The GEO Group, Inc. Strip Search Class Action

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Chimicles & Tikellis LLP filed a class action complaint in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against The GEO Group, Inc., f/k/a Wackenhut Corrections Corp. ("GEO" or "Defendant"). GEO, a multinational corporation whose common stock is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: GEO), contracts with government entities across the country to manage and operate their jails and other detention facilities (the "Jails").  According to the complaint, GEO is required to indemnify the governmental entities with which it contracts for all claims arising out of GEO's management of the Jails. In 2006, GEO had over 10,000 full time employees and recorded revenues in excess of $860 million.

According to the complaint filed by Chimicles & Tikellis, Defendant GEO, while serving as a government actor, has employed a uniform practice or policy of strip-searching all pre-trial detainees who enter the Jails, regardless of the crime or violation for which they are detained, and without making the legally required determination of whether reasonable suspicion exists to justify a strip search.  The complaint seeks class action status on behalf of the plaintiff and all others who were unconstitutionally strip searched at one of the Jails run by GEO after being detained for misdemeanors, summary offenses, violations of probation or parole, traffic infractions, civil commitments, and/or similar charges.

The named plaintiffs in the Amended Complaint was subject to a strip search upon their entry to the George W. Hill Facility in Thornton, PA for non-drug, non-violence related charges.  The complaint filed by C&T seeks to vindicate the alleged violations of the constitutional rights of the plaintiff and members of the putative class, and asserts a claim for monetary damages pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983.  The complaint also requests equitable relief to ensure that Defendants' alleged unconstitutional practices and policies are terminated, and seeks relief for various alleged common law tort claims.  The amended complaint is linked below.

On September 18, 2008, GEO filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings that sought to have certain counts in the Amended Complaint dismissed.  On March 18, 2009, Judge DuBois issued a memorandum opinion denying GEO's motion. 

For more information or to join the case, please contact the attorneys below.