In Earnings Calls, Private Prison Executives Revel in Profiting Off ICE Arrests

"During a second-quarter earnings call in August, an executive with the GEO Group ticked off a list of the private prison company's accomplishments so far this year. These included securing contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for expanded immigrant detention centers in New Jersey, Michigan, Georgia, and California; working to convert six facilities - most of them former prisons - into ICE detention sites; and making moves to cash in on detention operations at military sites."

""All of these efforts are aimed at placing our company in the best competitive position possible to pursue what we continue to believe are unprecedented growth opportunities," George Zoley, the executive chair of the GEO Group board, told investors and other stakeholders attending the Aug. 6 call, according to audio and call transcripts from the online investment research website, Seeking Alpha."

"'Our business is perfectly aligned with the demands of this moment,' CEO Damon Hininger said on the Aug. 7 call. 'We are in an unprecedented environment with rapid increases in federal detention populations nationwide and a continuing need for solutions we provide.' In some sense, the cheerfulness was not surprising. The day after President Donald Trump was elected to his second term, shares for GEO Group and CoreCivic jumped by double digits."

GEO Group secured ICE contracts to expand immigrant detention centers in New Jersey, Michigan, Georgia, and California, and began converting six facilities, mostly former prisons, into ICE detention sites while pursuing detention operations at military sites. GEO leadership framed these moves as positioning the company competitively to pursue unprecedented growth opportunities. CoreCivic executives reported rapid increases in federal detention populations and asserted that their business aligns with current demands. Shares for both companies rose sharply after the president's reelection, reflecting investor expectations of expanded deportation and detention activity. Private prison companies remain positioned to profit from expanded federal immigration enforcement.

Read at Truthout