00:00Today on Forbes, the billion-dollar private prison companies capitalizing on Trump's immigration crackdown.
00:08The prognosis for Dulce Atuaman Caruancho was grim.
00:14Doctors at the Oshner Lafayette General Hospital in Louisiana had told the 21-year-old's family
00:19she might not survive her brain bleed.
00:22Though the cause of the injury and the bruises across her body was not clear, her lawyers
00:26believe it was the result of trauma she'd suffered inside the South Louisiana Ice Processing
00:32Center, or SLIPC, a female-only detainment facility for immigrants run by the $5 billion-valued
00:39private prison company GeoGroup.
00:42A Peruvian national, Caruancho had been moved to SLIPC after being detained in Arizona,
00:49where she had told customs officials she was seeking political asylum.
00:53She spent a month there before being rushed to Oshner Lafayette, where, according to a
00:57suit brought against Geo, she arrived with, quote,
01:01"...evidence consistent with repeated sexual abuse and trauma, including significant bruising
01:05in and around her buttocks."
01:08Caruancho survived, but with brain damage.
01:12Released from ICE custody after she was discharged from the hospital in late 2023, her family
01:17lawyers told Forbes she still struggles to walk unaided, often requires help using the
01:22bathroom, and only began feeding herself again last July.
01:26To this day, she has no recollection of what happened to her inside SLIPC.
01:32And GeoGroup has done little to explain.
01:35The Caruanchos are suing Geo, alleging multiple failures to protect Dulce and an effort to
01:40conceal its negligence.
01:42They claim the company has not shared how she sustained her injuries and has provided
01:46almost no information on her confinement at SLIPC.
01:51Responding to an October subpoena for investigative reports, movement logs, and surveillance footage
01:56related to the incidents that harmed Caruancho, Geo returned only a single medical report
02:01and a basic inmate file.
02:03Now, a year and a half after the incident, the Caruanchos say the detainment facility
02:08still has not provided an account of what caused Dulce's injuries.
02:13Geo spokesperson Christopher Ferreira told Forbes the company denied all the allegations
02:18in the Caruanchos' suit, describing them as, quote, baseless.
02:22The suit is ongoing.
02:25As the Trump administration ramps up what it claims will be the largest mass deportation
02:29effort in U.S. history, Caruancho's allegations, and others like them, raise questions about
02:34how an already overtaxed system will handle what will likely be an unprecedented influx
02:39of new detainees.
02:40A Forbes review of over 20 lawsuits filed against Geo and its chief competitor, CoreCivic,
02:46in the last year, and interviews with former staff, found repeated allegations of mismanagement,
02:52understaffing, and dangerous conditions at their facilities.
02:56All the cases are ongoing, bar one that was settled out of court.
03:00And a recent American Civil Liberties Union report into fatalities at ICE detention centers
03:04between 2017 and 2021 noted that of the 52 total immigrant deaths reported, 18 occurred
03:11at CoreCivic properties and 13 at Geo facilities.
03:15The report found 95% were preventable.
03:19Liz Casey, a social worker for the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project in Arizona,
03:24where CoreCivic and Geo run correctional complexes, said, quote,
03:28What we hear from our clients and other people who are detained in private ICE centers is
03:32just a basic lack of humanity in terms of the conditions inside, in the cleanliness,
03:37the medical care, pretty much every aspect of life.
03:42Both companies contested that characterization, saying they provided humane and clean facilities
03:47with accredited health care for detainees.
03:50Geo and CoreCivic, as well as their two smaller rivals, LaSalle Corrections and Management
03:55and Training Corporation, or MTC, are eagerly awaiting a boom in business as the Trump administration
04:00ramps up its deportation programs.
04:03After Trump's win, Geo CEO George Zoli enthused in a November earnings call that the president-elect's
04:09immigration stance presented a, quote, unprecedented opportunity, and said the business was looking
04:15at a, quote, potential doubling of all of our services.
04:20$2.5 billion-valued CoreCivic and $5 billion-valued Geo stock prices spiked 76% and 75%, respectively,
04:29on the president's victory in November.
04:31Since then, the two companies have been laying the groundwork to secure the ICE contracts
04:36likely to come from a new wave of arrests during what Trump has promised will be the
04:40largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history.
04:44For full coverage, check out Thomas Brewster's piece on Forbes.com.
04:50This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.
04:52Thanks for tuning in.
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