CoreCivic Hit with Cibola County Detainees’ Lawsuit Over Allegedly Underpaid Labor

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CoreCivic, Inc., the operating company of Cibola County Correctional Center, is facing a proposed class action filed by three civilly detained immigrants who claim they were deprived of lawful wages while working at the prison.

The defendant—the second-largest private prison corporation in the country—contracts with ICE to detain individuals while their immigration cases are processed, the suit says. Among these detainees were the three named plaintiffs, who claim the defendant intentionally relied on their underpaid labor in order to maintain a profit, which the case says amounts to billions of dollars.

The plaintiffs, who were employed as janitors, kitchen workers, and a library worker, allege they were paid a rate substantially below the federal minimum wage, sometimes as little as one dollar per day. Two plaintiffs claim that they prepared and served meals to detainees at least 30 hours each week for a fixed weekly rate of $15, or 50 cents per hour. One plaintiff adds that he put in 40 hours each week at the prison’s library for one dollar a day and “on several occasions” was not paid at all.

Moreover, the case notes that the plaintiffs used their earnings to purchase phone calls, food and toiletries inside the prison, as the defendant allegedly failed to provide “adequate facilities and basic necessities.”

In sum, the complaint argues that the plaintiffs acted as employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and New Mexico labor law because the defendant supervised their performance and controlled their positions, hours, and wages. As such, the case says, the workers were entitled to receive legally mandated wages set forth by federal and state law.