Latest news with #TheGEOGroup
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Oklahoma House committee greenlights purchase of Lawton private prison, pledges no job cuts
House budget chair Rep. Trey Caldwell, R-Faxon, speaks at an announcement of a budget deal for the 2026 fiscal year on May 14. (Photo by Emma Murphy/Oklahoma Voice) OKLAHOMA CITY — A House budget committee on Monday voted to move forward with spending $312 million to purchase a private prison in Lawton that the state uses to house about 2,300 inmates. Rep. Trey Caldwell, R-Faxon, said The GEO Group, which operates the Lawton Correctional and Rehabilitation Facility in south Comanche County, no longer wants to continue its business relationship with the state. Caldwell, who chairs the House's appropriations committee and authored House Bill 2780, said legislators have made 'multiple overtures' to the company to avoid having to purchase the prison, which included offering increases in the amount the state pays in per diem rates to care for inmates. 'The company has stood steadfast now going back to January that they do not want to continue their business relationship with the state of Oklahoma,' Caldwell said. He said Gov. Kevin Stitt's office also requested the state purchase the prison. Caldwell said last year, lawmakers passed a per diem increase to keep up with cost of living increases, but it was vetoed by Stitt. At the time, Stitt wrote in his veto message that he rejected the $3 million increase because he did not want to put taxpayers on the hook for increasing salaries of private corporations that have state contracts. The GEO Group responded to the veto by announcing it was abruptly ending its contract with the state. The Department of Corrections, which at the time had over 2,600 inmates in the prison, responded, alleging that the Lawton facility was the 'most violent prison' in the state and lacked 'the standard of care expected.' Around the same time, two inmates were killed and 30 others were injured during a fight. The Department of Corrections and The GEO Group ultimately agreed to a one-year contract extension. Caldwell said both The GEO Group and the Department of Corrections have had legitimate frustrations. He said the Department of Corrections has been concerned about inmate safety and violence in the facility, and The GEO Group had concerns that the state agency was incorrectly reclassifying inmates to make sure they qualified for incarceration in Lawton. 'I think that in the past there are things that both sides could point to and say that they've done wrong,' Caldwell said. 'I think our job as a Legislature is looking at problems and trying to find solutions going forward. That's what this piece of legislation does. It gets Oklahoma out of the private prison business.' The Lawton facility is the state's last privately operated prison, though the state leases and runs one other that is owned by a private entity. The $312 million purchase is an 'all-in price.' He said in the past, the state has purchased private prisons where the company took everything within the parameters of the prison with them, which made it very hard to immediately take control. This time, the contract includes vehicles, refrigerators, furniture, utensils, security cameras, the computer system and the warden's house. It also includes private acreage next to the facility. He said estimates show it would cost the state between $1.3 billion and $2 billion to build a similar facility. The prison employs about 450 people, and every employee will be offered employment with pay that is at least equal to what they're receiving now as well as state benefits, Caldwell said. The Department of Corrections will continue to be allocated the $47 million appropriation that The GEO Group had received, but the agency instead will use it to maintain and pay those employees. Caldwell said the state has excess capacity to house minimum security inmates, but it doesn't have the same space availability to incarcerate offenders classified as medium security or who must be in protective custody. Rep. Meloyde Blancett, D-Tulsa, said lawmakers did not intend to purchase a prison from a strategy perspective, and questioned if all efforts had been made to reconcile the differences between The GEO Group and the state's executive branch 'at a time when we could be investing in other things that are of greater value.' Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Oklahoma City, who cast the sole dissenting vote against the purchase, said he had hoped this purchase would open up some additional capacity to help address issues with Oklahoma's aging prison infrastructure. He was told it would not. 'I was hoping to hear that we might have some capacity that we could shut down someplace else,' he said. 'We have a number of prisons that are desperately in need of renovation, ancient, and those are places, frankly, oftentimes our DOC folks are not safe,' he said. The measure, which passed by a 27-1 vote, next heads to the full House for consideration. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trio of immigrant rights laws signed by WA governor
Gov. Bob Ferguson signed a trio of bills on Monday related to protecting immigrants in Washington state. (Photo by Jacquelyn Jimenez Romero/Washington State Standard) Gov. Bob Ferguson signed three bills to protect immigrant rights this week. These included measures to strengthen state power to inspect private detention facilities, prevent coercion in the workplace, and prohibit bail bond agents from enforcing immigration laws. Lawmakers put forward the legislation at a time when President Donald Trump is trying to crack down on people crossing into the country illegally and as his administration presses to deport immigrants already in the U.S. without legal authorization. Here's a look at what the new state laws would do. State lawmakers have been pushing for greater transparency at the for-profit immigrant detention center in Tacoma. Previous efforts on this front have landed the state in court battles with the for-profit company that operates the facility, The GEO Group. House Bill 1232 is the latest attempt to pave the way for the state's Department of Health to inspect the Northwest ICE Processing Center and enforce compliance with state and federal laws there. It establishes additional standards for such facilities in areas like sanitation, ventilation and medical care, along with new safeguards against abuse. The bill also expands the definition of private detention facilities to include those run by nonprofit organizations after The GEO Group, which runs the Tacoma facility, claimed to be singled out under existing law. The nonprofit Martin Hall Juvenile Detention Facility, near Spokane, will now join the list of these facilities. Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self, D-Mukilteo, sponsor of the bill, said she hopes this legislation demonstrates the state is not targeting a single facility. The law is effective immediately. There is often limited recourse for immigrant workers facing threats or being exploited by their employer. Senate Bill 5104, sponsored by Sen. Bob Hasegawa, D-Seattle, intends to give immigrant workers better tools when facing coercion in the workplace. The bill would require the state's Department of Labor and Industries to investigate complaints of coercion and would allow the agency to impose civil penalties when violations occur. Coercion differs from retaliation because it happens before an employee raises an issue. Retaliation happens after the employee does so. During the complaint process, when a worker files a complaint, the department will notify the employer, but language in the bill was added to make a worker's personal information confidential to anyone other than the department and the employee. 