|
Abu Ghraib, Iraq
October 28, 2005 Macon Telegraph
Abu Ghraib means different things to different people. For the people
of Iraq, it is where tens of thousands of family members died in Saddam
Hussein's death house or were tortured under his regime. Around the world,
it is the scene of the infamous prisoner abuse scandal that led to U.S.
soldiers doing time for war crimes. For retired Macon firefighter John
Wood, it is now home. Before beginning his role as a civilian firefighter
working for Wackenhut Services LLC, Wood spent two weeks at Camp Victory
near Baghdad, Iraq, to get acclimated to the heat. The
prison-turned-military base is home now to some 5,000 detainees, U.S.
soldiers and a multinational force that operates a combat supply hospital,
Wood said. "It just blew me away," Wood said of his arrival at
Abu Ghraib. "I didn't know what to expect, and when I got there, it
was beyond my worst expectation."
Afghanistan
July 8, 2011 POGO
Private security contractor ArmorGroup North America Inc. (AGNA) agreed to
pay $7.5 million to settle whistleblower allegations that it violated
procurement rules that put the security of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul,
Afghanistan at risk. AGNA's parent company said the settlement was made
solely "to avoid costly and disruptive litigation—and that there has
been no finding or admission of liability." This is the same company
whose employees are depicted in lewd pictures POGO made available in fall
2009—which demonstrated a serious breakdown in discipline among the
security personnel defending the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan. POGO
Executive Director Danielle Brian called it a 'Lord of the Flies'
environment. Former AGNA director of operations James Gordon was the
whistleblower who filed the lawsuit—he will receive $1.35 million from the
$7.5 million AGNA has agreed to pay. According to a Department of Justice
(DOJ) press release, these are the whistleblower allegations that were
resolved by the settlement: •"AGNA submitted false claims for payment
on a State Department contract to provide armed guard services at the U.S.
Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan"; •"[I]n 2007 and 2008, AGNA guards
violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) by visiting brothels
in Kabul, and that AGNA’s management knew about the guards’
activities"; •"AGNA misrepresented the prior work experience of
38 third country national guards it had hired to guard the Embassy";
and •"AGNA failed to comply with certain Foreign Ownership, Control and
Influence mitigation requirements on the embassy contract, and on a
separate contract to provide guard services at a Naval Support Facility in
Bahrain." Gordon’s lawsuit was filed in September 2009. Nearly a year
and a half later, DOJ joined Gordon’s whistleblower lawsuit on April 29,
2011. Slightly more than two months later, AGNA settled. According to DOJ
statistics, whistleblower lawsuits (or qui tam lawsuits) that allow
insiders to sue on behalf of the federal government have a much higher
success rate when the government intervenes and joins the whistleblower,
known as a relator, in their lawsuit (or parts of their lawsuit). In 2009,
Gordon stated that he filed his lawsuit “to hold ArmorGroup accountable for
the blatant disregard of its obligations to ensure the safety and security
of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. In an industry where good people are required
to face extreme risk on a daily basis it is essential that those companies
who disregard the rules be removed as they not only endanger their own
staff but also endanger the mission, all in order to increase profit.” On
September 14, 2009, POGO’s Executive Director Danielle Brian provided
testimony on the breakdown of discipline among many of AGNA’s employees in
Kabul before the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Shortly after the Commission hearing, Brian was contacted by Samuel
Brinkley, Wackenhut Services, Inc. (WSI)’s Vice President of Homeland and
International Security Services, who offered to work with POGO on behalf of
WSI and AGNA to identify and remedy mistreatment of victims of this hazing,
retaliation against some of the whistleblowers who had come to POGO, and
other matters raised in POGO’s disclosures. WSI is AGNA’s parent company.
During the intervening months, Brinkley and Brian had many discussions
regarding the fair and appropriate treatment for POGO’s whistleblowers and
others not involved in the wrongdoing. As a result, POGO was pleased that
WSI/AGNA resolved the employment concerns of those five personnel at issue.
WSI issued a statement yesterday as well in response to the DOJ press
release announcing the settlement. WSI disputed the DOJ’s assertion that
there was a violation of the False Claims Act, that it did not have an
anti-trafficking policy in place, and that it violated rules regarding
third country nationals, and foreign mitigation requirements. It also said
“the sole individual confirmed to have frequented prostitutes was fired by
AGNA in normal course when his conduct became known.” WSI noted that the
period of AGNA’s alleged behavior predated WSI’s acquisition of AGNA.
Regarding the violation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, Gordon’s
allegations are more serious than they sound in the DOJ press release. Last
year, the Washington Post/Center for Public Integrity wrote about Gordon’s
case in the context of a perceived lack of U.S. enforcement regarding
alleged sex trafficking by U.S. contractors and subcontractors: In
Afghanistan, evidence of trafficking came to light when 90 Chinese women
were freed after brothel raids in 2006 and 2007. The women told the
International Organization on Migration that they had been taken to
Afghanistan for sexual exploitation, according to a 2008 report. Nigina
Mamadjonova, head of IOM's counter-human trafficking unit in Afghanistan,
said the women alleged in interviews that their clients were mostly Western
men. In late 2007, officials at ArmorGroup, which provides U.S. Embassy
security in Kabul, learned that some employees frequented brothels that
were disguised as Chinese restaurants and that the employees might be
engaged in sex trafficking. A company whistleblower has alleged in an
ongoing lawsuit that the firm withheld the information from the U.S.
government. James Gordon, then an ArmorGroup supervisor, alleged that a
manager "boasted openly about owning prostitutes in Kabul" and
that a company trainee boasted that he hoped to make some "real
money" in brothels and planned to buy a woman for $20,000. The
settlement is a victory for accountability, but ultimately may be unsatisfying
for critics of the government's less-than-robust oversight of contractors.
Can we really expect other contractors to see this settlement as a wake-up
call? The State Department fell asleep at the switch with AGNA and still
has yet to prove that it's serious about contract oversight and enforcement
of trafficking in persons regulations.
October
8, 2010 CBS News
U.S. reliance on private security in Afghanistan that is poorly monitored
and often results in the hiring of Afghan warlords is profiting the Taliban
and could endanger coalition troops, according to a Senate report. Military
officials warn, however, that ending the practice of hiring local guards
could worsen the security situation. Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the
Senate Armed Services Committee which issued the report, said Thursday that
he is worried the U.S. is unknowingly fostering the growth of
Taliban-linked militias and posing a threat to U.S. and coalition troops at
a time when Kabul is struggling to recruit its own soldiers and police officers.
The investigation follows a separate congressional inquiry in June that
concluded trucking contractors pay tens of millions of dollars a year to
local warlords for convoy protection. "Almost all are Afghans. Almost
all are armed," Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said of the army of young
men working under U.S. contracts. State Dept. Awarding Contractors Up to
$10B -- "These contractors threaten the security of our troops and
risk the success of our mission," he told reporters. "There is
significant evidence that some security contractors even work against our
coalition forces, creating the very threat that they are hired to
combat." "We need to shut off the spigot of U.S. dollars flowing
into the pockets of warlords and power brokers who act contrary to our
interests and contribute to the corruption that weakens the support of the
Afghan people for their government," he added. A well placed source in
the Afghan government told CBS News' Fazul Rahim that the senate report
"is what we have been saying for the past couple of years. This report
confirms our suspicions." The Defense Department doesn't necessarily
disagree but warns that firing the estimated 26,000 private security
personnel operating in Afghanistan in the near future isn't practical. This
summer, U.S. forces in Afghanistan pledged to increase their oversight of
security contractors and set up two task forces to look into allegations of
misconduct and to track the money spent, particularly among lower-level
subcontractors. The Defense Contract Management Agency has increased the
number of auditors and support staff in the region by some 300 percent
since 2007. And in September, Gen. David Petraeus, the top war commander in
Afghanistan, directed his staff to consider the impact that contract spending
has on military operations. The military says providing young Afghan men
with employment can prevent them from joining the ranks of Taliban
fighters. And bringing in foreign workers to do jobs Afghans can do is
likely to foster resentment, they say. Also, contract security forces fill
an immediate need at a time when U.S. forces are focused on operations,
commanders say. "As the security environment in Afghanistan improves,
our need for (private security contractors) will diminish," Petraeus told
the Senate panel in July. "But in the meantime, we will use legal,
licensed and controlled (companies) to accomplish appropriate
missions." Levin says he isn't suggesting that the U.S. stop using
private security contractors altogether. But, he adds, the U.S. must reduce
the number of local security guards and improve the vetting process of new
hires if there's any hope of reversing a trend that he says damages the
U.S. mission in Afghanistan. His report represents the broadest look at
Defense Department security contracts so far, with a review of 125 of these
agreements between 2007 and 2009. The panel's report highlights two cases
in which security contractors ArmorGroup and EOD Technology relied on
personnel linked to the Taliban. Last week, EOD Technology was one of eight
security companies hired by the State Department under a $10 billion
contract to provide protection for diplomats. A statement released by EOD
Technology said the Lenoir City, Tenn.-based company had been encouraged to
hire local Afghans and that it provided the names of its employees to the
military for screening. The company said the military has never made it
aware of any problems with its handling of the contract. In the case of
ArmorGroup, the Senate panel says the company repeatedly relied on warlords
to find local guards, including the uncle of a known Taliban commander. The
uncle, nicknamed "Mr. White" by ArmorGroup after a character in
the violent movie "Reservoir Dogs," was eventually killed after a
U.S. raid that uncovered a cache of weapons, including anti-tank land
mines. ArmorGroup, based in McLean, Va., lost a separate contract this year
protecting the U.S. Embassy in Kabul after allegations surfaced that guards
engaged in lewd behavior and sexual misconduct at their living quarters.
Susan Pitcher, a spokeswoman for Wackenhut Services, ArmorGroup's parent
company, said the company only engaged workers from local villages upon the
"recommendation and encouragement" of U.S. special operations
troops. Pitcher said that ArmorGroup stayed in "close contact"
with the military personnel "to ensure that the company was constantly
acting in harmony with, and in support of, U.S. military interests and
desires." In August, Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced that
private security contractors would have to cease operations by the end of
the year. The workers, he said, would have to either join the government
security forces or stop work because they were undermining Afghanistan's
police and army and contributing to corruption.
April
27, 2010 RTTNews
An Afghan court has jailed a British manager of a firm providing
security to the British embassy in Kabul on graft charges. Bill Shaw,
serving for British security firm Group 4 Securicor, was found guilty of
corruption by an anti-corruption court partly funded by British government,
reports said Tuesday. He was sentenced to a two-year jail term, and fined
$25,000. His lawyers said they were planning to appeal the verdict in a
higher court. During trial, the defendant admitted that he had paid money to
get two armored cars impounded by Afghan authorities under the belief that
it was an official release payment. The prosecution case was that Shaw
struck a deal with one Eidi Mohammad to secure the release of the vehicles,
confiscated by Afghanistan's National Directorate over licensing
irregularities, after agreeing to pay $25,000. However, Shaw denied this.
Shaw, who was arrested on 3 March, will shortly be moved to the notorious
Pul-e-Charkhi prison located outside the capital Kabul. Shaw served in the British
army for 28 years and was awarded an MBE (Member of the British Empire).
Reports say Shaw's case is being used by Afghan authorities to show the
world that foreign nationals were responsible for most of the corruption in
the country.
December
8, 2009 Rueters
The State Department will not renew the contract of a security company
embroiled in a scandal involving the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, where guards
were accused of drunken conduct and sexual hazing. U.S. State Department
spokesman Mark Toner said on Tuesday Virginia-based ArmorGroup would not
have its contract renewed when it expires in June, although it will receive
a six-month extension to allow the contract to be put up for new bids.
Toner said officials had reviewed the contract and "concurred that the
next option year should not be exercised and that work begin immediately to
compete a new contract." He said the review included both recent
misconduct allegations against ArmorGroup personnel and the company's
"history of contract compliance deficiencies." This week a report
by the non-partisan Government Accounting Office identified a number of
shortcomings in the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security
including staffing shortage and increased reliance on contractors in
high-risk posts. The Kabul embassy scandal broke in September, when a
watchdog group accused ArmorGroup of jeopardizing security at the embassy
by understaffing the facility and ignoring lewd, drunken conduct and sexual
hazing by some guards -- and provided graphic photos as evidence.
ArmorGroup North America, now owned by Florida-based Wackenhut Services,
was also hit by a federal whistle-blower lawsuit that said it had ignored
brothel visits by guards and other misconduct because of what a lawyer said
was a "myopic preoccupation with profit" in its five-year, $187
million contract with the State Department. State Department officials said
the safety of embassy staff was never in jeopardy. But they subsequently
said 12 embassy guards had been removed or resigned, ArmorGroup's entire
senior Kabul management replaced and alcohol banned at the group's camp.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ordered a thorough review of how
contractors are used. The GAO report noted that worldwide, the U.S.
diplomatic security budget had grown to $1.8 billion in 2008 from just $200
million in 1998, when truck bomb attacks on U.S. Embassies in Kenya and
Tanzania killed more than 300 people including 12 Americans. The bureau's
workforce has also doubled over the same period but is failing to keep pace
with rising security threats including those faced in Iraq and Afghanistan,
it said. "Staffing shortages in domestic offices and other operational
challenges -- such as inadequate facilities, language deficiencies,
experience gaps, and balancing security needs with State's diplomatic
mission -- further tax its ability to implement all of its missions,"
the report said. The report urged the State Department to develop a
strategic plan to directly address the rising demands of diplomatic
security including increased staffing.
September
18, 2009 AP
A top executive of the private security contractor hired to protect the
U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan was informed in July 2008 of alleged illegal
and immoral conduct by guards, attorneys for a whistleblower suing the
company said Friday. The claim contradicts the sworn testimony of Samuel
Brinkley, a vice president for Wackenhut Services, the owner of ArmorGroup
North America. Brinkley told the Commission on Wartime Contracting under
oath on Monday that he and other corporate officials outside of Afghanistan
didn't know until a few weeks ago of problems that reportedly included
lurid parties and ArmorGroup employees frequenting brothels in Kabul. But
in a 10-page letter to the commission, the attorneys say their client,
James Gordon, told Brinkley during a meeting on July 15, 2008, of alleged
guard misconduct. The meeting took place in Brinkley's office in Arlington,
Va., Gordon said in a separate e-mail through the lawyers. Gordon was
ArmorGroup's director of operations until February 2008. He says he was
forced out of the job after trying to get the company to fix a long list of
shortcomings with the $189 million embassy security contract that the State
Department awarded ArmorGroup in March 2007. He filed a lawsuit earlier
this month in federal court claiming the company retaliated against him for
telling the department about the deficiencies. Brinkley and Wackenhut did
not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a previous statement
on the lawsuit, a Wackenhut spokeswoman called Gordon's claims baseless and
said he voluntarily resigned from the company. Clark Irwin, a spokesman for
the wartime contracting commission, said the congressionally mandated panel
is reviewing the letter. At the commission's Sept. 14 hearing on
ArmorGroup's performance, Brinkley portrayed himself and other company
executives as being blindsided by the misconduct of a small number of
employees. "I am not here to defend the indefensible," Brinkley
said. "Certain of our personnel behaved very badly." During a
series of heated exchanges, commissioners pressed Brinkley to explain why
he didn't tell the State Department of reports that guards were behaving
inappropriately, potentially putting security of a key U.S. diplomatic
outpost at risk. Brinkley said ArmorGroup managers in Afghanistan only told
him about an Aug. 11 incident involving nine employees who got drunk at a
bar near their living quarters. Those workers were counseled by the on-site
manager and a temporary ban on alcohol was imposed. He said the State
Department was informed of this incident on Aug. 26. Brinkley said he
wasn't aware of the scope and duration of the misconduct until Sept. 1 when
a watchdog group released a report with photos showing guards and
supervisors in various stages of nudity at parties flowing with alcohol.
The watchdog group, the Project on Government Oversight in Washington, also
said guards were subjected to abuse and hazing by supervisors who created a
hostile work environment. The letter from Gordon's attorneys says they are
concerned Brinkley's testimony did not provide the commission with a
"full and accurate understanding of many of the events in
question."
September
14, 2009 Government Executive
The State Department should terminate ArmorGroup North America's contract
for security services at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, witnesses and panelists
said during a Commission on Wartime Contracting hearing on Monday. The
recent photographs and report from the Project on Government Oversight
detailing alleged lewd, drunken behavior by guards at the embassy just
describe the latest and most egregious violation by ArmorGroup, witnesses
told the panel. State Department Undersecretary of Management Patrick
Kennedy testified that the contract has required "extensive oversight
and management." Since awarding the contract to ArmorGroup on March
12, 2007, State has issued seven deficiency notices addressing 25
deficiencies, one cure notice and one show-cause notice. Each notice
demanded separate correction action plans to resolve contractual issues and
several involved serious allegations, including that the contractor had
deceived the government in its contract proposal. Despite these problems,
State has not terminated the contract with ArmorGroup and has, in fact, exercised
an extension of the contract period. State officials said they are awaiting
the results of an ongoing investigation into the contractor's conduct at
the embassy. Commissioner Clark Kent Ervin pressed Kennedy to pledge State
would terminate the contract if the probe validates the allegations made
against the contract employees. While Kennedy was hesitant to speculate on
a hypothetical situation, he said he could imagine an outcome of the
investigation that would lead the agency to terminate the contract.
"We're seeing a serious case being made for termination," he
said. William Moser, deputy assistant secretary of State for logistics
management, told the commission a public hearing was not the proper forum
to talk about future contract actions. Regardless, he said the department
is discussing potential alternatives and approaching the reevaluation of
the contract "with a great deal of seriousness." Danielle Brian,
executive director of POGO, said the organization's investigation shows State
officials were notified of serious issues relating to the ArmorGroup
contract repeatedly, and took limited action. "For the two years of
this contract, State's response to whistleblowers' sustained complaints and
to its own finding of severe noncompliance consisted mainly of written
reprimands and the renewal of ArmorGroup's contract," Brian said.
"Simply documenting a problem or even levying a fine is not effective
oversight when those same problems continue to occur." Brian said
State has been "stubbornly defensive" in not recognizing its own
failures, and how those failures have caused misconduct and potential
lapses in security. While POGO strongly believes the contract should be
canceled and ArmorGroup -- or its parent company, Wackenhut -- should be
debarred from doing business with the government, that will not prevent
future problems, Brian said. To ensure proper conduct by contractors
overseas, State must shorten the rotations of its regional security
officers, perform more frequent audits and independent verification of
contractor reports of compliance, and prioritize accountability, she said.
"This cultural shift will be aided by canceling contracts when the
contractor consistently underperforms -- which will have the added benefit
of acting as a deterrent to future contractors -- and by disciplining the
State Department officials who are responsible for the failed oversight of
the ArmorGroup contract," Brian said. Commissioner Linda Gustitus said
State already lost authority with industry by not terminating its contract
with Blackwater Worldwide in the wake of the Nissor Square shooting
incident in Iraq. "That helped to send a message to other contractors
that you can do a lot and not have you contract terminated," Gustitus
said. Several commissioners joined Brian in urging Kennedy to hold
accountable the State employees responsible for managing Armor Group by
firing them, withholding bonuses or taking some other disciplinary action.
September
14, 2009 Wayne Madsen Report
At a September 10 press conference at the National Press Club in
Washington, two former managers for ArmorGroup North America (AGNA),
headquartered in McLean, Virginia and a subsidiary of ArmorGroup
International (AGI), revealed a litany of contract fraud and abuse charges
against AGNA and AGI and provided further details of sexual deviancy among
AGNA security guards in Kabul tasked with protecting the U.S. embassy.
ArmorGroup is now owned by Wackenhut Services, Inc., headquartered in Palm
Beach Gardens, Florida. The two former employees are suing AGNA, AGI,
Wackenhut, and Corporation Service Company for wrongful termination, false
claims, and conspiracy. John Gorman, a retired Marine Corps veteran who was
the camp manager at the security guard force’s Camp Sullivan, blew the
whistle on contract non-performance, security pitfalls, and sexual
deviancy, and was placed under virtual house arrest in June 2007 by AGNA’s
top manager in Kabul, Michael O’Connell, and flown out of the country.
Gorman was terminated and confined for some 24 hours, along with two other
AGNA managers, James Sauer, a retired Marine sergeant major and Pete
Martino, a retired Marine colonel, who filed complaints to both AGNA and
the Regional Security Office (RSO) for the U.S. embassy in Kabul, also
Marine Corps veterans. Because they told the RSO they feared for their
personal safety after bringing the charges against AGNA, he offered them
the security of his apartment on the embassy compound, which they turned
down only to later have their cell phones and weapons confiscated by AGNA
and being confined before their flight out of the country. Gorman said no
one at AGNA “ever mentioned or indicated a concern for the actual security
at the embassy -- the greatest and only concerns were the profit margin and
the bottom line.” Gorman said the project manager for the security
contract, Sauer, a man with 35 years of experience as a 30-year career
Marine with private security contractor experience in Iraq and Afghanistan,
was “ignored, second guessed, and rejected.” Sauer had vehemently objected
to allowing security personnel to be deployed to Kabul who had engaged in
“lewd and deviant behavior” during their subcontractor training in Texas.
After Gorman, Sauer, and Martino made their complaints known to McConnell,
the corporate executive replied that ArmorGroup was a publicly traded
company and could, therefore, not hire more people “because he had a
responsibility to the shareholders.” The effect was the hiring of clearly
unqualified personnel for the security guard force. Gorman said that there
were people hired as guards who had “no DD214s, driver’s licenses,
passports,” including one person who had been fired from a previous
security project for pulling a pistol on another employee while drunk.
AGNA, according to Gorman, covered up the security contract failures
because the firm was “to assume the $187 million a year security contract
for the American embassy in Kabul in less than two weeks and they were
bidding on the more lucrative $500 million contract for the U.S. embassy in
Baghdad. James Gordon, a New Zealand citizen and New Zealand Army veteran
who is married to an American, worked for ArmorGroup Iraq as the operations
manager, a subsidiary of AGI, also spoke about corporate malfeasance
involving AGNA. He later became the business development director for AGNA
headquarters in McLean. In 2007, Gordon took over as operations director
for the Kabul embassy security contract and attempted to bring the contract
into compliance with State Department requirements. Eventually, Gordon was
forced out of the company because instead of correcting contract violations
the firm’s only goal was to “maximize profits.” Gordon said among AGNA
security personnel were unqualified personnel, some of whom had serious
criminal records. Some guard recruits had engaged in “disgusting behavior”
during their initial training at AGI’s subsidiary’s training facility,
International Training Inc. (ITI) of Pearsall, Texas. Sauer, Martino, and
Gorman had received reports that some of the AGNA recruits, while undergoing
pre-deployment in Texas, had engaged in “lewd, aberrant, and sexually
deviant behavior, including sexual hazing, urination on one another and
equipment, bullying, ‘mooning,’” exposing themselves, excessive drinking,
and other conduct making themselves unfit for service on the contract. The
AGNA employees who were later forced out of the company attempted to ensure
that the trainees in Texas never arrived in Kabul. Several email exchanges
(“e-pong”) show they tried to block the sexual deviants from duty in Kabul.
AGNA also misrepresented ethnic Nepalese Gurkha farmers hired as security
guards for the Kabul embassy job as Gurkha military veterans of the British
and Indian armies. In fact. the Gurkha farmers hired from Nepal and
northern India were not proficient in English as required under the State
Department contract. In fact, some could speak no English. The language
test had never been administered to the Gurkha recruits. When some Gurkha
guards walked off their jobs in May 2007 because of poor wages and treatment,
Carol Ruart, AGI’s human resources director in London, ordered AGNA
management in Kabul to “lock [the Gurkhas] in their rooms until they agree
to work for less.” Gordon also stated that AGNA never invested in secure
vehicles to transport embassy guards between the embassy and other
locations. AGNA used broken down vehicles called “white coffins.” After the
State Department released funds to AGNA to buy secure vehicles, the firm
never bought the vehicles but transferred the money to AGI in London. AGNA
also hired a “rogue” South African program manager for the embassy contract
in Kabul, according to Gordon. DuPlessis replaced Sauer. Jimmy Lemmon
replaced Martino as deputy program manager. During the tenure of the South
African, Nick duPlessis, ammunition went missing from Camp Sullivan where
the guards were bivouacked and illegal weapons were stored at the facility.
Moreover, duPlessis did not possess a security clearance to receive
classified briefings, a requirement for the program manager position. In
addition, Gordon stated that the AGNA logistics manager, Sean Garcia, used
contract funds to purchase counterfeit North Face and Altama jackets and
boots for the security guards from his wife’s company in Lebanon, Trends
General Trading and Marketing LLC of Beirut. Gordon said, “the cheap
knock-offs could never keep the men warm during the cold winters in
Afghanistan.” After Gordon notified the State Department about the contract
breach, the order to remove him was ignored and the State Department continues
to own sub-par counterfeit material. Gordon sent an email dated September
3, 2007 to duPlessis and his staff in Kabul. Gordon also said that the AGNA
armorer in Kabul, responsible for maintaining all the weapons, had to be
“forcibly removed” from a brothel in Kabul. Many of the prostitutes working
in Kabul, according to Gordon, are young Chinese girls who were taken
against their will to Kabul for sexual exploitation. When Gordon ordered
the armorer’s immediate termination, he discovered that the AGNA medic,
Neville Montefiore, and duPlessis, the program manager, had also frequented
the brothels with the armorer. Gordon also discovered that there had been
an outbreak of sexually-transmitted diseases among the AGNA guards in 2007
and this was never reported to the State Department as required by the
contract. Prostitutes also frequently visited Camp Sullivan. Gordon also
discovered that the guard force routinely visited brothels in Kabul and
Montefiore’s replacement discovered the improper storage of regulated
narcotics at Camp Sullivan’s medical facility, including morphine. “You can
rest assured that there is no hiding of information from the DoS
[Department of State]. Anyone who thinks that they can get away with this
will probably end up in a Federal Penitentiary. It is our duty to report on
all aspects of the contract performance and we are required to be
transparent and honest in our dealings. Personally I wouldn’t accept
anything else.” Gordon’s plans to visit Kabul to conduct an investigation
were immediately shut down by ArmorGroup’s parent office in London. Gordon
said it is contrary to U.S. law for a foreign company to direct or
influence any activities on a classified contract. Moreover, the British
parent conducted their own investigation, which resulted in a three-page
whitewash. Gordon was denied access to all information about AGI London’s
investigation. After the whitewash, Gordon received a report that an AGNA
trainee wanted to be hired on as a security guard at the embassy in Kabul
because he knew someone “who owned prostitutes there.” The trainee boasted
that he could purchase a girl for $20,000 and earn a handsome profit each
month. The trainee, according to Gordon, had previously worked in Kabul
under duPlessis. Neither AGNA nor the State Department conducted a
follow-up investigation of the violations of the U.S. Trafficking in
Victims Protection Act by AGNA employees. AGNA responded to Gordon’s
warnings by blaming him for all the contract’s failures and he was forced
to leave the firm on February 29, 2008. After Wackenhut Services Inc.
bought ArmorGroup, after Gordon left the company, he met with Sam Brinkley,
the vice president of Wackenhut, to discuss the contract problems. Brinkley
promised to remove duPlessis and investigate all the charges of misconduct.
On June 10, 2009, Gordon was present during hearings held by Senator Claire
McCaskill (D-MO). Gordon said that Brinkley and the State Department
testified to McCaskill’s subcommittee on contracting oversight that AGNA
was “fully compliant” on the security contract for the embassy in Kabul.
Brinkley told the subcommittee that he “was proud” of the way the company
had been managing the embassy security contract. Gordon said the situation
at Camp Sullivan had worsened and the U.S. Embassy was facing a grave
security threat. McCaskill and ranking Republican member Susan Collins
(R-ME) never heard testimony from any of the whistleblowers on AGNA’s poor
security record in Kabul. The only witnesses heard were Brinkley and
William Moser, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Logistics
Management. Brinkley, in addition to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, has
responsibility for the security contract for the U.S. Naval Support
Activity in Bahrain, which, according to ex-AGNA sources, may be using untrained
Gurkha farmers from the Indian subcontinent as crack veterans of the
British and Indian armies. The Gorman/Gordon lawsuit states that on October
10, 2007, the AGNA security force in Kabul was involved in a number of
serious incidents, including: detaining a group of Afghan civilians and
involuntarily transporting them to the U.S. embassy; verbally and
physically engaging in an altercation with Afghan Ministry of Interior
policemen and handcuffing the policemen; confronting an Afghan general and several
Ministry of Interior policemen; refusing an order from the embassy RSO to
withdraw from a checkpoint to defuse a potentially explosive situation. The
statements of the two ex-AGNA employees reveal a culture of depravity and
unprofessional behavior that Gordon stated still exists to this very day in
Kabul.
September
14, 2009 AP
A member of a federal commission investigating wartime spending said
Monday that photos showing private security guards in various stages of
nudity at drunken parties may be as damaging to U.S. interests in
Afghanistan as images of detainee mistreatment at Abu Ghraib were in Iraq.
Dov Zakheim, a former Pentagon comptroller, made the comment at a hearing
Monday held by the Commission on Wartime Contracting on allegations of lewd
behavior and sexual misconduct by employees of ArmorGroup North America,
the company hired to protect the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Zakheim said the
photos are circulating heavily on the Internet and give Muslims in
Afghanistan a negative image of the United States. Patrick Kennedy, the
State Department's management chief, acknowledged the department should
have been paying closer attention to the activities of the ArmorGroup
guards at their living quarters near the embassy. The private security
contractor hired to protect the embassy said Monday it erred by not
immediately telling the State Department about an alcohol-related incident
involving its guards that proved far more serious than company officials
first believed. "I am not here to defend the indefensible," said
Samuel Brinkley, vice president of Wackenhut Services, the company that
owns the contractor, ArmorGroup North America. A manager for ArmorGroup
counseled nine guards after they got drunk at a bar near their living
quarters in Kabul on August 10. But after photos surfaced showing the
guards had been at a party where ArmorGroup employees engaged in lewd and
inappropriate behavior, they realized they made a mistake by not alerting
U.S. officials. Photos showed guards and supervisors in various stages of
nudity at parties flowing with alcohol. Brinkley said the manager's
response, which included a temporary ban on alcohol, seemed adequate at the
time. "In retrospect, we were wrong in not notifying the State
Department," Brinkley said in testimony before the independent
Commission on Wartime Contracting. Kennedy, under secretary of state for
management, told the commission the State Department is very concerned
about ArmorGroup's delays in reporting its knowledge of any misconduct by
its employees. The State Department has been sharply criticized for its
management and oversight of the security contract at one of the country's
most important diplomatic outposts. In addition to the allegations of
misconduct, other problems have included a shortage of guards and inferior
equipment. As the department's top management officer, Kennedy said he
takes full responsibility for having failed to prevent the problems that
reportedly ranged from out-of-control parties to Armor Group supervisors
frequenting brothels in Kabul. The State Department has launched an
investigation into ArmorGroup's handling of the $189 million contract
embassy security contract. Kennedy told the commission that the misconduct
"dishonored" the State Department in Afghanistan, where "the
success of U.S. objectives depends on the cultural sensitivity of all
mission personnel, including employees under contract." But he and
other State Department officials said no decision will be made on whether
to terminate the contract with ArmorGroup until the investigation is
complete. Members of the commission pressed Kennedy to be more aggressive,
saying the evidence already available is enough to warrant firing
ArmorGroup, which was awarded the contract to protect the embassy in March
2007. "To me, it's just totally out of control and it's been going on
for a long time," said Michael Thibault, co-chairman of the
commission. Commissioner Clark Ervin asked Kennedy to pledge to terminate
the contract if the investigation proves all the allegations prove to be true.
Kennedy refused to commit, saying the inquiry needs to run its course.
However, Kennedy added, "We are seeing a very, very serious case being
made for termination."
September
13, 2009 Washington Post
In 2005, the State Department hired a Northern Virginia company to provide
security for the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan. Diplomats quickly became
concerned about whether the new guards, who barely spoke English, could
protect such a sensitive site. "They had serious problems,"
recalled Ronald E. Neumann, who was ambassador at the time. The department
then brought in another security contractor, ArmorGroup North America. But
the difficulties didn't cease. In recent days, evidence of ArmorGroup's
failings has burst into public view -- photos depicting its guards in
semi-naked hazing rituals and official documents showing persistent staff
shortages. Harold W. Geisel, the acting inspector general of the State
Department, told Congress last week that his investigators are checking for
possible criminal conduct by ArmorGroup, and a congressional hearing is
scheduled for Monday. Lawmakers and watchdog groups are questioning how the
department could have continued to employ a company that, in addition to
tolerating bullying and understaffing, failed to ensure that its guards had
proper security clearances and sufficient equipment -- or that they spoke
English. The criticism is particularly intense because the State Department
had promised to improve oversight after a 2007 shooting incident in Iraq
involving bodyguards from security contractor Blackwater that left 17 Iraqi
civilians dead. "State's management of these contracts has been
self-evidentially abysmal," said Peter W. Singer, an expert on
government contracting at the Brookings Institution. ArmorGroup's efforts
to guard the Kabul embassy were troubled from the start, according to
congressional hearings, internal State Department documents and interviews.
The McLean-based company submitted "an unreasonably low price" in
2007 for the contract, said Samuel Brinkley, an official with Wackenhut
Services, the firm's parent company, at a congressional hearing in June.
Former ArmorGroup supervisors have said in interviews that the company
slashed guard staffing so it could squeak out a profit. State Department
officials have expressed outrage about the lewd behavior shown in the
photos. Still, they defend their selection of ArmorGroup, saying they are
legally required to award such contracts to the lowest qualified bidder and
noting that ArmorGroup was well-regarded. They also insist that the embassy
was never endangered by the guard problems -- even though internal
department documents say it was. "The fact you find something is wrong
means something is wrong. But you find it," the department's
undersecretary for management, Patrick F. Kennedy, said in an interview. He
emphasized that many of the guards' failings emerged in documents written
by department officials. "There was oversight present," he said.
The troubles at the Kabul embassy raise questions about how authorities
will manage what is expected to be a surge in the number of contract guards
at U.S. facilities in Iraq as the American military presence declines. The
scandal has also given new impetus to a debate over whether too many
government wartime jobs are being outsourced. "The State Department
should consider whether the security for an embassy in a combat zone is an
inherently governmental function, and therefore not subject to contracting
out," Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight,
wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton this month. Brian's
group released the photos of what it called near-weekly sessions of hazing
and sexual humiliation of ArmorGroup guards at their camp. The State
Department has for years used local contract guards to secure the
perimeters of its embassies, while generally keeping a modest Marine
contingent for interior access. But in Iraq and Afghanistan, the department
decided not to use local guards because of vetting concerns, officials say.
