The GEO Group Inc. filed for an injunction on Jan. 22 to prevent the state Department of Labor & Industries from releasing the inspection materials in response to a public records request from Cascade PBS. GEO Group also named Cascade PBS as a party in its filing in Pierce County Superior Court and emailed Cascade PBS a copy of the court filing.
Court records show L&I had concluded that approximately 215 unique images from its July 2024 workplace inspection were subject to disclosure under state records law. GEO Group later argued that releasing photos from the inspection could undermine the security of the immigration enforcement detention center and L&I had conducted its inspection under improper authority.
“The information in those photographs, in the wrong hands, could be harmful to the health and safety of Facility employees and detainees,” GEO Group attorneys wrote in court records.
As part of its court filing to block the materials, GEO Group made the disputed photos publicly accessible by including an active url to L&I’s file-sharing website that allowed anyone with the link to view the images online.
Most of the photos depicted routine inspection subjects such as locations of fire extinguishers, stacks of storage bins and bottles of cleaning supplies. A few photographs capture hallways lined with holding cells or rows of empty weapon holsters dangling above gas masks.
Cascade PBS, through its attorney, alerted L&I and GEO Group that the photos were publicly accessible. The link has since been deactivated.
GEO Group’s attorney responded to a request for comment with an email indicating the company “has no comment on Cascade’s forthcoming story.”
An L&I spokesperson told Cascade PBS that the agency could not comment on ongoing litigation; however, “In general, our inspections at the GEO facility fall under our authority — and duty — to inspect any Washington workplace under the Washington Industrial Safety and Health Act.”
A Cascade PBS investigative reporter filed a public records request with L&I in October 2024 to obtain copies of the latest inspection file for the ICE detention center. In December, L&I released close to 1,000 pages of reports and supporting materials, indicating that state officials had found no safety violations and issued no citations during their 2024 inspection.
Newly available emails attached to the GEO Group court filing show L&I also planned to release its photos from the inspection process and notified the company that officials had found no “statutory exemptions” for withholding the pictures. GEO Group attorneys contested the release of those photos, asking L&I for multiple delays to review the images.
“Having now had the opportunity to review, GEO has no objection to L&I’s release of 93 of the photographs at issue,” an attorney wrote on Jan. 14. “For the remaining 122, however, GEO does object to their release because those photographs show one or more of the following: (1) the layout/schematics of the Facility; (2) potential Facility entrance/exit points (doors, air vents, etc.); (3) weapons caches/armories; (4) items that are dangerous, secured, or could be used as weapons; (5) locations of security cameras; (6) electrical panels or other areas of potential Facility vulnerability; (7) GEO employees in which their faces are visible.”
L&I officials told Cascade PBS the agency may mark some inspection material as potentially confidential and will give companies a chance to weigh in on what may be exempt from record disclosures. In this case, L&I spokesperson Matt Ross wrote, it was possible to withhold information that includes “emergency response or deployment plans in a corrections setting.”
“We were in active discussion with GEO and had given them the option to give input and justify any redactions they wanted us to make based on the law,” Ross wrote. “They don’t have to wait for our evaluation to be complete before they seek an injunction, as GEO did here.”
Ross told Cascade PBS that the agency requires a court order from the other party if there’s a disagreement over what information should be considered public.
Email records show L&I had agreed to redact certain parts of the disputed photos to obscure potentially sensitive information, but not withhold them all together.
“I will send the redacted images for you to review,” L&I wrote to GEO Group. “We will be targeting our redactions based on your description of what is confidential in each photograph.”
“Thanks very much,” a GEO Group attorney responded by email on Jan. 16. “We appreciate your accommodation, and look forward to reviewing the redactions.”
GEO Group attorneys notified L&I the following day that they would be challenging the legality of the July 2024 inspection due to the specific state law cited to authorize the inspection. As outlined in previous Cascade PBS coverage, GEO Group has repeatedly pushed back against a 2023 state law that reinforced state oversight of private detention facilities.
GEO Group has argued in federal court the law discriminates against the company as the only private detention center operator in the state. A federal judge last year ruled L&I could access the facility under its previous workplace oversight authority, but not the new 2023 state law.
Attorneys for GEO Group argue L&I’s inspection cited the 2023 law, not the previous authority.
“Accordingly, the July 8, 2024, inspection was, in its entirety, in violation of a federal district court order,” GEO Group attorneys wrote, “and therefore nothing arising from the inspection — the reports generated, or pictures taken — should be disclosed.”
After filing to block the records on Jan. 22, an attorney representing GEO Group told Cascade PBS the legal complaint would be withdrawn if Cascade PBS dropped its record request. The filing noted, “Cascade PBS is named as a Defendant in this action solely in its capacity as a Requestor under the [Public Records Act]. GEO does not seek legal or equitable relief against Cascade PBS.”
In a statement, Cascade PBS’s CEO Rob Dunlop emphasized that the public’s right to access official documents serves as one of the key foundations of government accountability.
“Washington State’s Public Records Act was put in place to ensure that the public has access to and is informed about the activities of its agencies and those they are responsible to oversee,” Dunlop said. “So, our request to review documentation related to a state inspection of a publicly funded facility is at the essence of the Act’s purpose. Given the significant level of attention on immigration, the public has a right to know how this issue is being attended to at all levels in our state. Frankly, attempts to block the public from this information raises more questions than it answers.”
Attorneys for Cascade PBS continue to communicate with representatives for GEO Group and L&I regarding a resolution to the court filing. A case status review hearing is currently scheduled for May.