Posts Tagged ‘GEO Group’
Lawsuit: FEC Won’t Act on Private Prison Firm’s Illegal Donations to Trump Campaign
The Campaign Legal Center (CLC), a nonprofit group filed a lawsuit Jan. 10 in federal district court in Washington, D.C. claiming the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has not acted on the group’s complaint, filed more than a year ago, that a private prison company made illegal six-figure campaign donations to a “super PAC” (political action…
Read MoreThe hypocrisy of imprisoning undocumented immigrants
Tragic photos capturing the horrific realities of many of the world’s refugee populations have been making the rounds recently. And while I choose my words carefully here—refugees are not the same as migrants—it all relates back to the way we treat those seeking out better opportunities for themselves and their loved ones. The reasons behind…
Read MoreTaking the Charter School Approach to Prison
By Andra Ghent America spends a lot of money locking up a lot of people. Understandably, legislators are trying to find ways of cutting prison costs without increasing crime rates. One tactic legislators increasingly rely on to manage costs is private prisons. Research from the Sentencing Project shows that, between 1999 and 2010, the share…
Read MoreSEC Rejects CCA, GEO Group Shareholder Resolutions to Reduce Prison Phone Rates
On February 18, 2014, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) granted a request filed by for-profit prison company GEO Group to exclude a shareholder resolution that sought to reduce the high cost of phone calls made by prisoners at GEO-operated facilities. Ten days later, the SEC granted a request by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)…
Read MoreFlorida Prisoner Awarded $1.2 Million for Burn Injuries
A Florida jury has awarded a prisoner $1.2 million in a negligence suit against the GEO Group, the nation’s second-largest for-profit prison company, following a trial that was delayed more than a year after a juror said he was afraid to reach a verdict.
The case stemmed from an August 28, 2007 argument between prisoners Roy D. Hyatt and Rodney Smith in the dayroom of their unit at the South Bay Correctional Facility. Following the spat, Smith used a microwave to boil a container of water. He then returned to the dayroom and threw the water on Hyatt, who sustained first- and second-degree burns to approximately 30% of his body and lost the use of one eye.
Hyatt sued GEO in state court, alleging the company was aware of other incidents in which prisoners had used microwaves to boil water to assault other prisoners.
Hyatt’s complaint, filed by attorney Philip G. Thompson, claimed that GEO had breached its duty of care by allowing prisoners unrestricted “access to microwaves to boil water which could be used as a weapon against other inmates.” The suit also alleged that it was reasonably foreseeable that the incident involving Hyatt and Smith could occur, since GEO did not remove or restrict prisoners’ access to microwaves.
On May 10, 2011, shortly before the trial in the case was to begin, a juror told Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Glenn Kelley that he feared for his safety if he returned a verdict against Hyatt.
Read MoreGEO Group Bounty For Federal Employees
By Christopher Zoukis Private prison corporation GEO Group is not only the recipient of fat federal contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), and other agencies: it’s also the retirement location for the former federal officials charged with awarding GEO Group its contracts. GEO Group has a long history…
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