Instead, as the military withdrew forces from around those embassies in
recent years, the department turned to contractors such as ArmorGroup. But
the department, which suffers from a shortage of contracting staff, has had
a rocky history of managing such guard contracts. Each of its three
contracts in Kabul has come under fire. The first was awarded to
McLean-based Global Strategies, to replace a Marine combat force
withdrawing from the U.S. Embassy in March 2005. The department justified
the $6-million-a-month sole-source contract by saying it had received late
notification of the Marines' departure. But the inspector general found
that the Defense Department had given six months' official notice, and
scolded the State Department for poor planning. By July 2005, the State
Department had signed a contract with MVM of Ashburn, cutting its guard
costs to less than $2 million a month, according to the inspector general's
report. But MVM could not provide enough guards, partly because it was
paying much less than its predecessor, according to Neumann. And, he said,
the guards spoke so little English that they could not understand
instructions. "We went back to the State Department and said, 'These
people are unacceptable,' " Neumann said. State canceled MVM's contract
and kept on the Global guards temporarily. MVM's chief executive, Dario O.
Marquez, did not return a call seeking comment but told the Wall Street
Journal last year that the State Department did not give him enough time to
fix the problems. Neumann said the department was handicapped in selecting
guard companies because of regulations stipulating that the contract go to
a qualified U.S. firm that offers the lowest bid. "People low-bid, and
then they're not competent," he said. Finally, in March 2007, the
department turned to ArmorGroup. The firm, which also guarded the British
Embassy in Kabul, was one of only two bidders deemed technically qualified
by the department's acquisition and security specialists. Its price was
about $3 million a month, officials say. "ArmorGroup was not a small,
undercapitalized, underfunded, fly-by-night organization," Kennedy
said. "They put forth a proposal that met every requirement." But
within weeks of the company starting work, the State Department sent
ArmorGroup a warning that its deficiencies -- including shortages of guards
and armored vehicles -- were so serious that "the security of the U.S.
Embassy in Kabul is in jeopardy," according to the House Subcommittee
on Contracting Oversight. State Department officials issued eight more
warnings to the company over the next two years, including one last
September threatening to terminate the contract. Despite the problems, the
department stuck with ArmorGroup, agreeing this summer to extend its
contract for a year. State Department officials have said that the company
appeared to be making progress and that changing firms would be disruptive.
A spokeswoman for Wackenhut, which took over ArmorGroup North America last
year, declined to comment. In a lawsuit filed last week, former ArmorGroup
supervisor James Gordon accuses the company not only of failing to properly
staff the embassy but also of lying to the State Department about its
capabilities. The operation "was a complete shambles," he said.
September
12, 2009 New York Times
When a security guard at the United States Embassy in Kabul,
Afghanistan, was leaving for breakfast Monday morning, he froze at the
sight of a crude poster of a rat hanging on his door. “Warning!” the poster
said in stark, black letters. “Rats can cost you your job and your family.”
The guard was a whistle-blower who had told of security lapses and lewd,
drunken bacchanals by fellow workers, sparking an outcry and enraging
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Now he wonders whether he should
have kept his mouth shut. “Threats are still running rampant here,” he said
in a telephone conversation from Kabul, speaking on condition of anonymity
for fear of reprisal. “So even though it looks like State may finally turn
things around, no one’s ready to celebrate yet.” Such skepticism may be
warranted. A review of two years of e-mail messages, letters and memos
reveals that the State Department had long known of the serious problems
with ArmorGroup, the contractor chosen to protect its embassy. The complaints
went beyond the lurid pranks that made headlines, the documents show, and
included serious understaffing, bullying by management, petty corruption
and abusive work conditions. In fact, the deficiencies became so severe
that they threatened the security of the compound, the documents show, and
State Department officials withheld payments to ArmorGroup as a way to
compel it to comply with the terms of its agreement. On a few occasions,
government officials warned the company that if it did not correct the most
egregious problems it would lose the five-year, $189 million deal. Yet both
times the contract came up for renewal, in 2008 and 2009, the State
Department opted to extend it, officials confirmed. The troubles with the
ArmorGroup contract, and the State Department’s frustrated dealings with
the company over two years and through two administrations, illustrate how
the government has become dependent on the private security companies that
work in war zones, and has struggled to manage companies that themselves
are sometimes loosely run and do not always play by the government’s rules.
With a stretched military, the government relies on the security companies
themselves to vet, train, and discipline the guards, all at the lowest
cost. “It’s expensive for the State Department to withdraw a contract from
one company, rebid the project and award it to a new one,” said Janet
Goldstein, a Washington lawyer who represents one of the ArmorGroup
whistleblowers. “So businesses know that once they get a contract, State
may ding them around a little bit, but it’s not going to fire them.” The
perils of this reliance were most graphically illustrated in Iraq in 2007,
when security guards from another contractor, Blackwater, were involved in
shootings that left 17 civilians dead on a Baghdad street. But interviews
and documents show that the ArmorGroup affair, in its mundane, unsavory
details, offers perhaps a more representative look inside the troubled
relationship between contractors and the government in war zones. State
Department officials acknowledge they had a litany of complaints about the
company, none of which, they insist, compromised the security of the
embassy. But they profess to being deeply embarrassed by reports of parties
where security guards were photographed naked, fondling and urinating on
each other. “I’ve been doing this for 37 years; I’m proud of what I do,”
said Patrick F. Kennedy, the undersecretary of state for management who
oversees outside contractors. But, he added, “This is humiliating.” Mr.
Kennedy, however, defended the State Department’s overall handling of the
contract. The frequent letters of complaint the government sent to
ArmorGroup, he said, were evidence that the department was keeping close
tabs on the company. The “greatest majority” of the failures cited in the
letters were addressed, he said. Part of the problem, officials said, was
that the guards are housed in a complex six miles from the embassy, Camp
Sullivan, with little oversight by State Department officials. Susan Pitcher,
a spokeswoman for Wackenhut Services, the American subsidiary of the Danish
company that owns ArmorGroup, referred questions to the State Department,
saying only that it was cooperating with the government’s investigation. On
Monday, the independent Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and
Afghanistan will hold a hearing to examine the State Department’s oversight
of the contract. Christopher Shays, a former congressman and co-chairman of
the commission, said there was “a serious failure on the part of the State
Department in being unable to compel the contractor to fulfill its
commitment.” The disclosures, which were originally made by a nonprofit
organization, Project on Government Oversight, deeply rattled the State
Department. At a staff meeting following the release of the group’s report,
senior officials said, Mrs. Clinton vented her anger about the lurid
pictures. Karl W. Eikenberry, a retired Army general who became President
Obama’s ambassador to Afghanistan last May, was livid, an official said,
because he had never been briefed about the problems. Despite their unease
with contractors, officials acknowledged the department had no choice but
to keep using them. “In situations where there is a surge of intense
security requirements, it is a real challenge,” said Jacob J. Lew, the
deputy secretary of state for management and resources. “We cannot reduce
the security presence.” The State Department was not in a buyer’s market
when it looked for a company to protect its embassy in Kabul. It picked
ArmorGroup in March 2007, after its previous choice, MVM, proved unable to
marshal the necessary personnel or equipment, officials said. Of the eight
companies that bid for the contract the second time around, only two were
deemed technically capable. ArmorGroup was the cheapest. The company’s most
recent contract extension was granted in June this year, after a Senate
hearing in which one of its executives, Samuel Brinkley, a Wackenhut vice
president, said in sworn testimony that his company was in full compliance
with the terms of its contract, and a State Department official, William H.
Moser, a deputy assistant secretary of state, also under oath, said he was
satisfied with the company’s performance. In interviews, ArmorGroup
whistleblowers said they felt betrayed by the testimony. By many measures,
they said, things were worse, not better. After largely uneventful company
barbecues morphed into what have been described as scenes from “The Lord of
the Flies,” at least a dozen of the men started a document trail of their
own, sending e-mail messages and photographs to the Project on Government
Oversight. According to interviews and those documents, from July 2007 to
April 2009, the State Department issued ArmorGroup at least nine warnings,
nearly one every other month, about contract violations that ranged from
mundane concerns about the company’s ability to keep accurate personnel
logs, to more critical concerns about corruption among company managers and
the hardships faced by sleep-deprived, underpaid guards — the majority of
them Gurkhas from Nepal — who could not understand simple commands in
English. While the Gurkhas were largely the source of the language
problems, the lewd hazing rituals were largely the activity of the native
English speakers, a mix of Americans, South Africans, New Zealanders and
Australians. In 2008, after ArmorGroup was acquired by the Danish company,
G4S, Wackenhut informed the State Department it was taking control of the
Kabul contract, and promised to fix any problems. Government officials
agreed to give the new owners a chance. According to their own
correspondence, their optimism seemed to dim fairly quickly. On Aug. 22,
2008, the State Department wrote to ArmorGroup to express concerns that
staffing shortages were so severe the company might not be able to provide
security after a situation with mass casualties. On Sept. 21, 2008, the
State Department deducted $2.4 million in payments from ArmorGroup, warning
that its failure to provide a sufficient number of guards “gravely
endangers the performance of guard services.” In March 2009, the department
again advised ArmorGroup that it had “grave concerns” about staffing
shortages, noting that inspectors on a recent tour found 18 guardposts left
uncovered. In April, it denied ArmorGroup’s request for a third waiver to
the requirement that it teach its foreign guards English. A month later,
without much explanation, ArmorGroup told the State Department that
deficiencies relating to language and staffing had been resolved. And a month
after that, a senior State Department official told the Senate Subcommittee
on Contracting Oversight that “despite contractual deficiencies, the
performance by ArmorGroup North America has been and is sound.” “I sat in
the audience that day, and shook my head in disbelief,” said James Gordon,
a former ArmorGroup executive who has filed a whistleblower’s lawsuit
against the company. He says he was forced out for complaining about the
problems. “I knew that conditions at Camp Sullivan were deteriorating, that
the contract continued to be understaffed, that the conditions in Kabul
were getting more dangerous, and that the U.S. Embassy was facing grave
threats.”
September
10, 2009 New York Times
Two former employees of a private contractor hired to provide security
at the United States Embassy in Afghanistan charged that State Department
officials were aware as early as 2007 that guards and supervisors were
involved in lewd conduct. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, one of the former
employees, James Gordon, a native of New Zealand who served as director of
operations at the contractor, ArmorGroup North America, charged that he had
spoken numerous times with State Department officials about significant
problems that threatened security at the embassy. Among other things, he
said that ArmorGroup hired guards who could not speak English and had no
security experience; that the company employed fewer guards than needed and
worked them for longer hours than at other embassies to cut costs; and that
it allowed managers and employers to hire prostitutes. “Their goal was to
perform the contract as cheaply as possible,” said Mr. Gordon, speaking by
telephone from Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, where he is now employed by
another private security contractor which he declined to name. “Their goal
was to do everything they could to prevent the State Department from
discovering their multiple contract violations and operational
shortcomings. Their goal was to provide a fig leaf of security at the
embassy, and to pray to God that nobody got killed.” Mr. Gordon and another
former supervisor, John Gorman, said they warned State Department officials
in Kabul several times that ArmorGroup was plagued with problems and that
it was determined to cover them up. They said that as a result of their
efforts to correct the problems and to make the government aware of the
issues, ArmorGroup forced them to leave their jobs. As evidence to support
his assertions, Mr. Gorman provided a packet of memos and e-mail messages
that he said he and two other former employees gave State Department
officials in June 2007, including a three-page memo in which he outlined an
array of contract violations. Among them, he wrote: “The training program
run for new hires has been plagued with hazing and intimidation of students
by students. This included physical threats and perversions.” Senior State
Department officials said they were unaware that guards had engaged in that
kind of activity at their living quarters at a base in Kabul. The officials
spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak about a
continuing investigation. The charges echoed those in a report released
last week by an independent group, the Project on Government Oversight,
which accused the guards and supervisors of deviant behavior. Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton ordered an investigation, and about 16 guards
and supervisors were fired or have resigned. ArmorGroup North America,
based in McLean, Va., was acquired in 2008 by a Danish security company,
G4S, and its American subsidiary, Wackenhut Services Inc. In a written
statement, Wackenhut described Mr. Gordon’s allegations as “overstated,
ill-founded, not based on any personal knowledge or otherwise lacking in
legal merit.”
September
10, 2009 AP
A former manager for the security contractor protecting the U.S.
Embassy in Afghanistan says the company lowballed its bid for the work and
then failed to hire enough guards or fix faulty equipment. The allegations
come after an independent watchdog group said last week that ArmorGroup
guards were subjected to abuse and hazing by supervisors who created a
climate of fear and intimidation. On Thursday, James Gordon, former
director of operations at ArmorGroup North America, alleged the company bid
too low in order to win the contract and then cut corners to keep profits
up. Gordon says he was fired for reporting the problems. He also claims
ArmorGroup withheld from Congress information about employees who went to
brothels. Wackenhut Services, ArmorGroup's parent company, had no immediate
comment.
September
8, 2009 Government Executive
A contract employee in Afghanistan claims he was forced to resign or
risk being fired outright in retaliation for his role in exposing alleged
lewd and drunken behavior of security guards at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
Terry Pearson worked for 16 months as an operations supervisor for RA
International, a Dubai-based food service provider at Camp Sullivan, the
off-site base that was home to the ArmorGroup North America security guards
alleged to have participated in the incidents reported last week by the
Washington watchdog group the Project on Government Oversight. A native of
Great Britain, Pearson said he was disgusted by the behavior of some
guards, including one episode in which an apparently drunken supervisor
allegedly accosted a young Afghan employee. Pearson reportedly complained
about the incidents to RA International and ArmorGroup -- the prime
contractor on the $187 million State Department embassy contract -- but
when the two companies failed to address his concerns, he contacted a
Washington law firm. Internal company e-mails obtained by Government
Executive show that RA International executives suspected Pearson was a
whistleblower. In one of the messages, RA International Chairman Soraya Narfeldt
asked Pearson to admit that he was the source of the complaint about the
guards. Narfeldt also questioned Pearson in two separate e-mails about
calls to the Washington attorney. "They have stated that a staff
member of RAI reached out to another law firm in D.C. regarding information
pertaining to AGNA," Narfeldt wrote. "I cannot see how they could
have this information if it was not true and if you have reached out using
the RAI e-mail address then this is quite serious. How can a D.C. firm
pluck RAI out of thin air to call with no information? Makes no
sense." Narfeldt punctuated the e-mail by noting that ArmorGroup
"is our client" and what the company "does within themselves
is not our concern." Shortly after receiving the message, Pearson gave
his 30-day notice of resignation. Five hours later, he rescinded his
resignation, but Scott Fardy, the firm's country manager in Afghanistan,
told him to have his personal property removed from Camp Sullivan by the
end of the day, e-mails show. Pearson later told the Project on Government
Oversight that, "This is definitely a case of get rid of the
whistleblower." RA International, however, insists that Pearson left
the company voluntarily for reasons that were "not associated"
with the guard controversy. "The employee independently made the
decision to leave the company," Fardy said in an e-mail to Government
Executive. "His notice was received on Sept. 1, 2009. We have very
clear [human resource] procedures in place both for dealing with grievances
and issues -- in confidence if necessary -- and for ensuring that an
employee's decision to leave the company is validated. There was no
coercion leading to his resignation and, in fact, RA International's
response highlighted that he was welcome to reapply to the company for
positions in the future." Fardy said he spoke with Pearson twice
following his resignation "to check that he felt he was making the
right decision." Once Pearson made up his mind, Fardy said, the
company had to move on. RA International has more than 1,000 employees
worldwide and, in addition to Afghanistan, holds reconstruction assistance
contracts in Darfur, Sudan; and the Central Republic of Chad. Pearson was
among the first to blow the whistle on alleged hazing and alcohol-filled
debauchery of ArmorGroup guards, much of which was caught on camera and
video. On Aug. 1 an ArmorGroup supervisor and four others reportedly
entered a Camp Sullivan dining facility that was run by RA International
wearing short underwear and brandishing several bottles of alcohol. Before
leaving the facility, the supervisor allegedly grabbed the face of a young
Afghan national employed by RA International, and began abusing him with
foul and sexual language, according to a complaint filed by the employee.
Pearson was in charge of taking the statement from the Afghan national.
POGO investigators said Pearson was punished for speaking out and that if
he had been fired, he would have had difficulty finding work elsewhere as a
security contractor. By resigning, however, he can find work with another
company. During an interview with CNN over the weekend, Pearson said he
does not regret his decision to speak out about the scandal. "If I had
the chance to turn back the clock and do something different, I don't think
I would," he said. "I would still end up doing exactly the same
thing because people's dignity at work and respect at work are more
important than the job itself." Meanwhile, other embassy
whistleblowers have reportedly been threatened for coming forward with
their accusations. POGO said posters were produced and distributed at
several locations in Afghanistan calling the whistleblowers
"RATS" and warning them that if they continued revealing negative
information, then they could be in danger. POGO brought the posters to the
attention of the State Department, which has since reportedly put up its
own posters stating that, "Threats and/or intimidation are completely
unacceptable and should be reported immediately." The posters include
the name and phone number of a special agent for the embassy for
whistleblowers to contact. On Friday, the State Department announced it had
fired eight ArmorGroup contractors who appeared in the photographs. The
embassy originally reported that two other guards had resigned their
positions. But, POGO said the State Department later rescinded those
resignations and fired the employees. State's inspector general office is
investigating the conduct of the ArmorGroup guards. RA International is
cooperating with the probe, Fardy said.
September
4, 2009 Government Executive
The State Department on Friday announced it has fired eight security
contractors assigned to guard the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan, after photos
surfaced of the men involved in lewd and embarrassing behavior. The guards
from ArmorGroup North America left Afghanistan on Friday, according to a
statement from the embassy. In addition, the company's senior managers in
Kabul are "being replaced immediately," the statement said. The
embassy did not release the names of the dismissed employees. "The
embassy security office continues its interviews of every one of the
ArmorGroup guards," the statement said. The embassy originally
reported that two other guards who appeared in the now infamous photographs
had resigned their positions. But, sources told the Project on Government
Oversight, the watchdog group that broke the scandal, that the State
Department rescinded their resignations, fired them and revoked their
security clearances. That essentially will prevent them from finding work
with another security contractor. But, POGO is concerned that some of the
employees who lost their jobs were young recruits who might have been
pressured to participate in the sexual and alcohol-fueled escapades
captured in the photos. "We have been told people are being fired for
simply being in the photographs," POGO Executive Director Danielle
Brian said. "We do know a number of those were unwilling participants.
We also want to hear that the supervisors who were responsible for this
debacle are being held fully accountable and not simply allowed to resign
and go to another contractor." A team from the State Department's
inspector general office arrived in Kabul this week and is conducting an
investigation of the allegations. On Thursday, POGO learned that one of the
whistleblowers who helped expose the guard scandal allegedly was forced to
resign. The whistleblower's company, RA International, is a Dubai-based
food service provider at Camp Sullivan, the off-site base where the guards
lived.
September
2, 2009 The Guardian
Pictures have emerged showing private contractors at the embassy holding
'deviant and lewd' parties. The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, has
ordered an investigation into allegations that private contractors employed
to protect the American embassy in Afghanistan were engaged in
"deviant and lewd" parties that have been compared to Lord of the
Flies. The decision to launch the inquiry came after an independent group
sent her a 10-page dossier yesterday claiming that the security guards at
the embassy had been engaged in drunken parties involving prostitutes and
the kind of ritual humiliation associated with gang initiation. Pictures
and video footage were attached to the dossier. The dossier, compiled by
the independent investigative group Project on Government Insight, includes
an email allegedly from a guard currently serving in Kabul describing
scenes in which guards and supervisors are "peeing on people, eating
potato chips out of [buttock] cracks, vodka shots out of [buttock] cracks
(there is video of that one), broken doors after drnken [sic] brawls,
threats and intimidation from those leaders participating in this
activity". The allegations are an embarrassment at a time when the
Obama administration is struggling to win hearts and minds in Afghanistan
and the Muslim world in general. It comes against the backdrop of the
continuing controversy over the widespread use by the US of private
contractors in war zones, of which the most notorious was Blackwater, now
named Xe. The group at the centre of the new allegations are the
ArmorGroup, part of the Florida-based Wackenhut group, one of the biggest
private security organisations in the US. The organisation did not respond
immediately today to the allegations. The Project on Government Insight,
which was established in 1981 to track military procurement and bring to
light evidence of any corruption, described the environment at Camp
Sullivan, where the guards were housed outside Kabul, as comparable to the
anarchy in William Golding's Lord of the Flies. It said about 300 of the
450 ArmorGroup guards are Gurkhas and the rest are a mix of Australians,
South Africans and Americans. In the dossier, it said that guards were
"engaging in near-weekly deviant hazing and humiliation of
subordinates" . It claimed that some guards had barricaded themselves
in their rooms out of fear that the alleged hazing might harm them
physically. It further claims that guard force supervisors "made no
secret that, to celebrate a birthday, they brought prostitutes into Camp
Sullivan, which maintains a sign-in log." According to the report,
Afghan nationals, as Muslims, were humiliated by the behaviour and the
apparently free-flowing use of alcohol. The pictures could be picked up by
the Taliban and used as propaganda against the US and its allies. But the
Project on Government Insight stressed that comparisons should not be made
with the pictures of abuse at the Iraqi prison, Abu Ghraib, because no
allegations of torture are being made. The report says that the general
breakdown in discipline poses a threat to the security of the embassy. Ian
Kelly, the state department spokesman, said of the reports of wild,
anarchic partying: "These are very serious allegations, and we are
treating them that way." Clinton has "zero tolerance" for
the behaviour described and has directed a "review of the whole
system" for farming out security to private contractors that may have
threatened the safety of embassy personnel, Kelly said. The embassy said
today: "Nothing is more important to us than the safety and security
of all embassy personnel - Americans and Afghan - and respect for the
cultural and religious values of all Afghans." It added: "We have
taken immediate steps to review all local guard force policies and
procedures and have taken all possible measures to ensure our security is
sound." Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat who heads a subcommittee
on contractor oversight, wrote to the state department calling for the
inquiry in the light of the report. McCaskill's committee earlier this year
conducted its own hearings on the involvement of ArmorGroup in Afghanistan.
September
1, 2009 Washington Post
Private security contractors who guard the U.S. embassy in Kabul have
engaged in lewd behavior and hazed subordinates, demoralizing the
undermanned force and posing a "significant threat" to security
at time when the Taliban is intensifying attacks in the Afghan capital,
according to an investigation released Tuesday by a government watchdog
group. The Project on Government Oversight launched the probe after more
than a dozen security guards contacted the group to report misconduct and
morale problems within the force of 450 guards that lives at Camp Sullivan,
a few miles from the U.S. embassy compound. In one incident in May, more
than a dozen guards took weapons, night vision goggles and other key
equipment and engaged in an unauthorized "cowboy" mission in
Kabul, leaving the embassy "largely night blind," POGO wrote in a
letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton outlining the security
violations. The guards dressed in Afghan tunics and scarves in violation of
contract rules and hid in abandoned buildings in a reconnaissance mission that
was not part of their training or mission. Later two heads of the guard
force, Werner Ilic and Jimmy Lemon, issued a "letter of
recognition" praising the men for "conspicuous intrepidity
(sic)" with the U.S. State Department logo on the letter head.
"They were living out some sort of delusion," one of the
whistle-blower guards said Tuesday in an interview with The Washington Post
from Kabul. "It presented a huge opportunity for an international
incident," said the guard who spokes on condition of anonymity because
he feared retribution. The report recommends that Defense Secretary Robert
M. Gates immediately assign U.S. military personnel to supervise the guards
and remove the management of the current force. It also calls on the State
Department to hold accountable diplomatic officials who failed to provide
adequate oversight of the contract. The report also found that supervisors
held near-weekly parties in which they urinated on themselves and others,
drank vodka poured off each other's exposed buttocks, fondled and kissed
one another and gallivanted around virtually nude. Photos and video of the
escapades were released with the POGO investigation. "The lewd and
deviant behavior of approximately 30 supervisors and guards has resulted in
complete distrust of leadership and a breakdown of the chain of command,
compromising security," POGO said in the letter to Clinton. The guards
work for ArmorGroup, North America, which has an $180 million annual
contract with the State Department to secure the embassy and the 1,000
diplomats, staff and Afghan nationals who work there. The State Department
renewed the contract in July despite finding numerous performance
deficiencies by ArmorGroup in recent years which were the subject of a
Senate subcommittee hearing in June. Susan Pitcher, a spokeswoman for
Wackenhut Services, Inc., the Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. company that owns
ArmorGroup, declined to comment on Tuesday's POGO report. Conduct of
contractors providing security in Iraq and Afghanistan has been the subject
of controversy and other investigations in recent years. The government
relies heavily on such contractors for security and other needs. A new
Congressional Research Service report has found that as of March, the
Defense Department had more contract personnel than troops in Afghanistan.
The 52,300 uniformed U.S. military and 68,200 contractors in Afghanistan at
that time "apparently represented the highest recorded percentage of
contractors used by DOD [Defense Department] in any conflict in the history
of the United States," the report said. Some 16 percent of the
contractors are involved in providing security, a much higher percentage
than the 10 percent that were used in Iraq. Although contractors provide
many essential services, "they also pose management challenges in
monitoring performance and preventing fraud," according to Steven
Aftergood, who first disclosed the congressional report on his Secrecy News
Web site.
September
1, 2009 AP
Guards hired by the State Department to protect diplomats and staff at
the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan live and work in a "Lord of the
Flies" environment in which they're subjected to hazing and other
inappropriate behavior by supervisors, a government oversight group charged
Tuesday. In a 10-page letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton,
the Project on Government Oversight contended the situation has led to a
breakdown in morale and leadership, compromising security at the embassy in
Kabul where nearly 1,000 U.S. diplomats, staff and Afghan nationals work.
The group is urging Clinton to launch an investigation of the contract with
ArmorGroup North America. It also recommends that she ask the Pentagon to
provide "immediate military supervision" of the private security
force at the embassy. The oversight group's findings are based on
interviews with ArmorGroup guards, documents, photographs and e-mails. One
e-mail from a guard describes lurid conditions at Camp Sullivan, the
guards' quarters a few miles from the embassy. The message depicted scenes
of abuse including guards and supervisors urinating on people and
"threats and intimidation from those leaders participating in this
activity." Multiple guards say these conditions have created a
"climate of fear and coercion." Those who refuse to participate
are often ridiculed, humiliated or even fired, they contended. The group's
investigation found sleep-deprived guards regularly logging 14-hour days,
language barriers that impair critical communications, and a failure by the
State Department to hold the contractor accountable. Wackenhut Services,
ArmorGroup's parent company, had no immediate comment on the allegations.
The State Department also had no immediate comment. The State Department
has been aware of ArmorGroup's shortcomings, the letter says, but hasn't
done enough to correct the problems. It cites a July 2007 warning from the
department to ArmorGroup that detailed more than a dozen performance
deficiencies, including too few guards and armored vehicles. Another
"cure notice" was sent less than a year later, raising other
problems and criticizing the contractor for failing to fix the prior ones.
In July 2008, however, the department extended the contract for another
year, according to the notice. More problems surfaced and more warning
notices followed. Yet at a congressional hearing on the contract in June,
State Department officials said the prior shortcomings had been remedied
and security at the embassy is effective. The contract was renewed again
through 2010. Nearly two-thirds of the embassy guards are Gurkhas from
Nepal and northern India who don't speak adequate English, a situation that
creates communications breakdowns, the group says. Pantomime is often used
to convey orders and instructions. On the Net: Project on Government
Oversight: http://www.pogo.org/
Altcourse Prison, UK
Dec
14, 2017 theguardian.com
Ombudsman called in after death of 11th immigration detainee
An investigation has been launched after the death of an 11th
immigration detainee this year. Michael Netyks, a 35-year-old Pole, was
serving a six-month sentence at Altcourse prison, a private jail in
Liverpool run by G4S. He had been assessed to be vulnerable and is thought
to have taken his own life. Altcourse director Steve Williams said: “On
Thursday 7 December, a prisoner at HM Prison Altcourse sadly passed away.
His next of kin have been informed and our thoughts are with them at this
difficult time. “As with any death in custody, this will be investigated by
the prison and probation ombudsman.” The latest death will heighten
concerns over the treatment of immigration detainees, who have died at a
faster rate in custody in 2017 than ever before. “The numbers keep on
rising,” said Deborah Coles, director of Inquest – a charity concerned with
state-related deaths in England and Wales. “Almost all of these deaths have
been self-inflicted, and a majority have been of EU nationals. Yet the
authorities have reacted with inaction, evasiveness and misinformation.”
The highest number of immigration detainee deaths this year have occurred
at Morton Hall immigration removal centre in Lincolnshire. Just weeks ago a
27-year-old Iraqi man died there. He is believed to have killed himself.
Carlington Spencer from Jamaica, Lukasz Debowski from Poland and Bal Ahmed
Kabia from Sierra Leone have also died there in the last year. There have
been four deaths of Polish immigration detainees so far this year, three of
which have come in the last three months. Other detainees who have died in
the past 12 months have been Afghani, Chinese and Iraqi. In the UK, the
Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. In the US, the National Suicide
Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support
service Lifeline is on 13 11 14. Hotlines in other countries can be found
here. • This article was amended on 13 December 2017 to correct the number
of detainees who died this year from 12 to 11.
Dec 9, 2017 independent.co.uk
Man dies after 'falling from landing' at G4S-run prison
A man believed to have fallen from a landing has died at a G4S-run
private prison. The unnamed inmate’s death sparked a lockdown at HMP
Altcourse in Merseyside as emergency services responded. The prison
director, Steve Williams, did not confirm the cause of the unnamed man’s
death on Thursday but the Liverpool Echo said he fell from a landing. “His
next of kin have been informed and our thoughts are with them at this
difficult time,” Mr Williams said. “As with any death in custody, this will
be investigated by the Prison and Probation Ombudsman.” HMP Altcourse is a
category B prison and young offenders’ institution, housing people who have
been sentenced or remanded in custody in series of blocks. A report on the
prison published last month said there had been some safety improvements
over the past year and a reduction in the use of former “legal highs”. The
Independent Monitoring Board said staffing had increased but communication
on mental and physical health was poor “at all levels” and education was
under-resourced and outdated. The report came after a prison officer's neck
was slashed by an inmate in April. HMP Altcourse was purpose-built in 1997
under the government’s controversial PFI initiative, with G4S currently
holding a 25-year contract to manage the facility. The private security
firm has been hit by a series of scandals, most recently over the treatment
of migrants at immigration removal centres.
Jan 2, 2015 telegraph.co.uk
Prisoner with phone in cell makes hoax Isil bomb threats
A private jail has defended its policy of installing phones in prisoner's
cells after one sparked a terrorist alert during a string of hoax calls in
which he claimed to be an Isil bomber. Daniel Truelove made the calls from
the phone given to him by prison chiefs for "good behaviour". But
he caused panic after threatening to blow up Liverpool's Lime Street
station, claiming: "I'm from ISIS". "In one call he told the
operator he was part of Liverpool ISIS, carrying an Islamic State flag and
wearing a tactical vest containing explosives." Now as he faces
further time behind bars G4S who run Altcourse Prison on Merseyside said
they have no plans to ditch the controversial scheme. Magistrates heard the
20 year-old made the calls from a phone installed in his cell as part of a
project to help rehabilitation by "strengthening support networks
outside the prison". Truelove claimed he was a member of the Islamic
terror group, responsible for numerous atrocities including the attacks in
Paris last month which left 130 dead. He made four calls warning of a bomb
at Liverpool's main station to the Samaritans and to Crimestoppers.
• Police hunt gunmen after shots fired in McDonald's car park in Hull
• Pupil makes mass school shooting threat
Hannah Griffiths, prosecuting, said: "In one call he told the operator
he was part of Liverpool ISIS, carrying an Islamic State flag and wearing a
tactical vest containing explosives. "On another call, Truelove said
he was by a pay-phone at the station and was under pressure to behead his
family. He was arrested after the calls were traced to his cell."
Liverpool Magistrates' Court was told as a result of the calls British
Transport Police increased searches of the station and deployed extra
officers authorised to carry Tasers. Ms Griffiths said Truelove shared his
cell with another man and no-one else could have had access to the phone at
the time the calls were made. There is no suggestion his cell mate was
behind the calls. She said: "The defendant admitted making the calls
as a prank and said he thought they would be anonymous." Truelove, of
no fixed address, appeared via video-link from Altcourse and pleaded guilty
to communicating a bomb hoax and will be sentenced later this month.
Altcourse prison, which is privately run, was named the most dangerous in
the country for staff in 2014, according to official figures. Director of
HMP Altcourse Dave Thompson said: "In line with many prisons across
the country HMP Altcourse is moving to install telephones into prisoners'
cells as evidence suggests it supports the rehabilitation and resettlement
on their release. "Prisoners can only dial approved numbers such as
members of their family and we routinely monitor and record calls to ensure
telephones are being used appropriately. "Prisoners who abuse this
opportunity to remain in contact with their families can expect to face
sanction and as this case shows, further action through the courts."
November 9, 2010 BBC
A dentist who tricked the NHS out of more than £300,000 by claiming twice
for working in a private jail has been jailed for two and a half years. John
Hudson, 58, admitted two counts of dishonestly retaining wrongful credit
from the NHS, and was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday. Hudson
was paid by HMP Altcourse but also claimed £307,000 over two years.
Patients from his practice at Whitworth near Rochdale, wrote letters of
support for him to the court. 'Blatant dishonesty' -- Judge Graham Morrow
QC said Hudson had been a pillar of the community in Whitworth, but was
guilty of "calculated, blatant and persistent dishonesty" in taking
money which should have gone for patient care. The court heard that dental
services at the privately-run jail near Liverpool were also privately run.
But Hudson exploited a weakness in the NHS system. When the NHS changed the
way it ran prison dental contracts in 2006 Hudson should have ticked a box
which stated he was already being paid privately at Altcourse. Box ticking
-- The prosecution said that when he did not tick the box he was fully
aware of what he was doing - effectively getting paid twice for the same
work. The dentist approached Liverpool Primary Care Trust about a contract
at the jail demanding £247,000 a year but accepting half that figure.
Despite lengthy negotiations Hudson never revealed his private payments.
The court heard he spent some of the money on holidays and education fees
for his three children, but he is also more than £40,000 in debt and the
NHS is suing him for £500,000.
