GEO Group
 | |
| Company type | Public (NYSE: GEO) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Outsourced correctional services |
| Founded | 1984 (as Wackenhut Corrections (WCC)) |
| Founder | George Zoley |
| Headquarters | 621 NW 53rd St. Boca Raton, FL, USA |
Area served | USA Australia South Africa United Kingdom |
Key people | George Zoley (Chairman) & (CEO) |
| Revenue |  $ 1.61 billion (2011) [1] |
| $ 192.2 million (2011) [1] | |
| $ 77.5 million (2011) [1] | |
| Total assets | $ 3.049 billion (2011) [1] |
| Total equity |  $ 1.039 billion (2011) [1] |
Number of employees | 20,000- 2011[2] |
| Subsidiaries | GEO Care, Inc. The GEO Group Australia GEO Transportation, Inc. The GEO Group UK Ltd. |
| Website | geogroup.com |
The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO) is a company headquartered at 621 NW 53rd St., Boca Raton, Florida in Greater Miami.[3] GEO is a multi-national provider of governmental services specializing in the management of correctional, detention and mental health and residential treatment in North America, Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom. GEO operates a broad range of correctional and detention facilities including maximum, medium and minimum security prisons, for-profit prisons known as immigration detention centers, minimum security detention centers and mental health and residential treatment facilities.
History
In 1988, the company was incorporated as Wackenhut Corrections Corporation. In 2003 the company's Board of Directors approved a name change to The GEO Group, Inc.
As of the fiscal year ended December 28, 2008, GEO managed 59 facilities totaling approximately 53,400 beds worldwide and had an additional 3,600 beds under development at seven facilities. Excluding its 200-bed Oak Creek Confinement Center, which was for sale at the end of 2008, the company had an average facility occupancy rate of 96.6% for 2008.[4]
On August 12, 2010, Cornell Companies and GEO merged.[5]
The GEO Group owns and operates the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, under contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the largest and primary investigative wing of the United States Department of Homeland Security. GEO Group also holds a large number of shares of the Correctional Services Corporation.
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. 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, all of which is currently conducted in the U.S. GEO's Facility construction and design segment primarily consists of contracts with various state, local and federal agencies for the design and construction of facilities for which GEO has been awarded management contracts.[4]
Risks associated with business
From the Annual Report of The GEO Group, Inc.:[6]
"In particular, the demand for our correctional and detention facilities and services and BI's services could be adversely affected by changes in existing criminal or immigration laws, crime rates in jurisdictions in which we operate, the relaxation of criminal or immigration enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction, sentencing or deportation practices, and the decriminalization of certain activities that are currently proscribed by criminal laws or the loosening of immigration laws. For example, any changes with respect to the decriminalization of drugs and controlled substances could affect the number of persons arrested, convicted, sentenced and incarcerated, thereby potentially reducing demand for correctional facilities to house them. Similarly, reductions in crime rates could lead to reductions in arrests, convictions and sentences requiring incarceration at correctional facilities. Immigration reform laws which are currently a focus for legislators and politicians at the federal, state and local level also could materially adversely impact us."[7]
Controversies
A full scale prisoner uprising occurred on April 24, 2007 at the GEO Group-operated New Castle Correctional Facility in Indiana. The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel reported that "Authorities were investigating whether the six-hour fracas that involved about 500 offenders started Tuesday afternoon because some of the newly arrived prisoners from Arizona were upset about their treatment at the medium-security men’s prison."[8]
Between 2005 and 2009, at least eight people had died at the GEO Group-operated George W. Hill Correctional Facility in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, the state's only privately run jail. Several of those deaths resulted in lawsuits by family members who say the facility did not provide adequate medical care or proper supervision for offenders. On December 31, 2008, GEO pulled out of operations at this facility, "citing underperformance and frequent litigations" as the reasons.[9]
In 2008, Sandy Morgan, a schizophrenic woman who suffered from a thyroid condition died at the Delaware County jail where she had been held for six weeks. Family members said she did not receive her medication during her incarceration.[10]
On April 25, 2008, Kenneth Keith Kallenbach died from cystic fibrosis after being denied his medication. He had been housed at the jail since mid-March. Kallenbach's mother, Fay, said her son called her a week before his death, asking her to intervene and help him receive better treatment.[11]
An inmate in 2008 claimed he was denied access to dental care for a cavity, and as a result it festered into an ulcer that burst open requiring three surgeries.[12]
