![\"\"](\"http:\/\/change-production.s3.amazonaws.com\/photos\/wordpress_copies\/criminaljustice\/2010\/01\/haiti.jpg\" "\\"Peacekeeping")
While the world mobilizes to help Haiti dig out from last week’s devastating earthquake, private prison operator GEO Group could be preparing to profit from a \u201csurge\u201d of immigration detentions at a facility it operates in Guantanamo Bay.<\/p>\n
Some have speculated that Haiti\u2019s misery will lead to an increase in Haitians attempting the dangerous 600-mile boat journey to Florida. If the U.S. experiences a spike in migrants trying to enter the country without documents, we\u2019ll likely do what we do best: lock them up. And it\u2019s likely that these detentions will be managed by GEO, the nation\u2019s second-biggest private prison company, <\/a>reports <\/a>blogger Tom Barry at the Center for International Policy.<\/p>\n GEO manages the Migrant Operations Center (MOC) at the U.S. military\u2019s Guantanamo Bay Naval Station. The MOC has 130 beds, but GEO boasts that the prison \u201ccan house up to 500 detainees in a surge.\u201d Planning to pack a facility to four-times capacity is certainly a red flag for potential abuse, but GEO usually charges the government<\/a> a fixed rate per prisoner per day more bodies equals more dollars for GEO. The Obama administration, while planning to close the military detention facility at GITMO, has no plans to shutter MOC.<\/p>\n In fact, as\u00a0State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley recently told <\/a>reporters,\u00a0“Guantanamo is going to be an enormously valuable asset as we go through this.”<\/p>\n