October
5, 2010 Liverpool Echo
A PRISON dentist defrauded the NHS of more than £300,000 – and could now
face jail himself. John Hudson treated inmates at HMP Altcourse, in
Fazakerley, for more than two years. But the 58-year-old, who was paid
£130,000 a year by the private jail, wrongfully billed the NHS for the
work. Between May 2006 and July 2008, £306,961 flowed into his NatWest bank
account. At Liverpool crown court yesterday, Hudson pleaded guilty to 27
counts of dishonestly retaining wrongful credit. Judge Graham Morrow QC
granted the dentist unconditional bail, but warned him he could receive a
custodial sentence when he returned to court on November 9. It was also
alleged Hudson cheated East Lancashire primary care trust out of £32,000 at
his private practice in his home town of Whitworth, Rochdale. Hudson denied
those two offences and five further charges of dishonestly retaining
wrongful credit of £65,385 from the NHS over four months between August and
December 2008. Kevin Slack, prosecuting, told the court he did not think it
would be in the public interest to pursue those charges.
December
17, 2009 Liverpool Daily Post
A LIVERPOOL prison is among five in the country allowing its inmates to
watch satellite television. More than 4,000 prisoners enjoy the privilege
in private jails nationwide. Altcourse Prison, in Fazakerley, is among the
contractor-run prisons allowing access to a “limited number” of satellite
channels. The number of prisoners allowed to watch satellite varies
according to behaviour. But Justice minister and city MP Maria Eagle
revealed the number was currently around 4,070. The Garston MP was
responding to a written question from Tory MP Philip Davies. She said no
inmates in public sector jails have access to satellite in their quarters.
But they do at Altcourse and other GS4-run prisons in South Wales and
Warwickshire. The other private prisons offering satellite television are
run by Serco in Staffordshire and Nottingham. Ms Eagle said: “In these
establishments, satellite television in cells is generally only available
to prisoners on the enhanced or standard level of the incentives and earned
privileges scheme.” There are 84,500 prisoners in England and Wales,
meaning around one in 20 has access to satellite TV.
November
5, 2009 Liverpool Echo
PRISONERS in a Liverpool jail are commanding their organised crime
empires using mobile phones. A damning report into HMP Altcourse slams the
authorities for not investing in jamming technology that would make mobiles
obsolete. Independent inspectors say prison officers at the jail have to
conduct laborious yard searches and intelligence gathering exercises in
vain attempts to crack down on the phones. The Independent Monitoring Board
(IMB) – a national body which inspects prisons for the Government – says
buying a signal deviator is an “urgent requirement”. Its report adds: “This
Board is tired of being fobbed off with excuses from the prison service and
ministers alike concerning the progress as to installation of mobile phone
deviators.” An IMB spokesman also said: “The current situation is having
profound implications, particularly in terms of allowing prisoners the
opportunity to organise both the availability of drugs within the prison
and to control criminal activity outside the prison.” The situation is
becoming more critical as inmates are better connected than ever as
handsets get more high-tech. Altcourse inmates could use web-enabled
smartphones to transfer money, the IMB warns. The category B jail, which
has a maximum capacity of more than 1,320, is run by private outfit G4S.
Some of the prison officers there are represented by the Prison Officers
Association (POA). POA spokesman Glynn Travis told the ECHO: “I believe
deviators should be used. There would be no need for mobile phones within
the establishment at all. “It would stop the drug trafficking, the bullying
and the violence that goes with the mobile phones.” He said they are also
used to taunt victims and their families. Mr Travis said mobiles are hot
property inside and are worth up to £200 and can be rented out for £150.
But they are contraband and if a rented mobile is confiscated owners often
dish out harsh punishments and fines – on top of those handed out by the
prison authorities. Mr Travis added: “It’s a real problem. On average
there’s one mobile for every 10 prisoners. “If every cell was fitted with a
phone, would prisoners use it? No – because they want to use them for
illicit activity.” The IMB report also expressed concerns about the
transfer of inmates to Altcourse from the West Midlands. There has been an
influx from HMP Hewell, in Redditch, to ease overcrowding. Around half have
been near the end of their sentence, which the IMB says shows little regard
for their “human care”. Altcourse also houses around 120 foreign criminals.
But some of them are being kept there well over the end of their sentence
as immigration papers are processed. The IMB say they deserve a more
“humanitarian service”. A Prison Service spokesman said: “We thank the IMB
at HMP Altcourse for their report which is being fully considered by
ministers. We will be responding in due course.” A spokeswoman for G4S
added: “It’s up to the Ministry of Justice whether they give deviators to
prisons. We just do the best we can to try to stop mobile phones coming in
with searches and the like.”
Alexander Youth Services Center,
Alexander, Arkansas
(AKA Arkansas Juvenile Assessment and
Treatment Center)
January 26, 2008 Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette
The state's youth detention center near Alexander has been accredited
for the first time by a national correctional association. But while
officials expressed optimism that the center's beleaguered past was nearing
an end, two days later they were explaining a Jan. 19 incident involving
mistreatment of a teenager that resulted in the firing of three staff
members. The private Virginia-based company, G4S, operates the 140-bed
detention center under a contract with the state Youth Services Division.
Officials said Wednesday the American Correctional Association inspected
the quality of life, security, food service, medical care and educational
programs in November at the Arkansas Juvenile Assessment and Treatment
Center, and later accredited the facility. Center administrator Todd
Speight said he viewed accreditation as a sign that the center was making
progress. "I see this as turning a corner," Speight said.
"We've got a long way to go, but we're making good progress." The
previous contractor, Houston-based Cornell Companies Inc., was fired in
late 2006. G4S has run the center for about a year. Previously known as the
Alexander Youth Services Center or the Alexander Juvenile Correctional
Facility, the center is the state's largest youth residential treatment
facility. Two days after announcing the accreditation, officials said one
staff member lost his job for using inappropriate physical force and two
others were fired for trying to protect him. Speight said a male employee
physically restrained a 17-year-old boy in a dormitory in a manner that was
"completely inappropriate." He said two others were fired for
misleading investigators because the original report attempted to conceal
the nature of the scuffle. Speight, who did not disclose the employees'
names, said he was disappointed by the firings, but stressed that center
employees are hard workers who try to do their best. "These three did
something inappropriate and were held accountable," he said. The
Bryant Police Department and the Arkansas State Police are investigating.
Scott Tanner, a state ombudsman for juvenile justice issues, said the
teenager apparently suffered a sore ankle but his safety was not an issue.
"This doesn't seem to be standard operating procedure, but something
out of the ordinary," Tanner said. The center's history includes
incidents of abuse, mismanagement and educational shortfalls. In 2003, the
state and the U.S. Justice Department signed a court agreement to improve
shortcomings in fire prevention, suicide prevention, religious policies and
educational programs.
July
25, 2007 Arkansas News
The state is developing a plan to improve special education programs at
an embattled state lockup for troubled youth, officials told lawmakers
Tuesday. Special education at the Alexander Juvenile Correction Facility
were found lacking in a report last month. "Yes, we intend to fix the
problems out there," former state Rep. Steve Jones, now deputy director
of the state Department of Human Services, told lawmakers at a meeting
Tuesday. DHS oversees the Division of Youth Services, which runs the
Alexander unit and other juvenile facilities in the state. During the
meeting, legislators expressed concern with a June report by the state
Department of Education, which found that DHS is not in compliance with
several state and federal regulations regarding the Individuals with
Disabilities Act. The report found procedures for the evaluation of
specific learning disabilities were lacking at the Alexander facility,
which houses some of the state's most violent youth offenders. Other
problem areas included individualized education programs and, in some
cases, children were advanced a grade even though DYS was not providing an
appropriate education to them. Also, parents of the children were not being
informed of their rights regarding special education programs. "Just
because a kid is in jail doesn't mean they don't deserve a good
education," said Sen. Kim Hendren, R-Gravette, upset with DYS. About
500 children a year stay at the 143-bed facility in Saline County. Marcia
Harding, associate director of special education for the state Department
of Education, told lawmakers DYS is supposed to present a correction action
on how it plans to deal with some of the problem on Aug. 1. A plan to
address the rest is due Sept. 15. The officials addressed a joint meeting
of the Senate Committee on Children and Youth and the House Committee on
Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs. Also during
the meeting, Hendren and other lawmakers said they did not understand why
the special-needs education deficiencies identified in a study two years
ago have still not been addressed. "Who is in charge of getting this
mess fixed?" Hendren asked, saying he did not want to "beat this
up time and time again." DHS Director John Selig agreed the problems
should have been addressed, but he said a variety circumstances, including
the firing of the facilities management, Cornell Cos. Inc., in November,
and the hiring of G4S Youth Services in January, were partially to blame.
June
19, 2007 The Morning News
A new report identifying problems in the special education program at
the former Alexander Youth Services Center -- some of which were previously
identified in a 2005 study -- drew frustrated comments Monday from
legislative panels that oversee the state's youth lockups. "It seems
we're planning ourselves to death but we're not getting anything
accomplished," said state Rep. Bobby Pierce, D-Sheridan, during a
joint meeting of the House and Senate committees on children and youth. In
a report released this month, the state Education Department cites about 50
practices at the facility, now known as the Arkansas Juvenile Assessment and
Treatment Center, that don't comply with state and federal regulations
under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The department has
directed the Division of Youth Services to develop a plan of action for
correcting the problems. Sen. Sue Madison, D-Fayetteville, said that on
visits to the facility in Saline County she has been "extremely
unimpressed" with the educational practices she saw, which she said
seemed to consist of youths playing on a computer. "Do we have any way
of determining if they're really learning something, or if we're just
letting a computer baby-sit them?" she asked. The House chairwoman,
Rep. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, said a lack of sufficient
information gathering is one of the problems highlighted in the report. Chesterfield
said scrutiny is needed for the educational services the state provides to
all youth in custody, not only those in need of special education. Scott
Tanner, ombudsman coordinator for the state Public Defender Commission,
testified that the Division of Youth Services has had chronic problems with
its education system at least since 2000, the year he became an ombudsman.
Education services at the facility are provided by Group 4 Securicor, the
private company that took over operation of the facility in January. The
state fired the facility's previous operator, Cornell Companies, in
November after a state investigation found evidence that psychotropic drugs
may have been administered improperly to some youths as a restraint. The
facility also was investigated in 2005, after 17-year-old Lakeisha Brown
died from a blood clot in her lungs two days after complaining to staff
that she felt ill. Cornell was ordered to revamp some of its policies as a
result of that investigation. Madison asked Monday whether it would be more
appropriate for the education of youth in custody to be undertaken by the
state rather than a private company. Education Department attorney Scott
Smith said he did not believe it would. Trying to incorporate students in
custody into the state's public education system would require compliance
with numerous state and federal mandates that currently are waived, he
said. "The reason I ask is, there's something wrong with the picture
in my mind when you have state agencies ..... firmly committed to a free
public education, and then we turn around and hire a private company to
deliver that," Madison said. "I just have a hard time thinking
that that's a good idea." Steve Jones, a former state representative
who recently became deputy director of the Department of Health and Human
Services, told the committee the Division of Youth Services is working on a
plan to correct the problems. Rep. Dawn Creekmore, D-Hensley, noted that
the division developed a plan of action previously, after a 2005 report
cited problems with the facility's educational system. "It's time to
quit putting plans of action on paper and time to bring something to the
table, take some action, physical action, for improvement. These children
are still here, and we're just letting them down continuously, year after
year after year," she said. "It is children that the state
Department of Education is all about, and it is children that DYS is all
about," Chesterfield said. "Somewhere the bureaucratic -- we're not
going to use the alliterative -- the bureaucratic stuff, if you will, has
got to be overcome for the children." Jones assured the committees the
division would achieve real results.
April
21, 2007 AP
Two employees at the Alexander Juvenile Correctional Facility have been
fired after allegations that they physically abused a 15-year-old girl, the
lockup's administrator said. Todd Speight, facility administrator, said two
employees were fired because of an incident involving the girl, but
emphasized there are many more employees who are trying hard to be a
positive influence on the youths. "Our philosophy is we will treat
kids right. We truly believe we will turn Alexander around. Not a
doubt," Speight said. "We understand there are going to be some
negative things at a program that large but we are all about correcting
those things with oversight and supervision." The girl, who had been
at Alexander for about four months, called advocacy group Disability Rights
Center in early April to report the abuse. The teen told the group's
investigator that on March 25 she lost consciousness while she was
restrained on the floor of her dorm, according to a report released by the
Disability Rights Center. While the group was investigating, the girl's
family called and reported that she had bruises on her body from another
restraint on April 10. This is the fourth incident at Alexander
investigated by the Disability Rights Center, which has released reports on
the allegations of abuse to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. "It's not
just one bad thing that we can say, 'It happened but we fixed it,' and can
go on," said Dana McClain, a senior attorney with Disability Rights
Center. "It's an ongoing thing." The center is run by G4S Youth
Services, which took over after the state fired the previous contractor,
Cornell Cos. Inc. Cornell was fired after allegations that nurses
inappropriately gave anti- psychotic medications to calm bad behavior.
Julie Munsell, a spokeswoman for the state's Department of Human Services,
said the agency is closely watching G4S' work at Alexander. "We want
to send a very clear message that change is still going on out at
Alexander, very positive change," Munsell said. "We've seen a
change in the demeanor not only of the staff but also of the campus as a
whole."
March
16, 2007 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Advocates investigating a claim of abuse by a teenager at the Alexander
Juvenile Correctional Facility say employees failed to help the boy even as
his screams could be heard behind a closed door in an office without a
surveillance camera, according to a report released to the Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette on Thursday. In its eight-page report, the Disability
Rights Center claims the 15- year-old boy was restrained on the ground for
too long during an obscenity-laced encounter with staff members. The
advocacy group released its report to the state and to G4S Youth Services,
the company that runs the facility, and is calling for disciplinary action
against some employees. G4S is investigating the incident with renewed
vigor, said John Morgenthau, the company’s chief operating officer and vice
president.
January
18, 2007 KATV
Lawmakers said Thursday they plan to study the future of the Alexander
youth lockup--and whether they should continue using private companies to
run the facility. The Joint Budget Committee reviewed a $4.9 million
contract for G4S Youth Services of Virginia, which will take control of the
Alexander juvenile facility beginning Sunday. John Selig, director of
Department of Health and Human Services, told lawmakers he's confident the
company will provide better management than Cornell Companies, which was
fired last year for inappropriately injecting children with antipsychotic
medications. State Senator Shane Broadway, a Democrat from Bryant, says he
wants the Legislature to have more oversight of the youth facility.
Broadway says he hopes there is further discussion on the future of the
lockup.
January
11, 2007 Arkansas News Bureau
The state Department of Health and Human Services has agreed to enter
into a short-term contract with a company to operate the troubled Alexander
Juvenile Correctional Facility in Saline County, agency officials said
Wednesday. The agency has signed a $4.5 million contract with G4S Youth
Services in Richmond, Va., a division of the British-based Group 4
Securicor, for the company to operate the facility from Jan. 21 through
June 30, DHHS spokeswoman Julie Munsell said. The contract is pending
approval by the Department of Finance and Administration. At the end of the
six-month period, the state will have the option of renewing the contract
for an additional year, Munsell said. Munsell said no bids were taken
because the agreement was reached under emergency procedures. The agency
considered the situation an emergency because of safety and welfare
concerns for the 143 youths at the facility, she said. The state fired
Cornell Companies, the Pennsylvania-based company that previously ran the
facility, in November after a state investigation indicated psychotropic
drugs may have been administered improperly to some youths to restrain
them. Munsell said Cornell is still at the site, but the state has been in
charge since Nov. 3.
Arkansas Nuclear One,
Arkansas
May 16, 2005 Courier News
After Friday’s negotiations between Arkansas Nuclear One security force
representatives and Wackenhut Corp., there’s a good chance no strike will
occur at the plant. According to Darrell Williams, president of the United
Government Security Officers of America Local 23, the second meeting
between the two parties was more productive than the first. However, the
final decision on whether Friday’s revised contract will be accepted is up
to the 79 unionized security guards. That decision will be made later this
week when Williams and his negotiations committee present the new information.
“I really think the new contract will be accepted,” Williams said. “We’ve
done all we can do without going to even more drastic measures, so
hopefully we will have a contract by the end of (this) week.” After the
guards’ threat of a strike in mid-April with claims of low wages and poor
benefits, Wackenhut, who has contracted with Entergy since 1991 to guard
Arkansas’ only nuclear power plant, brought some new contract plans to the
table.
Aurora
Facility, Aurora Colorado
June 9, 2010 Department of Labor
Press Release
The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance
Programs has announced that The Wackenhut Corp., doing business as G4S
Wackenhut, has entered into a consent decree to settle findings of hiring
discrimination at its Aurora, Colo., facility. The consent decree settles
OFCCP's allegations that Wackenhut engaged in hiring discrimination against
446 rejected African-American applicants for the position of traditional
security officer for a two-year period. Wackenhut is headquartered in Palm
Beach Gardens, Fla. "The department is committed to ensuring that
federal contractors and subcontractors hire, promote and compensate their
employees fairly, without respect to their race, gender, ethnicity,
disability, religion or veteran status," said Patricia A. Shiu,
director of OFCCP, who is based in Washington, D.C. "This settlement
of $290,000 in back pay on behalf of 446 African-Americans should put all
federal contractors on notice that the Labor Department is serious about eliminating
systemic discrimination." OFCCP investigators found that the company
engaged in hiring discrimination against African-Americans from Jan. 1,
2002, through Dec. 31, 2003. Under the terms of the consent decree and
order, filed with the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Administrative
Law Judges, Wackenhut will pay a total of $290,000 in back pay and interest
to the 446 rejected African-American applicants and will hire 41 of the
applicants into traditional security officer positions. The company also
agreed to undertake extensive self-monitoring measures to ensure that all
hiring practices fully comply with the law and will immediately correct any
discriminatory practice. In addition, Wackenhut will ensure compliance with
Executive Order 11246 recordkeeping requirements. "We strongly
encourage other employers to take proactive steps to come into compliance
with the law to prevent workplace discrimination," said Melissa Speer,
OFCCP acting director of OFCCP's Southwest and Rocky Mountain Regions, who
is located in Dallas.
Baxter Immigration
Facility, Australia
September 6, 2011 The Australian
THE refugee lawyer who helped extract a multi-million-dollar payout for
Cornelia Rau from the Howard government is preparing multiple civil
lawsuits on behalf of asylum-seekers who claim they were assaulted and
drugged on Christmas Island during mass escapes and rioting in March.
George Newhouse will also ask West Australian police to investigate alleged
assaults, sedations and wrongful detention of boatpeople as far back as
July 2009 when Labor awarded a five-year contract to security firm Serco.
Mr Newhouse told The Australian he was acting for detainees who had been
isolated at Christmas Island's high-security "behaviour management
unit" called Red Block, had their possessions taken from them and who
believed sedatives had been put in their food without their knowledge.
"I have been approached by a number of former detainees from Christmas
Island who say that they were sedated without their consent and we are putting
together a brief for the West Australian police," he said. Mr Newhouse
intends to advertise in the Arabic and Farsi press for other detainees to
come forward. The advertisement, entitled "A Message to All Former
Immigration Detainees", states in part: "If you were assaulted,
had your possessions taken from you, sedated without your consent and/or
moved into restrictive custody, you may be entitled to pursue your legal
rights and entitlements." The push comes six years after Ms Rau, an
Australian resident, won a payout reported to be $2.6 million over her
wrongful detention at Baxter detention centre. The treatment of Ms Rau, a
psychiatric patient, sparked a government inquiry into the possible
wrongful detention of more than 200 people. Mr Newhouse worked on that case
and said yesterday he still had serious concerns about the use of force on
immigration detainees, who were "obviously seriously mentally
unwell". He said he regarded any sedation of anyone without their
knowledge or consent as an assault. The Department of Immigration and
Citizenship was not aware of any instance of detainees being sedated
without their knowledge or consent. "The department requires medical
intervention to occur with the person's consent within immigration
detention facilities at all times. This includes sedation," a
spokesman said. The Australian has been told at least two detainees allege
they were assaulted and sedated on Christmas Island between March 13 and
March 17 after being deemed ringleaders.
June 5, 2005 The
Advertiser
SECURITY guards have been moved on to the grounds of Glenside Mental
Health Service to watch over nine Baxter detainees receiving treatment. The
guards, employed by the Baxter Detention Centre operators, are costing an
estimated $150,000 a month. Effectively, two guards have been assigned to
each detainee. They operate out of a hired demountable hut which was
recently delivered to the grounds of the hospital. State health officials
have made it clear the guards are not welcome. Director of Mental Health,
Learne Durrington, said she has approached the Immigration Department about
the impact of the guards on other patients. "We're running a hospital
here and it needs to be managed as a hospital," Ms Durrington said.
"I've proposed that we get rid of the guards and replace them with our
own staff who are better trained in mental health care." The Baxter
guards are employees of Global Solutions Limited (GSL) subsidiary Group 4,
the security company that has the contract to operate the Baxter Detention
Centre. "We've taken additional troops from another part of our
company," the spokesman, who did not wish to be named, said. "As
a result we've got staff shortages and we're recruiting more people –
mainly for our Baxter contract." One of the guards told a visitor to
Glenside hospital the demountable was hired at a cost of $300 per day.
Figures from the Miscellaneous Workers Union show the salary costs of the
54 daily eight-hour shifts to be more than $150,000 per month. A spokesman
for the Glenside hospital confirmed two guards were allocated for each
detainee. "That's 18 guards on three eight-hour shifts, making a total
of 54 guards on a daily basis," he said. The increase in numbers of
detainees needing mental health treatment has occurred subsequent to the Cornelia
Rau case where an Australian resident suffering psychosis was wrongly
detained in Baxter until her real identity was discovered in February this
year. Health officials have confirmed that in the year prior to the Rau
case only one person had been referred to Glenside, but now nine people
were in treatment. Glenside hospital officials are still waiting for a
response from the Commonwealth on the presence of the Group 4 guards.
Meanwhile, the legal team assisting the Rau family's submission into the Palmer
inquiry has questioned the timing of an internal Baxter memo about the
identity of a detainee. A story in the Sunday Mail of November 21, 2004,
described a missing woman as 168cm tall, 58kg, with dark blonde hair, brown
eyes and a brown mole on her left cheek. It subsequently turned out to be
Cornelia Rau. It's since been revealed that an internal memo dated November
24 raised the possibility a detainee was an Australian citizen. Legal
representatives for the Rau family will ask the Palmer Inquiry to check if
the memo was sparked by the article in the Sunday Mail.
February 9, 2005 The
Age
The detention centre where mentally ill Australian Cornelia Rau was wrongly
held was not visited by a psychiatrist for at least three months last year,
documents filed in Adelaide's Federal Court suggest. South Australian Legal
Services Commission lawyer Claire O'Connor claimed in documents that Group
4 Falck, the company that runs Australia's detention centres, and the
Department of Immigration had breached their duty of care by failing to
provide adequate psychiatric care for three mentally ill Iranian men at the
Baxter detention centre. Outside the court, she said there were parallels
with the Rau case. "Cornelia was sick and wasn't treated, my clients
are sick and they are not being treated," Ms O'Connor said. "She
is no different to people in there." In documents supporting her
attempt to get urgent psychiatric treatment for the men, Ms O'Connor said
the centre's suicide and self-harm unit did not employ a psychiatrist.
"It is believed there has been no psychiatric visit . . . since about
August 2004 and certainly none since November 2004," she said in an
affidavit. Ms O'Connor said the problem of the lack of psychiatric care at
Baxter was compounded by the fact that the centre itself was contributing
to the poor mental health of detainees. She said psychiatrists visited
Baxter infrequently and were forced to deal with a series of seriously ill
people in a short time. "All they can do is medicate them, they just
keep renewing the prescriptions," she said.
February 7, 2005 The
Age
Only a full judicial and public inquiry would be sufficient to
establish the facts about the detention of a mentally ill Australian woman,
her sister said today. Cornelia Rau, a 39-year-old former flight attendant
who was released from Baxter immigration detention centre last week after
spending 10 months locked up, has caused a national debate over services
for the mentally ill. Her sister, Christine Rau, said an inquiry
independent of the government and open to public scrutiny was necessary to
get to the bottom of the case. Adelaide public defender John Harley, who
represents mentally ill people, said he had grave concerns for the fate of
other people suffering mental health problems imprisoned by the immigration
system. "This is not isolated at all," Mr Harley told ABC radio.
"I was informed that (Ms Rau) was in solitary confinement and that
involves her being under lights 24 hours a day (with) closed circuit
television. "She was allowed out of her room six hours a day, but in
some occasions it required four men in riot gear to remove her back into
her cell," he said.
February 7, 2005 Herald
Sun
THE Federal Government will hold an inquiry into the detention of a
mentally ill Australian women at the Baxter centre for illegal immigrants.
Prime Minister John Howard yesterday said it was regrettable Cornelia Rau
was held in custody for three months in Baxter and before that six months
in a Brisbane jail. "Obviously it's . . . a very regrettable incident,"
Mr Howard said. Ms Rau, a 39-year-old former Qantas flight attendant, was
released from Baxter in South Australia on Friday. Australian Democrats
leader Lyn Allison said the Government should not be trusted to investigate
its own actions. "It is bad enough that Ms Rau was being held in an
immigration detention centre," Senator Allison said. "But why did
she spend six months in a women's prison before that? Senator Allison said state and federal
governments had allowed prisons and detention centres to become "the
new psychiatric asylums".
February 5, 2005 The
Age
A family snapshot of Cornelia Rau, detained as a suspected illegal
immigrant. A mentally ill Australian woman found by Aborigines in a remote
Cape York township has been mistakenly held in immigration detention for
nearly a year while her distressed family thought she was dead. Cornelia
Rau, 39, who suffers from schizophrenia, was last seen in March after she
escaped from the psychiatric unit of Sydney's Manly Hospital. The
Immigration Department confirmed last night that Ms Rau, who was speaking
German and some English, had been held in a Queensland women's prison until
September when she was transferred to Baxter detention centre. Ms Rau's
sister, Chris Rau, a Sydney journalist, read an article from The Age last
Monday about a mystery German-speaking woman held at Baxter, known only as
"Anna". Baxter authorities faxed her a photograph, which showed
her missing sister. "We're just relieved that she is alive,"
Chris Rau said. They were also bewildered why the department could not
establish her identity when police had her details. Ms Rau was first taken
into detention in April. She had been staying near an Aboriginal camp at
Coen, in far north Queensland. The Aborigines became concerned that she was
sick and brought her into Cairns police. A spokesman for Immigration
Minister Amanda Vanstone said the woman was handed over to the Department
of Immigration by police in April 2004. She was held in a Queensland
women's prison until September when she was transferred to Baxter. Greens senator Kerry Nettle last night
called for an inquiry into "this staggering case of mismanagement and
abuse". During her three months in Baxter, Ms Rau was kept in
isolation for a week, then in a high- security unit locked in a room on her
own for 18 hours a day, refugee advocate Pamela Curr said. She said her
sister had "been through hell". "We don't know what the
implications are going to be for her future condition or her
treatment."
December 13, 2004 The
Age
The immigration department today accused refugee advocates of inciting
incidents within the Baxter detention centre by exaggerating reports of a
detainee hunger strike. Refugee support group Rural Australians for
Refugees (RAR) today said 27 Iranians within the South Australian centre
were participating in the hunger strike, now into its second week. Among
those were five men who had sewn their lips together and three who were
staging a protest on the centre's gymnasium roof, RAR spokeswoman Kathy
Verran said. She said those on the roof had been denied water since last
night, after guards stopped other detainees bringing water to the men. Ms
Verran said detainees had also reported the guards were bouncing balls
against the ceiling of the gym, underneath the detainees, to prevent them
from sleeping.
December 3, 2004 The
Age
Four Sri Lankan men have been hospitalised after refusing food for up
to 10 days in a hunger strike at South Australia's Baxter detention centre.
Two of the men had also been admitted overnight earlier this week, she
said.
December 1, 2004 The
Age
Eleven Sri Lankan men at the Baxter detention centre have stepped up their
hunger strike and are now refusing medication, a refugee advocate said
today. The detainees were determined to continue their hunger strike until
death, in a last bid to be granted refugee status in Australia, according
to Rural Australians for Refugees spokeswoman Mira Wroblewski. Ms
Wroblewski said other hunger strikers were angry that the pair, after their
release, had been forced to walk from the detention centre medical facility
to their compounds in pouring rain. "It (forcing them to walk in the
rain) has just strengthened their resolve.
September 20, 2004 The
Age
A hunger strike, a High Court action and a direct appeal to Immigration
Minister Amanda Vanstone are among last-ditch efforts to stop the forced
return of asylum seekers to Sri Lanka. The man on hunger strike, who is 34
and was detained after his visa expired, was put into Baxter's management
unit on Thursday and forcibly fed. He resumed his hunger strike on
Saturday, Ms Wroblewski said. Eleven other Sri Lankans held at Baxter
yesterday entered the fifth day of a peaceful sit-in at the compound.
August 20, 2004 The Age
A food sample from South Australia's Baxter detention centre will be
presented to health authorities for inspection after detainees complained
they had been served a meal crawling with maggots. The Immigration
Department last week said one maggot had been found in food and an
investigation was under way. South Australian Greens MP Kris Hanna said he
would today present a sample of meat and rice to the state Environmental
Health Department for examination. Mr Hanna said the food sample was
smuggled out of Baxter following frustration among detainees about the
situation. "According to reports in the centre, the food was crawling
with live maggots," Mr Hanna said. Detainees at the Baxter centre last
week upturned rubbish bins in protest after complaining about maggots in
their food.
November 1, 2004 BBC
An investigation is being carried out at a Warwickshire prison after two
inmates finished a rooftop protest. The men came down from the roof of a
shed at Rye Hill prison near Rugby at just after 9.30pm on Saturday
evening. It is not clear what the demonstration at
the jail, which is run by Global Solutions Ltd, was about.
Inmates of Baxter immigration detention centre took control of
a compound yesterday morning and barricaded themselves in. About 50 guards
in riot gear surrounded the compound and forced open the door. A spokesman
for the Immigration Department confirmed that there had been a disturbance
at Baxter. (The Age, March 18, 2004)
Bicester Detention Center, Oxford, UK
June 11, 2008 Mail on
Sunday
The Home Office squandered £29million of taxpayers' money on a flagship
giant asylum centre which was never built - including hiring in a
'financial advisor' who charged almost £16,000 a month. A scathing report
from MPs exposes a catalogue of costly blunders and lambasts the failing
department for a 'startling absence of common sense' in one of its most
embarrassing fiascos of recent years. Seven years after officials started
working on the ambitious plans to house thousands of asylum seekers on a
former RAF station at Bicester, Oxfordshire, the site remains empty and
derelict with 'no benefit' to the taxpayer. Vast sums were paid to
consultants, private advisors and contractors and when ministers pulled the
plug on the entire project in 2005 they were forced to hand over millions
more in cancellation fees. Officials failed to understand how fierce local
opposition and legal challenges would drag out the process, and made no
attempt to plan for future uses of the site or the risk that other
immigration policy changes would scupper the scheme. Last night the Home
Office claimed the disaster had led to an 'overall positive impact for the
public' because officials had learned important lessons. Former Home Secretary
David Blunkett announced the scheme in 2001, as part of a strategy to speed
up and streamline the creaking asylum system by housing applicants in a
series of huge accommodation centres across the country. Thousands were to
be placed in the first centre at an isolated site outside Bicester, but
crucially it would not be secure and the immigrants would be free to come
and go as they pleased. The plans brought a storm of protests, not only
from local residents but also from refugee support groups who claimed
leaving so many asylum seekers to languish at a remote site, far from any
local community, was a disastrous plan. Planning inspectors rejected the
plans, but John Prescott used his powers to overturn their decision,
further infuriating locals. Finally ministers realised in 2005 that the
centre was unnecessary and unworkable, but not before almost £30million of
public money had been wasted. The PAC report reveals how the Home Office
hired a Financial advisor at a cost of £15,743 per month, and a procurement
advisor who was paid £15,559 per month, because no civil servants were
judged to have the right expertise. The pair, who have not been named, were
paid more than £1.1million for less than three years work, on top of
£6.3million paid out to consultants. MPs complained that the Home Office
was unable to show whether the highly paid consultants 'added value'.
Private contractors Global Solutions Limited were paid £7.6 for design
work, but claimed almost £8million in termination fees when the Bicester scheme
was axed. PAC chairman Edward Leigh said the project 'embodied lack of
foresight, poor business planning and a startling absence of common sense.'
He said the scheme was 'always going to provoke opposition in the local
community' but the Home Office took no account of that, or of objections
from refugee groups, and made no effort to make contact with local interest
groups or MPs to discuss objections. Nor did the department realise - until
it was too late - that a decline in the number of asylum seekers and some
success in speeding up the system meant the centre was increasingly
pointless. Last month the Home Office announced plans to build a secure
immigration detention centre on the Bicester site, although it will not be
open until 2012 at the earliest and will require planning permission.
Shadow Immigration Minister, Damian Green, attacked the Bicester debacle as
'a symptom of long-term incompetence by immigration ministers, who failed
to notice that asylum numbers were dropping just when they were planning
this new centre. 'Their latest plan is to turn the derelict site into a
detention centre. I hope they have done their homework better this time.' A
Home Office spokesperson said: 'At the time, we believed accommodation
centres to be the right decision but as circumstances changed and the
project was delayed, we reviewed that decision. 'Our experience with this
project has taught us some important lessons, and this, along with the
other improvements put in place, has led to an overall positive impact for
the public.'
November 8, 2007 The Guardian
A Home Office decision to abandon plans for an asylum accommodation centre
near Oxford because of local opposition cost it £28m, including
"termination payments" of £7.9m to the private contractor,
Whitehall's spending watchdog reveals today. The National Audit Office says
that some of the problems faced in trying to open Bicester accommodation
centre could have been foreseen - and money saved - if the Home Office had
worked in a "more coordinated and joined-up way". The report also
discloses that despite a four-year battle by local residents against the
project, it is still being considered whether the site can be used as a
detention centre for failed asylum seekers who face deportation. The plan
to set up a 10-strong network of purpose-built accommodation centres
holding 3,000 asylum seekers was announced by the then home secretary,
David Blunkett, at a time when asylum applications were at a record high,
as part of a plan to disperse them from London and the south-east of
England. Bicester was earmarked as one of the first but it met fierce local
opposition and planning permission was not secured until November 2004. By
then, the number of asylum seekers coming to Britain had halved. The Home
Office accounting officer advised that it was no longer economically viable
and the project was cancelled in June 2005. The NAO inquiry found that £33m
had been spent in total on the accommodation centres, including £28m on
Bicester alone. The report reveals that the successful bid by GSL, formerly
Group 4, for the contract to build the 750-bed centre for £59.9m was nearly
£25m cheaper than the bid from rival private security company UKDS. After
the project was cancelled GSL was handed "termination payments"
of £7.9m. It had already been paid £7.6m for design work. Edward Leigh, the
chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, said that £28m had been
spent on "the asylum centre that never was". Mr Leigh said:
"The Home Office drove ahead with a project to build a network of
asylum accommodation centres without an eye on what was happening to the
numbers of those seeking asylum in the UK.
