Courthouse News: “A federal jury in Washington state found immigrant detainees in a voluntary work program at a for-profit ICE processing facility are employees under state law and deserve minimum wage. The verdict caps a four-year legal battle over whether the Florida-based GEO Group, one of the largest private prison providers in the country and operator of the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma since 2005, unjustly profited off of immigrant detainees by paying them $1 a day for cleaning and cooking services that the private prison company is required to perform under its contract with ICE. Washington AG Bob Ferguson sued GEO in 2017 along with a class of detainees seeking back pay. The jury reached a verdict just before 1 p.m. Wednesday after about four hours of deliberation, according to federal court records. Attorneys will present arguments over damages GEO must pay, including back wages to detainees, beginning Thursday.”