Private prison giants post $1.4 billion in spring earnings as detention numbers surge

CoreCivic and GEO Group, America’s leading private-prison firms, announced a combined $1.4 billion in revenue for the spring quarter, reflecting a 27% rise for CoreCivic and a 15% increase for GEO Group year over year. The earnings, reported after a government shutdown, stem from a growing detainee population—almost 66,000 people—approaching the highest levels since January, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

CoreCivic’s figures do not yet incorporate a $1.6 billion sale of four detention sites to the Department of Homeland Security, part of a broader strategy to meet a presidential goal of 100,000 detainees. Both companies are also profiting from ankle-monitor programs targeting Haitian immigrants who have lost protected status, with GEO Group noting additional income from transportation and flight contracts tied to increased deportations. Executives emphasized that lower operating costs and expanded surveillance services are making detention operations more lucrative.