'Every Washington worker can and should feel safe to report workplace injustices without fear of coercion or retaliation of any kind,' Ferguson said at the bill signing. The bill would take effect on July 1. Following an incident in January during a public meeting in Sunnyside, a person claiming to be a 'bounty hunter' said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would soon use bail bond agents to arrest people in the U.S. without legal authorization and pay them $1,000 for every arrest. ICE had detained two people in Sunnyside around this time. Senate Bill 5714 would expand the list of unprofessional conduct for bail bond agents to include enforcement of a civil immigration warrant. The Department of Licensing could take disciplinary action against agents found to be in violation. Bail bond agents already largely lacked the authority to get involved in immigration issues. But Sen. Yasmin Trudeau, D-Tacoma, said she introduced the bill because 'people can operate right on the boundaries.' The law, she said, will provide clarification about those boundaries and the penalties for crossing them. It would also prevent agents from sharing a defendant's immigration status with anyone outside their business. The bill would take effect on July 27. In addition to the laws the governor signed Monday, the Legislature approved a bill to allow immigrants to use paid sick time for immigration proceedings, which Ferguson signed in April, and a bill to have an expedited pardon process for those facing deportation, which is awaiting the governor's signature. Lawmakers also maintained funding in the budget they approved for a state program that provides health care coverage that mirrors Medicaid to a limited number of immigrants without legal status. Ferguson has still not signed off on the budget legislation.
Axios
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Axios
New Washington law targets private detention centers
A new Washington law seeks to increase state oversight of privately run detention facilities, including the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma. Why it matters: The law — which Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed Monday — is the latest salvo in a battle over whether state officials can inspect and regulate the immigration detention center, which is run by a for-profit company, The GEO Group, under a federal contract. Zoom in: The newly signed law allows the state Department of Health to inspect privately run detention facilities at any time to ensure they are meeting minimum standards, including for food safety, access to medical care, and adequate running water. Facilities that don't meet those standards can be fined up to $10,000 per violation, or up to $1 million in total. The law included an emergency clause, causing it to take effect immediately upon receiving Ferguson's signature. State of play: Last month, U.S. Rep. Emily Randall (D-Bremerton) told reporters the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma held more than 1,300 people, which she described as a sharp increase from previous months. Yes, but: Right now, the state Department of Health isn't inspecting conditions inside the facility, with state officials saying they have previously been denied entry. Since June 2023, the department has received more than 1,500 complaints about the Tacoma detention center, many of which concerned medical issues, water quality or availability, and unsanitary living conditions, according to data provided by the department. Catch up quick: In 2023, Washington lawmakers passed a similar law mandating state inspections of private detention facilities. But a federal judge struck down much of the law last year, ruling it "impermissibly discriminates against GEO" and its Tacoma facility. The state is appealing that ruling. Between the lines: The new law expands the definition of privately run detention centers, so that it will apply to at least one other facility — Martin Hall, a juvenile detention center in eastern Washington that is run by a not-for-profit. What they're saying: The GEO Group didn't respond to an email from Axios seeking comment on Monday, but it previously told Axios that it considered this year's legislation unconstitutional. "Any effort by a state to regulate a federally contracted facility is wrong under federal case law and the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution," the company told Axios in a written statement in late March.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO) Nosedived on Wednesday
We recently published an article titled . In this article, we are going to take a look at where The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) stands against the other stocks. The stock market bounced back from the previous day's losses, with all major indices finishing higher as investors cheered the central bank's decision to keep interest rates unchanged. On Wednesday afternoon, the Federal Reserve kept rates steady at a range of 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent, saying that it was not in a hurry to cut rates and could still 'wait and see' the impacts of President Donald Trump's tariff policies. The Dow Jones rallied by 0.70 percent, the S&P 500 increased by 0.43 percent, and the Nasdaq grew by 0.27 percent. Beyond the major indices, bucked a broader market optimism as investors sold off on a series of disappointing news. To come up with the list, we considered only the stocks with a $2-billion market capitalization and $5-million trading volume. Security guards in uniforms patrolling an area, standing for the company's safe and secure facilities. The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) fell by 10.04 percent on Wednesday to end at $27.32 apiece as investors soured on its dismal earnings performance during the first quarter of the year. In its financial statement, The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) said net income fell by 13.9 percent to $19.5 million from $22.67 million in the same period last year, while revenues slightly dipped to $604 million from $605 million year-on-year. Looking ahead, the company expects higher operating expenses and capital expenditures 'to position our company for future growth.' It said the move is expected to lay in during the second half of the year and normalize in 2026. 'We also remain focused on reducing our net debt, deleveraging our balance sheet, and positioning our company to explore opportunities to return capital to shareholders in the future. In 2025, we expect to reduce our total net debt by approximately $150 million to $175 million, bringing our total net debt to approximately $1.54 billion,' said The GEO Group Inc. (NYSE:GEO) Executive Chairman George Zoley. Overall GEO ranks 5th on our list of Wednesday's worst performers. While we acknowledge the potential of GEO as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than GEO but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this . READ NEXT: and . Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at . Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO) One of the Best Prison and Law Enforcement Stocks to Buy According to Analysts?
