Private Prison and Immigration Detention Center Company Geo’s Shares Surge 38%

Shares of Geo Group, Inc. shot up Wednesday as meme stock traders turned their attention to the private prison company whose shares have languished after President Biden signed an executive order instructing the Federal Bureau of Prisons not to renew private prison contracts.

Shares were up by nearly 75 percent at one point on Wednesday. They hit the close up over 38 percent.

Users of the WallStreetBets message board were celebrating the rise on Wednesday.

Another private prison stock, CoreCivic, which was formerly known the Corrections Corporation of America, saw its shares jump nearly 18 percent. Michael Burry, the Big Short investor whose stake in GameStop helped fuel hopes for the video game seller, is reportedly an investor in CoreCivic.

Despite the Biden executive order on Bureau of Prisons contracts, the Biden administration on Monday urged the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to strike down a  California law that bans privately run immigration facilities. The executive order does not cover the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration detainment facilities.

The GEO Group, one of the country’s largest private prison companies, owns and operates a number of federal immigration detention centers. The Biden administration has sided with it in the California lawsuit.