The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit sided with Attorney General Nick Brown, affirming decisions by a lower court and a jury that found the for-profit operator of the Northwest ICE Processing Center exploited detainee workers and unjustly enriched itself through unlawful labor practices. 

Starting in 2005, The GEO Group financially benefitted from a work program that paid detainee workers $1 per day — far less than Washington’s minimum wage. Workers performed essential tasks for the detention center, such as doing laundry, preparing food and cleaning. The work included cooking and serving three meals a day, scrubbing showers and toilets, cleaning the walk-in oven, and buffing and waxing the floors in the middle of the night. “For-profit businesses in Washington must all follow the same rule — if you employ workers, you must pay them fairly. The appeals court today confirmed that companies that break our state laws will be held accountable.” – AG Brown

https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ninth-circuit-affirms-profit-operator-northwest-ice-processing-center-violated