Private Prison Giant Hires Twice-Convicted Ex-Aide to Top Democrat in Order to Fend Off Scrutiny
One of the nation’s largest private prison companies has enlisted the services of a twice-convicted former chief of staff to a key Democratic committee chairman as it attempts to fend off efforts to regulate and even eliminate its industry.
The GEO Group hired the firm Avant Bishop Washington & Black (ABWB) in mid-May, according to a disclosure form filed last week. The firm is led by Lanier Avant, the former chief of staff to House Homeland Security Committee chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS). Avant resigned that post in 2017 after pleading guilty to federal criminal charges for failing to file years of income taxes.
That conviction, and another subsequent guilty plea to federal charges of making false statements, were apparently outweighed by other pertinent biographical information—namely, Avant’s ties to Thompson, for whom he also served as a staff director on the Homeland Security Committee.