If you are detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Colorado, you’ll likely end up in Aurora at the Denver Contract Detention Facility, run by GEO Group, Inc. — one of America’s largest private prison corporations. GEO relies on contracts with federal agencies, like ICE, which made up more than 42% of its revenue in 2023, according to its Security and Exchange Commission filing.
This year, ICE has held over 61,000 people in detention, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, 86% of whom end up in for-profit prisons. For GEO, this can be quite lucrative. The Aurora facility alone has over 15,000 beds.
“ICE has worked with private detention operators, local governments and other federal partners to identify and bring online over 60 new detention facilities and added permanent and temporary capacity to its existing facilities for a total of approximately 18,000 additional beds active or pending activation,” an ICE spokesperson told The Sopris Sun. Although, the Aurora facility is still the only one of its kind listed in Colorado.
GEO claimed they provide a robust suite of services, including recreational amenities and translation services among other things. “Health care staffing at GEO’s ICE Processing Center is more than double that of many states’ correctional facilities,” stated a spokesperson with GEO.
However, immigrant rights advocates, including the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC), warn that for-profit prisons are concerned with just that: profit.
“To ensure a steady revenue stream, these companies actively lobby for stricter immigration policies and laws that mandate detention, effectively advocating to keep more people locked up for their own financial gain,” a CIRC rep told The Sopris Sun. “These corporations steal from our communities, winning billion-dollar contracts from the government to run a system that tears families apart and monetizes human suffering.”
Federal regulations tied to the Geneva Conventions allow for-profit prisons like GEO to pay detained people as little as $1 a day through voluntary work programs, according to ICE’s 2025 Detention Standards. In fact, this led to a 2014 class-action lawsuit against GEO that is still pending appeal, accusing the company of violating Colorado’s prohibition on forced labor and unjust enrichment.
Beyond labor, GEO prisons nationwide have longstanding allegations of inhumane conditions, violence, inadequate medical care and physical and sexual abuse. The Aurora facility has been involved in two wrongful death lawsuits, one settled confidentially and the other still pending.
“Any accusations that detainees are treated inhumanely in any way are categorically false,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson stated. The spokesperson did concede that ICE detention facilities are “experiencing temporary overcrowding due to recent increases in detention populations.”
CIRC, however, has received reports of meals being sparse or inedible, and supposedly potable water has been described as undrinkable. Guards have allegedly mocked detained people with racist and abusive language. People in the facility have told CIRC they are frequently woken up at 3am for deportation roundups or transfers, never knowing if their name will be called next and afraid to speak out due to threats of isolation.
“Mentally, the constant fear of deportation, the trauma of indefinite isolation and the brutality of separation from family inflict severe anxiety, depression and profound trauma,” the CIRC spokesperson explained.
And people detained by ICE don’t have access to a government-appointed attorney. Someone can either pay for representation or use the available law library to best represent themselves. Posting bond is another option, but ICE doesn’t accept partial payments and the minimum bond is $1,500.
Nurturing connection
Functionally, detained people are largely segregated from the outside world while awaiting release or deportation. That can be a lonely and mentally strenuous experience for them and their families.
This is where Casa de Paz steps in. Since 2012, the organization has supported people released from, and currently detained in, Aurora. The organization helps reconnect people with loved ones, provides safe post-release spaces, sends letters of hope to people inside, coordinates visitations and assists with travel arrangements post-release.
“Casa provides that piece of hope of being able to know that somebody’s still waiting for you, or somebody still cares about you,” said Executive Director Andrea Loya.
Loya added that the organization has seen a dramatic shift in releases under the current administration. Between 2019 and January 2025, they supported about 18,000 people in this way. But since February, daily releases have dropped, rarely exceeding more than five. And, apparently, the time between processing and release has stretched from two or three weeks to eight or nine months on average.
Loya said some of the most devastating calls to Casa de Paz come from family members who avoided hard conversations, which ultimately left a parent in custody and grandparent or older sibling suddenly responsible for multiple children. She encourages families in mixed-status homes to reclaim their power by having difficult conversations ahead of time and being prepared.
“Being able to start pulling out our birth certificates from under the mattress and gathering these documents and really having these honest conversations — that’s where we really start shifting our power in some of our communities that are just feeling terror,” she stated. “We can definitely fight that fear.”
Advocates around the state protest regularly outside the Aurora facility. Vigils, art and cultural performances — like danza, rooted in Indigenous Mexican traditions — show solidarity with those detained and resistance to a system they call “profit for pain.”
“These gatherings are about justice and solidarity and the call to free them all,” stated the spokesperson for CIRC.