SEATTLE — The private company operating the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma has never been sanctioned by the federal government for breaching its contract, despite repeated instances of abuse and unsafe conditions at the facility, a new University of Washington report found.

Researchers with the University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights have documented numerous health and safety issues at the immigration facility in recent years, including severe medical neglect, unsafe food, dirty water, the overuse of solitary confinement, sexual abuse and assaults and excessive uses of force.

Many of these are prohibited under the contract terms between GEO Group, which operates the jail-like facility, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, researchers said. Despite the violations of published standards, the federal agency has taken no action to enforce the terms of its contract, researchers found.

“We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there are serious abuses happening there, so where’s the gap?” said Angelina Godoy, director of the University of Washington Center for Human Rights, who led the research.

GEO Group and ICE officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The report, published Thursday, comes as GEO Group’s 10-year contract with ICE to operate the facility is set to expire in September. The contract will likely be renewed, amid the aggressive immigration crackdown under President Donald Trump’s administration.

ICE is set to see a $45 billion boost to its detention operation as part of a massive $170 billion increase in federal funds to immigration enforcement and border security efforts signed into law by Trump this month. Private prison companies like GEO Group are rushing to pitch new contracts to the federal government to capitalize on the opportunity.

GEO Group, a for-profit company based in Florida, owns the land and buildings of the Tacoma detention center, where people are detained as they await review of their immigration case or potential deportation. It has run the facility since acquiring it from its original owner, Correctional Services Corporation, in 2005.

The current contract between GEO Group and ICE to run the 1,575-bed facility began in September 2015, and awarded GEO Group a minimum of $700 million over 10 years. GEO Group, the largest detention services operator for ICE, has 20 detention facilities under contract across the country.

ICE and GEO Group officials have repeatedly pointed to the existence of the contract and its standards in response to criticism over conditions at the Tacoma facility.

In a June interview with KIRO Newsradio, ICE Seattle Field Director Cammilla Wamsley said the Tacoma detention center “is a lovely facility” where inspections occur regularly.

“There are requirements under the performance-based national detention standards that the contractor is held to,” she told KIRO Newsradio.

But, Godoy said, “What’s the point of having a contract that includes language you don’t intend to uphold?”

“It’s a false promise, it’s not honest, it’s not right,” Godoy said. “Especially if you’re going to gesture in public to the existence of that contract as a way to deflect concerns when they’re raised.”

Under the contract for the Tacoma facility, GEO Group must operate the facility in accordance with the federal agency’s 2011 Performance-Based National Detention Standards, which details extensive guidelines on everything from personal hygiene and clothing supplies, to attorney access and grievance rights.

But those standards do not have the force of law, researchers note. In cases where GEO Group fails to meet federal guidelines, ICE must independently decide what, if anything, to do in response.

Under the contract, ICE has the right to withhold payment from GEO Group for failing to meet federal standards — “the only mechanism for accountability in the current contract,” researchers wrote.

To trigger that enforcement process, ICE officers charged with overseeing the contract are required to create contract discrepancy reports.

GEO Group, to help ICE review contract compliance, is required to produce a range of records: reports on uses of force, injuries in the facility, allegations of sexual abuse or assault, as well as monthly status reports submitted alongside each monthly invoice seeking payment for services rendered.

Researchers submitted a number of requests for those records, along with contract discrepancy reports and other documents, through the Freedom of Information Act.

But in a majority of cases, ICE claimed those documents did not exist, researchers said — even though researchers had previously obtained some of those documents.

University of Washington’s Center for Human Rights sued ICE in 2022 for failing to comply with federal transparency law. As part of a settlement agreement, ICE provided a 2019 contract discrepancy report that outlined issues with cleanliness in the facility.

That report stated ICE was entitled to withhold 20% of GEO Group’s monthly payment until the facility was in compliance with federal standards, though researchers said there is no indication that threat was carried out.

“The most generous interpretation” is ICE is enforcing the contract and documenting issues, but failing to comply with federal transparency laws, researchers wrote. Or, if the agency does in fact not possess the documents, ICE “has allowed the facility to operate despite blatant noncompliance with contract requirements for years.”

“This is no acceptable way to run a facility,” Godoy said, “and it’s no acceptable way to inspire any kind of public confidence.”

State officials and lawmakers have repeatedly attempted to provide greater oversight over the facility, with limited success. The state Department of Health has sued to gain access to the detention center for inspections. Efforts by Washington agencies to close or increase oversight of the facility have faced legal pushback from GEO Group.

The lack of contract enforcement is not unique to the Northwest ICE Processing Center, researchers noted. In a review of 106 detention facility contracts, a 2019 report by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General found the federal agency “does not adequately hold detention facility contractors accountable for not meeting performance standards.”

Researchers concluded that no new contract should be signed, given the persistence of documented issues at the facility.

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