assaulting female inmates.<ref>Associated Press, [http://web.caller.com/1999/december/17/today/texas_me/3442.html 12 jailers indicted in sex case - Incidents of misconduct date back to May 1997], ''Corpus Christie Caller-Times'', December 17, 1999.</ref>Over a period of two years, the state levied $625,000 in penalties due to chronic staffing shortages at the facility. A state audit showed that the jail barely kept the minimum number of guards required in the contract.<ref>[http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Wackenhut+Corrections+To+Discontinue+Texas+Contract.-a055623047 Wackenhut Corrections To Discontinue Texas Contract], The Free Library, PRNewswire, August 31, 1999.</ref><ref>Bob, [http://www.texasprisonbidness.org/scandals/tdcj-should-study-history-all-aspects-state-jail-privatization-not-just-costs TDCJ should study history, all aspects of state jail privatization, not just costs], Texas Prison Bid’ness, April 27, 2011.</ref>
*'''Three Former Guards Found Guilty of Civil Rights Conspiracy and Obstruction Charges''' - The [httphttps://www.sourcewatch.org/images/1/1e/DOJ_Press_Release-lea-county.pdf Department of Justice (DOJ) reported] in 2002 that three former Wackenhut guards were found guilty of civil rights conspiracy and obstruction charges at the Lea County Corrections Facility in Hobbs, New Mexico. The jury found the defendants guilty of willfully assaulting an inmate by repeatedly kicking him in the head and causing bodily injury. The jury also found the defendants guilty of falsifying reports and lying to investigators to explain the incident.<ref>Press Release, [httphttps://www.sourcewatch.org/images/1/1e/DOJ_Press_Release-lea-county.pdf Three Former Wackenhut Employees Convicted of Civil Rights Violations], U.S. DOJ, April 12, 2002.</ref>
===Allegations of Violence, Squalor, and Sexual Abuse in GEO Juvenile Prisons===
:The Southern Poverty Law Center also reports: “[http://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/downloads/case/walnutgroveDOJ.pdf The U.S. Department of Justice launched an investigation] into the conditions at the facility in late 2010 and in March 2012 reported finding a wide array of inhumane and unconstitutional conditions at the prison. The report said the state showed ‘deliberate indifference’ in failing to protect youths from harm in seven major areas: sexual misconduct between guards and inmates; use of excessive force by guards; excessive use of chemical agents; poor use-of-force policies, reporting, training and investigations; youth-on-youth violence and sexual assault; and seriously inadequate medical and mental health care. Sexual misconduct, it said, ‘was among the worst that we have seen in any facility anywhere in the nation.’”<ref name="splcwgca"/>
*'''Texas Auditors Find Deplorable Conditions, Including Fecal Matter, Ignored By Internal Monitors''' - In 2007, the Texas Youth Commission found child inmates "living in filth" in a West Texas juvenile prison run by GEO Group. Employees who had previously been tasked with monitoring had not only failed to report the squalid conditions, they had actually given GEO Group exemplary marks and praised the company for its work with youth -- but, it was later discovered, those same employees had worked for GEO Group immediately before starting work as monitors.
:Findings in that independent report included the following, according to the ACLU:<ref name="ACLU"/>
:See also: Texans for Public Justice & Grassroots Leadership, [http://grassrootsleadership.org/sites/default/files/uploads/TXWatchYourAssets.pdf Lax Oversight Plagues Private Prisons in Texas], “Watch Your Assets”, Vol. 1, No. 9, February 6, 2008.
