They said they were “disappointed” that GEO had received a temporary contract extension for Western Region despite the executive order. The ACLU affiliates responded to the news in a Tuesday letter to the White House Domestic Policy Council Office. While the temporary deal does not include McFarland, GEO, in a news release, said it has proposed “alternative contracting structures” to the Marshals Service to allow the detention center to “remain in operation in compliance with the Executive Order, beyond the six-month contract extension.” 30, the company announced it had inked a six-month contract extension with the Marshals Service for Western Region. On Tuesday, about a week before GEO’s contract with the federal marshals was slated to end on Sept. Attorney General to stop renewing Justice Department contracts with privately operated criminal detention centers. The arrangement would net the small city of McFarland approximately $500,000 and help GEO and the Marshals Service keep the facility open, in light of a January executive order requiring the U.S. Leaders in the city of McFarland last month unanimously agreed to pursue an intergovernmental agreement with the federal marshals for the Western Region Detention Center it would subcontract with GEO to run the 770-bed facility.
Three California ACLU affiliates are calling on the White House to uphold President Joe Biden’s efforts to phase out the federal government’s reliance on private, for-profit detention centers by closing a privately run detention center in downtown San Diego and preventing The GEO Group from partnering with a small Kern County city to operate the facility for the U.S.