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Abstract: 

Liability of Private Corporations. Richard Lee Pollard, an inmate at the Taft Correctional Institution in California, brought an action against The GEO Group, Inc., a private corporation that was under contract with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to operate this facility, and against several GEO employees. He sought monetary damages for alleged violations of his rights under the Eighth Amendment. This type of action for implied damages was fi rst recognized by the Supreme Court in Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics in 1971, in which it allowed federal prisoners to seek redress for violations of constitutional rights committed by the employees of a private corporation operating a federal prison.

Keywords: Bivens, Pollard, GEO, independent contractor, employee, Burgos, Parzyck, Skliros

Affiliations:  1: Pace University School of Law Library.