Greed Is Good . . . Until It Isn’t
We live in a capitalist society. Businesses are managed with the primary goal of maximizing profits, constrained only by the vast set of laws and regulations designed to create a somewhat level playing field and curb the most destructive excesses. Corporate success is measured in direct proportion to money earned. However, there is the occasional cautionary tale of a business that went too far in pursuit of a dollar. One of the latest involves The GEO Group.
The GEO Group owns private, for-profit detention facilities. It built and operates one in Tacoma, Washington that houses individuals caught illegally trying to enter the United States. The prison was constructed on a sludge field and EPA Superfund site. Residential construction is forbidden in the area due to health concerns, but it is apparently plenty suitable for detainees awaiting determinations of whether they are entitled to political asylum or subject to deportation.
The GEO Group’s operational record at the Tacoma center is dismal. It has been repeatedly accused of failing to provide proper food and medicine to detainees, and acknowledges implementing a “voluntary” program in which inmates are paid one dollar (or, sometimes, a bag of potato chips) for each day of work. In addition, the facility has one of the highest number of claims of physical and sexual assault of any federal detention venue. The GEO Group naturally disputes all such accusations and insists that staff “strives” to treat all detainees with “compassion, dignity, and respect.” Which explains the outbreaks of food poisoning, the inadequate meals (sometimes consisting of food that is rotten and bug-infested), and the two-week wait for medical attention. A woman incarcerated during a chickenpox outbreak was put in solitary confinement and remains there weeks later even though she has never shown symptoms. When the detainees, understandably unhappy with these conditions, organized hunger strikes (which can’t be that difficult when you’re not being properly fed), the result was even worse food and the occasional beatings. Sounds like Heaven-on-Earth.
And allegations of abuse and mistreatment at The GEO Group’s detention centers are not limited to the one in Tacoma. The company has a long and sordid history of complaints of lousy conditions and mistreatment of inmates at several facilities it operates. With such a poor track record it would be easy to assume that The GEO Group stands to lose the U.S. Government’s business. Under the Obama Administration’s initiative ending federal use of private prison providers, it did, resulting in a 40% decline in its stock price. However, current Attorney General (and Bull Connor enthusiast) Jeff Sessions has resumed contracting with private prisons, and with the Trump Administration’s hard-line stance against illegal immigration essentially encouraging the kind of brutalization and mistreatment in which The GEO Group seems to specialize, the company has been unshackled and is now raking in the cash. Which is fortunate because, as any grandfather will tell you, a dollar (or bag of chips) a day really adds up.
The GEO Group certainly fits the corporation-as-bad-apple stereotype: Lining its pockets by imprisoning asylum-seekers and other powerless immigrants on an industrial waste site in deplorable conditions while exposing them to chronic abuse and mistreatment. Unfortunately, brutalizing detainees pays exceedingly well. An overwhelming majority of Americans may be appalled by such conduct, but the government still gladly cuts the checks.
The GEO Group, like predecessors Enron and Lehman Brothers, remains the exception in a “greed is good” economic model. Entrepreneurship does not require the forfeiture of all humanity and decency. Even as businesses grow, operations are streamlined, and processes replace the personal touch of founders, the overarching goal is almost always to provide a valuable good or service to customers. Programs have even been initiated to encourage responsible corporate conduct. The non-profit B-Lab certifies qualified, socially-conscientious businesses to encourage investment in them. And there is no sin in making a profit; creating incentives to improvise and take risks spurs development of new products, services, and technologies potentially beneficial to all. Never feel the need to apologize for success.
But The GEO Group serves as a stark reminder of what happens when a business is willing to sacrifice everything in search of profit. The company may make a fortune abusing illegal detainees. But except to a heartless few it will never be considered a success.
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