*'''Wackenhut (GEO Group) Settles Allegations of Sexual, Physical, and Mental Abuse of Female Juveniles for $1.5 Million''' - Several young women sued Wackenhut (GEO Group) after they were allegedly sexually, physically, and mentally abused by employees of Wackenhut-owned and operated Coke County Juvenile Justice Center in Texas. The claims were settled in mediation for $1,500,000, according to an [httphttps://www.sourcewatch.org/images/a/ab/Group-4-securicor-toon-appeal.pdf appeal] filed to enjoin enforcement of the settlement agreement.<ref>U.S. Court of Appeals - Fifth Circuit, [httphttps://www.sourcewatch.org/images/a/ab/Group-4-securicor-toon-appeal.pdf ''Toon v. Wackenhut, Doe v. Wackenhut, and Barton v. Wackenhut''], Motion to Appeal, May 17, 2001.</ref>
*'''U.S. Justice Department Sues and Files for Emergency Relief to Protect Juveniles from "Dangerous and Life-Threatening Conditions" at Wackenhut (GEO Group) Juvenile Facility in Louisiana''' - The Department of Justice (DOJ) settled a lawsuit with the state of Louisiana and Wackenhut over allegations of excessive force and neglect at the company’s Jena Juvenile Justice Center in 2000, according to a DOJ press release. The government alleged juveniles were being subjected to "dangerous and life-threatening conditions" at the center. The DOJ filed the emergency lawsuit under the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. In the days that followed, Wackenhut turned over control of the facility to the state, which agreed to implement major reforms at the facility.<ref>U.S. Department of Justice, [http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2000/March/155cr.htm Justice Department Sues, Files for Emergency Relief to Protect Juveniles in Louisiana's Jena Juvenile Justice Center], U.S. federal government agency press release, March 30, 2000.</ref>
[[Image:Profit_from_Pain_In-Humane350px.jpg|left|350px|frame|A UMNS photo by Paul Jeffrey.]]
* '''Judge Says Death of Australian Inmate From Bludgeoning Was Preventable''' - On April 21, 2011, Colin Johnson, an inmate of a GEO Group prison in Australia was found "naked and bent over on his knees, surrounded by blood and vomit," with his head "bashed in" and forehead "massively swollen," as described by the ''Broward Palm Beach New Times''. After being taken to the hospital, Johnson was kept on life support until May 10, at which point doctors ruled that he could not recover. Johnson had been "serving a two-year sentence for drug possession," and had been bludgeoned in mid-afternoon in a common room, where guards were on duty but apparently did not witness any attack. Johnson made it back to his cell, where he was checked on twice that evening without prison staff noticing his injuries, according to the ''New Times''.
A court inquest in March 2015 ruled that Johnson's death could have been prevented with better observation and more timely medical treatment. In his report, state coroner Judge Ian Gray wrote:
:"In my opinion, Mr. Johnson's death was preventable. With the right camera coverage and/or attentive observations by the guards in the office of the day room where Mr. Johnson was attacked, it is less likely that the attack would have occurred but once it did, it is highly likely it would have been seen. Mr. Johnson would have been attended to immediately, medical intervention and treatment would have occurred far earlier, and there is a possibility that he would not have died from his injuries."<ref name="australian prisoner death">Ray Downs, "[http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/judge-says-geo-group-negligent-in-australian-prisoners-brutal-death-6920957 Judge Says GEO Group Negligent in Australian Prisoner's Brutal Death]," ''Broward Palm Beach New Times'', March 31, 2015.</ref>
As of March 2015, no one had been charged in connection to the death.<ref name="australian prisoner death"/>
* '''Immigrant Detainee Dies after Suffering an Epileptic Seizure in Solitary Confinement''' - On December 12, 2008, Jesus Manuel Galindo, aged 32, died of a seizure in his solitary confinement cell at the GEO-managed Reeves County Detention Center in Texas. Galindo, who like many of the inmates at Reeves was being held for entering the country illegally, had been locked up in the Special Housing Unit since November 12, despite desperate pleas "with prison officials to return him to the general population where he had friends who woke him up to take his pills and took care of him during his frequent seizures," according to the ''Texas Observer''.
