"Washington State sues over $1/day wages paid to immigrant detainees," September 21, 2017

Washington State’s Attorney General on Wednesday sued private prison company Geo Group Inc for violating the state’s minimum wage laws by paying detained immigrants one dollar a day or less for work they do while in detention at one of the company’s federal facilities... The lawsuit... follows a months-long investigation by the Attorney General’s office that found immigrant detainees at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma who prepared food and did maintenance in the center sometimes only received only snacks for their work... Washington’s minimum wage laws do not apply to state jails, but the Attorney General argues in the lawsuit that exceptions to the wage laws do not apply to Geo because it is a private company holding people on civil, not criminal, charges... The company said the allegations in the suit were “baseless.” “The volunteer work program at all federal immigration facilities as well as the minimum wage rates and standards associated with the program are set exclusively by the federal government,” the company said in a statement.