Company halts work program instead of upping detainee pay

By GENE JOHNSON
Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP) — The company that runs a for-profit immigration jail in Washington state has suspended its detainee work program, rather than pay the detainees minimum wage for cooking, cleaning and other tasks. A federal jury last week ruled that the GEO Group must pay the detainees minimum wage instead of $1 per day. The Florida-based company has been ordered to pay $23 million in back pay and unjust profits. Following the ruling, GEO told the detainees at the Northwest detention center in Tacoma that they could no longer perform such work. Detainees tell The Associated Press that some sanitation work is no longer being performed as often as before.