Aurora detention center operator Geo Group settles forced-labor lawsuit just before trial begins

Seth Klamann, The Denver Post on Nov 2, 2026

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DENVER — The operator of Aurora’s immigrant detention center reached a settlement Monday with a group of former detainees who accused the company of subjecting them and thousands of others to forced labor.

The eleventh-hour agreement in the case came just before a trial in the case was set to begin in federal court in Denver on the same day. The details of the settlement were not disclosed in court filings Monday.

Geo Group, the private prison company that has run the facility for roughly four decades, did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Hans Meyer, one of the attorneys representing the former detainees, declined to comment on settlement details.

In a statement, he and the rest of the legal team said: “Our clients suffered the inhumane treatment alleged here while locked up in a detention center just a few miles from the federal courthouse. And like so many across the country, they’ve been victimized by a broken immigration system. But in the face of long odds, they kept fighting for justice and never gave up. This settlement shows that our legal system can still sometimes provide justice, even for the most marginalized.”

The agreement ends a 14-year legal fight that challenged Geo’s detainee labor program.

The suit accused the Florida-based company, which expects to make $3 billion in revenue this year, of requiring six randomly selected detainees from each housing unit to clean the unit or be sent to solitary confinement. It also accused the company of unjustly enriching itself through its voluntary work program, in which detainees are paid $1 a day for working various jobs within the facility.

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