Sylvester Owino and Jonathan Gomez claim CoreCivic is violating labor laws by forcing inmates to maintain and operate the Otay Mesa Detention Center in San Diego, California. The lawsuit alleges CoreCivic pays detainees $1 per day, or sometimes no wages at all, to clean facility interiors and exteriors, prepare and serve meals, do laundry, cut hair and perform clerical work, and that CoreCivic threatens detainees with punishment if they refuse to work. Owino claims he was made to work at a medical facility without protective equipment. Gomez claims he worked for a dollar a day in “an unsafe work environment.” The lawsuit seeks certification of a nationwide class of civil immigration detainees who were forced to work by CoreCivic since 2004.