Washington State Challenges Geo Group's Detention Center

It's April 29.

You're listening to Durham News today, AI-powered local news.

I'm Corey with The Story.

Washington State just filed in federal court to make private prison company, the Geo Group,

open up its immigration detention center in Tacoma to health, inspectors.

The push comes after thousands of complaints from detainees about nasty conditions, and

the state says it's time to enforce its own health laws there.

This all stems from a 2023 law, giving Washington broad power to check safety at private detention

spots.

The Geo Group sued to block it, but the ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals backed the state.

Now Geo has until June 11th to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Attorney General Nick Brown called it a moral duty, not just legal, at a news conference

this week.

Detainees have filed 3,500 gripes in recent years, with nearly 1,000 zeroing in on bad

water, food, and air quality, like worms in, meals, or foul tasting taps.

Inspectors got turned away all 10 times they've shown up since the law passed, including

April 20th when they tried to check the water.

Officials note Tacoma City water is solid, so pipes inside might be the real culprit.

Meanwhile, Geo and I sigh state silent on the matter.

The state's not backing down, determined to get eyes inside, and fix whatever's poisoning

that place for good.