GEO Group, a private prison company based in Boca Raton, Fla., said on an investor call Thursday that it is likely to sell several more of its detention facilities to the federal government as soon as December.
George Zoley, GEO’s chairman, chief executive, and founder, said the company is pursuing more sales of its detention centers to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Zoley said he expects the number of facilities ICE wants to buy outright to grow, but he did not say which ones or how many. GEO’s earnings release says it has no firm agreement or timeline for more sales.
Zoley said GEO plans to keep running the detention centers it sells, which he called an important part of its role supporting ICE. Earlier Thursday, CoreCivic, another private prison company, urged ICE to move quickly on buying more of its detention facilities, as Project Salt Box reported.
The sales would put more detention centers in federal hands before Democrats take control of Congress. Democrats won majorities in both the House and the Senate on Tuesday, and the new Congress takes office Jan. 3.
Federal ownership would also put the buildings beyond the reach of some state laws. Documents detailing ICE’s purchase of a facility near Seattle say “federal supremacy” rules would shield it from local and state requirements, according to Project Salt Box’s review of federal contracting documents.
A Homeland Security spokesperson told Times of San Diego that the agency bought two California detention centers in July to counter local efforts to block them. On an earlier investor call, Zoley said that as some states consider closer oversight, “the logical solution to much of that is federal ownership of the facilities,” The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Once the government owns a detention center, getting rid of it would be slow. ICE would first have to declare that it no longer needs the property and report it to the General Services Administration. Federal law then requires the property to be offered to other federal agencies, screened for use by groups serving homeless people, and offered to state and local governments for public uses before it can be sold. A Senate committee report found that the process can involve more than 20 steps, and the homeless screening alone can add as much as two years, according to a Congressional Research Service report.
ICE is currently trying to sell seven warehouses it bought earlier this year as part of its detention expansion. That plan largely stalled following pushback from Attorneys General around the country, and ultimately fell apart following the firing of then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
Congress could order a sale by passing a law, but the bill would need President Donald Trump’s signature or enough votes to override a veto.
GEO sold its Adelanto, Calif., detention complex to ICE on Oct. 2 for $950 million, or about $705 million after taxes and fees, according to the release, which GEO filed Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. GEO will keep running the complex under its current ICE contract, which lasts through Dec. 19, 2034.
Zoley said GEO used the money to extend its credit agreements to 2031 and to give itself more room to pay shareholders, including through stock buybacks. GEO also paid off $650 million in debt on Oct. 15, the release says.
Do you know which GEO Group jails will sell next? Project Salt Box researchers are seeking information on facility appraisals, sale negotiations, and detention capacity. Reach us at projectsaltbox@proton.me or on Signal at mwriston.410.
Zoley said GEO’s stock is significantly undervalued, a view CoreCivic also expressed Thursday. In October, GEO’s board raised the amount the company can spend on buybacks, in which a company purchases its own shares from investors, by $750 million, to $1.25 billion. As of Thursday, GEO had bought back about 10.1 million shares for about $177 million, the release says. Zoley said buybacks are a top priority for the company’s cash.
Zoley also said CoreCivic owns and operates 12 private ICE detention centers, compared with 20 owned by GEO.
New Contracts
Zoley said GEO’s growth this year comes from contracts it signed in 2025, including four facilities opened to hold 6,000 ICE detainees. GEO opened four more facilities this year that hold about 4,800 detainees, he said. He said the contracts GEO signed this year are worth about $500 million a year in added revenue.
GEO’s release lists three detention centers it is reopening under new ICE contracts:
The Big Horn Facility in Hudson, Colo., with space to hold 1,188 detainees. A five-year contract took effect July 9. GEO expects about $85 million in its first full year, starting in the first quarter of 2027.
The Rivers Facility in Winton, N.C., with space to hold 1,320 detainees. A five-year contract took effect Aug. 1. GEO expects about $80 million in its first full year, starting in the first quarter of 2027.
The Big Spring Complex in Big Spring, Texas, with space to hold 2,329 detainees. The city signed a 10-year agreement with ICE that took effect Nov. 1, and GEO will provide support services starting in the second quarter of 2027. GEO expects about $200 million in its first full year.
ICE will repay GEO for the construction and equipment costs of reopening all three facilities, Zoley said. The release says ICE will also cover startup costs.
GEO said it has space to hold about 2,900 more detainees at four facilities it owns, which it called well suited to the federal government’s needs. Filling that space could bring in a combined $170 million in added revenue, Zoley said.
GEO holds about 24,000 people for ICE, roughly one-third of the 73,000 people in ICE detention nationwide, Zoley said.
Last week, GEO began a new 10-year contract to run the Northwest ICE Processing Center, a GEO-owned detention center in Tacoma, Wash. GEO expects the contract to bring in $140 million a year through Oct. 27, 2036, including $50 million in added value from expanded services. Zoley said it is the company’s first ICE contract with a full 10-year base term.
ICE awarded the Tacoma contract through a process that also covers three other facilities, in Broward, Fla.; Aurora, Colo.; and Moshannon Valley, Pa. GEO expects new 10-year contracts for those as well.
Also during the quarter, GEO agreed to add staff at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center because needs there had grown, Zoley said.
Zoley stressed that the new business is paid for with money Congress has already approved. That includes funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the 2025 tax and spending law, and this year’s budget extension, which he said funds ICE through September 2029.
Results and Other Business
GEO took in $761.1 million from July through September, up 12% from the same months last year. Zoley called it a record-breaking quarter.
He said he expects the last three months of the year to set another record, driven by ICE’s demand for more detention, and expects GEO to earn more next year. The company also raised its profit forecast for 2026.
GEO said more growth should come from reopening empty detention centers, detaining more people at the ones already open, transporting detainees, and skip tracing. It also said a previously announced management-only contract for the Graceville and Bay facilities in Florida is expected to transition on July 1, 2027.
Zoley credited the strong quarter to GEO Transport, which moves people for ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service. He said that business is growing because of more deportation flights, and that new contracts in Texas and North Carolina will mean transporting more detainees in 2027.
GEO said its electronic monitoring subsidiary, BI Incorporated, is tracking 121,000 people. Under ICE’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, or ISAP, the number of people wearing ankle monitors has grown to 58,000 from 17,000 in 2025, Zoley said.
The program uses GPS ankle bracelets or wrist devices that track a person’s location in real time. It also uses a phone app, SmartLINK, that relies on facial recognition and voice identification to confirm who is checking in. Zoley said the program keeps growing and is shifting to more intensive, higher-priced monitoring technology, such as ankle monitors, which require increased staffing to operate.
Zoley said he expects contracts for skip tracing, the work of locating people for arrest by ICE, to grow next year.
Project Salt Box researchers listened to the call live. This article draws on those notes and on GEO Group’s filings.
Disgraceful
There is a detention center in Hell being built to house all these CEOs. What a boondoggle. Please, Democrat Congress, put an end to this ASAP.