Birmingham Prison, Birmingham, UK
Aug 25, 2018
newsandstar.co.uk
Prisons minister Rory Stewart speaks of his visit to Birmingham jail after
G4S stripped of right to run it
Rory Stewart has spoken of his visit to Birmingham Prison just days
after the Government stripped private contractor G4S of its right to run the
crisis-hit jail. The Penrith and the Border MP - who became the prisons
minister in January - said his visit convinced him bosses at the Category B
prison were not in control. Though he spent only a morning touring the
prison, he was confronted by prisoners openly flouting the rules as they
smoked in front of staff, as well as evidence of squalid conditions.
"I felt this was one of the worst prisons in the country," said
Mr Stewart. "We have taken a very unusual step, which hasn't been done
before: the government is actually taking over a private prison. "That
was because having received some very worrying reports I sent in a team
from the Ministry of Justice to work with them and I visited myself last
week. "I am absolutely convinced that G4S was not going to be able to
turn this round on their own." Mr Stewart, who has said he will stand
down if issues surrounding trouble and drug use in prisons does not improve
within a year, spoke of how prisoners did not seem calm. "I did not
feel that the prison officers knew what they were doing," said the
minister. "I had no confidence in the existing management. "There
was paint on the floor which had been there for over a year because
prisoners had been throwing it at prison officers." He also saw one
cell that was completely flooded. "There were prisoners leaning on the
gallery, openly smoking, which they are not supposed to be doing under the
rules; and this was when they knew that a minister would be visiting. It
just wasn't decent, clean, orderly, and well run." Since the
Government took over the prison, shocking details about the daily life of
inmates there, with an inspection finding evidence of some prisoners
regularly using drink, drugs and violence. Drugs were said to be
widespread, even in segregation units. Of the drug use at the prison, Mr
Stewart said: "Prison officers have not been getting the basics right,
searching people properly at the door." According to the prisons'
Independent Monitoring Board, specific examples of the problems found
included a prisoner who returned to a blood-spattered cell after his fellow
inmate had been assaulted. He was given replacement bedding that was
soiled, the board said. Cell toilets with no screen, broken showers and
"ever present" cockroaches contributed to the "unfit"
living conditions. Mr Stewart, who has visited prisons all over the north
since taking up his role within the Ministry of Justice, said the crisis at
the prison was not linked to it being privately run. "We have good,
privately-run prisons across the country and while Birmingham faces its own
particular set of challenges, I am absolutely clear that it must start to
live up to the standards seen elsewhere," he said. He confirmed that
the governor has been removed and that the company would have to look seriously
at their training. Mr Stewart said the take-over would not be a cost to tax
payers but it would have an impact on the company. "This is a really
major blow to them," he added. A Category B prison is one where the
inmates are deemed not to merit maximum security, but for whom escape still
needs to be made very difficult.
Aug 20, 2018
theguardian.com
MoJ seizes control of Birmingham prison from G4S
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has been forced to take immediate control
of HMP Birmingham from its contractor G4S, after a damning inspection found
that prisoners used drink, drugs and violence with impunity and corridors
were littered with cockroaches, blood and vomit. The government is having
to take the unprecedented step of seizing control of the failing prison,
removing its governor and sweeping out hundreds of prisoners on Monday,
just hours before an extraordinarily critical report is released by the
prisons inspectorate. The state of the category B prison is likely to raise
significant questions in the coming days about private sector involvement
in the prison system. G4S was awarded a 15-year contract to run the prison
in 2011. The chief inspector of prisons, Peter Clarke, said there had been
“dramatic deterioration” since the last inspection in early 2017 and the
government should launch an urgent inquiry into the appalling state of the
prison, the most violent in England and Wales and the site of riots in
2016. Prison gangs perpetrating the violence “could do so with near
impunity”, he said. Inspectors saw prisoners who were evidently under the
influence of drink or drugs, which went unchallenged, including widespread
use of the psychoactive drug spice. Staff were fearful and experienced
widespread bullying, the report said, and inspectors witnessed an arson
attack on a supposedly secure staff car park during their inspection.
Prison officers often had little grasp of where prisoners were, the report
found. Communal areas were filthy, with cockroaches, vermin, blood and
vomit left uncleaned, and wings that had virtually every window damaged or
missing. Clarke said the report contained “some of the most disturbing
evidence that inspectors ... have seen in any prison.” In his letter to the
justice secretary, David Gauke, Clarke said there was an “urgent and
pressing need to address the squalor, violence, prevalence of drugs and
looming lack of control”. Clarke said he was “astounded that HMP Birmingham
had been allowed to deteriorate so dramatically”. He said he had no
confidence in the ability of the prison to make improvements. “There has
clearly been an abject failure of contract management and delivery … the
inertia that seems to have gripped both those monitoring the contract and
delivering it on the ground has led to one of Britain’s leading jails slipping
into a state of crisis.” Clarke has invoked an “urgent notification
protocol”, a device that puts the justice secretary on notice that urgent
action is needed to address significant concerns at a jail. The MoJ said it
had instigated an intensive period of improvement measures with little
success, forcing it to take the prison back under government control. HM
Prison and Probation Service will run the prison for an initial six months,
before assessing whether control can be returned to G4S. The “step in”
process is not technically nationalisation, but a process allowed when a
provider is deemed to have breached its contract to run the prison safely,
meaning there is no liability to the taxpayer. No staff redundancies will
take place, though the MoJ said it would send in an additional 30 members
of experienced prison staff as well as a new governor, Paul Newton,
formally of HMP Swaleside. More than 300 prisoners will be moved from the
prison while the jail is overhauled. The prisons minister, Rory Stewart,
said the conditions in the prison were clearly unacceptable. “It has become
clear that drastic action is required to bring about the improvements we
require,” he said. “This ‘step in’ means that we can provide additional
resources to the prison while insulating the taxpayer from the inevitable
cost this entails. “We have good, privately run prisons across the country
and while Birmingham faces its own particular set of challenges, I am
absolutely clear that it must start to live up to the standards seen
elsewhere.” However, MoJ sources have been keen to stress the government
does not believe privatisation was at the root of the prison’s troubles,
pointing out that other G4S prisons including HMP Oakwood had recently
received good inspection reports. Stewart has staked his own reputation on
dramatic improvements to the prison system, telling the BBC he would resign
in a year if he has not managed to reduce the level of drugs and violence
in 10 target jails, although Birmingham was not among them. The MoJ said it
was clear that the prison was still suffering significant effects following
the 2016 riots involving more than 600 prisoners, the worst since the
infamous Strangeways riots in 1990. The government was forced to send in
specially trained Tornado Squad officers, who battled prisoners for more
than 12 hours. A report by the independent monitoring board ahead of the
riots had warned of the dangers posed by prisoners under the influence of
psychoactive drugs including spice and black mamba. Assaults on staff at
HMP Birmingham rose 84% to a record high of 164 incidents last year,
according to MoJ figures. The “step in” to take control in Birmingham is
the first time such drastic measures have been used mid-contract. In 2016,
the government stepped in at the end of its contract with G4S to run Medway
Secure Training Centre, after undercover reporters filmed staff apparently
mistreating children. The security giant also lost its contract in 2015 to
run Rainsbrook STC after prison inspectors graded it inadequate, reporting
that some staff behaved “extremely inappropriately” with young people.
Jerry Petherick, G4S’s managing director of custody and detention services,
said: “HMP Birmingham is an inner-city remand prison which faces
exceptional challenges including increasingly high levels of prisoner
violence towards staff and fellow prisoners. “The wellbeing and safety of
prisoners and prison staff is our key priority and we welcome the six-month
step-in and the opportunity to work with the Ministry of Justice to
urgently address the issues faced at the prison.”
Aug 11, 2018
en.brinkwire.com
Chief prison inspector issues ‘urgent warning’ to justice minister about
‘crisis’ at HMP Birmingham
Prison inspectors have highlighted serious failings at a jail that was
rocked by the worst rioting in decades. Chief Inspector of Prisons Peter
Clarke is calling on the Justice Secretary for immediate action at HMP
Birmingham after it failed all the key tests. The exact concerns have not
yet been revealed but the G4S-run prison was graded ‘poor’ on all four
categories – safety, respect, activity and resettlement. The prison made
headlines this week after nine cars were torched in the staff car park. Two
masked men, one of whom was armed, had used an angle grinder to cut their way
into the parking compound. Nobody has yet been arrested in connection with
the attack. In December 2016, the prison was rocked by the worst riot at an
English jail in more than 20 years. Inmates released 500 prisoners from
their cells and seven men were later convicted of prison mutiny. Inspectors
recently carried out an unannounced two-week visit to look at conditions in
the category B jail, which is known locally as Winson Green and has a
capacity of 1,450 inmates. In a statement, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of
Prisons said an urgent notification would be issued to outline the
problems. The letter will be sent in the next week and the Justice
Secretary will have 28 days to respond with a plan of action. G4S said it
had not received a formal response after the inspection and would not
comment further. A Prison Service spokesman said it would respond to the
inspection findings when it is informed of them.
Dec 22, 2016
itv.com
'I died three times' Birmingham ex-prisoner speaks out after riots
A former Birmingham Prison inmate has revealed how he died three times
after taking illegal drugs behind bars. Ricky Wood, who collapsed inside
the Winson Green jail three weeks ago, says his family was not told when
the incident happened. He accused private prison firm G4S of trying to
cover up a drug epidemic inside the jail. Wood’s life was saved by
paramedics who revived him and took him to Birmingham’s City Hospital. His
family, from Tamworth, confirmed they were not told of the emergency.
Instead, it was left to the 28-year-old inmate to break the news to them
himself. He had taken Black Mamba, a so-called ‘legal high’ before it was
banned. Wood, who was freed from the prison on the day of the riots,
recalled: I just remember breathing it in. Next thing I knew, I had woken
up in cuffs at hospital where I was told I had died three times. They said
my airwaves had closed up, my heart stopped and I had to be revived three
times. They have since told my mum that they would only have called her if
my condition had worsened. I’m not sure how much worse it could have got.
The only reason they would have called my mum is to identify my body. I
think it’s part of an attempt to keep everything quiet about all the Mamba
incidents. They don’t want people to know what’s happening. An official
report by the prison watchdog in October said bosses at Birmingham needed
to find an “urgent solution” to stop inmates smuggling drugs – particularly
psychoactive substances such as Mamba and Spice – warning that staff were
increasingly concerned about their personal safety. Birmingham Prison boss
Jerry Petherick says that drugs such as Black Mamba are the 'scourge' of
the prison service – and he admits that a ‘very small minority’ of prison
staff have been involved in bringing the drugs into the jail. Mr Petherick,
managing director for G4S Custody and Detention Services, said he
‘despised’ corrupt guards. A very small minority of staff are corrupted in
this way, but this does not just happen in Birmingham, it’s across the
board. We want to root these people out because we absolutely despise them.
These drugs are relatively cheap on the outside, and you can magnify that
value by at least ten times inside prisons. In some cases we have people
breaching licences, knowing they will be sent to custody, so they can act
as mules to bring these drugs in. We have seen incredibly bad reactions
from prisoners who take the drugs. These psychoactive substances are the
scourge of the entire prison service. When they take them, the prisoners go
through bursts of extreme energy, and we have feared many will not pull
through. There is now a police investigation going on into some very
violent behaviour. We will work closely with the police and the CPS to
ensure that those responsible are brought to justice for what happened. We
have to learn from these events in a mature and positive way and then move
forward. He revealed that HMP Birmingham has shipped out nearly a third of
all its prisoners in the wake of last week’s rioting. Some 500 inmates have
been moved to 30 prisons across the country and all four damaged wings
remain closed. The cost of the damage is still being counted. Mr Petherick
added that he had been “truly humbled” by the bravery his staff had shown
during the riots. There had been ‘unbelievable acts of bravery’ – and some
have been traumatised by what they experienced. He also praised West
Midlands Police, the Prison Service and other emergency services.
Dec 20, 2016
theguardian.com
G4S must pay for cost of Birmingham prison riot, says Liz Truss
The private security company G4S will have to foot the bill for the
public sector Tornado special squads sent in to end the 12-hour riot at its
Birmingham prison, the justice secretary has said. An inquiry has been launched into one of
the worst prison disturbances since the 1990 riots at Manchester’s
Strangeways prison. After Friday’s events, 380 prisoners have been moved
out of the wrecked wings of HMP Birmingham to other jails across England.
The dispersal of prisoners led to two incidents at Hull prison on Sunday
and a further incident at Cardiff. The Prison Service’s “gold command”
headquarters operation is remaining in place, monitoring all prisons in
England and Wales for signs of potential unrest. Liz Truss told MPs that
insufficient staffing levels, a rise in new psychoactive drugs, gangs and
bullying lay at the root of the Birmingham riot, adding they were common
problems across public and private prisons: “The next few months will be difficult,”
the justice secretary told MPs. “It will take time and concerted action,
but I am confident we can turn this situation around.” Labour MPs pressed
Truss over whether warnings from the independent monitoring board at
Birmingham had been acted on. They questioned her about the impact of a
£700m budget cut and a reduction of 7,000 prison officers on the stability
of the Prison Service. Labour’s justice spokesman, Richard Burgon, said the
riot should prompt the government to review the running of prisons by
private companies such as G4S and Serco. Truss said G4S would have to pay
the cost of the public resources that were used, including 10 Tornado teams
of highly trained officers deployed to retake control of the prison. She
told MPs that the Birmingham riot started at 9.15am on Friday, when six
prisoners in N wing climbed on to netting. Truss said: “When staff
intervened, one them had their keys snatched. At that point, staff withdrew
for their own safety. Prisoners then gained control of the wing and
subsequently of P wing. “G4S immediately deployed two Tornado teams. At
11.29am, gold command was opened, and a further seven additional Tornado
teams were dispatched to the prison. At 1.30pm, prisoners gained access to
two more wings. Gold command made the decision that further reinforcements
were needed and dispatched an additional four Tornado teams to the prison.”
She said that paramedics and staff tried to help an injured prisoner
shortly after 3pm but were prevented from doing so and the afternoon was
spent preparing to take back control of the wings. “At 8.35pm, 10 Tornado
teams of highly trained officers swept through the wings,” she said.
“Shortly after 10pm, the teams had secured all four wings. The prisoner who
had previously been reported injured was treated by paramedics and taken to
hospital, along with two other prisoners.” The inquiry into the prison riot
will be carried out by Sarah Payne, an adviser to the chief inspector of
probation and a former director of the Welsh Prison Service. Although Truss
repeatedly refused to confirm that she had read the Birmingham prison
watchdog’s report in October, which warned of the need for urgent action to
tackle understaffing and the spread of “black mamba” psychoactive drugs,
she said the issues had been discussed with the prison governor. The
justice secretary’s Commons statement followed a renewed warning from the
president of the independent monitoring board, John Thornhill, that
insufficient staff numbers lay behind the rising levels of violence in
prisons in England and Wales. “It is the board’s view, echoed by prison
staff, that there are insufficient staff numbers to deal with many of the
day-to-day situations that occur in a local prison … The result, as we have
seen in recent weeks, is an increase in riots that damage the system
individuals,” he said. “The impact of this unrestrained violence is that a
large number of prisoners have to be transferred to other prisons that are
already stretched with their own problems and staffing issues.” Truss will
publish a prison and courts bill in the new year to introduce wide-ranging
reform and to build on the recruitment of 2.500 extra prison officers.
Dec 17, 2016 ibtimes.co.uk
Up to 240 inmates at HMP Birmingham to be moved after 12-hour riot
Up to 240 prisoners will be transferred out of HMP Birmingham after a
12-hour riot at the jail. Nearly 600 inmates were believed to be involved
in the disturbance at the privately run prison on Friday (16 December),
after a warden was allegedly threatened with a syringe and had his keys
stolen. The Ministry of Justice confirmed control was regained at roughly
10.30pm after specialist riot squads from across the country were drafted
in. Truss confirmed on Saturday (17 December) there will now be a full
investigation into the riot. "I want to pay tribute to the bravery and
dedication of the prison officers who resolved this disturbance," she
said, reported the BBC. "This was a serious situation and a thorough
investigation will now be carried out. "Violence in our prisons will
not be tolerated and those responsible will face the full force of the
law." Mike Rolfe, national chairman of the Prison Officers
Association, said the flare-up was not unexpected as more than 30 staff had
left the prison, which is run by the controversial contractor G4S, in
recent weeks. "We've been warning for a long time about the crisis in
prisons and what we are seeing at Birmingham is not unique to Birmingham,
but it certainly would seem that this is the most recent worst incident since
the 1990 Strangeways riot," he said. He added that was "another
stark warning to the Ministry of Justice that the service is in
crisis". During the disturbance, the BBC was contacted by several men
claiming to be prisoners at the jail, who said poor conditions were behind
the disturbance. The men, who said they were calling from inside HMP
Birmingham, cited inadequate staff numbers, poor healthcare and nutrition.
They said being on "lockdown" in their cells all day was a major
factor that contributed to the trouble. It was the fourth riot at the
prison in six weeks. Truss's comments that inmates would "face the
full force of the law" drew immediate criticism on social media for
failing to tackle the heart of the problem. On Twitter, Jane Turnball said:
"Liz Truss says those responsible for prison riots will 'face the full
force of the law'. Does that include G4S, MoJ and George Osborne?"
Dec
16, 2016 rt.com
Winson Green: Riot spreads in privately-run Birmingham prison
Riot police and ambulances were
called to a privately-run jail in Birmingham amid reports of developing
protests and rioting on Friday. It is understood that around 400 men were
involved in the disturbances. “Our teams withdrew following a disturbance
and sealed two wings, which include some administrative offices,” said G4S
custodial and detention services managing director Jerry Petherick. “The
disturbance has since spread to two further wings. All staff have been
accounted for. “Additional officers have arrived on site and we have
deployed canine units within the prison. West Midlands Police helicopter is
also in attendance. We are working with colleagues across the service to
bring this disturbance to a safe conclusion.” HMP Birmingham, also known as
Winson Green, is run by security giant G4S. The incident is said to have
started after 9am on Friday, and originally involved two of the prison’s
wings, which can hold up to 250 inmates each. It spread to two more wings
in the early afternoon. The prison, which stands close to the city center,
can host up to 1,450 adult men. The unrest is believed to have started in
wings N and P and spread to wings L and M, while the rest of the prison was
put on lockdown. “It is not under control and potentially is getting worse
but we cannot confirm this,” said the national chair of the Prison Officers
Association (POA), Mike Rolfe. “We know a set of keys containing a cell key
have been taken so prisoners are potentially opening up cells. We also know
there are no staff injuries and all are accounted for.”
Mar 22, 2015 newstatesman.com
Frances Crook, chief executive of the independent penal reform charity
Howard League, has had two visits to privately-run prisons cancelled. She
published the letter from the National Offender Management Service (NOMS)
on Twitter: It acknowledges that she was invited by the security firm G4S
to visit two of their prisons, but denies her access given her
"comments about private prisons". Her charity is opposed to
prisons being in private hands. Outrage directed at the Ministry of Justice
among a diverse range of politicians, including Labour shadow cabinet
member Sadiq Khan, Lib Dem MP Julian Huppert and Ukip's Mark Reckless,
ensued after Crook posted the letter online. She also wrote a piece on the
website politics.co.uk about her cancelled visits, with the headline:
"I've been barred from visiting a G4S prison". In the piece, she
writes that a G4S representative invited her to see Oakwood, a high-profile
prison that has suffered much controversy since being taken over by the company,
and Birmingham, the first Victorian prison to be handed over to the private
sector. I met a senior staffer from G4S in the studio of the BBC Radio 4
Today programme a few weeks ago when we were putting forward different
views on privatisation and he invited me to visit Oakwood and Birmingham to
see for myself. I was due to visit next week and had bought my train
tickets. It was therefore a bit of a shock to get the letter from NOMS
saying they were banning me. You know what they say, keep your friends
close, and your enemies closer. Crook received the letter on Friday this
week, about an hour before putting it online. She tells me that her train
tickets are booked to visit the two prisons on the same day: Monday 30
March. The plan was for her to be escorted for two to three hours around
each prison by G4S staff at all times. She tells me she was invited three
to four weeks ago, but only found that "NOMS was banning me from
visiting" when she received the letter. She is "still
considering" her response to the Ministry, but tells me, "I hope
they will reconsider." She adds: "Members of parliament have got
in touch with me and said they will take it up with the Minister for me.
There are two on the Twitter feed: an interesting alliance, Julian Huppert
from the Lib Dems, and Mark Reckless. And Sadiq Khan has also retweeted.
There may well be others. It's right across the spectrum, people saying
this is wrong." Crook, who has visited almost every prison in the
country during her 25 years working "in the system", was interested
to see how the private sector had affected each of the prisons. Having
visited Birmingham prior to the G4S takeover, she wanted to see "how
it had changed". Her organisation's view is that prisons should not be
run by the private sector. "I know some of the private sector prisons
actually do some quite good work, and I've always said that," she
says. "That's not the point; they shouldn't be doing it. If you take
away someone's freedom, it is the state's responsibility. "So it's not
that it's a better prison or a worse prison, the point is they shouldn't be
doing it. And that's the distance between us. But we can have a grown-up
discussion about that." Regarding her cancelled visits, she says:
"I go to prisons all the time. I entirely understand that prisons are
places where people live and work, and you don't want to troop around out
of prurient curiosity. We don't take groups around prisons to have a gawp.
I think that's wrong. "But I work in the system, have done for 25
years. It's really important if we're going to commentate and do research
that we know what's going on. The critique from someone who's impartial is
really important. Our independence is incredibly important and it can be
very uncomfortable for government sometimes. But I think that's our job:
speaking truth to power is our job." Yet a spokesperson for the Prison
Service warns that "those who irresponsibly misrepresent" the
situation in prisons with "inaccurate comments" are unlikely to
be first on the invitation list. They commented: Organisations and
individuals independent of the Ministry of Justice and Prison Service are
frequently given access to our prisons - Inspectors, Monitoring Boards,
MPs, researchers and a wide range of interest and reform groups. It is
absolutely right that prisons, like all public institutions, face
significant media scrutiny and we welcome public debate on the issues they
face. Groups and individuals are of course entitled to express their
opinions. Those who irresponsibly misrepresent the situation by making
inaccurate comments, and who fail to correct them when their inaccuracy is
pointed out to them, are not a priority for access to prisons. But Crooks
insists on her expertise: "The problem with NOMS, and perhaps it goes
to ministers - who knows? - is that actually I think they're being very
immature, they're being petulant, and that's not a good way to behave. Take
criticism on the chin. It's informed criticism. I know what I'm talking
about, I know prisons."
28
Jun 2013 birminghammail.co.uk
Broken bones, scalding and stab
wounds, attacks inside HMP Birmingham prison have increased by 46 per
cent since 2010. Violence inside Birmingham prison has soared by almost 50
per cent in the last three years according to figures obtained by the Mail.
Total assaults at the privately run prison reached 225 last year – up 46
per cent from 2010 when 154 attacks were recorded. The 1,450 capacity HMP
Birmingham in Winson Green, which was the first in the country to be taken
over by private security firm G4S in October 2011, also saw assaults on
staff members rise by 27 per cent between 2010 and 2012. The figures,
released to the Mail by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), under the Freedom of
Information Act include a serious incident last year at the Winson Green
prison where four officers were stabbed and slashed by a crazed inmate
wielding broken glass. All four victims needed hospital treatment after the
improvised rampage in which the prisoner armed himself with glass shards
from a broken TV screen. While some of the other attacks involved biting,
punching and kicking, in many cases an array of horrifying weapons were
used. According to the MoJ these included blunt instruments, unspecified
dangerous liquids, knives, spitting, furniture and even food. Injuries
sustained in the hundreds of assaults included broken bones, scalding, stab
wounds, extensive bruising, and cuts requiring stitching. Insiders at the
prison told the Mail in December that there had been a catalogue of attacks
in the last 12 months. The officer, who did not want to be named, claimed
that paramedics had regularly been called to treat injured staff and
convicts at the Category B prison. Mark Leech, one of Britain’s leading
ex-offender expert on prisons, said the increase in incidents can be partly
blamed on issues around privatisation. He said: “It always takes time for a
new prison to bed down and that is effectively what has happened at
Birmingham since the privatisation in 2011. “You will see an increase in
control problems, arrests and violence in those early days and I think
these figures show part of those problems. “Birmingham is a big inner city
prison, which will have complex drug, gang and violence problems that are
brought in from the streets. You need to have sophisticated staffing to
deal with these problems and it may take two or three years to get to grips
with the issues and for a relationship to be built between the new
operators, inherited staff and the prisoners themselves. “There is no doubt
that there will also have been a problem concerning staff members who were
not happy to be passing over from the public to the private sector. “There
will also have been a problem with newer staff who simply lack the
experience to deal with the issues faced at a prison like Birmingham.” Mr
Leech has been the editor of the prisons handbook for the last 15 years,
but spent 20 years behind bars himself before his last release in 1995. He
also warned that the reporting of incidents in the private sector was much
more stringent than the reporting requirements in the public sector. He
added: “It is important to say that there is very strict reporting
requirements for a company like G4S. “The types of incidents that have to
be reported is still slightly out of step with public sector prisons and
that could have a bearing on some of these figures. “There is a high level
of scrutiny about what happens on a daily basis. There is an argument to
say that the public sector should be abiding by the same levels of
reporting about violence and assaults inside prisons. “Having said all
that, it’s important that these figures are revealed and that a violence
reduction strategy is put in place to deal with the issues of assaults
inside the prison. “The prison service in the public and private sectors
has an obligation and a legal duty to keep people in their custody and
their staff safe. “A proper strategy to deal with these issues will benefit
both the prisoners and the staff at the prison. “On top of that there is
the very real financial cost in all this. We are seeing an increase in huge
payouts to prisoners. “There has been big payouts for injuries sustained by
prisoners across the country and those costs are enormous for the state.” A
spokesman for G4S said a government report released last year found that
the prison was a “safer and more decent place to be” since the firm took
over at the end of 2011. He also said the most serious violent incidents
had not increased under the new regime. He added: “The level of serious
assaults has not risen under G4S management, and a government report by the
Chief Inspector of Prisons found HMP Birmingham to be a ‘safer and more
decent place’ since we had taken over. “The care and safety of our staff
and the people in our care will always be our overriding concern and we
would never take any decisions which might put this jeopardy.” A report
released earlier this year by the Independent Monitoring Board at
Birmingham said staff morale had plunged in Birmingham since privatisation.
The report, which covers the period between July 2011 and June 2012, said:
“The changes (privatisation) have proved part of a difficult adjustment in
culture, and it is undoubtedly the case that some staff have not yet fully
accepted them. “The effect on staff morale across the prison has been
severe.” Four police officers are now permanently based at Birmingham
prison to combat crime behind bars. Two detectives and two intelligence
officers from West Midlands Police work closely with G4S, to combat issues
like violence, drug smuggling and the illegal use and possession of mobile
phones.
Jan
9 2013 By Birmingham Post
A new report into Birmingham Prison says staff morale has plunged since
privatisation – with guards also struggling to deal with rising numbers of
sex offenders. The Independent Monitoring Board released its first full
annual report since the 1,450 capacity HMP BIrmingham, in Winson Green, was
taken over by security firm G4S in October 2011. Major recommendations
include the need for extra capacity to deal with a ‘big increase’ in sex
offenders, the need to replace hospital beds first promised in 2008 and the
reduction of category D prisoners at the category B prison. The report,
which covers the period between July 2011 and June 2012, says: “The changes
(privatisation) have proved part of a difficult adjustment in culture, and
it is undoubtedly the case that some staff have not yet fully accepted
them. “The effect on staff morale across the prison has been severe.” The
report goes on to say that staffing problems have been exacerbated by time
owed and long and short-term sickness, which has averaged at 40 and 24 days
respectively. The Board said the Secretary of State needed to “give urgent
consideration to extra places in the system to accommodate the growing
number of sex offenders that are coming into the establishment through the
resolution of historical sex offence cases, growth of internet pornography
and more cases of rape being prosecuted. “Suitable numbers of prison places
need to be provided at establishments which can offer appropriate rehabilitatory
programmes for these offenders.” The report also said the number of
Category D prisoners is too high for the Category B prison, which is an
‘inappropriate’ place to hold them. In June 2012 the prison had 40 Category
D prisoners. Other findings included poor use of the library because of a
lack of available staff to escort prisoners. The report also highlighted
problems with vermin, including rats, mice and cockroaches, most noticeably
in the kitchen, offices and on the wings. Yet the Board did highlight some
positive areas, including the conversion of J Wing to use as the older
prisoner and social care unit, a move which could be seen as a ‘model’ for
other prisons. Pete Small, G4S, Director of HMP Birmingham, said: “As the
first prison to transfer from public to private management, HMP Birmingham
has faced many challenges and we are pleased that the Board has recognised
the efforts we have made to make the transition as smooth as possible. “The
Board’s report covers a 12-month period up to last summer, and since that
time action has taken to address many of the issues raised in the report.
‘‘We have introduced effective and robust pest control measures; ageing
catering and kitchen equipment that we inherited has been replaced and
repaired; and with the provision of new all-weather pitches we have
improved the sporting facilities available to prisoners. “There are
undoubtedly challenges to overcome at Birmingham. “We continue to work
closely with our staff and their representatives to work through issues.”
January 23, 2012 BBC. A prison officer has been arrested
by police investigating missing keys at the privatised HMP Birmingham. Inmates
were locked in their cells for almost 24 hours after a master set of keys
went missing in October. West Midlands Police confirmed that a man in his
30s was arrested in December and has been released on bail while
investigations continue. G4S, which runs the privatised prison, said it was
aware a member of staff was helping police with their enquiries. The
company said it would not comment further while the matter was subject to
an investigation. HMP Birmingham, in Winson Green, is the first jail in the
country to be transferred to the private sector.
October 21, 2011 BBC
Birmingham Prison inmates were locked in their cells for almost a full day
after a set of keys fitting every cell door went missing. Keys to the jail,
which was taken over earlier this month by private security firm G4S,
disappeared on Tuesday. The firm said all prisons had established
contingency plans for incidents of this nature and there was no risk to
public safety. The jail is the first in the UK to be transferred to the
private sector. It is not known if the keys have since been found or what
action is now being taken at the prison.
Brook
House, Sussex, UK
Nov 18, 2017 theguardian.com/uk-news
Brook House asylum seekers in legal fight over lock-in procedures
Five asylum seekers are launching a legal challenge this week which
could change the way detention centres are run. The men are calling for an
immediate suspension of “lock in” procedures and an overhaul of unsanitary
toilets and poor ventilation inside the cells at Brook House immigration
removal centre near Gatwick airport. The legal challenge, a judicial review
which will be heard in the high court on Friday, will ask for an immediate
suspension of lock-in procedures that can see the men locked in their cells
for 13 hours a day. Lawyers for the five men are also asking for all to be
released or transferred. The judicial review also focuses on the insanitary
toilets in shared cells which are not separated from beds by a curtain or a
screen and have neither seats nor covers. Because of poor ventilation in
the rooms the men say the smell from the toilets is intolerable and that
they feel shame urinating or defecating in front of their roommates. Sixty
cells in Brook House can accommodate three people. The centre was recently
exposed by Panorama for abusive tactics by staff of G4S, the private
security company which runs it. Lottie Hume, a caseworker at Duncan Lewis
and part of the team involved with the legal challenge, said: “This is a
daily living nightmare for everyone locked in Brook House, languishing in
conditions that breach their human rights. BBC’s Panorama exposé allowed a
glimpse into Brook House, but … the documentary was unable to capture the
full horror of the situation. “Our clients speak with damning consistency on
life in the centre: the draconian lock-in regime, appalling room
conditions, overcrowding, limited healthcare, poor hygiene facilities,
segregation, an abusive staff culture … the list is endless. These issues
are not isolated; they are a complex mess that the Home Office can no
longer ignore.” The men, who have fled persecution in Afghanistan, (where
two of the five are from) Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, say they are
locked in their rooms for more than 13 hours per day. The regime in
detention centres is supposed to be more relaxed than in prisons and some
detention centres use “lock-ins” far less than at Brook House. Some of the
men are Muslim and say it is impossible to pray properly in their cells
because of the toilets. Islam stipulates that prayers should be conducted
in a spotlessly clean environment. One of the men, a 20-year-old from
Afghanistan, who was subjected to a kidnap attempt by the Taliban at the
age of 17, said he tried not to use the toilet in the cell he was sharing
with others because he felt ashamed. He prays five times a day and said
Mecca and the toilet face the same direction so his prayer mat touches the
toilet, something his religion does not permit. He described the conditions
as “insulting and offensive”. A recent report by HM chief inspector of
prisons in March raised concerns about the lock-ins as well as the
insanitary, unscreened toilets. The report states: “Some security
arrangements remained disproportionate to the risks posed by the
population. Detainees were locked in their cells overnight, which was
inappropriate.” The inspection report calls for toilets in detainees’ rooms
to be deep-cleaned and the rooms to be well ventilated, giving people more
control over access to fresh air. “Many in-cell toilets were not curtained
off. Many cells had ingrained dirt, especially in the toilets,” the report
adds. A Home Office spokesman said they would not comment on ongoing legal
proceedings. He added: “Companies which run immigration removal centres are
contractually obliged to conduct monthly and annual health and safety
inspections.”
Sep 24, 2017
bbc.com
Home Office launches inquiry into G4S finances
Claims that G4S gave inaccurate financial information about the running
of two immigration centres are being investigated, the Home Office has
said. An ex-senior manager for the security company made the claims at the
home affairs select committee last week. At that same meeting, a G4S
executive refused to tell MPs how much profit the company makes from a
centre, Brook House, near Gatwick Airport. G4S said it had never
deliberately given false information. Documents seen by the BBC suggest G4S
has been making significant profits. The investigation follows an
undercover BBC Panorama investigation into Brook House, which revealed abusive
treatment of detainees by some staff. G4S also runs Tinsley House, near
Gatwick Airport. A presentation, seen by the BBC, states that G4S earned
more than £2.4m in pre-tax profits from Brook House in 2013. It is
understood the original agreement with the Home Office envisaged the
company would make significantly less. Peter Neden, G4S regional president
for the UK and Ireland, told MPs last week that he would not reveal profits
at Brook House because it would help competitors. He said the figures reported
by the BBC did not take account of costs, including human resources and IT.
