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, Florida, 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.[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.
On August 12, 2010, the GEO Group acquired Cornell Companies for US$730 million in stock and cash.[4] GEO Group also holds a large number of shares of the Correctional Services Corporation.
Facilities
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.[5]
The GEO Group owns and operates the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, Florida and the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, under contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the largest and primary investigative wing of the United States Department of Homeland Security.
Other GEO Group facilities include the Cleveland Unit in Texas, and the Junee Correctional Centre of New South Wales, Australia.
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.[5]
Investment risks
The GEO Group's 2011 10-K filing identified uncertainties which could affect investor outcomes, such as interest and inflation rates, earnings of subsidiaries, demand from government correction and mental health authorities, facility occupancy levels, liability insurance and litigation.[6]
Philanthropic Activities
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.[7][8]
Controversies
On April 24, 2007, inmates rioted for two hours at the GEO Group's New Castle Correctional Facility in Indiana, resulting in fires and minor injuries to staff and inmates.[9] The Indiana Department of Correction concluded that the recent transfer of 600 inmates from Arizona to a new section at New Castle contributed to a lack of experience among prison staff, but that the inmates themselves were responsible for the riot.[10] The riot prompted criticism of Indiana's practice of housing other states' inmates, and Indiana suspended plans to accept more Arizona inmates, pending measures to help out-of-state inmates adjust to Indiana prison policies.[11]
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.[12]
In 2007, Texas Youth Commission fired seven employees after discovering inmates at a West Texas juvenile prison living in "deplorable conditions," and cancelled its contract with GEO Group to run the facility. The fired quality assurance monitors not only failed to report the conditions, but also praised GEO staff for their running of the facility. Prior to working as monitors for the TYC, all were formerly employed by the GEO Group.[13]
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.[14] 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.[15] 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.[16] 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.[17] 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.[18]
The GEO Group also owns and operates a 720-bed facility[19] in Pompano Beach, Florida, called the Broward Transitional Center. It is the only privately owned immigration detention center in Florida.[20] 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.[21]
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.
- ^ Paez, Pablo E. (2010 August 12). "The GEO Group Closes $730 Million Merger with Cornell Companies" (Press release). Boca Raton, Florida: GEO Group. Retrieved 2013 March 16.
{{cite press release}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help) - ^ a b The GEO Group (2008). 2008 10-K Annual Report. Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
- ^ "Risk Factors from Form 10-K". March 2, 2011. Retrieved March 16, 2013.
- ^ Bishop, Greg (19 February 2013). "A Company That Runs Prisons Will Have Its Name on a Stadium". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
- ^ Kirkham, Chris (19 February 2013). "Florida Atlantic Football Stadium Will Be Named For Private Prison Company". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 16 March 2013.
- ^ "Indiana prison riot quelled". USA Today. 2007-04-25. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
- ^ Wilson, Charles (2007-05-24). "Report Details Cause of Ind. Prison Riot". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2013-03-16.
- ^ Evans, Tim; Eschbacher, Karen; Ryckaert, Vic (2007-04-24). "9 hurt in New Castle prison riot". Retrieved 2013-03-16.
- ^ Rose, Alex. "A changing of the guard at county prison". delcotimes.com. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
- ^ Khalek, Rania. How private prisons game the system. Salon.com. Dec 1, 2011.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Ordonez, Franco (2012-10-05). "Democrats demand investigation in case of Florida immigration detainees". McClatchy Newspapers. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