:Morgan's family had repeatedly tried to contact GEO officials to notify them of her medical condition, but they were "virtually ignored," according to the family's attorney. GEO Group agreed to pay an undisclosed amount to settle a wrongful death suit, which alleged deliberate indifference to Morgan's medical needs. Between 2001 and 2006, six prisoners died of unnatural causes at GHCF, including two suicides and one homicide. Citing “underperformance and frequent litigation,” GEO terminated its contract with Delaware County, Pennsylvania to operate GHCF effective December 31, 2008, according to ''Prison Legal News''.<ref>David M. Reutter, [https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/21009_displayArticle.aspx GEO Cancels Contract at Pennsylvania Jail, Looks Elsewhere for Business], ''Prison Legal News'', accessed September 2013.</ref><ref>David M. Reutter, [https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/displayArticle.aspx?articleid=19243 Pennsylvania County Jail System Overcrowded, Under-Regulated], ''Prison Legal News'', accessed September 2013.</ref>
*'''Class Action Lawsuit to Remedy "Grossly Inadequate and Inhumane Level of Medical Care" at GEO Group-Owned Facility in North Carolina''' – Inmates at the Rivers Correctional Institution in North Carolina, operated by The GEO Group Inc., filed a [httphttps://www.sourcewatch.org/images/a/a1/Mathis_complaint.pdf class action lawsuit] to remedy what they allege is a "grossly inadequate and inhumane level of medical care" at the facility that “has placed men there at substantial and ongoing risk of serious injury or premature death, and has caused permanent physical damage and profound mental and physical pain,” according to the complaint.<ref>[httphttps://www.sourcewatch.org/images/a/a1/Mathis_complaint.pdf Mathis et al v. GEO Group], class action lawsuit, June 28, 2007.</ref><ref>Robert E. Pierre, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/27/AR2007062702375.html Lawsuit Alleges Poor Care at Prison], ''Washington Post'', June 28, 2007.</ref> The case was jointly dismissed in March 2012.<ref>United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, [httphttps://www.sourcewatch.org/images/3/31/Mathis_v_Geo_Group_Dismissal_3-26-2012.pdf Mathis v. GEO Group Dismissal], Case No. 2:08-CT-21-D, March 26, 2012.</ref>
===GEO Group Facilities Plagued by Security Issues, Escapes, & Drugs===
== Other Controversies ==
===Hunger Strikes by Asylum-Seeking Mothers Held at Detention Center in Karnes City, Texas===
In April 2015, 78 immigrant mothers being held at GEO Group's Karnes City family detention center released a signed letter announcing a hunger strike and demanding to be released.<ref>"[http://www.scribd.com/doc/260509319/Karnes-fast-petition Karnes fast petition]," open letter, archived by Scribd, accessed April 22, 2015.</ref> The facility was holding several hundred women and children from Central America who had crossed the U.S. border "during a surge of migration from the violence-plagued countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras," many of whom were seeking asylum, according to ''Huffington Post''.<ref>Roque Planas, "[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/02/karnes-hunger-strike_n_6994436.html Some Hunger-Striking Mothers Were Put In Isolation At Karnes Immigrant Detention Center, Lawyers Say]," ''Huffington Post'', April 2, 2015.</ref> As described by ''The Guardian'', the letter "states that the women have all been refused bond despite having their claims for protection positively assessed during credible-fear interviews and some of their children being offered release." As translated by ''The Guardian'', the letter read in part, "The condition, in which our children find themselves, are not good. Our children are not eating well and every day they are losing weight. Their health is deteriorating. We know that any mother would do what we are doing for their children."<ref> Oliver Laughland and Alan Yuhas, "[http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/01/mothers-texas-karnes-detention-center-hunger-strike Mothers held at Texas detention centre go on hunger strike to demand release]," ''The Guardian'', April 1, 2015.</ref> That strike lasted a week, with four to five women granted bonds on April 9; additional peaceful protests by some women at the facility began on April 14, 2015.<ref> Oliver Laughland and Alan Yuhas, "[http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/14/immigration-mothers-texas-detention-center-protest Mothers at Texas detention centre continue to protest 'horrible' treatment]," ''The Guardian'', April 14, 2015.</ref>
===Residents Object to Plans to Build For-Profit GEO Prison in McAllen, Texas===
{{#evpev:youtube|fKc75A30efw|300|left|Proposed private prison stirs controversy in McAllen, Texas|left|310frame}}On September 11, 2013 approximately 60 people packed City Hall’s third-floor meeting room to urge city officials to reject a plan to partner with GEO Group to construct a 1,000 bed prison in their community.