Mr Neden also said the profits were not more than 20%, but he would not
confirm what level they were. When pressed, he said his company had
provided information to the Home Office. But Nathan Ward, a former G4S duty
director at Brook House, told MPs he believed some of that information had
not been accurate. He said he had attended meetings where profits of 20%
and more were discussed for the detention centres. What I saw when I went
undercover at Brook House 'Serious questions' over immigration removal
centre profits. Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis said the Panorama
footage was "extremely disturbing". "I have been clear that
the sort of behaviour on display is utterly unacceptable," he said.
"We are aware that G4S will be commissioning an independent review and
we are also investigating allegations that financial information provided
to the Home Office was inaccurate." A G4S spokesperson said the
company had "never deliberately given false information to the Home
Office. "The Home Office has full access to financial and operational
information regarding the contract performance and has the ability to audit
that information at any time." G4S dismissed three staff following the
Panorama programme and another 10 have been suspended. The Home Office also
suspended a former G4S officer who now works for the department. All of the
allegations have been referred to Sussex Police.
Sep 24, 2017 independent.co.uk
Director of G4S immigration detention centre resigns after abuse of
migrants exposed
The director of a G4S-run immigration centre where staff were filmed
abusing and humiliating vulnerable migrants has resigned as the
controversial security firm faces further investigations. Ben Saunders left
his role at Brook House, near Gatwick Airport, with “immediate effect”
three weeks after the scandal broke. Jerry Petherick, the managing director
for G4S Custodial and Detention Services, said an interim director would be
put in place before the appointment of a replacement. Undercover footage
broadcast by BBC Panorama showed vulnerable detainees being abused,
restrained, insulted and humiliated by guards, amid drug abuse, self-harm
and suicide attempts. Mr Petherick and another G4S manager were grilled
over the scandal during a hearing before the Home Affairs Committee, which
said it would continue investigating allegations over how the firm was
charging the Government. Peter Neden, president of G4S UK and Ireland, told
MPs he felt “ashamed” watching the footage and the exposé was the first he
heard of the abuse. “I was ashamed of what I saw,” he told the committee
earlier this month. “I am very sorry… if we were in any way aware of any of
that behaviour we would have taken action. “We are undertaking an immediate
action plan to make sure that this can’t happen again. We take these events
very seriously indeed. There is no place for behaviour of that kind in our
business.” A member of staff filmed colleagues abusing detainees and
mocking people who were receiving medical treatment after self-harming or
taking drugs. Disturbing scenes included the response to a detainee who was
trying to strangle himself and put a mobile phone battery in his mouth. A
custody manager was filmed telling him: “Plug him in and he’ll be a
Duracell bunny.” As the detainee was being restrained, the undercover
reporter filmed another member of staff allegedly choking him in what he
described as “the most distressing treatment” he saw during his time at
Brook House. G4S said three employees have so far been dismissed over the
footage, with seven others suspended. The company has also commissioned an
independent inquiry and said it was assisting a police investigation.
Committee chair Yvette Cooper told the hearing it was a matter of “very
grave concern” that G4S appeared to have failed to tackle staff
misbehaviour following mistreatment revealed at a young offenders’ unit
last year. Ms Cooper accused G4S of failing to have “any grip at all” on
the situation and said its response was “remarkably similar” to what had
been promised before. “This raises extremely serious questions about their
management, training, oversight and whistleblower policies and their
ability to safely operate this contract,” the Labour MP said. “We also
heard disturbing allegations that G4S misled the Home Office to increase
their profit, which we will pursue further.” Campaigners have called for
the firm to be stripped of contracts to run immigration centres and the
Bail for Immigration Detainees charity wrote to Amber Rudd demanding a
public inquiry. Brook House is one of two immigration centres run by G4S in
the UK and has capacity for 508 adult men. The centre was designed to hold
people for up to 72 hours ahead of deportation but some people have been
detained there for almost two years. The UK is the only country in Europe
to allow indefinite immigration detention and campaigners and independent
inquiries have long called for the practice to be curtailed. Concerns have
also been raised over the mixing of foreign criminals who have served
prison sentences for violent crime and vulnerable asylum seekers like Samim
Bigzad, an Afghan asylum seeker now at the centre of a high-profile legal
battle against the Government. G4S sold its youth detention centres
following last year’s scandal at Medway, but still operates five prisons in
England and Wales. The company has been hit by numerous scandals over its
handling of international contracts for security and prisons, including
failing to properly staff security teams at the London 2012 Olympics,
losing control of rioting prisoners at HMP Birmingham, allegedly
manipulating police telephone data and hiring the Orlando terror attacker
Omar Mateen in the US. Many controversies have focused on the treatment of detained
immigrants by G4S guards, and their use of force while working for the UK
Border Agency and prison service. Three G4S guards were cleared of
manslaughter after the death of Jimmy Mubenga, who was fatally restrained
on a deportation flight from Heathrow in 2010. In that year alone, the
company received more than 700 complaints from detained immigrants,
including allegations of assault and racism. G4S was forced to repay
£108.9m to the British Government in 2014 after overcharging on contracts
to electronically tag offenders.
Sep
16, 2017 theguardian.com
Head of scandal-hit G4S detention centres is put on administrative leave
The head of two G4S-run detention centres has been placed on
administrative leave after a series of scandals, the Guardian has learned.
G4S is believed to have placed Ben Saunders on leave from his role in
charge of Brook House and Tinsley House immigration removal centres (IRCs)
after an undercover Panorama exposed abuse of detainees there. Officers
were seen to mock suicidal detainees and one officer is alleged to have
attempted to choke a detainee. A G4S source at managerial level told the
Guardian: “Senior managers were called to a meeting yesterday and told
Saunders was put on leave”. G4S declined to comment on the report. The news
is another unfortunate milestone in a difficult period for G4S, which has
faced severe criticism over its management of the two IRCs in the UK. The
Guardian revealed this week that both detention centres appeared to make
larger profit margins than that agreed with the Home Office. Documents
showed profits before tax upwards of 20% whereas the original contract
between G4S and the Home Office showed an agreed profit margin of 6.8% G4S
said the higher figures did not reflect final profits as they did not take
into account company-wide costs and overheads. Last week, the Guardian also
revealed that Saunders had been in charge of a children’s prison in 2009-10
when children were maltreated. Like the two IRCs, Medway Secure Training
Centre in Kent was then run by G4S, before it gave up its children’s
services division after abuse and alleged corruption were exposed by the
Guardian investigation and another Panorama undercover operation. The Home
Office is under increasing pressure to strip G4S, the largest security firm
in the world, of its contract to run the IRCs after the latest revelations
of abuse and possible financial irregularities. On Thursday, Peter Neden,
regional president for UK and Ireland, and Jerry Petherick, managing
director for custody and detention centres, gave evidence before the home
affairs select committee about the Brook House scandals. Neden told the
committee chair, Labour MP Yvette Cooper, that he was not “at liberty to
disclose the profits”. She replied: “The fact that some very serious
allegations have been made about G4S not providing full and accurate
information to the Home Office and, also, the fact that this is profit on a
service in which there has now been very serious evidence of abuse and
mismanagement taking place, means that actually it is not acceptable for
you simply to provide no information about the profitability on these
contracts.” When Petherick was asked whether he had considered his
position, he replied: “Yes. I would be an idiot not to … At the moment, my job
is to be the leader. It is my job to take Brook House, and the rest of my
business, through this. Of course I have looked at myself; I would be
failing in my duty to everyone if I hadn’t.” Cooper concluded: “Mr
Petherick and Mr Neden, I am afraid that the answers you have given do not
suggest that you have any grip on this at all.” The Rev Nathan Ward, former
duty director at Brook House and now a Church of England priest, was asked
by the select committee whether he was shocked by the Panorama footage of
Brook House. He replied: “I wasn’t surprised, but shocked at the level of
abuse that was going on. I had been raising concerns about practice within
G4S since 2001. In particular, I raised concerns to Jerry Petherick upon my
resignation.” When questioned about G4S profit margins at the IRCs, Ward
said: “I have certainly seen presentations with 30% profit margins put on
them.” When Cooper asked if it was plausible that G4S had deliberately
given false information to the Home Office about profit margins, Ward
replied “Categorically, yes.” The shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, told
the Guardian: “It is clear from the endless list of complaints and scandals
that the Home Office are aware of improper conduct among G4S staff. Yet
they stand by as this company continues to employ staff who have run failed
institutions. It’s high time the Home Office brought its agents to order,
and if things do not improve consider a review into whether G4S should
remain a service provider.” When asked whether it was considering pulling
out of its contract to run the two IRCs, G4S said: “We remain committed to
running Brook House and Tinsley House immigration removal centres on behalf
of the Home Office. The wellbeing of those in our care is our priority.”
July 12, 2010 The Guardian
Conditions at the privately run immigration deportation centre at
Gatwick airport are fundamentally unsafe, according to a damning report by
the chief inspector of prisons published today. Dame Anne Owers says that a
year after the opening of G4S-run Brook House immigration removal centre
she and her inspection team were disturbed to find one of the least safe
immigration detention facilities that had been inspected. Her report says
bullying and violence were serious problems at the time of their inspection
in March and – unusually for immigration detention centres – drugs were
also a serious problem. Those who were about to be deported or had been
recalcitrant were placed in two oppressive holding rooms, which are
windowless and seatless. Owers says they should be decommissioned
immediately. Many of the 400 male detainees held at Brook House are
ex-prisoners facing deportation. A number of them told the inspectors their
experience at the removal centre was worse than their time in prison.
"Our surveys, interviews and observations all evidenced a degree of
despair amongst detainees about safety at Brook House which we have rarely
encountered. At the time of the inspection, Brook House was an unsafe
place," says Owers's report. Although the centre – which is built to
the same standards as a category B prison – is designed to hold detainees
for no more than 72 hours, the report says the average time spent in Brook
House is three months, with one man having been there for 10 months. Its
design as a short-term holding centre meant there was insufficient activity
or education facilities. A significant number of staff left after an
outbreak of serious disorder in June last year when detainees started fires
and damaged one wing. "While many staff tried hard to maintain order
and control, many felt embattled and some lacked the confidence to manage
bad behaviour," says the report. "A number of staff reported
feeling unsupported by managers, detainees claimed that some staff were
bullied by more difficult detainees." The result was a confrontational
approach in the treatment of detainees with a high use of force, separation
often used as punishment, – which is against detention centre rules – and
restrictions on freedom of movement in an attempt to combat violence. The
report says force had been used to restrain detainees by staff 78 times in
the previous six months. The chief inspector said force was generally used
in line with approved techniques. However on one recent occasion a detainee
was moved to temporary confinement after urinating through his door. The
report says: "The officer's own record read: 'I entered first with the
shield. A was standing up by the table and I hit him with the shield.'
Another officer in the team had recorded that (officer N) used the shield
to hold the detainee against the table in the room. Detainee folded his
arms behind the shield." In a later incident in the same the same
officer N is recorded having used his shield to pin a detainee to his bed.
The chief inspector also details the use of the separation unit and cites
the case of a detainee who was taken to a psychiatric institution after
more than 80 days in separation for disturbed and disruptive behaviour.
"The challenges of opening a new immigration removal centre should not
be underestimated, particularly with inexperienced staff and challenging
detainees, many of them ex-prisoners," said Owers. "But none of
this can excuse the fundamentally unsafe state of Brook House, which must
be urgently addressed by G4S and United Kingdom border agency."
June 13, 2009 BBC
A fire was started and "disorder" broke out at a wing of an
immigration removal centre near Gatwick Airport, Sussex police said.
Officers said there were reports of minor damage and a blaze in the
exercise yard at Brook House, which houses 312 people awaiting deportation.
No-one is believed to be hurt and the fire is said to have burnt itself
out. The force said "disorder" involving 30 detainees started at
about 2250 BST and was confined to one wing. Officers were called in to
support security firm G4S. 'No risk' -- G4S, with the help of HM Prison
Service, currently manages the welfare of detainees inside the centre, the
police said. Ch Insp Ed Henriet, of Gatwick Police, said: "Sussex
Police is supporting the security arrangements. All detainees are accounted
for and there is no risk to the wider community." A second fire, that
was unrelated to the first, according to a spokesperson for G4S, was also
started by "one of the detainees setting fire to his bedding" on
Saturday afternoon. It was extinguished using sprinklers and fire
extinguishers. The spokesperson added that a detainee who assisted in
putting out the fire was "slightly injured" and the fire had
delayed some detainees being fed. The then Home Secretary Jacqui Smith opened
Brook House, which can house up to 426 people, in March. It is situated
next to Tinsley House, a 136-bed detention centre.
Border
Patrol (US)
October 24, 2009 San Diego
Union-Tribune
A contract worker for U.S. Customs and Border Protection was sentenced
to 18 months in prison yesterday for trying to release an illegal immigrant
from custody in exchange for money. Christopher Saint-Lucero, who had
earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of transporting illegal immigrants for
financial gain, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller.
Saint-Lucero worked as a sergeant for Wackenhut Corp., which contracts with
the agency to transport illegal immigrants to Mexico after they are
captured. He worked at the Border Patrol station in Chula Vista. Prosecutors
said that on June 1, 2008, Saint-Lucero tried to release an illegal
immigrant who was in agency custody in exchange for $2,500 in cash.
June
4, 2008 San Diego Union-Tribune
Two Border Patrol contract workers were arrested on suspicion of
conspiring to shuttle illegal immigrants from San Diego to Los Angeles for
$2,500 apiece instead of returning them to Mexico. Christopher Saint Lucero
and Manley Lamont Smith work for Wackenhut Corp., which holds a Border
Patrol contract to escort illegal immigrants to Mexico after they are
captured by agents in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. According
to court documents, Saint Lucero told a colleague that he had been involved
in about 10 smuggling attempts. The men were arrested Sunday after Saint
Lucero allegedly escorted a group of illegal immigrants from the Border
Patrol's Chula Vista station to the border in Tijuana. According to a
statement of probable cause, Mexican authorities refused to admit two who
identified themselves as Salvadorans. One was an undercover agent.
Authorities say Saint Lucero then brokered the deal to get the two men to
Los Angeles. Smith allegedly met them at the Border Patrol station in his
Wackenhut jeep and offered to hide them. Saint Lucero and Smith were
expected to make an initial court appearance today, said Debra Hartman, a
spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego. The charge against
them, conspiracy to transport illegal immigrants, is a felony.
June
3, 2008 AP
A Border Patrol contractor says 2 of its employees have been arrested
for investigation of releasing illegal immigrants from federal custody.
Wackenhut Corp. says the employees were arrested Sunday in the San Diego
area and are in jail facing felony charges. For about two years, Wackenhut
has held a contract to return illegal immigrants to Mexico after they are
captured by Border Patrol agents. A senior vice president, Marc Shapiro,
told The Associated Press Tuesday that this is the first time Wackenhut
employees have been arrested for allegedly releasing immigrants. He said
his company has returned more 1 million illegal immigrants to Mexico.
Shapiro declined to name the suspects. A Border Patrol spokesman had no
immediate comment.
Broward
County, Florida
November 13, 2008 Miami Herald
The Wackenhut Corp. overbilled Broward County thousands of dollars for
airport security guards, and collected hefty payments for unauthorized
overtime work by library guards, according to a county auditor's report.
But those irregularities could be just the tip of the county's problems
with the Palm Beach Gardens-based security company. County Auditor Evan
Lukic also found poor spending controls at nine county agencies that paid
Wackenhut $5.8 million last year. The County Commission will discuss the
report Thursday, as Lukic vowed a more in-depth look at the billings. 'If
we'd found little chance of risk we'd say, `Case closed,' '' he said.
``This has opened the door to look some more.'' A spokesman for Wackenhut
downplayed the auditor's findings, noting that the amount in question
totals less than one percent of the money the company was paid last year.
''We are pleased and proud of not only our long-term relationship with
Broward County, but also of the high degree of safety and security we
provide to the residents,'' Bruce Rubin said. Rubin said Wackenhut has
worked closely with the county ``to ensure compliance and improve
processes.'' County Administrator Bertha Henry reviewed the report and told
commissioners she agreed with its findings, and had begun implementing fixes.
Broward launched its audit last spring following reports in The Miami
Herald about problems in a Miami-Dade contract involving the company.
There, the county reported that Wackenhut overbilled as much as $6 million
over three years for phantom security guards at county transit stations.
Miami-Dade auditor Cathy Jackson said the company relied on inaccurate and
falsified records to try and cover up the billing. ACCUSATIONS DENIED --
Wackenhut denied the accusations and supplied the county with paperwork seeking
to refute them. Miami-Dade has not yet responded, and the company continues
to supply guards for Metrorail under a contract that runs through November
2009. Broward signed a three-year security contract, including two one-year
renewal options, with Wackenhut in June 2005. In the first three years, the
firm was paid $14.9 million. Lukic's audit found that most county agencies
doing business with Wackenhut failed to review and validate daily entries
on security logs that documented hours worked by guards. Also, they didn't
compare the hours Wackenhut billed with the hours reported on the security
logs. Likewise, little checking was done to ensure that some highly
qualified guards Wackenhut billed the county for actually carried those
special qualifications. AVIATION DEPARTMENT -- The one department that did
check: Broward County Aviation, where officials said Wackenhut overbilled
nearly $19,000. Those overcharges were recovered last year, the audit said.
In contrast, the report said, the library division paid Wackenhut overtime
for 14 branch guards even though OT wasn't properly pre-authorized or
substantiated by payroll records. In one week alone in September 2007, the
auditor found 233 hours of unauthorized overtime costing $1,655.
November
11, 2008 South Florida Business Journal
Broward County auditors are raising red flags over how county agencies kept
tabs on nearly $6 million in billings by Wackenhut Corp. for security
services last year. In a report to be presented to county commissioners on
Wednesday, county auditors noted several problems with the way Wackenhut
invoices have been processed. Specifically, the report noted that county
personnel were not reviewing and validating daily entries on security logs
that document hours worked by guards. The audit also found that there was
no evidence that hours billed were hours actually worked. County Auditor
Evan A. Lukic said the decision to review the county’s oversight of
Wackenhut grew out of news reports earlier this year that alleged the Palm
Beach Gardens-based security company was overbilling Miami-Dade County for
services that were not performed. “We were concerned about the allegations
we heard and whether we were possibly experiencing the same thing here,” he
said. “We wanted to look at it from how are we controlling the contract and
administering it.” At this point in the auditing process, Lukic said, there
was no evidence Wackenhut engaged in any wrongdoing. However, based on the
audit’s findings Lukic said his department will take a closer look at
payments to “make sure that guards who we are paying for are present.” In
June 2005, Broward County entered into a three-year agreement with
Wackenhut to provide security services. Payments for fiscal years 2005,
2006 and 2007 totaled more than $14.8 million. In fiscal 2007, Broward
County’s Aviation Department topped the list with $2.1 million in security
services billings by Wackenhut. The county’s facilities maintenance
division paid out $1.66 million to Wackenhut, and the county’s library
division was billed nearly $633,000. The report found that during a
one-week period, the libraries division paid 233 hours of overtime for
security guards and found no evidence that Wackenhut provided the required
written notification and payroll documentation to substantiate the overtime
payments. When queried by the South Florida Business Journal about the
auditor's findings, Wackenhut issued the following statement: "We've
worked closely with facilities management through the audit department to
insure compliance and to improve our processes." Questions also have
been raised about matching guard qualifications to pay rates. In some
instances, the audit raised concerns about guards with lesser
qualifications billing at a higher rate, resulting in overcharges. In an Aug.
22 letter, Broward’s director of the facilities maintenance division
advised Wackenhut President Drew Levine that he would now require the
company to provide documentation that links guards’ qualifications with
their job classifications. In the meantime, Lukic is asking the Broward
County Commission to direct the county administrator to come up with
procedures to ensure that billings are validated, that the guards’
qualifications match their job descriptions and that overtime charges are
substantiated. In May, a Miami-Dade County audit found that Wackenhut
overbilled the county by as much as $6 million over three years for
services it did not provide to Miami-Dade Transit, and then falsified
records to cover up the over charges. In its response to that audit, which
Wackenhut published on its Web site, the company said it has cooperated
with the county’s investigation, but “continues to question the audit
methodology.” Wackenhut said a lawsuit by a former guard, who accused the
company of padding its bills, has caused the increased scrutiny. “It is
Wackenhut’s belief that county entities … have been placed under undue
pressure and influence by unsubstantiated allegations in this ongoing
disputed litigation,” it stated. Miami-Dade continues to review Wackenhut’s
response to determine what actions should be taken, county spokeswoman Suzy
Trutie said.
Campsfield
Immigration Removal Centre,
Oxford, England
May 26, 2010 BBC
12
June 2013 opendemocracy.net
Child detention goes on in the UK
regardless of government claims to have ended it. A boy was locked up for
months at a UK immigration facility earlier this year, according to freshly
released official data. The revelation dramatically exposes the falsity of
government claims that the harmful practice of detaining children for
administrative convenience has ended. The Home Office does not reveal the
boy's exact age or the precise length of his incarceration, only that he
was aged 12 to 16, and held for between two and three months at Campsfield
House, an adult immigration jail near Oxford. Classed as an immigration
removal centre, Campsfield holds 216 male detainees, many in multiple
occupancy rooms furnished with bunkbeds. It is run for the government by
commercial contractors Reliance Security Task Management. In all 37
children were locked up for immigration purposes in the first three months
of 2013. The Home Office concedes that the number would have been still
higher, but Tinsley House removal centre, near Gatwick, was closed to new
detainees for most of the period due to an outbreak of infectious illness.
"Since the start of 2011, the overall trend for children entering
detention has risen," said the Home Office. Yet the government
maintains the fiction that it has ended child detention as it promised to
do in the Coalition Agreement of May 2010. "We will end child
detention for immigration purposes," they said then. In December 2010
deputy prime minister Nick Clegg announced the immediate closure of the
family unit at the notorious Yarl's Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire.
He promised child detention would "end completely" by May 2011.
The Liberal Democrat leader spoke movingly of children "locked up,
sometimes for weeks, sometimes for months, in one case for 190 days —
something no innocent child should ever have to endure". Clegg's
rhetoric of compassion gave his party a much needed 'win' in a
pre-Christmas period rocked by student protest and accusations of betrayal.
But child detention did not end. Instead it was rebranded as "family
friendly pre-departure accommodation". Or PDA for short. The
government opened a new detention facility in August 2011, in the Sussex
village of Pease Pottage. They called it Cedars, a government acronym for
Compassion, Empathy, Dignity, Approachability, Respect and Support. The
first report on Cedars by the Prisons Inspectorate, in October last year,
revealed that staff had used “substantial force” against a pregnant woman
causing “significant risk of injury to her unborn child”. Children and
their parents had been forcefully restrained. One mother had been grabbed
by her hair. More than half of the families held been arrested in dawn
raids repeatedly criticised over years as unnecessarily distressing. Both
Cedars and Tinsley House, the facility near Gatwick airport where a 10 year
old girl tried to strangle herself in 2009, are run by the security company
G4S. That company is currently facing an inquest over the death of another
detainee, Jimmy Mubenga. Charity outsourcer Barnardo's works in partnership
with G4S at Cedars. Since December 2010 child detention has been recorded
in every quarter. The numbers of children detained are far lower than under
Labour when they peaked at perhaps 2000 annually, but higher than might
have been inferred from Clegg’s forecast of “tiny numbers of cases”
detained as “an absolutely last resort”. Remarkably, Clegg continues to
take credit for ending child detention even though it demonstrably goes on.
"It’s because of us that children are no longer detained for
immigration purposes," he claimed this past March. This was one of his
“proudest achievements in government”.
Yarl's
Wood was used to hold families before deportation Children are no longer to
be detained in detention centres like Yarl's Wood in Bedfordshire or
Oakington in Cambridgeshire. The new government announced the end of the
practice in the Queen's speech on Tuesday. Yarl's Wood has been the main
removal centre holding women and families facing deportation for many
years. Chief prisons inspector Dame Anne Owers said in March some children
were being held at Yarl's Wood unnecessarily. And her report said half the
centre's children were later released because they were either no longer
facing removal or were being allowed to live normally while legal appeals
were considered by the courts. Each year, about 2,000 children were held at
the centre for an average of 15 days. There have been a number of protests
at Yarl's Wood, including a hunger strike by women reported to be
campaigning against their length of stay at the detention centre.
July
22, 2006 The Independent
A Kurdish teenager killed himself after spending more than four months
in an immigration detention centre, an inquest has heard. Ramazan Kumluca,
18, is the youngest asylum-seeker to have committed suicide while facing
deportation from Britain. Campaign groups yesterday called for the closure
of all detention centres, comparing them to Victorian workhouses. Mr
Kumluca is one of more than 30 asylum-seekers who have killed themselves in
the past five years after being told their applications had failed. He had
travelled from his home in Turkey to Italy and then on to Britain where he
claimed asylum last year, saying that his life was in danger over a £20,000
debt owed by his father. He also claimed that if he was sent back to Italy
(under rules that asylum must be claimed in the first safe country reached)
he was at risk of exploitation. Mr Kumluca was refused asylum and denied
bail because there were fears he would not report back for deportation. He
was sent to Campsfield House in Oxfordshire, an immigration removal centre
that holds around 100 men at any time. The average stay for detainees at
the centre is 14 days, but because the teenager was fighting his
deportation order he was held for four and a half months. An inquest at Oxford
Old Assizes heard he had been plunged into despair during his incarceration
and had complained of insomnia, headaches and anxiety. A fellow inmate,
Abdulwase Kamali, told the court Mr Kumluca had appeared "sad"
the day before he killed himself. He said: "Ramazan said he had been
told by immigration he would be sent back to Italy, and he said if he was
sent back to Italy he would be used in sex films. He said he would slash
himself or hang himself." On 27 June last year, Mr Kamali and other Muslim
detainees alerted warders after calling Mr Kumluca for morning prayers and
finding his door would not open. He was found hanging from the door closing
mechanism. After investigating his death, a Prison and Probation ombudsman
cleared staff of any wrongdoing. The jury returned a verdict of suicide.
Outside the court, Bob Hughes, of the pressure group Campaign to Close
Campsfield, said: "Here we have an institution full of people being
driven deliberately to despair by government policy." "He added:
"We believe these people should be allowed to get on with their own
lives. Centres like Campsfield are a huge national scandal and shame.
Campsfield House has been a removal centre since 1993 and is privately run
by the company Global Solutions Limited. In 2002, the then Home Secretary
David Blunkett pledged that the centre would be closed, but a year later it
was decided to keep it open and expand the number of places. Since 2000, at
least 25 asylum-seekers have killed themselves while living in the
community after being told they would be deported. Mr Kumluca was the
seventh to have committed suicide in a detention centre. More than 2,600
adults and children are being held in detention centres prior to
deportation. In January this year another asylum-seeker Bereket Yohannes,
from Eritrea, was found hanging at Harmondsworth Removal Centre. An inquest
will be held into his death.
June
17, 2006 Indy Media
On Monday 12th of this week a Somalian man went onto a roof at Campsfield;
he had been detained for four months (probably illegally, since the
government cannot deport people to Somalia) and took a rope and a plastic
bag with him. GEO, the new management at Campsfield, asked the police to
leave and said they would deal with the matter themselves; we do not know
whether they used violence against the Somalian detainee; he has been
removed from Campsfield, no doubt to somewhere even worse as is usual in
these cases. There have been 12 suicides in immigration detention, and
several hundred attempted suicides and cases of self harm requiring medical
treatment. GSL lost the contract to run Campsfield to GEO (Global Expertise
on Outsourcing), presumably on cost grounds. GEO took over at the beginning
of the month. They have changed their name from Wackenhut, and have a
discreditable history of running penal institutions in the USA and
Australia. GSL's manager, Andy Clark, who had been more willing than his
predecessors to allow volunteers and education classes in Campsfield, decided
he could not work with GEO; at least two of the people who ran education
classes and workshops have been sacked or left, and GEO apparently intends
to provide much reduced hours of education (as required under the
contract), run by its own officers. But of course the most serious problem
is not the conditions inside the centre, but the fact that people are
detained there who have committed no crime, been charged or suspected of no
crime, with no judicial process and no time limit, often with no access to
lawyers, and always with great uncertainty about what is happening to them
or about to happen to them.
May
23, 2001
The global private security firm Group 4, is an "Investor in
People." This may come as a surprise. For since Campsfield
opened, almost unnoticed, in the bleary period just before Christmas in
1993, this improvised brick compound has become to many the unacceptable
face of the British government's asylum system. Within weeks, the
country's first specialized facility for confining them while their cases
were decided was provoking hunger strikes. Within months, detainees
were climbing on to its roofs to protest at the conditions. Still in
its first year of operation, there was a mass escape over its 20ft
perimeter fence, and a "disturbance" - involving fires and
smashed furniture - which resulted in the deployment of riot police and
injuries to detainees, who needed several ambulances and hospital
treatment. Official reports on Campsfield in 1995 and 1998 by two
different chief inspectors of prisons found fear, boredom and stress among
inmates. Among the Group 4 staff, the inspections found inexperience,
poor pay and exhausting shift work. This cycle of protest and
disorder and repressive countermeasures continued unabated during the late
1990s. (Guardian Newspapers)
May
14, 2002
As many as 15 asylum seeker accomadation centres could be built across the
UK despite an angry response from residents in the locations chosen for the
three pilot "villages". The government plans to build the
centres at Throckmorton, near Pershore on Worcestershire, RAF Newton, in
Nottinghamshire, and at Bicester, Oxfordshire. More than 3,000
villagers have signed a petition objecting to a development in their
area. Some local people are anxious about plans to house large
numbers of asylum seekers near them, particularly following the riot and
fire which destroyed the $100m Yari's Wood centre. Steve Mitchell,
chairman of Pinvin Parish Council, promised to fight the plans "every
step of the way". (BBC News)
Charlotte
Transportation Center
Jul 28, 2018 wsoctv.com
Video shows security officer punch man at transit center uptown
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A security officer was caught on camera punching a
man in handcuffs at the Charlotte Transportation Center in uptown.
Charlotte Area Transit System officials took action and told the security
company, G4S, that officers assigned to the transit center must get
training on the use of excessive force. The video was taken by a passenger
on July 7, but the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department did not know
about the incident until Wednesday. The video shows a group of officers
working under contract with CATS surrounding a man on the ground. The man
on the ground was Patrick McManus, 25, who has been arrested more than two
dozen times in the past three years. McManus was being escorted away when
he apparently fell down. That was when a security officer punched McManus
about two times before another officer stepped in to push him away, the
video shows. McManus was taken to jail. CMPD is investigating the incident,
listing McManus as the victim. “I'm glad that they're looking into it, and
hopefully if it's determined that charges are warranted, that that would in
fact, happen," said Willie Ratchford, CMPD community relations committee
president. Ratchford said there's no excuse for what that officer did. CATS
officials told G4S the officer who appeared to punch McManus and his
supervisor can't work as CATS contractors anymore.
Chrysler Plant,
Newark Delaware
September 14, 2009 Newark Post
Newark Police report they were notified by Wackenhut Security officers at
the Chrysler Assembly Plant that a University of Delaware student spent the
night at one of the buildings in the closed plant in an attempt to find the
way back to her dorm. The student told the officers that she had been at a
party last Thursday and had gotten lost trying to find her room. She
spotted the train tracks and followed them, hoping to find a station and
call for help. The tracks led her to the Chrysler Plant, where she entered
one of the buildings and called the security desk. One of the security
officers, thinking the call was a joke, stated that and hung up on the
student.
Cook Nuclear Plant, Bridgman, Michigan
April 15, 2009 WSJM AM
The Cook Nuclear Plant is shaking up its security force. The Plant is
ending its contract with Florida-based Wackenhut Corporation and instead
offering all security officers jobs with Indiana Michigan Power. 162
existing contracts employees will transition into members of the American
Electric Power security team. Cook Senior Vice President Joe Jensen says
joining the American Electric Power team will help the plant's security be
more effective. The plan is expected to give more control over integrated
operations and costs and give more benefits to security employees.
Coquelles
Detention Centre, Coquelles,
France
April 6, 2006 Gulf Daily News
Holding cells used by British immigration officials at a French freight
terminal were so crowded and filthy that staff called them "the dog
kennels," a prison watchdog said yesterday. Chief Inspector of Prisons
Anne Owers also said staff were unsure whether they could stop a detainee
from fighting, trying to escape, or committing suicide because they did not
know whether English or French law applied. Her report concerned the
centres at Calais seaport and the Channel tunnel freight and tourist
terminals at Coquelles, which were set up on French soil under an
international treaty to hold detainees seeking entry to Britain.
Accommodation at Coquelles freight terminal was described by staff as the
"dog kennels," Owers said. The six 13 feet by 10 feet cells at
Coquelles freight terminal featured hole-in-the-ground toilets and on busy
days one cell could be used to hold six people. Furnishing, ventilation and
heating were all inadequate, her report added. Records suggested average
detention time was seven and a half hours, with the maximum nearly 12
hours. The chief inspector made 49 recommendations for improvement,
including one that an independent monitoring board should have regular
access. Figures for May to July last year showed 661 detainees had been
through Calais Seaport detention centre, 11 of whom were children. The
average period of detention was four hours, although the longest was 17. In
all, 17 per cent were given permission to enter Britain. At the third
centre at Coquelles tourist terminal, average detention time was three
hours but the maximum recorded was nearly 16 hours. None of the facilities,
run by private firm Group 4 Securicor, could appropriately separate men,
women and children. The chief inspector also published a report on
detention facilities at Heathrow airport, including the Queen's Building,
which handles the greatest number of forced removals from Britain. People
could be detained there for up to 36 hours, the report said. Owers
complimented the staff's approach to welfare of detainees but called the
system inhumane. "Some of those we observed in detention had been
dealt with as though they were parcels, not people, and parcels whose
contents and destination were sometimes incorrect," Owers said.
