WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday against a private prison company facing a lawsuit alleging that immigrant detainees were forced to work for as little as $1 a day in Colorado.
The unanimous ruling was a procedural failure for GEO Group, but it was not the final decision. The company is responding to a 2014 lawsuit alleging that detainees in Aurora were forced to work unpaid janitorial and other jobs for little pay to supplement their meager meals.
GEO has defended its practices and argued that the case should be dismissed because it is immune from lawsuits as a government contractor.
After the judge disagreed, the company asked the Supreme Court to allow it to quickly appeal the ruling. But the judges refused.
Florida-based GEO Group is one of the largest private detention service providers in the United States, managing or owning approximately 77,000 beds in 98 facilities. Its contract included building a new federal immigration detention center, and cases against Democrats were dropped after Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested at a protest in May 2025.
Similar lawsuits have been filed elsewhere for immigration detainees, including a case in Washington state where the company was ordered to pay more than $23 million.
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