NEWS BRIEF: Private prison undergoing expansion while under investigation

Plans to expand the Folkston ICE Processing Center in south Georgia would make it the largest detention facility in the country. Preparations are underway to increase the prison’s capacity by 1800 beds, and the GEO Group, the corporation that operates the center in Folkston, is being excoriated as a result. “This is reprehensible,” said Azadeh Shahshahani, a director at Project South, an advocacy group in Atlanta. “Private prison companies have a perverse incentive to maximize profit through shortchanging immigrants on basic necessities and forced labor programs. The Folkston ICE Processing Center must be shut down, not expanded.” The FIPC is currently being investigated by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General for human rights violations of detainees. projectsouth.org