Costa
Mesa Police Facilities
May
29, 2022 latimes.com
Costa Mesa terminates private jail services contract due to 'mass
resignation' of jailers
Costa Mesa officials last week terminated a contract with the private firm
that has provided jail services for the city since 2013, citing a
"mass resignation" of employees that would have left only two
properly trained jailers at the overburdened facility. Members of the City
Council in a May 17 meeting agreed to immediately halt the city's
longstanding arrangement with G4S Secure Solutions and Allied Universal, the
company that acquired it in 2021, ahead of a June 30 contract expiration
date and to consider negotiating with Huntington Beach for temporary jail
services. "When you outsource city services to a company that provides
those on a contract basis, one of the consequences is an issue with
performance that could lead to termination," Mayor John Stephens said
during the discussion. "That's a risk we took way back when, and that
risk has come home to roost." An erstwhile conservative-majority City
Council had cost savings in mind on June 4, 2013, when members approved
outsourcing jail services to G4S, a move they said would cut costs by 45%
compared to paying city-employed custody officers for the same work. The
company offered to perform the same duties and promised a host of
advantages - like on-site video monitoring and an additional $10 million in
liability coverage - for an annual $743,329, compared to the $1,346,789
budgeted for custody officers unionized under the Costa Mesa City Employees
Assn. Although G4S initially reported an employee turnover rate of about
20%, the company's Brandon Joffe assured the city the contracted jailers
were trained, subjected to extensive background checks and, in many cases,
criminal justice graduates looking to enter the police force. Some,
however, were skeptical of privatizing Costa Mesa's jail. Representatives
with CMCEA and its affiliate Orange County Employees Assn. sought a court
injunction in 2011 to block the city from outsourcing any services that
might result in employee layoffs. The legal battle was resolved by a
settlement, which council members approved in a June 4, 2013, closed
session meeting, mere hours before the jail discussion. Jennifer Muir,
then-spokeswoman for CMSEA/OCEA, said at the time that union representatives
were committed to working collaboratively with the city to achieve fiscal
objectives while also preserving quality services and ensuring job security
for city employees. "Unfortunately, to date the City Council majority
has decided on a course of action that appears to be deliberately
calculated to sabotage those efforts," Muir said in a public comment.
"We strongly believe this contract will expose the city to significant
risk and could compromise public safety." Other members of the public
who spoke at the meeting questioned the soundness of ceasing a function
that had long been considered a city service and wondered what would be
lost with such steep reductions in costs. "If you're dealing with a
firm that [costs] substantially less than what is currently being paid, you
may get away with it in the current labor market, but in the future, it
could cost you a great deal," warned Costa Mesa resident Sheila
Pfafflin. Then-Mayor Jim Righeimer supported the contract, explaining
G4S-employed jailers earned between $16.50 and $25 per hour, compared to
the $26.42 to $32 per hour earned by most CMCEA officers, who also received
annual raises, sick days, vacation time and holidays. "The problem
with government and government employees, as good as they are, is they are
pricing themselves out of the picture," Righeimer said. Council
members voted 4-1 to approve a three-year contract with the international
firm that included the option for two one-year extensions, which the city
later exercised. When the original agreement and its extensions expired in
2018, and city staff issued a request for proposals to find a new pool of
jailers, G4S was the lone bidder, according to a staff report. The annual
cost of the contract has since increased to $924,098. "While the services
of Allied Universal's personnel have been good, these experienced personnel
are resigning from Allied Universal, leaving the city no legal options but
to close the city's jail temporarily," the report stated. "There
are no private companies who provide this service." Despite
termination of the contract, CMPD's 32-bed jail - which can accommodate
inmate stays up to 96 hours - is continuing to operate, Costa Mesa Police
Department spokeswoman Roxi Fyad confirmed Thursday. Costa Mesa officials
declined to comment for this story. Councilman Loren Gameros, after making
a motion to terminate the contract at the May 17 meeting, pledged then his
support of CMPD. "I'm very happy to see that we can hopefully move
forward in a positive manner and help the department in any way," he
said before the vote. OCEA General Manager Charles Barfield declined to
speak on the matter, indicating CMCEA/OCEA representatives were currently
engaged in regular collective bargaining talks with city officials. Allied
Universal officials did not provide a comment on the termination as of
press deadline Thursday. Jennifer Carey, public affairs manager for
Huntington Beach, confirmed Thursday Costa Mesa officials had reached out
to Huntington Beach police regarding possible temporary use of the facility
but said talks were still "very, very preliminary." That
Huntington Beach jail, she added, is one of the largest facilities of its
kind in Orange County. It can house up to 72 inmates, with separate
accommodations for men and women and another 12 beds for inmate workers.
Costa Mesa City Manager Lori Ann Farrell Harrison has been authorized to
negotiate an agreement with HBPD or to hire temporary staffing for the city
jail, according to the council's direction.
Cree Incorporated, Durham, North Carolina
October 19, 2005 News Observer
An early-morning immigration sweep at Cree Inc. resulted in the arrest of
36 undocumented workers Tuesday. Most of the people arrested were employed
by a contractor to Cree, which makes semiconductors. The bust was the first
at a high-tech company since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement began
focusing on facilities that the government considers strategic or
sensitive. All but 10 of those arrested were employed by a maintenance and
cafeteria services subcontractor, GCA Services Group of West Conshohocken,
Pa. Also, in early February, ICE arrested a Kenyan man working at Cree as a
security guard. He was employed by Wackenhut, another Cree contractor.
Cypress Creek Juvenile
Detention Center, Lecanto, Florida
January 4, 2007 St Petersburg
Times
A helicopter hovered above. Canine officers tracked through the woods.
Checkpoints were in place. And dozens of sheriff's deputies swarmed the
area near the Cypress Creek juvenile detention facility. Wednesday
afternoon, the word was out: Two teenage inmates escaped from the
maximum-security prison. Except they didn't. After an hour and a half of
searching, the two missing inmates were found hiding - in the detention
facility's compound. Kendall Wayne Wilbanks, 15, of Leesburg and Gavin
Alexander Eskdale, 17, of Kathleen in Polk County, picked a lock to gain
access to the roof area of the woodworking shop, a separate building from
the main facility inside the security fence. The inmates were in the shop
for an 11 a.m. class. But they were missing when the class ended and a head
count took place at 12:06 p.m., the Citrus County Sheriff's Office said. A
massive manhunt began, but deputies soon turned their attention back inside
the facility after a check of the perimeter showed no breach of the fence.
August
21, 2006 Miami Herald
Just after 4 a.m. on Oct. 13, youth-camp guard Josephus Johnson heard a
''gurgling'' sound coming from a dorm room. He found 17-year-old Willie
Durden cold, limp and without a pulse. Twenty minutes and two exams later,
an officer at the Cypress Creek Juvenile Offender Correctional Center
finally started CPR. Why the wait? ''Some of these kids will play pranks,''
Johnson told an investigator with the state Department of Juvenile Justice,
according to records provided to The Miami Herald this week. The inspector
``asked Johnson how someone could get his or her heart to stop beating to
accomplish such a prank.'' Durden, a Jacksonville teen described as a
''model inmate'' who dreamed of being a youth counselor himself, was
pronounced dead on arrival at Citrus Memorial Hospital at 5:10 a.m. He was
to receive a football scholarship to a Christian school in Jacksonville
following his release. He became the sixth Florida child to die in DJJ
custody since 2000. Two other children have died since then, including
Martin Lee Anderson, who died Jan. 6 at a Bay County boot camp. Durden is
among several youths who died after guards or nurses dismissed their
condition as the false cries of a faker or malingerer -- and the cases
raise serious questions about the quality of care children in state custody
receive. "This is another tragic example of the state's inability to
guarantee the health and safety of children in its care,'' said Roy Miller,
who heads the Children's Campaign, a Tallahassee-based advocacy group.
``Parents and judges and law enforcement people need to ask the tough
question: Are children in state custody safe? ''These are not isolated
incidents. They are recurring, and it's shameful,'' Miller added. Asked
Nancy Hamilton, who oversees a St. Petersburg drug treatment program and is
president of the state Juvenile Justice Association: ``How do you hire for
common sense? This is a key issue . . . Would you wait 20 minutes if this
were your child? Or would you be on your phone?'' The head of Cypress
Creek, Joseph Hasselbach, declined to discuss the case, citing a DJJ
requirement that agencies that contract with the state government not speak
to reporters.
March
17, 2006 Florida Times-Union
It took five months for the state to release the autopsy report
Thursday for a Jacksonville teen who died in juvenile facility, drawing
concern from some lawmakers especially after another boy's taped beating
death in January. According to the autopsy, Willie Durden, who died Oct. 13
at the Cypress Creek Juvenile Offender Corrections Center in Citrus County,
had an enlarged heart. But the report took several months to surface even
after blood tests came back negative for drugs. Durden, 17, was the third
young black male in three years to die in a state detention center. The
Legislature's black caucus has been waiting for Durden's report since
before Panama City teen Martin Lee Anderson died in January at a Panhandle
boot camp where staff are accused of contributing to his death. The report
on Durden shows the autopsy exam was performed the day of his death and
toxicology results came back in November, but only in the last few days has
the report quietly appeared on Northeast Florida lawmakers' desks.
Czech
Republic
March 25, 2008 Ceskenoviny
Czech police arrested last week an accomplice of Frantisek Prochazka,
who is suspected of having stolen half a billion crowns in cash from a
security agency last December, Prague City State Attorney's Office
spokeswoman Stepanka Zenklova told today. "The detained person has
been put into custody and we will provide no more information so that not
to endanger further investigation," Zenklova said. She said the
alleged accomplice was in custody and faced charges of robbery in
conspiracy. A special police team is looking for Prochazka on whom an
international arrest warrant has been issued. The company afflicted is the
G4S Cash Services, a subsidiary of the supranational security agency Group
4 Securitas that specialises in transport of money. Prochazka worked as a
security guard there. The robbery took place on December 1, 2007, on
Saturday morning. According to the police, Prochazka and his accomplice who
was also employed with the G4S agency as a driver loaded the bags with the
cash Prochazka stole from the company's safe in a van resembling an office
vehicle that was used for transportation of money. While the accomplice
drove the vehicle away Prochazka remained at his workplace. Police declined
to say whether the driver was the person whom they detained last week.
According to central Bohemian police spokeswoman Sona Budska, police today
also detained three men from the Pribram area who are suspected of robbing
security agencies' armoured vehicles. They face up to 12 years in prison
for the combined theft of more than 12 million crowns. According to
available information, two of the vehicles robbed by the suspected
perpetrators belonged to G4S. Budska told that she had no information on a
possible connection between the two cases of robbery.
December
10, 2007 Czech Happenings
The state attorney in charge of the case of Frantisek Prochazka, former
employee of G4S security agency, whom the police suspect of stealing 560
million crowns from the agency, has proposed to issue an international
arrest warrant for him, Stepanka Zenklova from the Prague State Attorney's
Office told CTK today. "The state attorney has proposed to issue a
warrant for the arrest of Prochazka in the Czech Republic, a European
arrest warrant and a warrant for his arrest on the international
level," Zenklova said. The Prague 3 District Court will now decide on
issuing the warrants. So far, only a preliminary consent for Prochazka's
detention has been issued. However, after the police officially accused him
on Thursday the state attorney could propose issuing the arrest warrants,
Zenklova said. Previous information by some media that a European arrest
warrant for Prochazka has already been issued has not thus been confirmed.
Prochazka has been accused of theft. He will face up to 12 years in prison
if apprehended and found guilty. The "theft of the century,"
probably unprecedented in Czech history, occurred in the G4S agency's
premises in Prague last Saturday. Prochazka's car, driven by an unknown
accomplice, arrived at the complex, took the stolen sum from Prochazka and
drove it away. Prochazka, who worked in the agency as a guard and is armed,
disappeared later and he is still escaping from the police.
December
5, 2007 The Prague Post
Police are searching for a security agency employee who took a record
560 million Kč ($31.2 million) from his company’s Prague 3 office Dec.
1 in what officials are calling the “robbery of the century.” According to
Prague city police spokeswoman Iva Knolová, “Police would welcome any
information about the suspect, and have launched a statewide search.” The
man, 33-year-old František Procházka, an employee of multinational security
agency G4S Cash Services, has short brown hair, is of medium height and may
be carrying a weapon, according to Knolová. While stealing the money,
Procházka may have had an accomplice, the Czech News Agency (ČTK)
reported, citing a source close to the investigation. “The suspect used an
opportune moment to enter the company’s safe room,” the source says. “He
took the cash, put it in bags and had it driven to an unknown place by his
accomplice.” The perpetrators used a company vehicle typically used to
transport clients’ money to drive away with the stolen cash, giving them
more time before G4S staff was able to uncover the heist, the online news
server Aktualne.cz reported. The company, a subsidiary of international
security and cash transport agency Group 4 Securitas, is offering a 2
million euro reward to anyone who helps catch the perpetrators. The stolen
sum is equivalent to G4S’s annual turnover, according to a statement of the
company’s local branch. In an effort to map Procházka’s route, police have
asked the public to provide them with any information about the getaway
vehicle, a white Volkswagen utility vehicle with a 1L74973 license plate
and a sticker with the company’s logo. “The suspect used this vehicle and
was driving it at the time the robbery occurred,” Knolová says. The vehicle
was found abandoned on Kandrtova street in Prague 8 late on the evening of
Dec. 2. “It’s possible that an eyewitness noticed the suspect manipulating
the vehicle in an abnormal manner,” Knolová says. Police are also looking
for information regarding a gray metallic Volkswagen Passat with a 1L81115
license plate, which the suspect may have used after disposing of the
getaway car. If caught, Procházka could face up to two years in prison,
Knolová says.
Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC
July 8, 2009 Government Executive
The Federal Protective Service is failing to properly oversee its
13,000-strong contract guard force, causing grave security gaps at federal
buildings nationwide, Government Accountability Office officials told
senators on Wednesday. As part of a recent review, investigators from the
watchdog agency successfully entered 10 high-security federal buildings
carrying components for a bomb through doors being monitored by contract
guards. Once inside, the investigators assembled an improvised explosive
device and walked freely around the buildings and into various legislative
and executive branch offices with the IED in a briefcase, GAO said in
testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Committee. Lawmakers called GAO's findings disturbing, shocking and
outrageous, and asked urgently and repeatedly what they could do to help
FPS gain control of the situation. "In this post-9/11 world that we're
now living in, I cannot fathom how security breaches of this magnitude were
allowed to occur," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, ranking member of
the committee. Chairman Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., said that in all
his years of reading GAO reports, this one represented "about the
broadest indictment of an agency in the federal government I've
heard." Mark Goldstein, GAO's director of physical infrastructure
issues and author of the report, told lawmakers the review revealed
significant shortcomings in FPS' ability to monitor and verify contract
guard training and firearms certifications. In reviewing 663 randomly
selected guards, GAO found that 62 percent had at least one expired
certification. Goldstein said a lack of funding has hindered the agency's
ability to reach appropriate staffing levels and provide the technological
tools necessary to protect federal buildings. But a number of the problems
with the contract guard program are unrelated to budgetary constraints, he
said. "Not having national standards and guidance for inspecting the
guards, [and] better standards for knowing when certifications have expired
-- things like that, are not resource-based," Goldstein said. "I
think there has been a lack of attention to this part of the protective
requirements for federal buildings." Lieberman said he and Collins are
aware of management problems at FPS and that is one reason why they have
not pressed to increase the agency's budget. "We didn't want to just
throw more money at the problem until we fix the agency," he said. FPS
Director Gary Schenkel did not dispute GAO's findings and said he takes
full responsibility for the failures as head of the agency. He assured the
committee that FPS officials have been making progress in addressing
deficiencies and are working even faster now that they are aware of GAO's
findings.
March
6, 2006 USA Today
The guards have taken their concerns to Congress, describing inadequate
training, failed security tests and slow or confused reactions to bomb and
biological threats. For instance, when an envelope with suspicious powder
was opened last fall at Homeland Security Department headquarters, guards
said they watched in amazement as superiors carried it by the office of
Secretary Michael Chertoff, took it outside and then shook it outside
Chertoff's window without evacuating people nearby. The scare, caused by white
powder that proved to be harmless, "stands as one glaring
example" of the agency's security problems, said Derrick Daniels, one
of the first guards to respond to the incident. "I had never
previously been given training ... describing how to respond to a possible
chemical attack," Daniels told The Associated Press. "I wouldn't
feel safe nowhere on this compound as an officer." Daniels was
employed until last fall by Wackenhut Services Inc., the private security
firm that guards Homeland's headquarters in a residential area of
Washington. The company has been criticized previously for its work at
nuclear facilities and transporting nuclear weapons. Homeland Security
officials say they have little control over Wackenhut's training of guards
but plan to improve that with a new contract. The company defends its
performance, saying the suspicious powder incident was overblown because
the mail had already been irradiated. Two senators who fielded complaints
from several Wackenhut employees are asking Homeland's internal watchdog,
the inspector general, to investigate. "If the allegations brought
forward by the whistle-blowers are correct, they represent both a security
threat and a waste of taxpayer dollars," Democratic Sens. Byron Dorgan
of North Dakota and Ron Wyden of Oregon wrote. "It would be ironic, to
say the least, if DHS were unable to secure its own headquarters."
Daniels left Wackenhut and now works security for another company at
another federal building. He is among 14 current and former Wackenhut employees
— mostly guards — who were interviewed by The Associated Press or submitted
written statements to Congress that were obtained by AP. A litany of
problems were listed by the guards, whose pay ranges from $15.60 to $23 an
hour based on their position and level of security clearance. Among their
examples of lax security: •They have no training in responding to attacks
with weapons of mass destruction; •Chemical-sniffing dogs have been
replaced with ineffective equipment that falsely indicates the presence of
explosives. •Vehicle entrances to Homeland Security's complex are lightly
guarded; •Guards with radios have trouble hearing each other, or have no
radios, no batons and no pepper spray, leaving them with few options beyond
lethal force with their handguns. Over the last two years, the Energy
Department inspector general concluded that Wackenhut guards had thwarted
simulated terrorist attacks at a nuclear lab only after they were tipped
off to the test; and that guards also had improperly handled the transport
of nuclear and conventional weapons. Homeland Security is based at a gated,
former Navy campus in a college neighborhood — several miles from the
heavily trafficked streets that house the FBI, Capitol, Treasury Department
and White House. Homeland Security spokesman Brian Doyle said Wackenhut
guards are still operating under a contract signed with the Navy, and the
agency has little control over their training. A soon-to-be-implemented
replacement contract will impose new requirements on security guards, he
said. Daniels, the former guard who responded to the white powder incident,
said the area where the powder was found wasn't evacuated for more than an
hour. Available biohazard face shields went unused. Daniels said that after
the envelope was taken outside, and the order finally given to evacuate the
potentially infected area, employees had already gone to lunch and had to
be rounded up and quarantined. Former guard Bryan Adams recognized his
inadequate training one day last August, when an employee reported a
suspicious bag in the parking lot. "I didn't have a clue about what to
do," he said. Adams said he closed the vehicle checkpoint with a cone,
walked over to the bag and called superiors. Nobody cordoned off the area.
Eventually, someone called a federal bomb squad, which arrived more than an
hour after the discovery. "If the bag had, in fact, contained the
explosive device that was anticipated, the bomb could have detonated
several times over in the hour that the bag sat there," Adams said. The
bag, it turned out, contained gym clothes. Some guards who continue to work
at Homeland, who would speak only on condition of anonymity because of fear
of losing their jobs, said they knew of two instances in which individuals
without identification got into the sensitive complex. Another described
how guards flunked a test by the Secret Service, which sent vehicles into
the compound with dummy government identification tags hanging from inside
mirrors. Guards cleared such vehicles through on two occasions, this guard
said, and one officer even copied down the false information without
realizing it was supposed to match information on the employee's government
badge. Marixa Farrar, a former guard, said two guards always should have
been stationed inside the main building where Chertoff had his office, but
she often was on duty alone. One day last fall a fire alarm rang. As
employees walked by Farrar, they asked if this was a fire or a test.
"There were no radios, so I couldn't figure out if it was a serious
alarm," she said. There was no fire.
Dungavel Immigration Centre, South
Lanarkshire, Scotland
September 11, 2011 Scotland on
Sunday
HUNDREDS of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money is being spent holding
asylum-seekers at Dungavel detention centre for months at a time. Scotland
on Sunday has learned that almost £500,000 has been spent housing 13
long-term detainees, several of whom have been at the former prison in
South Lanarkshire for more than a year. Asylum-seekers are supposed to stay
at so-called pre-departure centres for no more than a week. But in a number
of cases, delays in the deportation system mean the UK Border Agency is
holding people for an unspecified period. For the duration of detention,
the Home Office pays security firm G4S £110 a day for each asylum-seeker.
At Dungavel, two men have been held for two years and four months, while
others have been held for more than a year, at a cost to taxpayers of about
£480,000. Detaining Christian Likenge, 27, a former law student from the
Democratic Republic of Congo, who has been held for 28 months, has cost
£100,000 to date. Likenge, a Christian preacher, is being held after the UK
rejected his application for asylum but officials in his native country
refused to give him the necessary identification to return home. "It's
very difficult and frustrating being here this long," he said.
"It's mental torture. I feel depressed. You miss your people, you miss
your friends. You feel half-dead."
May
19, 2010 Morning Star
Concrete evidence of the Con-Dem government's contempt for the most
vulnerable was already surfacing on Wednesday after one of their headline
pledges was shown to be a farce. Anger erupted among human rights
campaigners after it emerged that the coalition's announcement that it was
committed to ending child detention for immigration purposes had already
been severely undermined. Immigration Minister Damian Green boasted on
Wednesday of the new government's quick progress that, "with immediate
effect, children will no longer be detained overnight at Dungavel
Immigration Removal Centre. "This is something which many groups in
Scotland have been calling for and we are now delivering this positive
outcome." But it emerged that the detention of those children and
their mothers would continue, as they are instead being transferred to the
notorious Yarl's Wood Immigration Centre in Bedfordshire. And Scottish
Education Secretary Mike Russell wrote to new Home Secretary Theresa May on
Wednesday detailing his "strong concerns" when he found out that,
on Monday, Pakistani woman Sehar Shebaz and her eight-month-old daughter
Wanya were taken into Dungavel. The two are due to be moved to Yarl's Wood.
Glasgow MSP Anne McLaughlin said: "The House of Commons has been
highly critical of child detention in Yarl's Wood and we must see this
practice brought to an end across the UK as soon as possible." Yarl's
Wood made the headlines earlier this year after women, many of whom are
rape and torture survivors, went on hunger strike against the alleged
inhumane treatment they were suffering at the hands of the centre's staff,
who are employed by security giant Serco. Black Women's Rape Action Project
co-ordinator Cristel Amiss said the pledge to end child detention should be
extended to mothers, pointing out that the trauma of a mother and child
being separated causes suicidal feelings in mothers and symptoms such as
nightmares and bed-wetting in children. She said there was no evidence that
detention of mothers and children was necessary as the UK Border Agency
itself has admitted that there is no risk of absconding. "No mother
wants to rip her child out of school and put them through lying low
somewhere - it doesn't happen." Ms Amiss also highlighted that Britain
was a signatory to the UN Convention for Refugees, but "successive
governments have dismantled that to the point where Britain does not give
protection and safety, particularly for those who are the most vulnerable.
"Women have told us they had to seek asylum and had to come to Britain
because Britain has been involved in promoting wars they have fled and
providing arms for rebel forces." The Home Office insisted that
detention would continue while a review was carried out into alternatives.
End Child Detention Now spokeswoman Esme Madil said: "We see
absolutely no reason to delay this while the review is taking place.
"Immigration detention should have ended immediately."
DuPont Laboratories, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
April 30, 2008 Philadelphia Daily
News
A former postal employee serving a year's probation for stealing bars
of gold from an express-mail package was jailed yesterday for three months
for violating his probation. Edward Henderson, 22, of Dover Street near W.
York Street, ran afoul of the feds after he told his probation officer he
had been fired from his job as a security guard for Wackenhut Security.
Todd Schaffer, the probation officer, testified at a hearing yesterday that
Henderson found a SIM card for a cell phone in a storage locker at DuPont
Laboratories and used it for several months in his own cell phone. A SIM
card is a tiny data card that stores account information. Assistant U.S.
Attorney Joan Burnes said Henderson used the SIM card between May and
August 2007, ringing up charges of almost $1,750 to call his girlfriend and
family members. Henderson was charged in Common Pleas Court last August
with theft by unlawful taking and with receiving stolen property. Those
charges are still pending. A condition of Henderson's probation was that he
not commit any federal or state crimes. U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Rice
was not pleased. Last May, Rice sentenced Henderson to a year's probation
for stealing 15 bars of .9999 fine gold from an express-mail package,
valued by authorities at about $11,850. Burnes said Rice had given
Henderson an opportunity last year to set himself straight but he blew it.
Burnes asked that the judge jail Henderson for three months. Henderson
admitted he had "done a foolish thing" but said he hadn't
deliberately violated his probation. Defense attorney Maranna Meehan said she
thought three months in jail was a "bit excessive." "I'm
asking for a second opportunity for [him]," she said, adding that
Henderson was supporting his mother and his 3-year-old son. But this time,
Rice was not so understanding. "I had confidence in you, I gave you a
chance," he told Henderson. "You made a promise to me and you
broke it." The judge was just getting warmed up. "You just don't
get it. I think you just thought you could get away with it because you're
wearing a uniform," Rice said, his voice rising a few decibels. Rice
also ordered Henderson to make restitution of $1,750 to DuPont Labs. Rice
ordered Henderson to be taken into custody immediately.
El Cajon Boulevard, San Diego, California
April 3, 2007 Union-Tribune
A City Heights man accused of using his security guard badge to lure
victims and then rape them was sentenced yesterday to 12 years in prison.
Robert James Purdy, 42, pleaded guilty in San Diego Superior Court to rape
under color of authority and kidnapping charges involving two teenage
girls. He agreed to the 12-year prison term in February under the terms of
a plea bargain. Purdy was accused of a dozen felonies corresponding to
three attacks in September and November in Normal Heights, Southcrest and
North Park. Prosecutors said Purdy, a Wackenhut security employee, got the
girls into his car by showing his badge and then demanded sex. He was
arrested at his home on Nov. 9.
February
1, 2007 10 NEWS
A security guard who used his badge to lure young girls into his car
and then forced them to have sex pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of
rape under the color of authority and one count of kidnapping. Under the
plea deal, Robert James Purdy, 42, will receive a 12-year prison sentence.
He must also register as a sex offender and has agreed to give up all
property seized by police, including his Ford Escort, according to
prosecutors. The defendant, who will be formally sentenced on April 2 by
Judge Stephanie Sontag, would have faced more than 40 years behind bars if
convicted of a dozen felony charges, including sodomy and false
imprisonment by violence. Purdy, of City Heights, pleaded guilty to raping
two 15-year-old girls last Nov. 7 and Nov. 8. One of the victims was moved
from one location to another, according to the plea agreement. Deputy
District Attorney Evan Kirvin said Purdy was an employee of Wackenhut Corp.
when he used his badge to lure the victims into his car. The victims were
in an area known for prostitution when they were victimized, but it was not
established that either actually worked as prostitutes, Kirvin said. Purdy
was tracked down and arrested after an officer recalled putting a citation
on a vehicle that fit the description given by one of the victims.
November
21, 2006 North County Times
A City Heights man accused of using his position as a security guard to
lure young girls into his car, where he allegedly forced them into sex,
pleaded not guilty today to 12 felony counts, including rape and
kidnapping. Deputy District Attorney Evan Kirvin said Robert James Purdy,
41, is charged with raping two girls under the age of 16 on Nov. 7 and Nov.
8. Kirvin said there may be additional alleged victims, which could lead to
more charges. Anyone who thinks they may have been victimized by Purdy
should call San Diego police, the prosecutor said. Judge David Szumowski
set bail at $500,000 and scheduled a readiness conference for Jan. 11.
Purdy, a Wackenhut Corp. employee, allegedly used his security guard's
badge to persuade women and girls to get into his car, where he forced them
into sex acts. The alleged victims "were in areas known for
prostitution when they were victimized," San Diego police public
information officer Monica Munoz said. Kirvin, who would not comment on
whether the alleged victims were prostitutes, said at least one girl was
moved from one location to another. The defendant was tracked down and
arrested Nov. 9 after an officer recalled putting a citation on a vehicle
that fit the description given by one of the alleged victims. As charged,
Purdy faces more than 17 years in prison if convicted.
November
11, 2006 KFMB
A suspected serial rapist is behind bars Saturday morning, being held
on $325,000 bail. Police have identified the suspect as Robert James Purdy.
Authorities say the 41-year-old man is a security guard who works for
Wackenhut Security Services. He’s a man who officers say used his badge and
his fake cop talk to target women working the streets along El Cajon
Boulevard. Investigators tell News 8 that so far they know of four rape
victims. All are prostitutes and two are minors.
Florence Correctional Center,
Florence, Arizona
February 6, 2009 Yuma Sun
An illegal immigrant injured in an automobile accident after his arrest
by the Border Patrol has received a $200,000 settlement. Jose Sandoval
reached the settlement with Corrections Corporation of America, which had
subcontracted with the Wackenhut security firm to transport previously
detained aliens for the Department of Homeland Security, according to Yuma
attorney Candy Camarena, who along with attorney Virginia Zazueta
represented Sandoval. Sandoval, who had been arrested in the Yuma area in
March, was being transported in a van with five other people to Florence,
Ariz., when a flat tire caused the driver to lose control, according to
Camarena and Miguel Escobar, Mexican consul in Yuma. The van rolled over
along Interstate 8 in Pinal County. Sandoval was hospitalized with injuries
to the arm and spinal column. "He was deported to Mexico through
Nogales, in precarious health condition," Escobar said. "He was
walking with a cane, and he contacted the Mexican Consulate to get help.
The consulate took care of him and took him to San Luis Rio Colorado for
medical care and we contacted the attorney." Sandoval, a resident of
Baja California, got the additional medical attention but "the arm was
broken in seven places," he said. "I have metal pins here and
there," Sandoval said Friday at a news conference in San Luis Rio
Colorado. "The spinal column splintered in two parts, I suffer a lot
of pain. All the time there is that pain in the back." A carpenter by
training, he had gone to the United States to work in construction, he said
Friday at a news conference, but will no longer be able to do that kind of
work. "I've tried to lift heavy things, but it hurts. I can't do
it." The legal case was nearly seven months in preparation, Camarena
said. "The biggest problems that we had in this lawsuit was that
federal court demands that the plaintiff in a suit be present. Mr. Sandoval
can't enter the United States, but we reached an agreement to resolve the
case." Sandoval received $80,000, with the rest of settlement going
for his medical and legal bills.
Florida Department of Corrections, Tallahassee, Florida
Jun 23, 2018 gainesville.com
Editorial: Investigate big donor’s prison deal
To answer seemingly unanswerable questions, sometimes you have to
connect the dots. In this case, the question is: Why did Gov. Rick Scott —
knowing the state is in the grips of an unprecedented opioid-abuse crisis —
stand by as the Florida Department of Corrections destroyed successful
programs intended to break the cycle of incarceration and drug abuse?
Thanks to dogged reporting by Gatehouse Media’s John Kennedy and other
reporters, those dots are being connected. The emerging picture is ugly:
Money that could have funded these modest programs is instead disappearing
in the maw of a big corporation that just happens to be a major campaign
donor. In May, DOC officials announced they would be yanking money intended
for 33 prison-transition programs around the state. These programs, which
have proved successful in preparing inmates to re-enter society, vanish as
of July 1. Inmates making their way through the programs will be returned
to prison to await their release dates, when they’ll be discharged with
nothing more than a gift card and a bus ticket. Over the next few years,
expect prison-recidivism rates to skyrocket. DOC officials have been
up-front about where they diverted money intended to fund
addiction-treatment programs. The Legislature didn’t appropriate enough to
cover a massive $375 million contract with Florida’s prison health
contractor — Centurion of Florida. The budget had a buried provision that
let DOC raid any other funding source to pay for prison health services.
Officials have portrayed themselves as helpless because Florida is
constitutionally mandated to provide health care for prisoners. The state
is not, however, constitutionally mandated to provide big profits for
private companies. Yet the Centurion contract set to be finalized later
this month includes a $55 million increase over the current contract’s
costs, as well as a fat 11.5 percent “administrative” fee that could go straight
into Centurion’s coffers, with no resulting improvement in health services.
DOC representatives have also stressed that Centurion was the only bidder
for the prison health contract. That can’t be the whole story. Florida is
the nation’s third-largest prison system; it boggles the imagination that
no other company wanted to bid on such a massive chunk of profitable
business. What scared other companies off? One place to look: The state’s
campaign-finance database, which reveals that, since 2011, Centurion’s
parent company, Centene, contributed more than $1 million to Republican
candidates and committees, including Scott’s campaigns. Did that money help
secure an unbeatable advantage in the bidding process? If Scott wants to
scrub himself of the appearance that his administration had its thumb on
the scales, he’ll call for an independent investigation. If he won’t, an
enterprising state attorney should bring the matter before a grand jury.
Taxpayers will be footing the bill for this contract, including the double-digit
profits Centurion is all but guaranteed. They’ll also be facing an
increased risk of crime and drug abuse in their communities, as inmates
return to life outside prison walls with inadequate preparation and
addictions on a hair-trigger. They deserve answers.
Jul
12, 2013 myfoxtampabay.com
CLEARWATER (FOX 13) - Tom Morrow is a
husband, father, and 25-year City of Tampa electrician. "He's an
honest, hardworking family man. His daughter and I, we are everything for
him and he's everything for us," Morrow's wife, Sharon said Friday.
Last Saturday night, 59-year old Tom Morrow's life took a horrific turn. He
was detained by Pinellas County deputies for being drunk. But while he was
riding in a jail transport van, operated by an county-contracted company
called G4S, he was attacked by the only other inmate inside. Pinellas
County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri says both men were handcuffed and shackled at
the ankles. "Mr. Morrow had been seated on a bench in the back of a
van and he fell off the bench and onto the floor. When he fell on the bench
and onto the floor is when [Leonard] Lanni began kicking him,"
Gualtieri said. Morrow suffered a collapsed lung, ruptured spleen, and
severe brain injuries. "There's a chest tube, there's a neck brace.
His whole entire face is bruised, he's on a breathing machine. You can't
even see the man under all this apparatus. You can't even tell who it
is," Sharon Morrow said. The
Sheriff says the G4S driver immediately pulled over after seeing what was
happening on a streaming surveillance camera. Morrow's attorney wants to
why it took so long to break up the brutal attack. "Somebody failed.
If the G4S employee was responsible for getting Mr. Morrow safely to the
Pinellas County Jail, then that G4S employee failed miserably," attorney
Michael Babboni said Friday. As Tom fights for his life in the hospital,
his family's now fighting for answers on how this could happen. "He's
just a guy who loves life, loves his job, loves his family. He's an amazing
person, this should never have happened," Sharon Morrow said. Leonard
Lanni is currently being held at the Pinellas County Jail. Babboni is
pushing for Lanni's charges to be increased from aggravated battery to
attempted murder.
September 30, 2005 St.
Petersburg Times
Over dinner in midtown Manhattan, Florida Corrections Secretary James
Crosby met in July with two executives of a company seeking a
multimillion-dollar contract with his agency. Crosby paid his own tab and
said no state business was discussed. State bidding rules prohibit vendors
and agency staffers from discussing pending contracts, except through
official channels. The company, G4S Justice Services, later won a
three-year contract to monitor sex offenders in half the state, including
Pinellas and Hillsborough. It won because it submitted the lowest price.
