NJ AG Jennifer Davenport Sues GEO Group for Delaney Hall Health-Inspector Access; Tuberculosis Case Reported, Full Inspection Blocked Since May 28

What happened

On June 2, 2026, New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport and Department of Health Commissioner Raynard E. Washington filed a lawsuit against GEO Group, Inc. — operator of the Delaney Hall immigration detention center in Newark — seeking a court order requiring the company to grant state health inspectors full facility access for inspection. The lawsuit seeks an expedited injunction.

The inspection-access dispute

The access dispute predates the lawsuit by five days:

• May 28, 2026: State health inspectors gained entry to Delaney Hall but were barred from inspecting the medical unit, sleeping areas, and bathing/toileting facilities — the areas where documented detainee complaints were most concentrated.
• Subsequent requests for a full inspection were denied by GEO Group.
• State law gives the DOH Commissioner statutory authority to enter and inspect detention centers with “full access” to any premises when violations may be occurring. The lawsuit alleges GEO Group has violated this statute.

The tuberculosis case

In late May, the DOH received a report of a detainee transported to University Hospital with tuberculosis — a highly infectious airborne disease. The tuberculosis case provides the acute public-health predicate for the expedited injunction: the state cannot assess the scope of potential exposure without full inspection access, which GEO Group has denied.

Underlying conditions documented

Detainees and their attorneys have reported: spoiled or rotten food (including live worms per Prism Reports); metallic/undrinkable water; denial of medical care and medications; no access to basic hygiene products; disease spread including flu and COVID-19; overcrowding. The conditions are the stated cause of the hunger and labor strike launched May 22, 2026 (see 2026-05-26–delaney-hall-newark-hunger-strike-geo-group-protests-pepper-ball-clashes-sen-andy-kim).

Structural significance

The lawsuit is the third documented state legal action targeting Delaney Hall or its federal-ICE relationship in 2026:

1. March 20, 2026: Gov. Sherrill + AG Davenport sued DHS/ICE over the $129M Roxbury Warehouse contract — federal government’s acquisition of a private warehouse for mass detention without state environmental review or local zoning compliance (see 2026-03-20–nj-roxbury-sue-ice-dhs-detention-warehouse)
2. May-June 2026: State police deployment and curfew enforcement in response to Delaney Hall protests (see 2026-05-30–delaney-hall-nj-state-police-mass-arrests-kettling-protest-crackdown)
3. June 2, 2026 (this event): AG sues GEO Group directly for blocking state health inspection — a private-contractor, not federal-government, defendant

The GEO Group lawsuit is structurally distinct: it targets the private contractor under state health law, not federal immigration authority. This sidesteps federal preemption arguments that have complicated other state-vs-federal immigration enforcement lawsuits, because the state’s authority to inspect detention facilities for health and safety compliance is an established state police-power function not preempted by federal immigration law.

The legal theory parallels the Washington State enforcement action against GEO Group’s Northwest ICE Processing Center (April 2026) seeking to compel GEO Group to allow state health inspectors, and the prior federal jury verdict ordering GEO Group to pay $23.2 million for Washington State minimum-wage violations (under appeal to SCOTUS). GEO Group has a documented pattern of resisting state oversight authority across multiple jurisdictions.

Cross-references

• Roxbury Warehouse lawsuit (state-vs-federal): 2026-03-20–nj-roxbury-sue-ice-dhs-detention-warehouse
• Hunger strike + conditions origin: 2026-05-26–delaney-hall-newark-hunger-strike-geo-group-protests-pepper-ball-clashes-sen-andy-kim
• Mass arrests + protest suppression: 2026-05-30–delaney-hall-nj-state-police-mass-arrests-kettling-protest-crackdown
• NJ sanctuary state + 287(g) ban context: cascade-solidarity/2026-03-26–new-jersey-sherrill-signs-ice-mask-ban-287g-ban-privacy-act
• State-resistance counter-capture infrastructure theme: state-resistance-counter-capture-infrastructure
• Washington State / GEO Group enforcement pattern: cross-reference detention-industrial KB