BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The GEO Group (NYSE:GEO) (“GEO”) announced today that it will increase its minimum starting wage rates for correctional and detention officers across all corrections and detention facilities in its U.S. Corrections and Detention business unit.

As previously announced, effective May 1, 2019, GEO has increased the minimum starting wage rate for correctional and detention officers to $13.00 per hour. GEO will further increase the minimum starting wage rate to $14.00 per hour by January 1, 2020 and $15.00 per hour by January 1, 2021.

George C. Zoley, GEO’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are pleased to take these important steps to increase our correctional and detention officer minimum starting wage rates. As an employer of approximately 23,000 employees, world-wide, we recognize the importance of employee pay, working conditions and total compensation. These new minimum starting wage rates will set GEO apart from other organizations and will allow us to recruit the best and most talented employees.”

“Furthermore, we are thankful that the average hourly wage for all GEO non-exempt, hourly employees, inclusive of our federal and state contracts, is presently $18.30 per hour, well ahead of our new minimum starting wage rates. Our diverse workforce plays a critical role in the delivery of high-quality services and humane care to all those entrusted to us, and our employees are integral members of the communities in which our facilities and programs are located across the country,” Zoley added.

The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE: GEO) is the first fully integrated equity real estate investment trust specializing in the design, financing, development, and operation of correctional, detention, and community reentry facilities around the globe. GEO is the world's leading provider of diversified correctional, detention, community reentry, and electronic monitoring services to government agencies worldwide with operations in the United States, Australia, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. GEO's worldwide operations include the ownership and/or management of 135 facilities totaling approximately 96,000 beds, including projects under development, with a growing workforce of approximately 23,000 professionals.

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events and the future performance of GEO that involve risks and uncertainties that could materially affect actual results. Factors that could cause actual results to vary from current expectations and forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, but are not limited to: (1) GEO’s ability to successfully pursue further growth and continue to enhance shareholder value; (2) GEO’s ability to access the capital markets in the future on satisfactory terms or at all; (3) GEO’s ability to control operating costs associated with contract start-ups; (4) GEO’s ability to timely open facilities as planned, profitably manage such facilities and successfully integrate such facilities into GEO’s operations without substantial costs; (5) GEO’s ability to win management contracts for which it has submitted proposals and to retain existing management contracts; (6) GEO’s ability to obtain future financing on acceptable terms or at all; (7) GEO’s ability to sustain company-wide occupancy rates at its facilities; and (8) other factors contained in GEO’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including its Form 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K reports.

Pablo E. Paez 1-866-301-4436
Executive Vice President, Corporate Relations