GEO Group Pays $100,000 in Landmark Cal/OSHA Settlement Over Detention Facility Conditions

The GEO Group agreed to pay more than $100,000 to settle a Cal/OSHA complaint over workplace safety failures at its Golden State Annex immigration detention facility in McFarland, where detainees work for $1 a day. Regulators cited the company for failing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among detainee workers. The settlement, signed in May and announced in July, marks the first time California has successfully treated a detention operator as an employer subject to state labor law — GEO Group also agreed to improve its disease-control plans and dropped its challenge to the state’s authority.