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The Private Prison Industry

The private prison industry includes for-profit companies that provide correctional services. Most well-known are companies such as Corrections Corporation of America (CCA, which has rebranded as "CoreCivic"), the GEO Group and Management & Training Corp. (MTC), which own and operate prisons, jails and other detention facilities. CCA and GEO are publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

A wide variety of other correctional services are also privatized, and thus monetized -- including prison medical care, mental health care, food services, transportation services, pharmaceutical services, telephone services, money transfer services, commissary/canteen services, video visitation, secure email services and more. Together these companies make up the private prison industry, which directly profits and benefits from incarceration.


 Are you aware of private prison contract violations? 

We are interested in hearing from whistleblowers, including current or former private prison employees, who are aware of contract violations or fraud by private prison firms. For example, contracts may require that private prison operators provide specific services or programs that they are not providing, or specific staffing levels they have failed to meet. If you have documentation about contract violations or fraud at private prisons, please contact us confidentially via our contact page. Note that whistleblowers may be entitled to financial compensation for exposing fraud by government contractors.

 

Recent Articles

 

New Report on Privatized Prison Food Shines a Light on Aramark’s Harmful Practices

by Daniel A. Rosen

My most vivid memory of Aramark’s food service inside jails and prisons came early on in my incarceration: I watched a man at the D.C. Jail dig into the entrée on his evening meal tray and uncover half a dead mouse. Those of us …

Airconditioning Failure at Troubled ICE Detention Center in New Jersey

by Jo Ellen Knott

The Jersey Vindicator reported thatthe GEO Group-operated Delaney Hall, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Newark, New Jersey, is facing severe infrastructure failures and exposing detainees to dangerous conditions.

In early July 2026, as the worst heat wave in New Jersey …

$100,000 Paid to New York Detainee Whose Infant Died in Syracuse Jail

by Chuck Sharman

New York’s Onondaga County agreed to pay a former detainee in the County jail $100,000 on March 3, 2026, resolving her claim for denial of medical care during a gruesome 30-hour labor while giving birth to an infant daughter who was then transported to a …

Fourth Circuit Affirms Damages Class Certification in Opioid Treatment Denial

by Michael Dean Thompson

Wexford Health Services, Inc. is a private healthcare profiteer that contracts with prison systems and jails across the country, offering “comprehensive” medical services to incarcerated persons. However, Wexford provides opioid withdrawal treatment only as an optional service at additional cost to the prison or …

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