While the prison was touted as a way to create jobs and a steady income stream for the city, residents rejected the argument on moral and financial grounds. According to local news reports:<ref>KVEO TV Channel 23, [http://www.kveo.com/news/proposed-private-prison-stirs-controversy-mcallen Proposed Private Prison Stirs Controversy], September 13, 2013.</ref>
==Investors==
According to Nasdaq, major investors in GEO Group include: Vanguard, [[BlackRock]], Scopia Capital -- a hedge fund run by Jeremy Mindich and Matt Sirovich -- [[Barclays Bank|Barclays Global Investors]], [[Bank of New York|Bank of New York Mellon]], and more.<ref>Nasdaq, [http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/geo/institutional-holdings GEO Group (The): Institutional Ownership], stock exchange website, accessed September 17, 2013.</ref>
George Zoley, CEO of GEO, is a major stockholder with over 500,000 shares.<ref>U.S. Securities and Exchange Council EDGAR Online, [http://biz.yahoo.com/t/38/285.html ZOLEY GEORGE C: Declared Holdings], ''Yahoo! Finance'' accessed September 17, 2013.</ref> For more on investors, see Ray Downs, "[http://www.vice.com/read/whos-getting-rich-off-the-prison-industrial-complex Who is getting rich off the Prison Industrial Complex?]," ''Vice'', June 2013.
===Lobbying===
GEO Group reported $650,000 in federal lobbying expenses in 2014, the most recent year available. This is just shy of its highest one-year total, $660,000 in 2010. From 2004 to September 20132014, GEO spent just over reported spending $3 .88 million lobbying the federal government, with its biggest lobbying expenditures in 2010 at $660,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP). <ref name="2014 lobbying">Center for Responsive Politics, "[http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000022003&year=2014 GEO Group]," lobbying profile, accessed April 22, 2015.</ref> They also employ two to three lobbying firms a year. Most recently, their additional lobbyists and firms have included Lionel ‘Leo’ Aguirre, Navigators Global LLC, Ridge Policy Group, [[Podesta Group]], Navigators Global LLC, Public Policy Partners, and [[Bryan Cave Strategies|Bryan Cave LLP]].<ref name="2013 GEO Group: Lobbying">Center for Responsive Politics, [http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000022003&year=2013 GEO Group: Lobbying], ''OpenSecrets'' federal lobbying database, accessed September 2013.</ref> Most of the bills GEO Group lobbies for at the federal level are homeland security, immigration, and appropriations bills. Despite that GEO Group's lobbying filings have reported lobbying on bills related to immigration, vice president of government relations Pablo Paez released a media statement to the contrary in 2013: :"The GEO Group has never directly or indirectly lobbied to influence immigration policy. We have not discussed any immigration reform related matters with any members of Congress, and we will not participate in the current immigration reform debate."<ref name="diaz keen coha"/><ref>Lee Fang, "[http://www.thenation.com/blog/174628/disclosure-shows-private-prison-company-misled-immigration-lobbying Disclosure Shows Private Prison Company Misled on Immigration Lobbying]," ''The Nation'', June 4, 2013.</ref> In 2014, GEO reported lobbying related to two bills: S. 744, Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (issues related to health care, alternatives to detention and Immigration Reform), and H.R. 3547, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014 (Issues Related to Alternatives to Detention within ICE House Draft).<ref name="2014 lobbying"/>
:"At the federal level, initiatives related to border enforcement and immigration detention with an emphasis on criminal alien populations as well as the consolidation of existing detainee populations have continued to create demand for larger-scale, cost efficient facilities."<ref name="BusIns"/>
