Private prison corporations profit from immigrant detention labor at $1 per day

WASHINGTON, United States (MNTV) – As President Donald Trump intensifies his sweeping detention and deportation campaign across the United States, a disturbing new spotlight has fallen on the booming private prison industry now cashing in on the suffering of tens of thousands of immigrants trapped inside detention centers.

With more than 60,000 detainees currently held nationwide, private prison giants GEO Group and CoreCivic are reportedly generating massive profits while detainees labor for wages that critics describe as shockingly exploitative.

A scathing report released by watchdog organization Public Citizen accuses the corporations of operating what critics call a deeply abusive labor system hidden behind the government’s so-called Voluntary Work Program.

According to researcher Douglas Pasternak, nearly half of detained immigrants who remain imprisoned for more than a few days are funneled into the program, earning only $1 per day while performing the essential work needed to keep detention facilities operational.

Inside detention centers such as Adelanto Detention Center in California and Stewart Detention Center in Georgia, detainees reportedly work exhausting shifts of up to 14 hours cooking meals, cleaning buildings, carrying out maintenance duties, and handling daily operations that would otherwise require paid employees. Yet despite the grueling labor, detainees receive only a single dollar for an entire day’s work, amounting to just pennies per hour.

Critics argue the system becomes even more disturbing because many detainees are effectively forced to spend their tiny wages inside commissaries operated by the very same corporations profiting from their labor.

According to the report, basic necessities are sold at heavily inflated prices. At Stewart Detention Center, a tube of Sensodyne toothpaste reportedly costs more than $11, forcing detainees to work nearly two weeks just to afford toothpaste. A simple bar of soap or can of tuna can require several days of labor.

“This entire $1 a day pay scheme is economically unjustifiable, fundamentally unfair, and morally reprehensible,” Pasternak declared, condemning what he described as a system built on desperation and exploitation.

The report paints a stark picture of staggering corporate wealth rising alongside immigrant hardship. CoreCivic reportedly increased its profits from nearly $69 million in 2024 to more than $116 million in 2025, while both CoreCivic and GEO Group generated revenues exceeding $2 billion in 2025. Former CoreCivic chief executive Damon Hininger reportedly received $7.2 million in compensation before retiring.

One of the report’s most explosive revelations centers on George Zoley, co-founder of the GEO Group, whose sprawling luxury mansion in Boca Raton, Florida reportedly includes nine bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, and more than 18,000 square feet of living space. The property is estimated to be worth over $22.5 million.

Researchers described the contrast between immense executive wealth and detainees earning $1 a day as “striking.”

The report also revisits a major legal battle in Washington State, where courts found that the GEO Group had unjustly benefited from detainee labor. Court findings showed the company would have needed to hire dozens of full-time workers at the state minimum wage if detainees had not performed the labor. Instead of spending millions on lawful wages, the company reportedly paid detained immigrants only a fraction of that amount. A court ordered GEO Group to pay millions in back wages and penalties, though the company has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court of the United States.

At least six additional federal lawsuits are now challenging the legality of paying immigrant detainees only $1 per day. Human rights advocates warn that the growing detention system is evolving into a vast profit-driven network where corporations enrich themselves through the labor of some of the country’s most vulnerable people.

“The private contractors running immigrant detention centers are pocketing millions of dollars in profits as tens of thousands of detainees struggle to afford to purchase a bar of soap or a tube of toothpaste,” Pasternak said. “The dichotomy between the contractors’ profits and the detainees’ pay is outrageous.”