Federal judge orders private prison company to pay $5.9M for ‘unjust enrichment’
(The Center Square) – U.S. District Court Judge Robert Bryan ordered the GEO Group (GEO), the Florida-based for-profit company that operates the Northwest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Processing Center, to surrender $5.9 million as “unjust enrichment” unlawfully gained via paying immigrant detainees $1 a day.
That’s in addition to the $17.3 million to be paid to more than 10,000 people detained there for back wages owed. That monetary decision by a federal jury followed on the heels of said jury deciding GEO must pay its detainee workers the state minimum wage.
“This is a landmark victory for workers’ rights and basic human dignity,” Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a Tuesday press release on Judge Brayan’s ruling against GEO.
Unjust enrichment is defined as the increased value to GEO’s business generated from its unfair labor practices.
The lawsuit sparking all this dates back to a complaint filed against the private contractor in 2017 claiming that detainees were, in violation of Washington state’s minimum wage law, paid $1 a day for cooking, cleaning, laundry services, and other menial jobs.
Minimum wage in Washington state is $13.69 an hour. That will increase to $14.49 next year.
Located on Tacoma’s Tideflats and with the capacity to house more than 1,500 immigrant detainees, the Northwest ICE Processing Center is the fourth-largest immigration detention facility in the country.
Disclaimer: This content is distributed by The Center Square