GEO Group
 |
|
| Public | |
| Traded as | : GEO S&P 600 Component |
| Industry | Outsourced correctional services |
| Predecessor | The Wackenhut Corporation |
| Founded | 1984 (as Wackenhut Corrections Corporation (WCC)) |
| Founder | George Zoley |
| Headquarters | 621 NW 53rd St. Boca Raton, Florida, US |
|
Area served
|
USA Australia South Africa United Kingdom |
|
Key people
|
George Zoley (Chairman) & (CEO) |
| Revenue |
 $ 1.61 billion (2011) |
|
$ 192.2 million (2011) |
|
|
$ 77.5 million (2011) |
|
| Total assets |
$ 3.049 billion (2011) |
| Total equity |
 $ 1.039 billion (2011) |
|
Number of employees
|
20,000- 2011 |
| Subsidiaries |
GEO Care, Inc. The GEO Group Australia GEO Transportation, Inc. The GEO Group UK Ltd. |
| Website | geogroup.com |
The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO) is a Florida-based company specializing in corrections, detention and mental health treatment. It maintains facilities in North America, Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom. In 2015 the GEO Group's federal contracts with the United States government for operating prisons generated about 45% of its revenues. GEO Group facilities include prisons of all three security levels, immigration detention centers, minimum-security detention centers, and mental health and residential treatment facilities. It owns numerous facilities and, in other cases, operates state or federal facilities under contract.
The company has been the subject of civil suits in the United States by prisoners and families of prisoners for injuries due to riots and poor treatment at prisons and immigrant detention facilities which it has operated. In addition, due to settlement of a class-action suit in 2012 for its management of a Mississippi juvenile facility, the largest in the nation, the GEO Group lost this state contract. Related federal investigations of kickback and bribery schemes associated with nearly $1 billion in Mississippi state contracts for prisons and related services have resulted in the criminal prosecution of several public officials there.
In August 2016 the US Department of Justice announced its intention to phase out contracts with privately operated prisons. The US Department of Homeland Security said it was reviewing its contracts with private firms, which operate several immigrant detention facilities.
Wackenhut Corrections Corporation (WCC) was formed as a division of The Wackenhut Corporation (now a subsidiary of G4S Secure Solutions) in 1984. It was incorporated as a Wackenhut subsidiary in 1988. In July 1994, WCC became a separately traded public company. In 2003, WCC management raised funds to repurchase all common stock held by G4S, changing its name to The GEO Group, Inc.
In 2005, the GEO Group acquired Correctional Services Corporation (CSC) for US$62 million in cash, and assumed $124 million of that company's debt.
GEO sold CSC's juvenile services division in 2005 to James Slattery, CSC's former CEO, for $3.75 million. Slattery renamed this business as Slattery's Youth Services International.
On August 12, 2010, the GEO Group acquired Cornell Companies, formerly Cornell Corrections, for $730 million in stock and cash.
In 2010, the company was reported to operate more than a dozen facilities in the state of Texas, and nearly three dozen in the rest of the United States. In addition to prison facilities operated under contract with U.S. states, the GEO Group owns and operates the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, Florida, the Aurora Detention Facility and the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, all under contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). As of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012, GEO managed 96 facilities worldwide totaling approximately 73,000 beds, including 65,949 active beds and 6,056 idle beds. The company had an average facility occupancy rate of 95.7% for 2012.
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Wikipedia