We recently published a list of . In this article, we are going to take a look at where The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) stands against other best prison and law enforcement stocks to buy. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, an estimated 11.7 million people were detained in prisons across the globe at the end of 2019. This translates to the population of entire countries such as Belgium, Tunisia, Bolivia, or Burundi. The number of people detained in prisons has increased by over 25% since 2000. While a majority of the people imprisoned over the last two decades are men, at around 93%, the number of women in prisons is rising at a faster pace, undergoing a 33% growth as compared to a 25% rise in men. These growing numbers are being reflected in other trends in the industry as well. According to Grand View Research, the US law enforcement PPE (personal protective equipment) industry had a market size of $839.4 million in 2021. It is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.0% between 2022 and 2030. Since awareness regarding officer safety in riot control and tactical situations is gaining ground, it is positively impacting growth in this industry. Demand for law enforcement PPE, including face shields, protective clothing, respirator masks, goggles, and surgical masks, especially surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. READ ALSO: and . Various other trends are also materializing in the law enforcement industry. At the end of 2024, CNBC reported that police departments across the United States are beginning to use AI to write police reports. Various companies are developing AI tools to aid police departments in easing the burden of administrative tasks, with law enforcement focusing on slashing budget pressures and crime rates while retaining and recruiting staff. However, legal experts are simultaneously raising red flags over the increasing use of AI in police work, citing concerns such as transparency, accuracy, and potential bias. These challenges can affect the future of AI in law enforcement and policing. A significant part of the impact depends upon the extent to which such tools are used and how they are adopted in the sector. CNBC reported that Utah State Senator Stephanie Pitcher, a defense attorney with Parker & McConkie, said the following about the situation: 'For all of the potential issues that AI technology creates in terms of admissibility of evidence, in terms of being completely transparent, in terms of trying to mitigate the biases that can be introduced into the system, I just don't know that it's worth it.' We sifted through stock screeners, financial media reports, and ETFs to compile a list of 20 prison and law enforcement stocks and chose the top 11 with the highest analyst upside potential as of April 25, 2025. We also included the number of hedge fund holders for each stock as of fiscal Q4 2024, sourcing the hedge fund sentiment data from Insider Monkey's database. The list is ordered in ascending order of analyst upside potential. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (). Security guards in uniforms patrolling an area, standing for the company's safe and secure facilities. Analyst Upside: 50.43% Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 39 The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) designs, finances, develops and supports services for processing centers, secure facilities, and community re-entry facilities. Its operations are divided into the following segments: US Secure, Electronic Monitoring and Supervision, Re-entry, and International Services. The US Secure Services segment comprises the US-based public-private partnership correction and detention segment, while the Electronic Monitoring and Supervision Services segment offers services in the US. The International Services segment offers public-private partnership secure services operations in South Africa and Australia, and the Re-entry Services Segment comprises various community-based and re-entry services. On April 15, the New York Times reported that the GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) has built a lucrative business segment focusing on digital tools that provide immigrant surveillance on behalf of the federal government over the last decade. This has made it one of the most prominent business winners amidst deportations in Trump's administration. The company's smartwatches, ankle monitors, and tracking applications are helping the government by detecting and reporting unauthorized immigrant locations to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. On March 25, Noble Capital raised the firm's price target on GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) to $35 from $32, keeping an Outperform rating on the shares following the company's investor day. The analyst told investors that GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE:GEO) announced significant growth opportunities under its new initiatives to manage undocumented immigrants on investor day, along with its goal to both return capital to shareholders and slash debt. Overall, GEO ranks 7th on our list of the best prison and law enforcement stocks to buy. While we acknowledge the potential for GEO as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than GEO but trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Sign in to access your portfolio