In November 2010 plaintiffs filed a federal lawsuit against the agencies that operate and own the Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility, saying that the prison authorities allowed abuses and negligence to occur at the facility.[13] The lawsuit states that prison guards engaged in sexual intercourse with the prisoners and smuggled illegal drugs into the facilities, and that prison authorities denied education and medical care. As of that month the prison has about 1,200 prisoners ages 13–22; the lawsuit says that half of the prisoners are incarcerated for nonviolent offenses.[14] Weeks prior to the filing of the lawsuit, United States Department of Justice officials informed Governor of Mississippi Haley Barbour that the department had started an investigation concerning the prison.[15] GEO settled the lawsuit in February 2012 and it was agreed to move the remaining youths from the prison to more suitable locations that conform to juvenile standards.[16] Former Walnut Grove YCF warden and eight-term mayor, William Grady Sims, resigned and pleaded guilty to removing a female inmate to a motel for sex and pressuring her to lie about it. He faces up to 20 years in Federal prison. Sims also owned 18 vending machines inside the prison.[17]
The GEO Group also owns and operates a 720-bed facility[18] in Pompano Beach, Florida, called the Broward Transitional Center, so named because of its focus on detaining alleged illegal immigrants. It is the only privately-run prison in Florida.[19] In July 2012, after many anecdotal reports of abuses at the facility, two illegal immigrants turned themselves in to authorities, with the knowledge that they would be transported and housed in the facility and would be able to investigate the conditions therein firsthand. Reports quickly emerged of "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 wasn't taken to see a doctor." Many detainees were also found to have had no serious criminal record, or no criminal record at all, and despite this were being held at the facility for weeks or months. In the wake of these reports, first broken by Democracy Now!, a number of members of Congress, including Pompano Beach's Ted Deutch, wrote a letter to the regulatory body responsible for the conditions at the facility, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), demanding an investigation. As of January 2013, ICE had not responded to the congresspeople; a second letter was written, and as of March 2013, this letter also had yet to be met with a response.[20][21]
In February 2013, the GEO Group purchased naming rights to Florida Atlantic University's football stadium.<ref> Kirkham, Chris. "Florida Atlantic Football Stadium Will Be Named For Private Prison Company".
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e 2011 Annual Report The Geo Group. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
- ^ "About Us". The Geo Group. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
- ^ "GEO: Locations". The GEO Group, Inc. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
- ^ a b The GEO Group (2008). 2008 10-K Annual Report. Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
- ^ Home. (Direct image link) Cornell Companies. Retrieved on November 22, 2010.
- ^ Geo Group Form 10-K. March 2, 2011. Retrieved on March 7, 2012.
- ^ Risk Factors from Form 10-K. March 2, 2011. Retrieved on March 7, 2012.
- ^ "Indiana prison riot quelled". USA Today. 2007-04-25. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
- ^ Rose, Alex. "A changing of the guard at county prison". delcotimes.com. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
- ^ Lambert, Jacob (January 28, 2009). "My Brother's Keeper". Philadelphia Weekly. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
- ^ "Howard Stern 'Wack Pack' Member Kenneth Keith Kallenbach Dies at 39". FOXNews.com. 2008-04-25. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
- ^ Rosa, Erin (2009-03-01). "CorpWatch : GEO Group, Inc.: Despite a Crashing Economy, Private Prison Firm Turns a Handsome Profit". Corpwatch.org. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
- ^ Byrd, Sheila. 1 Suit attacks conditions at Miss. juvenile lockup. Associated Press at The Washington Post. Tuesday November 16, 2010.
- ^ Byrd, Sheila. "Lawsuit attacks ‘barbaric’ conditions at state youth prison." Associated Press at the Sun Herald. Saturday November 20, 2010. Retrieved on November 22, 2010.
- ^ Mitchell, Jerry. "Private prison firm sued." The Clarion Ledger. November 17, 2010. Retrieved on November 22, 2010.
- ^ Mohr, Holbrook "Groups Say Deal Reached in Juvenile Prison Suit." Associated Press at the Sun Herald. Monday February 27, 2012. Retrieved on February 28, 2012.
- ^ Gates, Jimmy E. "Former Walnut Grove Mayor Pleads Guilty In Inmate Sex Case." The Clarion Ledger. Tuesday February 14, 2012. Retrieved on February 28, 2012.
- ^ "Locations: Broward Transitional Center". The GEO Group, Inc. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
- ^ O'Matz, Megan (2013-01-05). "Immigrants with no criminal history get lengthy stays at little-known jail". SunSentinel.com. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
- ^ Feltz, Renee (2012-07-31). "DREAM Activist Speaks from Broward Detention Center: Listen to Exclusive Interview". DemocracyNOW.org. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ Ordonez, Franco (2012-10-05). "Democrats demand investigation in case of Florida immigration detainees". McClatchyDC.com. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
