Will you take that in Snickers or Doritos?
GEO Group is part of our ugly infrastructure that needs torn down
A federal jury has ruled that The GEO Group, a Florida-based, self-described real estate investment trust with multiple federal contracts, owes thousands of immigrant detainees $17.3 million for unpaid and coerced labor. That settlement amounts to roughly minimum wage for people who performed maintenance and more in the centers that housed them.
Previously, the group had paid detainees $1 a day, or they paid them in candy or chips.
Today (Monday), according to the linked Washington Post story:
U.S. District Judge Robert Bryan will decide how much money GEO Group must pay the state for unjust enrichment — a sum on top of the $17.3 million already ordered.
This settlement should kick open the door on corrupt practices within these awful immigration detention centers — as well as the mental health facilities run by groups like GEO. If we really are going to build back better, a strict reform of these contracts must be part of that effort. Otherwise, the hands of the federal government — and, by extension, us — are as dirty as GEO’s.
Hear the good news!
Thanks for passing it on.