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Private Prison Infrastructure
GEO Group and CoreCivic are the 2 largest private prison companies in the United States. At last count in January 2025, for-profit detention centers imprisoned 86% of people detained by ICE. CoreCivic and GEO Group managed 13 of the top-20 detention centers with the highest average daily population of people under incarceration. In 2023, CoreCivic had capacity to manage 65,000 beds at 43 prisons and jails throughout the US while GEO Group managed 100 prisons worldwide (majority in the US) with capacity for 81,000 beds.
Over the years, both of these companies have been plagued by persistent allegations of human rights abuses, including medical neglect, forced labor, and unsafe conditions.
They are publicly traded companies, both of which have contributed millions to the Trump Administration's PACs, and both of which have seen their stock prices soar since Trump was elected. Trump's cruel immigration policy is lining the pockets of investors and making a lot of people very wealthy. But at what cost?
This is not the first time the financing of the private prison industry has been targeted. During Trump's first administration in which he enacted Family Separation policy, the banking industry was pressured to cut ties with the private prison industrial complex. These campaigns were successful in forcing some lenders to turn off the money spigot with JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America pledging to sever ties with the industry.
It's important to remember that during Trump's Family Separation years, there was also a flurry of policy proposals aimed at ending the private prison industry. This culminated in President Biden signing Executive Order 14006 on January 20th, 2025, which instructed the Department of Justice to not renew existing contracts with private prison operators. Trump rescinded Biden's order with Executive Order 14148.
Regardless of the whipsaw changes to policy and practice, the core truth remains the same as it was 6 years ago: the private prison system must be abolished. Profits should never be associated with a carceral system. Doing so creates perverse incentives to punish and imprison rather than rehabilitate, empower, and uplift. If we truly value the lives of human beings in our society, we will eliminate the profit motive by abolishing the private prison industry.
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