GEO Group Draws High Court Eye to $1-a-Day Pay Immunity Defense

Geo Group Inc., the private prison operator facing human trafficking allegations from immigrant detainees, on Monday landed US Supreme Court review of a decision blocking it from appealing a rejection of its claim of derivative sovereign immunity.

The company faces claims that it forced Colorado detainees to work or risk solitary confinement and paid just $1 per day for some voluntary tasks. GEO urged the justices to weigh in on whether the fight over its attempted use of the immunity defense—which is based on its contracts with the federal government—can go before an intermediate appellate court now, or if ...