Law360 (November 2, 2026, 3:28 PM EST) -- Former detainees of a Colorado immigration detention facility and private prison operator The GEO Group Inc. struck a deal Monday ahead of trial in a 12-year-old class action that alleged the
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement contractor unlawfully profited from the detainees' forced labor.
A proposed settlement was reached in a 12-year-old class action filed by detainees of a Colorado private prison against its owner, The Geo Group, ahead of a scheduled trial and jury selection. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
The four-page joint notice of settlement does not state the deal's amount or terms. The parties said they will file their proposed settlement agreement and motion for preliminary approval by Dec. 11, according to the notice.
Monday's settlement comes on the day that jury selection was scheduled to begin for a three-week jury trial in the long-running lawsuit, presided over by U.S. District Judge John Kane.
Counsel for the parties did not immediately respond Monday to Law360's requests for comment.
The case, filed in 2014, claims the GEO-operated Aurora Detention Facility in Colorado violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Act by ordering immigration detainees to clean the facility for free under the threat of solitary confinement, while others earned just $1 per day in a voluntary work program at GEO's unjust enrichment. The detainees had sought disgorgement on their unjust enrichment claim, along with compensatory and punitive damages under the TVPA.
The long-running lawsuit has a complicated procedural history that includes multiple interlocutory appeals by GEO to the Tenth Circuit and a February
U.S. Supreme Court decision affirming the Tenth Circuit's
denial of GEO's immunity claim.
GEO had contended in its November 2014 motion to dismiss that the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE made the decision to pay detainees who volunteer to work $1 per day, and further that state wage laws don't apply because GEO is not an employer under those laws. GEO had also argued that the TVPA does not apply, writing in the 2014 motion that the prison operator did not traffic the plaintiff detainees into the Aurora facility with the purpose of putting them to work because plaintiffs are in ICE custody.
In a July 2015 order, Judge Kane dismissed the detainees' claims under the Colorado Minimum Wage Order, finding the detainees are not employees under the state's regulation, but allowed the detainees' TVPA and unjust enrichment claims to proceed.
Judge Kane ruled on a number of pretrial motions last month, notably granting GEO's motion to
bifurcate the trial into two phases that would have had jurors first decide liability, compensatory damages and entitlement to punitive damages before hearing evidence specific to calculating punitive damages for the forced labor claim.
In May, Judge Kane granted the immigrant detainees' motion for jury view,
agreeing with the class that allowing jurors to view the inside of the Aurora Detention Facility would help them better understand key issues in the case. GEO had opposed the motion, arguing during a May hearing that a jury tour of the facility would disrupt its operations and could risk prejudicing the jury.
Detainees have brought similar actions in California, Georgia and Washington, where the Washington Supreme Court in 2023 said that civil detainees working at a privately run facility are
considered employees and thus entitled to the state minimum wage following a $23 million trial verdict in their favor.
The class of former detainees is represented by Alexander Hood, Rachel Dempsey, Brianne Power, Juno Turner, David Seligman and Toree Lindblad of Towards Justice, by Adam Koshkin, Aaron B. Lee and Michael Scimone of
Outten & Golden LLP, by Hans Meyer of The Meyer Law Office, and by Andrew Turner and Brandt Milstein of Milstein Turner PLLC.
The GEO Group is represented by Naomi G. Beer, David G. Palmer, Dominic E. Draye and Nicholas LeFevre of
Greenberg Traurig LLP, by Dana Eismeier, Michael Ley and Adrienne Scheffey of
Jennings Haug Keleher McLeod Waterfall LLP, and by James N. Boeving, Carolyn J. Fairless, William D. Hauptman, Shiloh A. Rainwater and Frederick R. Yarger of
Wheeler Trigg O'Donnell LLP.
The case is Alejandro Menocal et al. v. The GEO Group Inc., case number
1:14-cv-02887, in the
U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
--Editing by Marygrace Anderson.
Update: This story has been updated to include additional procedural history.
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