Aguirre, GEO Group’s top lobbyist, has been a lobbyist for the group exclusively since 2008. From 2008 to 20132014, Aguirre has received $1.02 2 million in lobbying income from the company, just over under one-third of GEO Group's total lobbying expenditures from 2004 to 20132014, according to CRP.<ref name="2013 GEO Group: Lobbying2014 lobbying"/><ref>Center for Responsive Politics, [httpshttp://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/firmsum.php?id=F24750%20%20%20%20F25271&year=2013 2014 Lobbying: Aguirre, Lionel "Leo"], ''OpenSecrets'' federal lobbying database, accessed September 2013April 22, 2015.</ref> An article published by Grassroots Leadership reported that Aguirre lobbied the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, the United States Marshals, the House of Representatives, the Department of Transportation, Department of Labor, and the Department of Justice in 2011 and 2012.<ref name="Grassroots">Piper Madison, Grassroots Leadership, [http://grassrootsleadership.org/blog/2013/02/meet-private-prison-industry-s-lobbyists-who-could-shape-immigration-reform Meet private prison industry’s lobbyists who could shape immigration reform], organizational publication, February 6, 2013.</ref>
In the states, GEO Group hired 142 lobbyists in 25 states from 2003 to 2012, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics (NIMSP).<ref>National Institute on Money in State Politics, [http://followthemoney.org/database/lobbyistclient.phtml?lc=100516&y=0 Client Summary: GEO GROUP], ''FollowTheMoney'' state political influence database, accessed September 2013.</ref>
===Federal Political Contributions=== GEO Group and its employees have made nearly $2.3 million in political contributions to individuals and PACs at the federal level from 2004 to September 2013, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.<ref>Center for Responsive Politics, [https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000022003&cycle=A Organization Profiles: GEO Group], ''OpenSecrets'' federal political influence database, accessed September 2013.</ref>
GEO Group and its employees have made nearly 's [[political action committee]] is called the GEO Group Inc. PAC. In 2014, GEO Group's PAC reported spending $518,390, including $2.3 million 110,600 in political contributions to individuals candidates for federal office (32% to Democrats and PACs at 68% to Republicans). This was a sigificant increase from the federal level from 2004 to September 2013$331, according to CRP425 it reported spending in 2012.<ref>Center for Responsive Politics, "[httpshttp://www.opensecrets.org/orgspacs/summarylookup2.php?idcycle=D0000220032014&cyclestrID=A Organization Profiles: GEO C00382150 Geo GroupInc. PAC], ''OpenSecrets'' federal political influence " spending profile, Open Secrets database, accessed September 2013April 27, 2015.</ref>
===State Political Contributions===[[File:GEO_Group_state_political_spending.png|350px|thumb|right|State and Local Contributions. Source: [http://beta.followthemoney.org/show-me?d-eid=1096 National Institute on Money in State Politics].]]GEO Group and its employees also pumped spent over $35.2 7 million into on state-level politics in 24 states from and local political contributions between 2003 to 2012, including contributions to candidates for office, party committees, and ballot initiatives2014, according to data compiled by the National Institute on Money in State Politics.<ref>National Institute on Money in State Politics, "[http://beta.followthemoney.org/entity-details?eid=1096 GEO Group]," political spending data, Follow the Money database, accessed April 27, 2015.</ref> This spending has been concentrated in Florida, California, Texas, and New Mexico (see map at right).<ref>National Institute on Money in State Politics, "[http://topcontributorbeta.phtmlfollowthemoney.org/show-me?ud-eid=1096GEO Group, National Overview]," map generated by Follow the Money database, accessed April 27, 2015.</ref> In 2014, GEO Group's PAC reported $126,950 in contributions to state and local candidates.<ref>Center for Responsive Politics, "[http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/expenditures.php?cmte=C00382150&ycycle=0 Noteworthy Contributor Summary: 2014 GEO GroupInc. PAC], ''FollowTheMoney'' state political influence " Open Secrets database, accessed September 2013April 27, 2015.</ref>
The Justice Policy Institute wrote in 2011:
The FBI has investigated allegations of corruption and political favoritism by Republican leaders in the Florida Legislature toward GEO Group, a top political donor in the state.