More bad news surfaced Thursday. --Under criticism from legislators, prison
officials reversed course and decided not to hire four companies to expand
privatization of health care at South Florida prisons. Instead, prison officials
will redo the bids and hire one company to provide medical, dental, mental
health and pharmacy services, a deal worth more than $100-million. Because
of complex bid regulations, hiring four companies invited a legal
challenge, opponents said. --A high-ranking prison health care official,
John Burke, quit his $95,000-a-year job amid questions about his past ties
to a company that has a prison contract to package medicine for inmates. In
his resignation letter, Burke cited "continued turmoil" over his
past work for TYA Pharmaceuticals of Tallahassee and another company, MHM
Services of Vienna, Va. Both companies were expected to seek parts of the
inmate health care program. "I have done nothing improper, unethical
or illegal during my tenure now or before," Burke wrote Wednesday.
Burke listed his past ties to TYA and MHM on a financial disclosure form
filed with the state Commission on Ethics, but prison officials say he
never disclosed it to them. G4S sales director Leo Carson, who was at the dinner
with the company's top executive, Fiona Walters, said it was the kind of
casual get-together that occurs frequently at all professional conferences.
"It was very impromptu, very informal and very much in a conference
atmosphere," Carson said. "The first thing out of our mouths was,
"We want to avoid this topic, for the obvious reason. Agreed?
Agreed."' Carson said it would have been rude to snub Crosby, and that
the dinner was "115 percent above board." He said Crosby paid his
own tab. Crosby previously acknowledged having gone to concerts and
sporting events with Don Yaeger, a Tallahassee lobbyist for vendors seeking
contracts in the prisons. But as with the New York dinner, Crosby said he
always paid his own way.
September 8, 2005 St
Petersburg Times
In a surprise twist to Florida's fast-growing sex offender tracking system,
a Texas firm tentatively hired to help run the program has quit. The
withdrawal by Satellite Tracking of People of Houston came after more than
two weeks of field tests of its new one-piece ankle bracelet, known as
BluTag. A contract with the state Department of Corrections was contingent
on successful testing of the global positioning system devices. The state
declined to say whether problems arose in the tests. STOP declined to comment.
STOP's vice president for business development, Greg Utterback, sent the
state a terse letter Tuesday stating only that the company "is
requesting to withdraw from contract consideration." STOP's chief
executive, Steve Logan, declined to comment. STOP was one of two companies
that submitted low bids to expand electronic tracking of sex offenders
under the Jessica Lunsford Act, which includes a three-year, $3.9-million
project to track up to 1,200 offenders. The law, which took effect one week
ago, was passed in memory of the 9-year-old Homosassa girl who was abducted
and killed in February. Angry at the bid language, STOP filed a protest in
July and briefly brought the program to a halt. After the state removed the
words STOP did not like, the company dropped its protest and made the
lowest bid of seven firms. The Corrections Department split the state into
two regions, north and south. STOP was the low bidder for the northern
half, including Pasco, Hernando and Citrus, the county that was home to
Jessica Lunsford and to John Couey, a 46-year-old sex offender charged with
her death. G4S Justice Services, a subsidiary of London's Group 4
Securicor, has been hired to provide tracking in the southern half, which
includes Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.
Florida Legislature, Tallahassee, Florida
May 7, 2008 Palm Beach Post
The chief of staff in training for de facto Senate President Jeff Atwater
is officially off the payroll, Atwater said Wednesday. Millionaire
"Budd" Kneip of Palm Beach Gardens earned a $7,000-a-month salary
from the state for one month and two days to learn the ins and outs of the
legislature, which was dealing with a $5 billion budget deficit. Kneip was
the founder and owner of the Oasis Group, a division of Wackenhut Corp. He
has no legislative experience but has run campaigns, including the one for
Palm Beach County's 2004 half-penny sales tax increase to build schools.
Normally, the chief of staff assumes his position when the Senate president
is appointed in the fall. Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, is being challenged
in his reelection bid by Skip Campbell, D-Tamarac, who formerly served in
the Senate with him. Florida Democrats on Tuesday formally requested public
records about Kneip's hiring and asked Atwater use his campaign account to reimburse
the state for Kneip's salary. "Floridians are hurting, Sen. Atwater,
but your campaign coffers are not," Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen
Thurman said in a letter to Atwater on Tuesday. "We were going out
spending money foolishly when we don't have the money to spend,"
Campbell said. "Let's be honest about it. There is no chief of staff
until you become senate president." Before Thurman's letter became
public, Atwater said he had arranged in the final days of the legislative
session for Kneip to go off the payroll. The session ended Friday.
"Budd's assistance during session was invaluable. ... He has returned
home to continue developing a transition plan; I look forward to Budd
coming back to the Senate this fall," Atwater said. Thurman's demands
were a way to help Campbell, Atwater said Wednesday. "This is a
chairman trying to insert herself into a local race with no
information," he said.
April
12, 2008 Palm Beach Post
Sen. Jeff Atwater has hired an aide who will get on-the-job training
before he becomes Senate president chief of staff, and Atwater's campaign
opponent is criticizing the expenditure. Robert "Budd" Kneip is a
Palm Beach Gardens businessman with no legislative experience. He founded
The Oasis Group, an outsourcing division of Wackenhut Corp. Kneip, who is
earning $7,000 a month, needed to come on board early to get the feel of
how the legislature runs and how government budgets are developed and
negotiated before his new boss officially takes over, Atwater said.
Normally the chief of staff is appointed after the legislative leader
assumes his role in the fall. Atwater is being challenged for reelection in
November by Democrat Skip Campbell, a trial lawyer who formerly served in
the Senate alongside Atwater. Campbell criticized Kneip's salary at a time
when lawmakers are slashing about $5 billion from the state budget because
of plummeting tax collections. "How can we be hiring somebody for on
the job training at 7K a month when we're cutting education, food for the
poor, Medicaid treatment for the mentally ill? This is one of the most
hypocritical actions I've seen in government," Campbell said. Kneip
has sat on the advisory boards for Florida Atlantic University and the
Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, and served as chairman of the Palm Beach
County Task Force on Business Development. In the latter role, he
successfully pushed a 2004 referendum for a half-penny sales tax hike to
pay for building schools to comply with the constitutional amendment
limiting class sizes. Kneip's know-how at implementing state policy at the
local level and business acumen are why he's right for the job, said
Atwater, a North Palm Beach Republican. "He doesn't have the
experience in this process," Atwater said. "To have him be able
to watch how this works is going to help me as we think about structure,
the design, the flow and process of work."
Gambia, Africa
November 28, 2005 Daily Observer
The two staff members of Wackenhut security firm, who were implicated in
the aborted groundnut theft at the Gambia Agricultural Marketing Company
Ltd (Gamco) a few months ago, were on Thursday arraigned before Magistrate
Mboto of the Banjul Magistrates' Court on a two-count charge of conspiracy
to commit felony and stealing.
Global Solutions Limited
June 13, 2009 Perth Now
ONE of two guards suspended over the death of an Aboriginal elder in
a van, says she has been ''gagged''
from talking about the tragedy. On Friday, State Coroner Alastair Hope
recommended Director of Public Prosecutions Robert Cock consider criminal
charges over the "unnecessary and wholly avoidable death'' of Mr Ward,
46, who died on January 27 last year. Officers Nina Stokoe and Graham
Powell drove the Warbuton elder, whose first name cannot be released for
cultural reasons, for the 352km Outback journey between the Goldfields
towns of Laverton to Kalgoorlie. In his stinging finding, Mr Hope said Mr
Ward died when temperatures rose to 50C in the pod of the commercially
owned van which had no air-conditioning and little-to-no air flow.
Contracted transport company, G4S, formally known as Global Solutions Ltd,
stood down Ms Stokoe and Mr Powell on Friday. "The two employees have
been suspended and the findings of the coroner, the coroner's report and
recommendations will be considered carefully and it will then be decided
what the next step should be,'' G4S spokesman Tim Hall told ABC radio
yesterday. Ms Stokoe declined to comment on her suspension, saying: "I
can't talk about anything, I would like to, but I can't''. Mr Ward's family
is planning to sue G4S, which runs other custodial services including court
security, over the tragedy. Prison Officer's Union secretary John Welch
said the inquest had raised questions about the privatisation of custodial
services in WA. Mr Welch said he feared G4S would be allowed to be apply
for the contract to run the recently announced Eastern Goldfields prison
which was scheduled for completion by the end of 2013. "You wonder
why, in the light apparent failures of privatisation, you would want to
even consider looking at having at private provider in the Goldfields,'' Mr
Welch said. A spokeswoman for Attorney-General Christian Porter said no
decision had been made on whether the prison would be public or private,
and any discussion on the potential awarding of a private contract was
speculative. Deaths in Custody Watch Committee chair Marc Newhouse said
another public protest was planned for the city on Saturday to lobby the
State Government for improvements.
June
12, 2009 WA Today
A man died a "terrible death" in the back of a prison van
where temperatures reached 50 degrees celsius, the West Australian coroner
has found. Coroner Alistair Hope, in his findings handed down on Friday,
said the 46-year-old Aboriginal man's death had been "wholly
unnecessary and avoidable". Mr Ward, whose first name cannot be
released for cultural reasons, died while being transferred 350km from
Laverton to Kalgoorlie in a transit van on January 27, after being picked
up for drink-driving on Australia Day. The air-conditioning unit inside the
prisoner's compartment of the commercially operated van was not working and
the coroner was told Mr Ward would have suffered through temperatures of 50
degrees before his death. He received third-degree burns where his body
came into contact with the metal floor in the back of the Global Solutions
Ltd (GSL) vehicle. Mr Hope found Mr Ward, of the Goldfields town of
Warburton, died of heat stroke. He said his death was the result of a
"litany of errors" and accused the prison van drivers of
collusion and giving false evidence. He said the fact the prison van did
not have a spare tyre was an indication of GSL's "reckless
approach". It was a disgrace that a prisoner yet to be convicted was
transported such a distance in the oven-hot conditions, Mr Hope said. The
prisoner's compartment had little light, no restraints to protect the
person inside if the van was involved in an accident, had little air flow
and the fan did not work when tested, Mr Hope added. There was no proper
method for a prisoner to communicate with the drivers, he said. About 40
protesters demonstrated outside Perth's Central Law Courts, where the
coroner delivered his findings. Amnesty International called it "a
disgrace that a prisoner should be transported in this way in the 21st
century".
May
16, 2009 The West
He literally cooked to death. Trapped in a prison van for four hours,
suffocated by temperatures that climbed to more than 50C, the Aboriginal
elder had no way to communicate with security officers sitting just a metre
away, in the airconditioned cab. His only sustenance was a small bottle of
water and a meat pie. When he finally collapsed on the van floor, the metal
was so hot it seared his skin. Yesterday, Corrective Services Commissioner
Ian Johnson travelled to Kalgoorlie to publicly apologise to Mr Ward’s
family, accepting responsibility for the 46-year-old’s death in January
last year. It was a dramatic end to a coronial inquest that has revealed a
litany of failures in the justice and custodial systems in WA’s outback.
Widow Nancy Ward and her children will return to Laverton next week after
sitting quietly and with dignity throughout the case, which has attracted
the attention of the United Nations and the Australian Human Rights
Commission. Mr Ward, a conservation worker, a supporter and interpreter for
local police and an advocate and educator for children of the Gibson
Desert, was an international ambassador for the Ngaanyatjarra people. His family
say he was treated like an animal. Mr Ward had been drinking on Australia
Day last year in the remote Goldfields town of Laverton when he was
arrested for driving with more than four times the legal alcohol limit.
Conducting a quasi-court hearing for Mr Ward at his cell door at the local
police station, justice of the peace Barrye Thompson remanded him in
custody to face court in Kalgoorlie the following day. Mr Thompson told the
inquest he had no formal training when appointed as a JP and could not even
remember whether he had read the Bail Act. The Aboriginal Legal Service was
not contacted. Guards and police officers testified the prison vans used by
Global Solutions Limited and maintained by the State were notoriously
unreliable, sub-standard and the air-conditioning was often faulty. GSL’s
supervisor in Kalgoorlie, Leanne Jenkins, had warned her management an
incident would occur unless the vehicles were replaced. At 11.20am, the GSL
prison van pulled into a secure area at Laverton police station where the
guards were told they would have a trouble-free passenger. Mr Ward made a
comment about the warm day and a guard told him “the quicker he got into
the van, the quicker the air-conditioning would kick in”. But the
air-conditioning did not work: it had been reported faulty in the GSL
maintenance log more than a month earlier. Before making the continuous
360km journey to Kalgoorlie, the guards did not tell Mr Ward there was a
duress alarm in the back of the van in case he needed help. Towards the end
of the trip, they heard a loud thump. Pulling over on to the side of the
road and opening the outer door of the van, the guards felt the heat
radiating from the rear pod and they saw Mr Ward face-down on the van floor
— unconscious and unresponsive. Reaching into the back of the van felt like
a “blast from a furnace”, according to Dr Lucien LaGrange, who assisted in
removing Mr Ward’s lifeless body at Kalgoorlie Hospital. Doctors found
full-thickness contact burns on his stomach and tried for 20 minutes to resuscitate
Mr Ward, whose skin felt like a “hot cup of coffee”. They managed to get a
brief return of a heartbeat, but after putting him in an ice bath, his body
temperature was still 41.7C. Coroner Alastair Hope is due to deliver his
findings on June 12. For now, the Ward family will have to return to a
community missing a leader. It is little comfort to them that money was
allocated in this week’s State Budget to replace the fleet of transport
vans — four years after the Department for Corrective Services undertook to
do so. “I am sorry,” Mr Johnson told Mrs Ward yesterday. “I have a deep
regret but no matter what I say, it’s not going to change what happened.”
May
14, 2009 The West
More than 30 family members and supporters of Mr Ward, an Aboriginal
elder who had a fatal heatstroke in the back of a prison van, gathered
outside the Kalgoorlie Courthouse yesterday to call for those responsible
for his death to face tribal punishment. Mr Ward’s widow Nancy and his four
sons were among those who wailed in grief as they demanded justice and
answers to why the Warburton elder died in such horrific circumstances. The
family’s interpreter and relative, Gail Jamieson, said that under traditional
law, anyone found culpable of the death should be speared. “The family is
just devastated,” she said. “He was treated with no respect and he was a
well-respected, outstanding elder. If they were in an Aboriginal culture,
they would be speared because us Aboriginal people are also going through
two cultures.” The inquest was told no disciplinary action was taken
against the two GSL officers responsible for transporting Mr Ward on the
day he died. Mr Ward died after a four-hour journey in a GSL prison van from
Laverton to Kalgoorlie on January 27 last year when temperatures reached
42C. Global Solutions Limited general manager John Hughes said security
officers Nina Stokoe and Graham Powell were stood down on full pay and were
reinstated when an internal investigation found they had not violated
company policies or procedures. Questioned by the family’s barrister
Michael Rynne, Mr Hughes said any reinvestigation would depend on Coroner
Alastair Hope’s findings. GSL’s multi-million-dollar contract could require
it to pay a penalty of 4.5 per cent of its value if found to have failed in
its duty of care. Mr Hughes said he understood GSL’s obligations included
ensuring officers minimised hardship to detainees, conducting regular
checks to ensure their safety, security and health and preventing injury.
The inquest concludes today.
March
21, 2009 The West
The security guard who drove the van in which an Aboriginal elder died
of heat stroke has admitted he should take responsibility for the death.
Testifying for a second day at the inquest into the death of 46-year-old Mr
Ward, Global Solutions Limited driver Graham Powell said yesterday he
regretted how Mr Ward died. “In hindsight, if I had to do that journey
again, I would certainly be doing it a lot differently,” he said. He agreed
with lawyer assisting the coroner, Felicity Zempilas, it was inhumane to
transport prisoners in the rear pod of the van over long distances and that
the vans were “certainly not designed for that”. Coroner Alastair Hope told
Mr Powell he was “troubled” over his evidence about phone calls made after
Mr Ward collapsed. Mr Hope said a delay of two minutes between calls was a
long time in an emergency. To questions from his counsel Linda Black, Mr
Powell said he should have checked the airconditioning, made comfort stops
and told Mr Ward explicitly how to communicate with the officers if he was
in distress. The inquest has heard Mr Powell and colleague Nina Stokoe did
not stop during the four hours they had Mr Ward in the van in mid-40C heat while
driving from Laverton to Kalgoorlie in January last year. Mr Ward suffered
a full-thickness hand-size burn on his stomach from a hot metal surface
inside the van. Senior chemist David Tranthim-Fryer said the prison van
temperature would have been above 50C. Evidence from a police re-enactment
he helped with revealed the van floor reached 56C and the air temperature
at least 50C on a slightly cooler day. The temperature would have been
hotter with a person inside because there would have been another heat
source. “We opened the back doors and could feel the heat coming out of the
pods. The hot air affects you more than anything else,” Mr Tranthim-Fryer
said. Mr Ward’s body temperature was 41.7C after 20 minutes of
resuscitation in an ice bath while being fanned. The van’s rear-pod
airconditioning was not working, a fault noted in the GSL maintenance log
more than a month before Mr Ward’s death. Mr Powell said he did not check
the airconditioning in the pod despite knowing it had a history of faults.
He had assumed Ms Stokoe checked it. Mr Hope has heard evidence from
witnesses, including GSL’s Kalgoorlie supervisor Leanne Jenkins, who spoke
of substandard “unreliable” prison vans which were not suitable for long
distance travel. The inquest did not finish within the two-week timeframe
and Mr Hope adjourned it until May 11. Outside, Mr Ward’s cousin Bernard
Newberry said his family wanted those responsible charged. The family has
asked that Mr Ward’s first name not be used.
January
30, 2008 Oldham-Chronicle
SECURITY guards were left red-faced after their prison van got stuck in a
town centre car park. Global Solutions Limited (GSL) is employed by the
Prison Service to transfer prisoners safely between court and jail. But the
driver caused a bit of a stir when the van became jammed in the former
Co-op car park at the back of Mecca Bingo on King Street. Police went to
investigate but found the prisoners had already been dropped off at Oldham
Magistrates’ Court. A police spokesman said: “The driver said he had read
the height restriction notice but thought the van would be able to clear
it.” The driver and his colleague then freed the van by letting air out of
the tyres.
January
29, 2008 News.Com.AU
THE West Australian desert town of Warburton was in mourning yesterday
over the death in custody of its former Aboriginal community chairman, who
was arrested on Australia Day for allegedly drink-driving. Ian Ward, a
46-year-old father of five and one of the last nomads born in the Gibson
Desert, died the following day after collapsing in the back of a security
van during a 915km journey to jail in the goldfields city of
Kalgoorlie-Boulder. Major Crime Squad detectives are investigating. Mr Ward
was being driven by contractors for the Department of Corrective Services,
who noticed he had collapsed as they neared their destination. Mr Ward's
nephew Andrew Johns said his large family was gathering in Warburton to
remember a man who lobbied for his people's native title rights. "We
are very sad today," Mr Johns said. The family understands Mr Ward
died of a heart attack in hot conditions in the back of the van. "It
is a long way to go and very hot," he said. Police had stopped Mr Ward
last Saturday at 9.30pm in his remote home town of Warburton, about 1500km
northwest of Perth in the traditional Ngaanyatjarra lands between the
Gibson and Victoria deserts. He was charged with one count of drink-driving
and taken to the lockup in Warburton. Mr Ward was driven 570km to the
courthouse in Laverton, where he appeared on Sunday morning and was
remanded in custody. Police say he was being transported to the nearest
jail - the Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison 352km away - when he
collapsed. Mr Ward was being transported by Global Solutions Ltd, having
been picked up in Laverton at 11.40am, police say. He was being taken in
the rear of the GSL security van. As the van neared Kalgoorlie, he was
found to have collapsed. He was conveyed to Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital,
where he died a short time later.
November
29, 2007 The Telegraph
Group4Securicor is in talks to buy Global Solutions, a company it used to
own, for around £350m. Earlier this year, private equity firm Cognetas
appointed investment bank UBS to carry out a strategic review of Global
Solutions, which runs a number of Britain's prisons and detention centres.
However, the credit crunch forced Cognetas to put the review of Global
Solutions on hold. Since then, the company has received a number of
approaches, including one from Group4Securicor. Cognetas bought Global
Solutions, which also manages hospitals, schools and tourist offices, from
Danish security firm Group 4 Falk for about £200m three years ago.
Group4Securicor is now understood to be carrying out due diligence on the
business. However, it is not the only company bidding. Sources said US
group GEO and several private equity firms have also made approaches for
the company. Global Solutions has previously come under the spotlight for
the way it runs its prisons and detention centres, following the
Government's privatisation of the sector. Earlier this year, there was a
Panorama investigation by an undercover BBC reporter, who worked as a
custody officer, in one of Global Solutions' prisons at Rye Hill. None of
the parties involved would comment.
MANCHESTER'S new £30m
court is at the centre of a new storm after dozens of prisoners were hours
late arriving from their cells. Furious lawyers sat around for up to
three hours yesterday waiting for their clients to arrive from police
stations, including Bootle Street less than a mile away. GSL, the
private security firm that ferries prisoners to the court, blamed
"logistical problems" and has apologised to court
authorities. It is the latest in a string of problems at the court
since it opened in May. Around 40 people were due to be moved
from holding cells in Manchester to the court before 10am yesterday, in
time for morning hearings. Less than half were delivered on time and
more were dropped off at 11am and 11.45am. Lawyers were still waiting for
at least eight clients at 12.30pm. GSL, part of Group 4, said the final
transfer was made at 12.45pm. Court bosses have already threatened to
fine GSL for previous failures to get prisoners into court on time.
(Manchester Online, August 31, 2004)
Group 4/Securicor (AKA Wackenhut, G4S, ArmorGroup),
G4S
teaches UK Border Agency how to care for children: openDemocracy,
July 9, 2012, Clare Sambrook. It’s no joke — the world’s biggest security
company is training immigration staff in “Keeping Children Safe”.
Who
should investigate murder — the police, or a private security company?:
openDemocracy, April 13, 2012, Clare Sambrook. Private rent-a-cops
to investigate murder?
Police,
magistrates and prisons by G4S. Is this what the British people want?:
openDemocracy, March 6, 2012, Mel Kelly. Scary story about G4S
taking over everything. This is dangerous folks. A must read.
Companies
Use Immigration Crackdown to Turn a Profit: Expose on
immigration by Nina Bernstein at the New York Times, September 28,
2011
Duty
of Care: Expose by Clare Sambrook on G4S and the death of
Aboriginal elder Mr. Ward. June 8, 2011
Sep
9, 2020 bbc.com
G4S: former executives charged with
multiple counts of fraud
Three former executives at a division
of outsourcing company G4S have been charged with defrauding the Ministry
of Justice. They are Richard Morris, ex-managing director of G4S Care and
Justice Services, and two ex-directors of its electronic monitoring
business - Mark Preston and James Jardine. The men are each charged with
seven counts of fraud. The trio are due to appear at Southwark Crown Court
on 6 October. The men appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday
accused of committing the offences in relation to false representations made
to the Ministry of Justice between 2009 and 2012, the Serious Fraud Office
(SFO) said in a statement. Mr Preston is a former commercial director of
the Care and Justice arm's electronic monitoring business, while Mr Jardine
is a former finance manager of the division. A spokesman for G4S said
"It is not appropriate for us to comment on the individual
cases." G4S operates in 85 countries, with contracts ranging from
defence, health and vehicle parking. In the UK, its Care and Justice arm
runs prisons, immigration services, and the electronic monitoring of
offenders. The company has been operating in the care and justice area
since the opening of the first private prison in 1992. The Serious Fraud
Office had been looking into issues around G4S's tagging of criminals for
several years. In a statement in November 2013, G4S said: "It has
today received notice that the director of the Serious Fraud Office has
opened an investigation into the contract for the provision of electronic
monitoring services which commenced in April 2005 as amended and extended
until the present day". In March 2014, G4S said it had reached a
settlement with the Ministry of Justice that involved paying about £107m in
refunds and costs. And in July this year, G4S struck a deferred prosecution
agreement (DPA) with the SFO after the company was said to have
"repeatedly lied" to the Ministry of Justice about contracts for
the electronic tagging of prisoners. However, according to a court ruling,
"the DPA only relates to the potential criminal liability of G4S Care
& Justice Services (U.K.) Limited and does not address whether
liability of any sort attaches to any employee, agent, former employee or
former agent of G4S Care & Justice Services (U.K) Limited".
Lawyers for Mr Morris said he "refutes these allegations in the
strongest possible terms. He will robustly contest the charges and is
confident he will be cleared of any wrongdoing". The two other men
could not be reached for comment.
Jun 23, 2018 thesudburystar.com
Suspect shot by Sudbury police to plead out
The man shot by Greater Sudbury Police officers at the downtown bus
terminal in the spring will resolve his charges next month. In video bail remand
court at the Sudbury Courthouse, Alexander Stavropoulos, 24, of no fixed
address, made a brief appearance. His lawyer, Glenn Sandberg, informed the
court that Stavropoulos would resolve his matters on July 4. At that time,
Stavropoulos is headed to courtroom "C" -- a plea court that is
held every Wednesday. Stavropoulos, 24, who spent time in hospital, is
facing four counts of assaulting a peace officer with a weapon, and five
counts each of assault with a weapon and possession of a dangerous weapon.
Officers confronted a man inside the terminal during the evening hours on
April 1 after he tried to access the transit security office while armed
with two knives, according to the city. One officer fired shots, wounding
he suspect, who was taken to hospital. A transit employee was also hurt
during the disruption, but not severely. The city said at the time the
injuries were minor and the employee was in stable condition. The Sudbury
Star has learned the employee - Phil Kingsbury - and Andrian Santos, a guard
with G4S Secure Solutions, had sought refuge in a locked room in the
station during the incident. An errant bullet punctured a metal panel in
the wall and a piece of shrapnel ended up embedded in Kingsbury's leg. The
province's Special Investigations Unit is investigating the case. The SIU,
which investigates any instance where an individual is injured during a
police response, did confirm an officer discharged a firearm and the
24-year-old suspect was hospitalized. The Ministry of Labour also investigated
and issued one order to the employer to reassess the risks of workplace
violence. At the time of the incident, only one guard was scheduled to work
at the terminal. The city has added a second guard on an interim basis for
seven hours a day. A video shot by a witness captured the moment when
police fired on the man, who collapsed in pain, with blood pooling on the
floor. The voice heard in the video yelling off-screen was that of the
suspect, indicating he had been shot. Police described the man as "aggressive"
and said officers "applied force that resulted in injuries." At
one time, Stavropoulos was himself an employee of G4S, a reliable source
told The Sudbury Star. The source said Stavropoulos had worked with the
company in southern Ontario and arrived in Greater Sudbury with a
girlfriend to take on another assignment as a security officer.
Stavropoulos, however, quit about a month prior to the transit station
incident, after working a shift at the Out of the Cold shelter operated by
the city. The source said he didn't believe Stavropoulos was acting out of
any kind of work-related grudge when he appeared at the transit terminal on
April 1, but was wrestling with personal issues, possibly a break-up.
Jun 16, 2018 .mypalmbeachpost.com
Suit claims Jupiter firm trained Pulse shooter, ignored warnings
WEST PALM BEACH — A Jupiter-based security company this week was
slapped with what is expected to be a multi-million-dollar lawsuit. The
suit claims the firm ignored obvious warning signs that Pulse nightclub
killer Omar Mateen was unfit to be a security guard and instead continued
to train him to use high-powered weapons. Not only did G4S Secure Solutions
ignore complaints from Mateen’s co-workers that he was unhinged, angry and
repeatedly professed admiration for Islamic extremists and mass killers,
but famed Stuart attorney Willie Gary claims the firm faked documentation
to allow him to obtain a security firearms license. Had G4S properly
monitored Mateen before and after he was hired as a security guard in
September 2007, what was then the largest mass shooting in modern U.S.
history may have been averted, Gary said in the lawsuit filed Monday in
Palm Beach County Circuit Court. The suit was filed Monday on the eve of
the second anniversary of the massacre at the Orlando night club that
claimed the lives 49 people and left at least 53 wounded. Mateen, 29, was
shot dead by Orlando police after a three-hour stand-off. As part of the
lawsuit filed on behalf of the mother of 32-year-old Orlando resident
Deonka Deidra Drayton, who was fatally shot during Mateen’s rampage, Gary
is also suing the nightclub. He claims it failed to provide adequate
security or sufficient exits for patrons to flee once gunshots rang out.
The families of several Pulse victims filed similar suits against the
nightclub and Orlando police in Orange County this week. In an email
statement sent Wednesday night, G4S said it does not comment on pending
litigation. Days after the shooting that occurred on “Latin Night” at the
gay nightclub, company officials insisted Mateen passed rigorous security
checks. At the time of the Pulse shooting, he was working at PGA Village, a
gated community in Port St. Lucie, not far from his home in Fort Pierce.
“Mateen was subject to detailed company screening when he was recruited in
2007 and re-screened in 2013 with no adverse findings,” it said in a 2016
statement. “He was also subject to checks by a U.S. law enforcement agency
with no findings reported to G4S.” However, in the lawsuit filed on behalf
of grieving South Carolina mother Andrea Anita Drayton, Gary claims the
company received numerous complaints about Mateen. Yet, he said, company
officials never reported Mateen’s questionable behavior to the Florida
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which issued a permit that
allowed Mateen to carry concealed weapons along with giving him the
security firearms permit. “Had the state of Florida, at any time prior to
June of 2016, been appropriately advised of these incidents, it may have
resulted in the revocation of Mateen’s security firearms license or other
corrective action that would have saved many from death, or trauma,” he
wrote. A week before the shooting, Mateen used his security firearms
license to convince a gun dealer to sell him a semi-automatic rifle and
Glock 17 handgun that he used in the attack, Gary said. He might not have
gotten the guns had G4S officials acted on concerns about Mateen’s strange
rants and bizarre behavior, Gary said. In 2013, while working at the St.
Lucie County Courthouse, Mateen repeatedly threatened his colleagues, Gary
said. He bragged that he was associated with the Boston Marathon bombers
and had connections to Al Qaeda and Hezbollah. He praised the U.S. Army
major who in 2014 shot some 40 people at Fort Hood in Texas. Mateen said he
hoped police would raid his home so he could “martyr” himself, Gary wrote.
After Mateen made equally inflammatory statements to a St. Lucie County
sheriff’s deputy, the agency reported its concerns to G4S and asked that he
be removed from the security detail at the courthouse. But instead of
assessing Mateen’s fitness for duty, “G4S continued to provide Mateen with
yearly firearms training to maintain his Class G firearms license,” which
made him a far more proficient shooter, Gary wrote. And, Gary claims, St.
Lucie sheriff’s deputies weren’t the only ones to voice concerns. After
Mateen was reassigned to a new location, a co-worker told higher-ups he,
too, was worried about Mateen, Gary said. Still, nothing was done. Even
before Mateen was hired there were warning signs, Gary claims. In 2006,
Mateen was dismissed from a training course for the Florida Department of
Corrections after threatening to bring a gun to class, Gary wrote. “Upon
information and belief, before employing Matten as an armed security guard,
G4S knew of his dismissal by the Florida Department of Corrections and of
Mateen’s propensity to carry weapons into unauthorized locations,” he
wrote. Even knowing his background, G4S did nothing to assure Mateen was
psychologically fit. As it did in countless other cases, it faked documents
it sent to the agriculture department, showing Mateen had passed
psychological tests, Gary wrote. The psychologist, Carol Nudelman, who
signed off on Mateen’s assessment, never evaluated Mateen and didn’t sign
the forms, Gary said. In fact, Nudelman wasn’t living in Florida and had
closed her practice two years before the evaluation was supposedly
administered. Mateen’s phony forms were among 1,514 submitted to the state
agency from 2006 and 2016. The state ultimately slapped G4S with a $151,000
fine for falsely claiming Nudelman had signed off on psychological tests,
according to multiple news reports. It was said to be the largest
administrative fine levied against a security company by Florida.
Apr 22, 2018 huffingtonpost.co.uk
Security Giant G4S Faces Record Fines Of Almost £3m For Breaching Of
Ministry Of Justice Contracts
Global security giant G4S faced a record £2.8m of fines for breaching
its contract with the Ministry of Justice last year, HuffPost UK can
reveal. The huge sum collected in 2016/17 was higher than the previous
three years combined, with two prisons - HMP Parc, in Bridgend, and HMP Rye
Hill, in Warwickshire - forced to pay the highest amounts. G4S’s justice
contracts include five private prisons, a secure training centre and two
immigration removal centres. The latest figures mean G4S has been fined
almost £7m since 2010, but the firm has refused to say how many separate
fines that represents or what they were for. Ministers can levy fines for
contract breaches, including failure to conduct searches, smuggling
contraband, security breaches, serious cases of “concerted indiscipline”,
hostage taking, and roof climbing. Other cases could be failure to lock
doors, poor hygiene or a dip in staffing levels. Staff have frequently lost
control of inmates at HMP Parc, while an inspection report criticised HMP
Rye Hill for poor healthcare and failures to tackle prisoner-on-prisoner
grooming. But it is not known what the fines were for. G4S was also handed
a new £25m contract for the electronic tagging of offenders despite an
ongoing Serious Fraud Office investigation into overcharging by G4S and
Serco. Last year, HMP Parc faced fines of £558,763 while HMP Rye Hill was
subject to £90,662. The MoJ - which
prefers to call the fines ‘financial remedies’ - said the Government would
not accept breaches of contract, adding: “As these figures show, we will
not hesitate to impose tough financial remedies where standards fall
short.” But Labour said the soaring fines exposed flaws in the private
sector involvement in justice services. Richard Burgon, Labour’s Shadow
Justice Secretary said: “This record level of fines for G4S is yet another
example of widespread private sector failure in our justice system. “G4S
appears to be able to count on a steady stream of Ministry of Justice
contracts despite repeated under-performance and even though it is still
under a Serious Fraud Office investigation for an offender tagging scandal.
