In the last two years, major private prison companies Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Group have spent at least $4,350,000 on lobbying the federal government, primarily to win immigration-related contracts. What does that kind of money buy you? Some pretty lucrative contracts, apparently. In 2011, the federal government paid $1.4 billion to the two corporations, nearly a third of their total profits.
In fact, a 2011 report by Grassroots Leadership and Detention Watch Network found that private prison corporations operate nearly half of all Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention beds. What's more, private prison corporations are benefiting greatly from the criminalization of migration through programs like Operation Streamline.
It’s no surprise – or secret – that immigration reform which reduces detentions and deportations would be a threat to private prison corporations' business. Business Insider reported on February 2nd that in 2011, GEO Group CEO George Zoley told investors:
"At the federal level, initiatives related to border enforcement and immigration detention with an emphasis on criminal alien populations as well as the consolidation of existing detainee populations have continued to create demand for larger-scale, cost efficient facilities."
That same year, CCA stated in its annual earnings report that immigration reform
“could affect the number of persons arrested, convicted, and sentenced, thereby potentially reducing demand for correctional facilities to house them."
So who are these wealthy private prison corporations looking to to win them immigration detention contracts? Below the jump are just some of the some the major lobbyists for private prison interests in Washington:
Read more about Meet the private prison industry’s lobbyists who could shape immigration reform