According to a report by the Center for Media and Democracy/DBA Press, GEO Group was a top contributor to the Florida Republican Party. "Through two political action committees ([[PAC]]s), Florida GEO Group, Inc. PAC and GEO Group, Inc. PAC, the corporation gave $85,000 to the Republican Party of Florida from 2006 through 2009, along with tens of thousands of dollars in additional contributions to other state Republican Party PACs and campaigns of individual Republican candidates."<ref name="PRW/DBA">Beau Hodai, [httphttps://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/08/11591/marco-rubio-geo-group-and-legacy-corruption "Marco Rubio, GEO Group, and a Legacy of Corruption"], ''PRWatch'', August 29, 2012</ref> "GEO consistently reports annual revenue in excess of one billion dollars dollar-- all of which it earns through state, county and federal contracts for the detention of both criminal offenders and immigrant detainees."<ref name="PRW/DBA"/>
[[Image:MarcoRubio_OfficialPortrait_112thCongress.jpg|thumb|<center>Florida Senator Marco Rubio</center>|200px|right]]From 2005 through 2010, Geo, through its PACs, dispensed an additional $15,000 to the [[National Republican Congressional Committee]], an additional $32,000 to the [[National Republican Senatorial Committee]], and an additional $10,000 over 2009 and 2010 directly to the [[Marco Rubio]] for U.S. Senate PAC.<ref name="PRW/DBA"/> In addition, GEO CEO and founder, George Zoley gave $7,400 in personal contributions to Rubio's campaign.<ref name="PRW/DBA"/>
According to ''DBA Press'', U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and other state GOP lawmakers and party contributors were the subject of "multiple wide-ranging state and federal investigations conducted by the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement," including $110 million in appropriations for the GEO designed and operated Blackwater River Correctional Facility, which opened in November 2010.<ref name="Hodai2"/>
In 2009 and 2010, ''DBA Press'' continues, the GEO Group Inc. PAC contributed $10,000 to the Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate PAC. In addition, on one single day in 2010, "several top GEO corporate executives, along with GEO lobbyists and subcontractors, gave a total of $33,500 in individual contributions to the Florida Victory Committee, a PAC created for the benefit of three other PACS: Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate, the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the Republican Party of Florida." GEO Chief Executive Officer and founder George Zoley made a total of $7,400 in personal disbursements to the Rubio campaign that day.<ref name="Hodai2">Beau Hodai, [httphttps://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/08/11591/marco-rubio-geo-group-and-legacy-corruption Marco Rubio, GEO Group, and a Legacy of Corruption], originally published by ''DBA Press'', January 2011; cross-posted to and updated at ''PRWatch'', August 29, 2012.</ref>
McCaig's letter "sparked the interest of federal investigators," according to ''DBA Press''. Florida's prosecution ended up focusing on the alleged "improper use of Florida Republican Party credit cards . . . [by] former party chairman Jim Greer." The appropriations language for Blackwater CF was written into the 2008-2009 budget by Sen. Rubio's former budget chief, Representative Ray Sansom (R-Destin). He "was indicted on charges of lying to a grand jury, official misconduct, grand theft and conspiracy in relation to the Odom case," but Florida dropped all charges in May 2011.<ref name="Hodai2"/>
==Corporate Subsidies and Government Contracts==
According to [http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/subsidy-tracker Subsidy Tracker], a project of [http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/ Good Jobs First], since 2008 GEO Group has received a state and local subsidies totaling at least $3,902,288. These include: *A tax credit/rebate worth $3,018,393 in 2008 from Louisiana*A tax credit/rebate worth $775,683 in 2012 from New Mexico*Tax credits/rebates worth $100,397 from Colorado*A training reimbursement subsidy of $7,815 in 2010 from the Mississippi Community College Board-Office of Workforce Education for their East Mississippi Correctional Facility.<ref>Good Jobs First, [http://wwwsubsidytracker.goodjobsfirst.org/subsidy-tracker/ms-prog.php?parent=geo-group-east-mississippi-correctional-facility GEO Geo Group-East Mississippi Correctional Facility], corporate profile, "Subsidy Tracker," accessed July 2013April 21, 2015.</ref>
