GEO Group Detainee Pay Dispute Set for Argument at 9th Circuit

GEO Group Inc. will defend its bid to vacate jury verdicts awarding a total of $23.23 million to immigrant detainees and Washington state in a federal appeals court in Seattle.

At issue is the private prison operator’s practice of paying a $1 daily wage to civil detainees at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma, Wash., to cook and serve food, operate the laundry service, and help maintain the privately owned facility while they await decisions in their immigration proceedings.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will hear oral argument Thursday in the case, which may clarify ...