We found shocking details in private prison companies' financial reports

[0:00]I just got my hands on hundreds of pages of corporate disclosures from two of the largest private prison companies in America, and you won't believe what they admit in writing. These are the 10-K filings for CoreCivic and GEO Group. They reveal exactly how these companies and their shareholders are profiting off of expanded immigration detention. They even spell out for us what their vulnerabilities are. Stay with me. In 2025, CoreCivic and GEO Group oversaw almost 90% of people in immigrant detention. Both companies entered into a number of new contracts with ICE and/or DHS over the course of 2025. Here you can see CoreCivic breaking down these contracts in their list of quote-unquote accomplishments. They cover more than 10,000 new beds across facilities, and they also account for over $500 million in new annual revenue. GEO is actively quote, marketing 5,896 vacant beds with a net book value of approximately $180.9 million, end quote. And CoreCivic, quote, currently has 7,066 beds at five correctional and detention facilities that are vacant and immediately available to use, end quote. Given that ICE accounted for 47.6% of GEO's 2025 revenue and 35% of CoreCivic's, it's not hard to guess who these beds are being marketed to. And as the government spends billions to have these contractors build out immigration detention, often compensating private prison companies that at least in part on a per diem basis based off how many people they have incarcerated, they're incentivized to fill these detention centers. Due process, actual public safety concerns be damned. Now we get to the grossest part of these incredibly gross filings, a throwaway line in CoreCivic's filing: quote, We are evaluating potential cost savings opportunities in areas such as inmate medical expenses, utilities, and maintenance, among others, end quote. Just to reiterate, CoreCivic is planning to boost profits by reducing their spending on medical care and building safety. How else do they cut costs? Both CoreCivic and GEO disclose in these filings ongoing high profile litigation related to violations of minimum wage laws and labor laws generally. We'll have a separate piece on this coming soon, follow to make sure that you don't miss it. Here's a part that's particularly interesting and potentially useful, the risk section. Both GEO Group and CoreCivic disclosed that they're worried about government expansion of immigration detention on military bases, in government-owned warehouses, and on Guantanamo Bay as a potential risk to their profits. The most important thing in these filings is that both companies cite adverse publicity and community opposition to private prisons and immigration detention expansion as risk factors. Communities across the country have coordinated mass protests when ICE comes to town or tries to expand immigration detention in their community, and private prison companies see this public backlash as a major threat to their bottom line. So in other words, it's working.