Since 2008, GEO Group has received over $2,629,423,344 1.4 billion in contract awards from the federal government according to USASpending.gov, with the largest amount in awards coming from the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of State.<ref>USASpendingUSA Spending.gov, [httphttps://www.usaspending.gov/explorePages/AdvancedSearch.aspx?frompagesub=contractsy&tabST=By%20Prime%20AwardeeC,G,L,O&contractoridFY=6127064652015&contractornameRN=GEO%20GROUP%2C%20INC.%2C%20THE&frompage=contracts&comingfrom=searchresults&fiscal_year=all Prime Award Spending Data: 20Group GEO Group], IncU.]S. Government database, accessed August 2013April 21, 2015.</ref>Total awards by fiscal year::2015 : $166,125,565 (as of April 2015):2014 : $248,867,857:2013 : $199,799,351:2012 : $198,047,686:2011 : $162,835,778:2010 : $302,078,507:2009 : $95,304,686:2008 : $54,729,613 :'''Total: $1,427,789,043'''
==History==
[[Image:George-Zoley.jpg|200px|right|frame|<center>George Zoley</center>]][[George C. Zoley]] is GEO Group's Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, and founder. He has been employed by GEO Group for 26 years, after founding the company in 1984. Zoley also serves as director for many of GEO Group's subsidiaries worldwide. He is a graduate of Florida Atlantic University and Nova Southeastern University.<ref name="GeorgeZoley"> [http://www.geogroup.com/George_C__Zoley GEO Group: George C. Zoley], accessed August 9, 2013.</ref>
Zoley's base salary for the 2012 2014 fiscal year was $1.145 million, the same as the previous year214,730. He also received $1.756 27 million in stock awards, a $2,220,728 1.4 million bonus, a $795265,218 increase 289 in the value of his pension, and $59158,658 321 in other compensation, for a total compensation of $54,976316,604797. Zoley's perks in 2014 included 30 hours of personal use of the corporate aircraft.<ref name="2012Proxy2014Proxy">The GEO Group, Inc., [http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/923796/000119312513132372000119312515097062/d507253ddef14ad862089ddef14a.htm #toc862089_9 Schedule 14A Proxy Statement], SEC filing, March 2818, 20132015.</ref>
In 2012, in addition to the $5,976,604 that Zoley received in compensation from the GEO Group in 2012,<ref>The GEO Group, Inc., Schedule 14A Proxy Statement, SEC filing, March 28, 2013.</ref> he also received more than $5 million in dividends from converting the GEO Group into a real estate trust, according to the ''Palm Beach Post''.<ref>Jeff Ostrowski, "[http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/business/fpl-parents-chiefearns-33-million/nYQ48/ FPL Parent’s Chief Earns $33 Million, Highest Salary In Palm Beach County, Treasure Coast]," ''Palm Beach Post'' (sub. req'd.), June 22, 2013.</ref> The ''Post'' also reports that as part of the REIT conversion, GEO sold its residential treatment centers, at a loss, for $36 million to a group led by Zoley, and quotes compensation expert Paul Hodgson of BHJ Partners as saying the deal "raises multiple red flags." Hodgson is quoted as saying "that’s a clear conflict of interest. If I were a shareholder of that firm, I’d be raising questions."<ref>Jeff Ostrowski, "[http://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/business/fpl-parents-chiefearns-33-million/nYQ48/ FPL Parent’s Chief Earns $33 Million, Highest Salary In Palm Beach County, Treasure Coast]," ''Palm Beach Post'' (sub. req'd.), June 22, 2013.</ref>
According to SEC filings, from 2008-2012 2014 George C. Zoley's compensation was $2231,315253,704997.<ref name="2012Proxy">The GEO Group, Inc., [http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/923796/000119312512129863/d284491ddef14a.htm Schedule 14A Proxy Statement], SEC filing, March 23, 2012.</ref><ref name="2013Proxy">The GEO Group, Inc., [http://services.corporate-ir.net/SEC/Document.Service?id=P3VybD1hSFIwY0RvdkwyRndhUzUwWlc1cmQybDZZWEprTG1OdmJTOWtiM2R1Ykc5aFpDNXdhSEEvWVdOMGFXOXVQVkJFUmlacGNHRm5aVDA1TkRneU5EUXdKbk4xWW5OcFpEMDFOdz09JnR5cGU9MiZmbj1UaGVHRU9Hcm91cEluYy5wZGY= Schedule 14A Proxy Statement], SEC filing, March 21, 2014.</ref><ref name="2014Proxy"/>
