The GEO Group has always been committed to protecting the Human Rights of the persons entrusted to its care. Recognizing the unique nature of its operations and the significance of its relationships with government agencies, GEO has adopted a Global Human Rights policy.
In that policy, GEO acknowledged the unique nature of its operations as a service provider of corrections, residential treatment, and monitoring related services to governmental entities, and the significant role that respect for human rights plays in those operations.The principles in GEO's Global Human Rights policy have been informed by reference to such third-party organizations as the United Nations and such instruments as its Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and the International Labor Organization's 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
The maintenance of a human rights policy is an evolving process, and The GEO Group strives to continuously engage in an ongoing assessment of its implementation and impact on its own and in consultation with stakeholders, and, where practicable, refine it to further promote the principles it contains.
The GEO Group plays a fundamental role in law enforcement and corrections making it critical that we promote, respect, and obey the rule of law, and the institutions that create and enforce it. We expect that our stakeholders, whether they be employees, business partners, inmates, detainees, or others served, share our philosophy on this point, even if they may disagree with the law. It is the foundation upon which our company is built.
The GEO Group expects that we treat each other with mutual respect. The company respects the rights of our employees to work in an environment that is free from discrimination or harassment, and offers equal employment opportunities without respect to race, sex, color, national origin, creed, religion, pregnancy, age, disability, military/veteran status, sexual orientation, genetic information, marital status or any other legally protected status.
We are serious about our responsibilities to inmates, detainees, residents, participants, and clients. It is important to establish and maintain an environment in which they are protected from unlawful physical and verbal abuse, injury, corporal punishment, damage or loss of property and harassment. We also promote a strong program to prevent sexual abuse within the inmate, detainee, and resident population.
To that end where possible we promote education, training, rehabilitation, and treatment within the inmate, detainee, resident, participant, and client population. In this process, we engage our business partners and others within the community to help facilitate the promotion of these objectives.
Congress enacted the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA) to address the problem of sexual abuse of persons in the custody of U.S. correctional agencies. PREA calls for federal, state, and local corrections systems to have a zero-tolerance policy regarding prison rape (as defined by PREA) in prisons, jails, police lock-ups, and other confinement facilities. The Act applies to all public and private institutions that house adult or juvenile offenders and to community-based correctional agencies.
The GEO Group, Inc. (GEO) mandates zero tolerance towards all forms of Sexual Abuse and Sexual Harassment in all its facilities. When a GEO operational subsidiary, business unit or program falls within the scope of the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA) and the DOJ National Standards To Prevent, Detect, and Respond To Prison Rape (Final Rule, dated, June 2012) or Subpart A of the DHS Standards to Prevent, Detect and Respond to Sexual Abuse and Assault in Confinement Facilities (79 Fed. Reg. 13100 dated March 7, 2014), GEO will comply with these regulations as required.
The GEO Group, Inc. is fully committed to operating our facilities and programs at the highest level, providing safe, secure and humane surroundings for our staff, those in our custody and care and the communities in which we operate. GEO believes in providing services that both our company and our clients would be proud. In order to provide that level of quality and safety on a consistent schedule, GEO operates pursuant to and in compliance with a variety of governmental standards, national accreditation and certification standards, medical accreditation agencies, educational agencies and the requirements of our clients’ operations. These standards may be required by our contracts or not; those in excess of contractual requirements reflect GEO’s desire to lead in the industry and are commitments to go above and beyond that which is required.
The GEO Group believes there is a fundamental connection between the human rights aspirations set forth in our company policies and their realization. To that end, we strive to make our staff aware of the commitments we have made in those policies, and to incorporate them into our training protocols.
The GEO Group strives to be a contributing member of the communities in which we operate. Not only do we pride ourselves on the opportunities we make available to the members of those communities, but we also seek out ways to engage our communities directly as a partner and a citizen. We also work hard to continuously improve our operations and processes so as to minimize waste and protect the environment.