Supreme Court rules against private prison firm alleged to have forced immigrant detainees to work for $1 a day

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled against a private prison company facing a lawsuit alleging immigration detainees were forced to work and paid only $1 a day in Colorado.

The unanimous ruling is a procedural defeat for the GEO Group, but it’s not a final decision. The company is fighting a lawsuit from 2014 alleging detainees in Aurora had to perform unpaid janitorial work and other jobs for little pay to supplement meager meals.

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GEO defended its practices and argued that the case should be tossed out because it’s immune from lawsuits as a government contractor.

After a judge disagreed, the company asked the Supreme Court to allow it to quickly appeal the ruling. But the justices refused.

The Florida-based GEO Group is one of the top private detention providers in the country, with management or ownership of about 77,000 beds at 98 facilities. Its contracts include a new federal immigration detention center where Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested at a protest in May 2025, before the case against the Democrat was dropped.

Similar lawsuits have been brought on behalf of immigration detainees elsewhere, including a case in Washington state, where the company was ordered to pay more than $23 million.

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