:2008 : $2,866,248
:2012 : $5,976,604
:2013 : $4,621,496 :2014 : $4,316,797 ::'''Total:''' $2231,315253,704997
Total executive compensation for the top GEO executives from 2008 to 2012 2014 was $4059,715950,411145. <ref name="2012Proxy"/><ref name="2013Proxy"/><ref name="2014Proxy"/>
:2008 : $4,143,154
:2009 : $6,831,741 :2010 : $7,079,224 :2011 : $11,174,992
:2010 2012 : $711,079486,224300
:2011 2013 : $119,174288,992537
:2012 2014 : $119,486946,300197
::'''Total:''' $4059,715950,411145
Born in 1960, Zoley has been with GEO or its former parent company, the [[Wackenhut Corporation]], since 1981.<ref>Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, [http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/91/91331/pdf/WHC2000_10K.pdf SEC Form 10-K], December 31, 2000.</ref> He once called the late George Wackenhut, the controversial<ref>Matt Schudel, "[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54899-2005Jan6.html George Wackenhut Dies: Security Pioneer]," ''The Washington Post'', January 7, 2005.</ref><ref>Jennifer Bayot, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/08/business/08wackenhut.html?_r=0 George Wackenhut, 85, Dies; Founded Elite Security Firm]," ''The New York Times'', January 8, 2005.</ref> right-wing founder of Wackenhut Corporation, the person he most admired.<ref>“Wackenhut Corrections: George Zoley, CEO,” ''The Palm Beach Post'', September 21, 1998.</ref>
===Board of Directors===
GEO Group board of directorsas of August 2014: <ref name =“GEO Group Board of Directors”> [http://www.geogroup.com/board_of_directors GEO Group Board of Directors] accessed August 921, 2013 2014.</ref>
*[[George C. Zoley]] - Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and Founder
*[[Richard H. Glanton]] - Chairman, CEO and Founder, Philadelphia Television Network
*[[Clarence E. Anthony]] - President and CEO of Anthony Government Solutions, Inc.
*[[Christopher C. Wheeler]] - Former Member and Partner of Proskauer Rose LLP. (Florida Office)
*[[Julie M. Wood]] - CEO of Guidepost Solutions
===Management Team===
GEO Group management teamas of August 2014: <ref> [http://www.geogroup.com/management_team GEO Group Management Team] accessed August 921, 2013 2014 </ref>*[[George C. Zoley]] - CEO and Founder*[[Brian R. Evans]], - Senior VP and CFO*[[John M. Hurley]], - Senior VP and President of GEO Corrections & Detention*[[Jorge AAnn M. DominicisSchlarb]], - Senior VP GEO Community Services*[[John J. Bulfin]], - Senior VP General Counsel and Corporate Secretary*[[Thomas M. Wierdsma]], - Senior VP Project Development*[[Stephen Fuller]], - Senior VP Human Resources*[[David J. Venturella]] - Senior VP Business Development
== Subsidiaries ==
===Related PRWatch Articles===
* Brendan Fischer, [httphttps://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/09/12255/violence-abuse-and-death-profit-prisons-geo-group-rap-sheet Violence, Abuse, and Death at For-Profit Prisons: A GEO Group Rap Sheet], ''PRWatch'', September 26, 2013.* Brendan Fischer, [httphttps://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/09/12249/lockup-quotas-help-profit-prison-companies-keep-profits-high-and-prisons-full Lockup Quotas Help For-Profit Prison Companies Keep Profits High and Prisons Full], ''PRWatch'', September 20, 2013.* Brendan Fischer, [httphttps://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/06/12153/pushback-against-privatization-across-country Pushback Against Privatization Across the Country], ''PRWatch'', June 28, 2013.* Beau Hodai, [httphttps://www.prwatch.org/news/2013/05/1211212115/dissent-or-terror-new-report-details-how-arizonas-counter-terrorism-apparatus-partnershipwas-corporateused-mon Dissent or Terror: How Arizona's Counter Terrorism Apparatus, in Partnership with Corporate Interests, Turned on Occupy Phoenix], '"PRWatch'', May 20, 2013.* Beau Hodai, [httphttps://www.prwatch.org/news/2012/08/11591/marco-rubio-geo-group-and-legacy-corruption Marco Rubio, GEO Group, and a Legacy of Corruption], ''PRWatch'', August 29, 2012.
===External Articles===
<references />
[[Category:Corporations]][[Category:Prison]][[Category:Privatization]][[Category:United States]][[Category:ALEC ExposedCorporations]]
