Though their detention centers have been plagued by allegations of negligence and poor conditions, Geo Group and CoreCivic are poised to make bank off Trump’s immigration crackdown. But can they handle millions of new detainees?
Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2025/01/29/billion-dollar-companies-run-most-ice-detention-centers-can-they-handle-trumps-immigration-crackdown/
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Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2025/01/29/billion-dollar-companies-run-most-ice-detention-centers-can-they-handle-trumps-immigration-crackdown/
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Today on Forbes, the billion-dollar private prison companies capitalizing on Trump's immigration crackdown.
00:08The prognosis for Dulce Atuaman Caruancho was grim.
00:14Doctors at the Oshner Lafayette General Hospital in Louisiana had told the 21-year-old's family
00:19she might not survive her brain bleed.
00:22Though the cause of the injury and the bruises across her body was not clear, her lawyers
00:26believe it was the result of trauma she'd suffered inside the South Louisiana Ice Processing
00:32Center, or SLIPC, a female-only detainment facility for immigrants run by the $5 billion-valued
00:39private prison company GeoGroup.
00:42A Peruvian national, Caruancho had been moved to SLIPC after being detained in Arizona,
00:49where she had told customs officials she was seeking political asylum.
00:53She spent a month there before being rushed to Oshner Lafayette, where, according to a
00:57suit brought against Geo, she arrived with, quote,
01:01"...evidence consistent with repeated sexual abuse and trauma, including significant bruising
01:05in and around her buttocks."
01:08Caruancho survived, but with brain damage.
01:12Released from ICE custody after she was discharged from the hospital in late 2023, her family
01:17lawyers told Forbes she still struggles to walk unaided, often requires help using the
01:22bathroom, and only began feeding herself again last July.
01:26To this day, she has no recollection of what happened to her inside SLIPC.
01:32And GeoGroup has done little to explain.
01:35The Caruanchos are suing Geo, alleging multiple failures to protect Dulce and an effort to
01:40conceal its negligence.
01:42They claim the company has not shared how she sustained her injuries and has provided
01:46almost no information on her confinement at SLIPC.
01:51Responding to an October subpoena for investigative reports, movement logs, and surveillance footage
01:56related to the incidents that harmed Caruancho, Geo returned only a single medical report
02:01and a basic inmate file.
02:03Now, a year and a half after the incident, the Caruanchos say the detainment facility
02:08still has not provided an account of what caused Dulce's injuries.
02:13Geo spokesperson Christopher Ferreira told Forbes the company denied all the allegations
02:18in the Caruanchos' suit, describing them as, quote, baseless.
02:22The suit is ongoing.
02:25As the Trump administration ramps up what it claims will be the largest mass deportation
02:29effort in U.S. history, Caruancho's allegations, and others like them, raise questions about
02:34how an already overtaxed system will handle what will likely be an unprecedented influx
02:39of new detainees.
02:40A Forbes review of over 20 lawsuits filed against Geo and its chief competitor, CoreCivic,
02:46in the last year, and interviews with former staff, found repeated allegations of mismanagement,
02:52understaffing, and dangerous conditions at their facilities.
02:56All the cases are ongoing, bar one that was settled out of court.
03:00And a recent American Civil Liberties Union report into fatalities at ICE detention centers
03:04between 2017 and 2021 noted that of the 52 total immigrant deaths reported, 18 occurred
03:11at CoreCivic properties and 13 at Geo facilities.
03:15The report found 95% were preventable.
03:19Liz Casey, a social worker for the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project in Arizona,
03:24where CoreCivic and Geo run correctional complexes, said, quote,
03:28What we hear from our clients and other people who are detained in private ICE centers is
03:32just a basic lack of humanity in terms of the conditions inside, in the cleanliness,
03:37the medical care, pretty much every aspect of life.
03:42Both companies contested that characterization, saying they provided humane and clean facilities
03:47with accredited health care for detainees.
03:50Geo and CoreCivic, as well as their two smaller rivals, LaSalle Corrections and Management
03:55and Training Corporation, or MTC, are eagerly awaiting a boom in business as the Trump administration
04:00ramps up its deportation programs.
04:03After Trump's win, Geo CEO George Zoli enthused in a November earnings call that the president-elect's
04:09immigration stance presented a, quote, unprecedented opportunity, and said the business was looking
04:15at a, quote, potential doubling of all of our services.
04:20$2.5 billion-valued CoreCivic and $5 billion-valued Geo stock prices spiked 76% and 75%, respectively,
04:29on the president's victory in November.
04:31Since then, the two companies have been laying the groundwork to secure the ICE contracts
04:36likely to come from a new wave of arrests during what Trump has promised will be the
04:40largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history.
04:44For full coverage, check out Thomas Brewster's piece on Forbes.com.
04:50This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.
04:52Thanks for tuning in.