“It really is unclear just how bad G4S’ delivery of key services would have
to get before the government stops handing it large amounts of taxpayers’
money to run whole swathes of our justice system. “As the government cuts
bite ever deeper in our justice system, the push for greater private sector
involvement is real cause for alarm. Justice cannot be done on the cheap
and the growing reliance on the private sector risks undermining public
safety as profit is put first.” It comes amid widespread concerns about
violence and self-harm in all jails, including those managed by the public
sector. Self-harm in prisons in England and Wales reached a record high
last year, with more than 41,000 incidents in a year amid a surge in
violence. G4S’ managing director for custodial and detention services,
Jerry Petherick, said: “Financial remedies are applied against a range of
measures depending on the contract specific to each prison. “It is our duty
to self-report any circumstances where we under deliver against a contract,
and it is right and fair that there is a financial remedy applied in these
cases. “The fact that there have been instances where we fall short of our
rigorous standards and contractual obligations shows that we are open and
dedicated to continuous improvement." A Ministry of Justice spokesman
said it would take further action should G4S continue to breach contracts.
He said: “Private prisons achieve the vast majority of their performance
targets, and are an important part of our reform plans. “However, as these
figures show, we will not hesitate to impose tough financial remedies where
standards fall short. “We continue to closely monitor the performance of
all private prisons, and will take further action if and when required.” It
is not the first time G4S has been at the centre of a scandal. Criminal
proceedings were brought against eight staff who worked at the Medway
Secure Training Centre after a Panorama investigation in 2016. The BBC’s undercover filming appeared to
show staff using unnecessary force and foul language against boys aged from
14 to 17 years old. In May 2016, G4S handed control of the youth jail back
to the MoJ. In 2014, G4S, and Serco, were found to be charging for tags on
offenders who had been returned to prison and in some cases, where the
offender had died. In late 2013, the Serious Fraud Office opened a criminal
investigation and the G4S paid back nearly £109m. G4S also hit the
headlines for its chaotic handling of security at the 2012 Olympic Games.
Around 3,500 military personnel had to be drafted in at the last moment
after G4S was forced to admit it had failed to recruit enough people. The
debacle, which bosses described as a “humiliating shambles”, cost the
company more than £70m.
Nov 18, 2017 heraldsun.com
Prison officer resigns after police probe into firearm offences
A PRISON officer who is being investigated by police over firearms
offences has quit his job at the maximum-security Port Phillip jail. The
36-year-old Point Cook man had worked as a firearms instructor at the
prison but resigned on November 9 after police seized a big cache of rifles
and pistols in a raid at his home. It is understood up to 100 weapons were
seized. Victoria Police spokesman Alistair Parsons said detectives from the
Wyndham crime investigation unit executed the warrant on November 8. “The
warrant was in relation to an ongoing investigation into firearms
offences,” he said. A source told the Herald Sun police began investigating
the man after he was caught illegally importing a silencer from the US.
“Police followed the imported silencer lead to his house where they found
an arsenal of pistols and rifles,” the source said. “All of the firearms
were taken as well as his firearms licence, including his instructor’s
licence.” Brett McMerrin, a spokesman for British-based private security
company G4S, which operates Port Phillip prison, confirmed that police made
the company aware of the investigation a day before the officer resigned.
“On November 8, Victoria Police advised G4S that a member of staff from
Port Phillip Prison was subject to a police investigation,” he said. “G4S
can confirm that the staff member resigned from their position on November
9, effective immediately,” Mr McMerrin added. Former colleagues claimed
that the man was a “gun nut” and that he often bragged about possessing
more than 100 firearms. A number of the firearms seized by police were
legally owned and registered. However, imitation firearms and a substance
believed to be steroids were among the items seized by police. Police
interviewed the man and he was released pending further inquiries. The
investigation continues.
Nov 18, 2017 expressandstar.com
WATCH: Prisoner shows off his moves in 'HMP Got Talent' video
A video, which was posted to Instagram from behind bars, shows the
shirtless prisoner reportedly performing a two-minute dance routine from
inside HMP Oakwood, near Wolverhampton. The clip starts with someone
off-camera announcing: “This is HMP’s Got Talent. Tell us where you’re from
and what you’re in for." The prisoner replies: “I’m from
Burton-upon-Trent and I’m in here for robbery of McDonald's." Zay
Hilfigerrr & Zayion McCall's song 'Juju On That Beat' then starts to
play, as the prisoner showcases his moves in an audition style video. He
even begins to lip-sync to the 2016 hit. The video shows him prancing
around the cell and letting loose with his moves while performing a Truffle
Shuffle-style dance while another prisoner films on a smuggled in mobile
phone. The clip had more than 140,000 shares on the social media site and dozens
of comments of viewers mocking the moves of the prisoner. A spokesperson
from G4S said he had asked for all footage to be removed from social media.
A G4S spokeswomen, said: “Like prisons across the country it is a constant
challenge to detect, intercept and seize contraband, including mobile
phones. “It is a criminal offence to be in possession of a mobile phone
inside a prison and we work closely with local police forces to ensure that
those who break the law are prosecuted. “HM Prison and Probation Service
has requested the removal of the content from social media." HMP
Oakwood, a G4S-managed category C prison, has been criticised in the past
for its safety record. When it was the biggest prison in the UK in 2014, it
was hit by controversy when it emerged officers had called ambulances 358
times in 12 month, over twice as often as any other UK jail.
Sep 30, 2017 theguardian.com
G4S employee given two-year sentence for bomb threat
A G4S employee who sent an anonymous letter threatening to blow up vans
and demanding £1m from the firm apologised to colleagues from court before
being detained for two years for blackmail. Daniel Garland, 20, caused work
to halt at a cash-handling depot in Thornaby, Teesside, when he posted the
note in January saying he had planted remotely controlled “mini-bombs” on
vehicles. More than 100 police officers joined a major inquiry across four
force areas, cash-in-transit vans were recalled to the depots to be
searched and the security giant’s losses were put at £15,000. The police
operation was estimated to have cost £35,000. Garland, from
Chester-le-Street, County Durham, had pleaded guilty to a bomb-hoax charge
and was convicted after trial of a blackmail offence. Before he was
sentenced to two years in a young offenders institution, Garland read out a
letter via videolink from prison. “I would like to express my heartfelt
apologies to the crown, members of G4S, the police and any individuals that
might have been affected by my mindless and thoughtless actions,” he said.
Sentencing Garland at Durham crown court, the recorder, Euan Duff, said:
“We live in an age when bombs which can kill or maim are sadly a feature of
modern life in the UK. No bomb threat can be taken lightly.” The judge
accepted that Garland never intended to make £1m from the letter, but he
did intend to get two colleagues in trouble. The anonymous letter, which
Garland did not touch without wearing gloves, said the two were involved in
an earlier, unsolved robbery of a cash-in-transit van. Garland claimed during
the trial that he had been bullied by the colleagues, but this was
dismissed by the judge. Garland believed the pair might lose their jobs as
a result of his plot. Nicole Horton, defending, said Garland was immature
and naive: “This was a badly thought-out piece of revenge, clearly he never
intended to make himself a financial gain.” Garland has been on remand
since being convicted of blackmail. Horton said: “Daniel has had the shock
of his life in going into prison and has found it an extremely distressing
experience.” At the trial, the jury was told how the branch manager, Dean
Jeffels, was terrified when he read the letter, which said robbers would
storm the depot with weapons if £1m was not loaded on to a truck the next
day. It also warned of visiting a mother and her newborn baby while her
partner, a G4S employee, was at work.
Sep 4, 2017, theguardian.com
Prisoners in stand-off with staff at HMP Birmingham
An incident at HMP Birmingham that left one inmate needing
hospitalisation was resolved late on Sunday night. A Prison Service
spokesperson said: “Specially trained prison staff successfully resolved an
incident at HMP Birmingham on 3 September. There were no injuries to staff
or prisoners. “We do not tolerate violence in our prisons, and are clear
that those responsible will be referred to the police and could spend
longer behind bars.” One man, believed to be in his 20s, was taken to
hospital with a facial injury as well as cuts, bruises and a reduced
consciousness, West Midlands ambulance service said. No prison staff were
injured. An unknown number of prisoners refused to return to their cells at
the end of Sunday evening at the category B jail, which is run by G4S. A
spokesman for G4S said earlier: “Our teams are responding to an incident on
one wing at HM Prison Birmingham. We are working with colleagues from Her
Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service to bring the incident to a safe
conclusion.” A prison service spokesperson said earlier on Sunday night:
“We are aware of an ongoing incident involving a small number of prisoners
at HMP Birmingham. It is confined to one wing and prison staff are working
to resolve it quickly and safely.” Unconfirmed reports suggested that
prisoners were chanting “we want burn” – slang for tobacco. A smoking ban has
been phased in at the jail, which went entirely smoke-free at the end of
July. The prison’s website states: “Assistance with giving up smoking is
being offered to prisoners in accordance with national guidelines.” G4S has
run the prison, previously known as Winson Green, since 2011 when it became
the first public sector jail to be privatised. A 12-hour riot took place at
the same prison in December 2016 and involved more than a third of the
1,450 inmates at its height. The incident was the worst since the Strangeways
riot in Manchester 26 years ago and caused about £2m of damage. The
Guardian reported last week that an unforeseen summer surge in prisoner
numbers in England and Wales is adding to the pressures on a jail system
that is already “woefully short of spare capacity”. The number of prisoners
locked up in England and Wales has risen by 1,200 since May to 86,413 –
1,900 higher than the official 2016 projection of prison numbers for this
summer. Sunday’s disorder follows a riot in early August at a prison in
Hertfordshire, where there were only 20 officers on duty to supervise more
than 1,000 inmates, and another in Wiltshire. A prison in Cumbria lost the
use of an entire wing late last month because of a serious disturbance, the
former prison service director-general Phil Wheatley said.
Sep 3, 2017 theguardian.com
Home Office employee suspended at G4S-run immigration centre
A Home Office employee has been suspended after claims of abuse and
assaults against detainees at a G4S-run immigration centre. G4S said on
Friday that nine members of its staff had been suspended pending an
investigation into BBC Panorama allegations of “chaos, incompetence and
abuse” at the Brook House immigration removal centre near Gatwick airport,
in West Sussex. Now sources have confirmed that a Home Office worker has
also been suspended while allegations relating to his previous employment
for G4S at the facility are investigated. A Home Office spokesman said: “We
condemn any actions that put the safety or dignity of immigration removal
centre detainees at risk. We are clear that all detainees should be treated
with dignity and respect and we expect G4S to carry out a thorough
investigation into these allegations and that all appropriate action be
taken.” Panorama claims to have undercover footage showing officers
“mocking, abusing and even assaulting detainees” at the facility, where
drugs are allegedly rife. Brook House is one of two immigration centres run
by G4S in the UK and has capacity for 508 adult men. Concerns were raised
in the latest inspection, which revealed that some men had been held there
for more than two years. The inspectors highlighted issues with the “stark
and impersonal” residential units and unsatisfactory sanitary facilities.
But overall the report by the chief inspector of prisons, Peter Clarke, in
March said it was an “encouraging” inspection. Despite the controversy, G4S
is to continue with its bid to renew its contract to run Brook House.
Labour MPs have called for the G4S contract to be suspended and reviewed.
The company confirmed it would continue with its bid to renew its
eight-year-old contract to run the centre from next May. More than 14,000
people passed through the centre in the year to 30 August. It is the latest
in a number of scandals to hit the security company, which is also
responsible for five prisons in England and Wales. Panorama uncovered
alleged abuse and mistreatment of youngsters at a G4S youth detention
centre in Kent last year. Medway secure training centre was later judged
inadequate by Ofsted inspectors, who found that young inmates were able to
watch sexually explicit content on television. Another G4S facility, HMP
Birmingham, was hit by riots in December 2016, some of the worst in a UK
jail in years.
Aug 26, 2017 orlandosentinel.com
Pulse shooter’s employer G4S responds to lawsuit
The G4S security firm that employed the mass murderer in the June 2016
shooting has responded to a lawsuit accusing it of liability in the
shooting. The lawsuit “does not, and cannot, allege that there is any
connection between Omar Mateen’s employment with G4S and his decision to
attack the Pulse nightclub and its patrons,” the company wrote in recent
filings in the case. The company’s response notes that Mateen was never
directed to go to the nightclub or have contact with anyone at the
nightclub, and did not use any equipment G4S provided during the shooting
that killed 49 people and wounded more than 50 others. “Mateen spent his
own money as a private citizen to purchase the firearms and ammunition he
used to carry out his attack,” G4S and its subsidiaries argue in their
responses. The company is also asking for the lawsuit to be thrown out.
More than sixty survivors and families of victims have lined up to sue the
security firm. G4S is the world’s largest security company, headquartered
in Britain, and its U.S. subsidiary G4S Security Solutions is based in
Jupiter. The lawsuit accuses G4S of failing to comply with its own internal
protocol to report changes in Omar Mateen’s mental health and seize his
weapon. The mental-health validation issued by his employer was reviewed by
Florida officials before Mateen purchased the weapons used in the Pulse
nightclub tragedy, the suit says. The suit also mentions the fact that G4S
has been fined by the state of Florida for falsifying mental health
validations for other employees in the past. Victims and their families
have expressed outrage at the fact that people apparently knew the shooter
was unhinged and threatening violence. The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensation
for victims and their families, including medical and funeral expenses,
loss of support and possible other awards to be determined later.
Aug 20, 2017 fox13news.com
Three former G4S employees arrested on felony charges
AVON PARK (FOX 13) - Three former Highlands Youth Academy employees
have been arrested on multiple felonies. The academy, located in Avon Park,
is a residential facility for juveniles under the care of the Department of
Juvenile Justice. It was operated under G4S Youth Services until it was
sold in March. The employees who were arrested were employed at the
facility while G4S still owned it. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd is
expected to offer more details surrounding their arrests at a Friday press
conference beginning at 1 p.m. Norma Wynn, 56, of Sebring is the former
facility administrator and Jose Sanchez, 63, of Sebring, is the former
assistant administer of the academy. Both were arrested and booked into
Highlands County Jail. Johnny Hart, 40, of Okaloosa County, is also a former
assistant administrator. He was arrested on Thursday at the Okaloosa Youth
Development Center in Crestview, where he is a facility administrator. He
was booked into Okaloosa County Jail. In April 2013, Polk County deputies
responded to a large riot at the facility, where 61 juveniles were
arrested. A separate investigation took place in 2015 regarding “numerous
escapes from residents,” according to a media release. The escapes were
never reported to the Sheriff’s Office by the academy staff. It ultimately
led to a grand jury finding the academy to be grossly mismanaged and the
academy should “cease to exist.” It advised the DJJ to require its
contractors to enforce strong policies where law enforcement should be
contacted to investigate felony crimes on its property. After the findings,
the DJJ didn’t shut down the facility and continued to employ G4S until
March of this year. In November 2015, detectives received tips regarding of
criminal activity at the academy that wasn’t being reported – this included
sexual activity between adult staff and residents, and juvenile residents
battering staff members without repercussions from administrators. It
prompted an investigation. In May 2016, detectives arrested Deidre Baucom,
who was a youth care worker at the time. According to the agency, she
confessed to having sexual contact with juvenile residents. The Polk County
Sheriff’s Office said Wynn, Sanchez and Hart destroyed or tampered
evidence, failed to report child abuse, and willfully neglected juveniles under
their supervision. Additional information will be provided at the press
conference.
27 June 2017 opendemocracy.net
Security company G4S housed six families with babies and toddlers in a
fire-trap hostel in Halifax.
“The only way that landlord will do anything is when children die in
there,” neighbours warned. “It’s because we are black, they don’t care,”
one tenant said. They’re talking about a hostel that is home to six
families and their nine children, most of them babies and toddlers. Tenants
of the six flats in a converted house in Halifax, West Yorkshire, have told
me they are frightened. They say the wiring is faulty, the hallways are
blocked, and there’s repeated leaks and flooding. They’ve shown me the
evidence. They worry about risk of fire, and how they might escape. I first
learned about the hostel a little over two weeks ago, on Friday 9 June. A
charity worker who supports one of the tenants asked for my help. She said
tenants had struggled to get anybody to act on their concerns about fire safety
and repairs. Some feared speaking out, worried that this might affect their
claims for asylum. All of the tenants are asylum seekers. The worker told
me: “At 8.15pm on Tuesday 6 June I went to the flats. I noticed there was
no indicator light on the alarm control panel. I contacted the regional
manager for G4S, who called a repair man. He arrived just before 9pm, and
began installing smoke alarms in the hallways. I am really worried about
how safe people are in there.” I visited the hostel on Saturday 10 June and
spent four hours inspecting, taking photographs, listening to tenants’
concerns. The hostel is part of a converted townhouse, just off Halifax
town centre, in the borough of Calderdale. The flats sit atop an electrical
shop and another shop, apparently abandoned. Directly above the shops are
two flats. Another floor up, three more flats. Up another flight of stairs,
at the top of the house is Flat 6, with more stairs leading up to a
mezzanine within the flat. The hostel is owned by a private landlord and
managed under a UK government contract by G4S, the international security
company. A subcontractor procured the property. The client is the Home
Office. Calderdale Council and West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Services also
have responsibilities towards tenants. One dangerous consequence of the
privatisation of asylum housing, apparent in this case, is the fog around
who is responsible for what. Here’s what some tenants told me. For their
protection we’re calling them Mary, Brian, Eric, Helen, Tasmin, Joanne.
“One day in January the electric main board was flashing ‘fire in room 3’
and we dialled 999,” Mary said. “The fire engine could not find the
address. I was jumping up and down in the street waving my arms to get them
to the flats. It took them forty-five minutes to get here from our call.
They said that a leak from a boiler in the flat above had caused the
alarm.” Brian worked as a builder in his home country. He worries about the
risk of electrical fire. “Water pours in everywhere,” he said. “This
happened last week.” He showed me a video on his camera. I could see water
rushing through the light fittings. “Perhaps the wires are not live there,”
Joanne said. “But they frighten the older children who hear us talking
about the water and the electrics causing fires.” Signs of water
penetration and ceiling repairs were all around. Eric said his G4S cooker
had fused the electrical circuits throughout the building. He showed me the
replacement two-ring hob that G4S had supplied for himself, his wife and
their baby. Joanne took me to the only external door at the rear of the
hostel. Because so many families with young children live here, the hallway
is full of buggies. “This is our only escape, we have to leave the buggies
here, the stairs are so difficult, there is no fire escape,” Joanne
said. A neighbour who knows the
flats had told her: “The only way that landlord will do anything is when
children die in there.” All the tenants said that over eight months, time
and time again, they had contacted the G4S helpline pleading for better and
safe conditions for their children. Mary said: “They never do anything,
even for the big things, heating and flooding. They don’t care. It’s
because we are black, they don’t care.” She told me about when the downstairs
corridor flooded: “There was water full of oil and waste from the drain
outside.” She showed me video on her phone. The water was ankle deep. “Always water comes in,” she said. On her
phone were pictures of the debris left when the wall unit crashed down, she
said, narrowly missing her six-year-old daughter. “Early one morning I
heard noises in my living room which woke me and I found a man from G4S
there,” one lone mother said. “He said he had used his own key to get in.
My daughter was terrified, she has bad memories of men hurting me in the
past. For months the door on my toilet and bathroom would not shut. G4S
never did anything. I could have been in the toilet or showering when that
man came in.” She went on: “The local women’s centre suggested to G4S that
I get a chain on my door. They refused, but the women’s centre threatened
to get the work done themselves, and G4S put a chain on the door, and one
on the door of another woman here — but still refused to fit chains on the
other four flats.” One of the support workers told me: “Three months ago,
in March, St Augustine’s community centre sent complaints about the hostel
to G4S, but nothing was done about them.” Another tenant recalled a visit
from the Home Office: “G4S took them only to the flats where they knew the
tenants could not speak good English and were frightened to complain. When
I asked why they did not come to my flat, they said the Home Office did not
have time.” G4S knows me and my work. I’m a housing academic. I work
alongside refugees at South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group,
SYMAAG. Since G4S won the Home Office asylum housing contract five years
ago I’ve published quite a lot about them. On Monday 12 June I contacted
G4S and Calderdale Borough councillors and told them that the hostel was
unsafe. My intervention prompted an emergency inspection by council
officers and West Yorkshire fire service on the Tuesday. On the Wednesday,
a G4S welfare officer called in. One tenant suggested an emergency fire
drill: “We have never had one, and it would show we cannot get out of the
building safely.” The G4S welfare officer allegedly refused, saying:
“That’s up to G4S, not me.” Heidi Wilson is Calderdale Council’s head of
environment and housing services. After the inspections she told me that
the council took reports of risks to tenants “very seriously” and was
“giving them a high priority”. They had given G4S a list of actions and a
“short time frame”. Should G4S fail to make the necessary improvements the
council “would certainly consider enforcement action”. When I called in to
check on progress on Thursday 15 June, I found G4S workers making repairs
that had been first reported months ago. I was told that the Home Office
was going to send someone to inspect the place. I climbed all the way up to
the top of the house to see Helen. She lives up there with husband Brian
and their three year old son. Another stairway led to the small mezzanine
where their son had had access to a floor-level window. On Tuesday the
council had noted the “poor guarding to the window”. So G4S workmen had
boarded up the stairway. Helen told me: “The G4S boss when he came up here
yesterday said: ‘This is a dangerous place for babies.’” As I left the
property I saw the G4S supervisor putting up a noticeboard by the front
entrance, near the alarm control panel. He had pinned up no-smoking signs,
a warning about the absence of fire extinguishers, a fire safety log book
and a floor plan. Someone had taken a fat red marker pen and marked out a
rough escape route on the plan. All the information was in English. Most
tenants are still learning the language. I set about researching fire
safety, emailing and phoning the tenants and G4S with more questions. It
wasn’t easy. Fire safety regulations are fiendishly complex. G4S’s own
spokesman confessed to having difficulty. G4S appeared to be in breach of
fire regulations. Before the hostel opened last year, it seems, they should
have arranged for a fire risk assessment by a qualified fire safety
practitioner — as required by the Fire Safety Order 2005. From what I could
see, G4S had an obligation to test the alarm every week and hold a monthly
fire drill. Tenants told me these things hadn’t happened. The regulations
require that testing dates are recorded in a log book displayed in the
building. The log book on the newly erected notice board contained just one
entry — for a test dated April 2017. All escape corridors and landings
should have smoke alarms and emergency lighting. But the hallway smoke
alarms were fitted on Tuesday 6 June 2017, eight months after the hostel
opened. Every kitchen should have a fire blanket. And they do. I asked one
tenant, who is fluent in English, to open the packaging. She said: “The
instructions are confusing. No one has ever told us about fire safety here.
There are no instructions on the fire blanket or anywhere else in any
language — except difficult English.” My reading of the regulations
suggests that G4S has a responsibility to inform and regularly update
tenants on fire safety — and to provide safety information in appropriate
languages. That landlord will do anything is when children die in there. All of
these things seem anyway like basic common sense if you are housing
multiple families with small children in a four or five storey house. As
landlords of asylum housing for babies and small children, G4S has
particular obligations. The Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009
(Section 55) requires that immigration and asylum functions be carried out
with respect for the need to “safeguard and promote the welfare of
children”. After the Calderdale council inspection on Tuesday 13 June, one
tenant told me: “The council man said the bedroom with my children should
not be used. He said the window was too small to let light in for them.” I asked G4S to respond to the issues
raised in this article. On 15 June a G4S spokesman said the building had a
valid electrical certificate and was “compliant with fire safety
standards”. About the flooding, G4S said: “There has been a very recent
issue with damp after the landlord installed a new concrete walkway outside
the property which is not draining effectively. We are in discussions to
have a drain fitted. A roof leak has also recently been rectified and the
landlord will be making good any cosmetic damage that arose.” And the
intrusion? G4S said: “Our protocol is that when our staff visit a property
they knock twice (leaving a gap in between). If there is no answer they
unlock the door and call out to announce themselves. If there is still no
answer they then proceed into the property, calling out that they are from
G4S. We are entirely confident that this procedure is — and was — followed
at this property.” At the company’s request — (the spokesman sounded quite
flustered) — we delayed publication of this piece to give G4S time to
provide further comment. On Tuesday 20 June, I tuned in to BBC Radio
Sheffield, for Toby Foster’s breakfast show. He had an interview with John
Whitwam, the ex-army officer who is G4S managing director, immigration and
borders. Whitwam told listeners that G4S had about 18,000 asylum-seekers in
5,000 properties. “There is a great deal of scrutiny,” he said. “These
properties are probably the most inspected in the UK.” Whitwam said the G4S
helpline took 4,000 calls last month. Toby Foster cut in: “5,000 houses,
4,000 calls! Nearly every house is ringing you every month!” Whitwam
replied: “These aren’t all complaints.” And then: “That’s not to say many
of them aren’t.” I was still waiting for the company’s response to my
queries on Tuesday evening, when a tenant called to say that an extractor
fan had fallen off the wall in Flat 2. She said she was only slightly
injured, but her four year old child was hysterical. On Tuesday evening,
Brian was back in touch. He said the G4S welfare officer had been round to
tell them: “The Home Office are coming tomorrow, you have to say everything
is fine in the flats.” On Wednesday afternoon Brian called again. He said
the woman from the Home Office had been round, she’d done more talking than
listening and assured them that if there’s a fire, they’ll have plenty of
time to get out. On Thursday another tenant called to say that workmen
were, at last, fitting smoke alarms in tenants’ rooms. A curious response
from G4S. Also on Wednesday came the company’s detailed response to my queries.
It was odd. G4S offered a series of curious assertions that neither
confirmed nor denied tenants’ allegations about fire safety, but, rather,
bypassed their concerns. For example, G4S noted: “Smoke alarm and fire alarm
tests as recorded in our monthly property inspection report.” On the
absence of fire drills, G4S claimed: “Drills are not mandatory for private
dwellings.” Private dwellings? G4S: These properties are probably the most
inspected in the UK. And: “All fire safety information is provided as part
of the induction when asylum seekers move into the property and information
in 71 languages is available in the home.” About the absence of fire log
books, G4S claimed: they “are sometimes taken away and used as notebooks by
residents.” And the apparent failure to arrange a fire risk assessment on
the building until after I got involved? G4S claimed: “All fire alarm
systems are checked monthly.” About the Fire Service inspection of 13 June,
prompted by my interventions, G4S claimed: “All adjustments recommended
have now been completed. Any observations made by the fire services
regarding door fittings or openings were rectified within two days.” About
the alarm control panel that had either been turned off or was defective,
G4S said: “We require service users to report defects to control panels and
we operate a 24 hours turn around policy to fix or replace such systems.”
G4S has claimed repeatedly that it loses money on asylum housing. The
company, which had no prior experience of housing asylum seekers, won the
Home Office contract after a computer-based reverse auction. G4S bid £8.42
per family member per night (according to contract details revealed in a
High Court judgement here). At that price, packing 17 people into the
Halifax hostel brings the monthly take to around £4,300. Until last
Thursday, Calderdale Council’s website told asylum-seekers in the borough
that their housing was provided, not by G4S, but by another company,
Cascade Homes. The council supplied a phone number tenants could call if
they needed help and advice. I called the number. An angry man picked up.
He said he was fed up with getting calls and he had nothing to do with
Cascade. I told the council about
that — they corrected the online advice. They said Cascade no longer
managed properties in Calderdale, only procured them. G4S confirmed: “Yes,
all properties in the Halifax area are provided by Cascade.” I was sorry
that Cascade had been given any role to play. Over years I’ve reported on
their shoddy behaviour. How Cascade asylum properties in Leeds were
infested with cockroaches and slugs. Male staff harassed women tenants.
Cascade failed to pay energy bills and council tax bills. My evidence has
been cited in Parliamentary inquiries and debates. Speaking in the Commons
on 27 February 2013, Mark Durkan MP said: “What is especially alarming is
that the neglect and suffering go on, regardless of this kind of public and
Parliamentary exposure. There has been little impact on the everyday
practice of G4S and their subcontractors.” In February 2014 G4S announced
that they had dropped Cascade. ‘I watched that place burn’ While we were
working on this piece, on Wednesday 14 June 2017, fire gutted a tower block
in West London with appalling loss of life. The block was called Grenfell
Tower. The residents were mostly people of colour, and poor. The first
victim to be named was Mohammed Alhajali, a Syrian refugee. Grenfell
tenants had warned repeatedly that the flats were unsafe. Their warnings
were variously dismissed, ignored, and met with legal threats. “White
tenants said their concerns were ultimately ignored, but officials were
more likely to listen to them,” British journalist Dawn Foster wrote in the
New York Times. “Black and South Asian survivors told me they felt the
implicit message from everyone they contacted before the fire for help with
the building was ‘you are a guest in this borough, and a guest in this
country, you have no right to complain’.” Back in the Halifax hostel, the
tenants have come from East Africa, West Africa, the Middle East, and South
Asia. Up in the top flat, Brian told me how Grenfell had shocked him: “I
watched that place burn,” he said. “I thought I couldn’t get out of this
flat if there is a fire.”
Jan 28, 2017 expressandstar.com
The number of deaths in prisons across the West Midlands and
Staffordshire has more than doubled, new figures show.
A total of 23 inmates lost their lives inside in 2016, compared to just
10 the year before. HMP Birmingham and HMP Oakwood, the two G4S-run
prisons, had the highest death count with seven and six respectively. Other
deaths included five at HMP Stafford, three at HMP Featherstone, one apiece
at HMP Dovegate in Uttoexeter and Drake Hall, the women's prison in
Eccleshall. Both HMP Swinfen Hall, near Lichfield, and HMP Brinsford, the
young offenders institute next to Featherstone, recorded no deaths last
year. The figures, released by the Ministry of Justice, also show that four
prisoners in the regions took their own life last year - the same amount as
2015. Oakwood, the UK's largest prison, saw the biggest rise in the number
of deaths. It did not record any in 2015 but had six in 2016. It also had
one inmate take their own life last year compared to none the year before.
Jerry Petherick, the custodial and detention services managing director of
G4S, which also runs HMP Birmingham, said the firm always worked hard to
'understand the causes and identify any lessons to be learned'. He said:
“Every death in custody is a tragedy and is always thoroughly investigated
by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman. We will always work with the
investigators and our colleagues in NHS healthcare teams to understand the
causes and identify any lessons to be learned. “The rising level of
violence and self-harm shown in today’s data underlines the extent of the
challenge facing our prisons alongside our colleagues around the country.
Our staff do tremendous work to bear down on violence and detect, intercept
and seize drugs and other contraband which destabilises prison regimes. “We
will continue to work closely with our partners in the prisons we manage as
well as with the Ministry of Justice to further improve safety for
prisoners and our staff.” The number of deaths at HMP Birmingham, which was
the scene of a riot last month, increased from four to seven over the same
period. These figures include one suicide in 2015 and one in 2016. HMP
Featherstone also saw a rise after its zero deaths in 2015 increased to
three last year. There was also one suicide last year compared to none the
year before. HMP Stafford, which houses notorious paedophile Rolf Harris,
did not have any suicides last year but did record five deaths, four more
than 2015. Both Dovegate and Brinsford were the two prisons in the region
to record a decrease in deaths, with the latter's one in 2015 decreasing to
none in 2016 and the former's three in 2015 decreasing to one last year.
Both prison's recorded a suicide each in 2015 but none in 2016. HMP Drake
Hall had one death last year, which was recorded as a suicide. Liz Truss,
the justice secretary in charge of the country's prisons, said: “Since
becoming Justice Secretary, I have been clear that the violence, self-harm
and deaths in our prisons are too high. I have taken immediate action to
stabilise the estate by tackling the drugs, drones and phones that
undermine security. We are also investing £100m annually to boost the
frontline by 2,500 officers.
Dec 31, 2016 dailymail.co.uk
Australia: G4S inmate dies from drugs
Prisoner, 21, died after he swallowed a balloon filled with the deadly
drug ice and it burst in his bowel - after his girlfriend smuggled it into
jail for him.
A 21-year-old prisoner swallowed a balloon filled with the deadly drug ice
Cain Hutchinson was on remand at Port Philip Prison in Victoria
The father died after the balloon burst in his bowel as the drug leaked
into his gut
The inquest heard he called his girlfriend to bring drugs into the prison
for him
The following day, he was found vomiting and shaking on his bed in his cell
Hours later, he went into a cardiac arrest before he died in an ambulance
A 21-year-old prisoner died after a balloon filled with the deadly drug ice
he had swallowed burst in his bowel, an inquest has heard.
Cain Hutchinson, who was on remand at Port Philip Prison in Victoria, was
found shaking and vomiting just hours before he was found unconscious after
the drugs leaked into his gut. The Coroners Court of Victoria launched an
inquest into his death to determine how he died after his girlfriend managed
to smuggle the drugs into the prison. The young father had called his
girlfriend to arrange for her to bring drugs into the prison for him the
next day. His girlfriend visited the prison with their baby daughter and
the balloon filled with methylamphetamine on June 6, 2015. She purchased a
bag of pretzels and a drink from the vending machine to share with
Hutchinson before she took their baby to the bathroom to change her nappy.
She then placed the balloon in her hand while she was in the bathroom before
she returned to her seat in the visiting area. When she took some pretzels
from the bag, she dropped the balloon. Hutchinson then reached into the bag
and placed the balloon into his mouth before he swallowed it down with
orange juice. His girlfriend was stunned to see the mouth of juice he drank
as she believed he was going to keep the balloon at the back of his throat
so it would be easy to take it out once he returned to his cell. After his
family left, he grabbed dinner and returned to cell to eat his food. On the
morning of June 7, 2015, his cellmate found Hutchinson shivering on his
bed. His cellmate decided to get him breakfast to make him feel better.
When he returned with porridge, Hutchinson had locked himself in the cell
and said he was on the toilet. Concerned for his welfare, other inmates
gathered around his cell as they urged Hutchinson to open up the door.
Hutchinson was initially suspected of having food poisoning because he had
not mentioned anything about drugs to his fellow inmates. Far from getting
better, Hutchinson was rushed to the prison's health unit to wait for an
ambulance while other inmates were placed in lockdown. The coroner's report
found Hutchinson went into a cardiac arrest as he was being carried into
the ambulance - but attempts to revive him were unsuccessful. Following
day, the autopsy found an orange balloon containing a small clear plastic
bag had spilled into the gut. Methylamphetamine was detected in his urine
and amphetamines were found in his blood and also urine. A pathologist
found the 'knot came partly undone causing the drugs that were contained in
a small ziplock bag to leak out into the gut'. The coroner's report found
that large doses of amphetamines could lead to agitation, hyperthermia,
hallucination, convulsions, unconsciousness, respiratory or cardiac
failure. Two days after his death, his girlfriend called the Wyndham
Criminal Investigation Unit where she tearfully confessed she had supplied
the balloon filled with drugs. During an interview with the coroner's
investigator and a police officer the next day, she explained how she
smuggled the drugs into the prison. In her taped interview with police, his
girlfriend said Hutchinson had told her that he would be 'knocked' or would
have to 'knock' others if she did not bring drugs into the prison. She
pleaded guilty to charges of possessing methylamphetamine and introducing
contraband to a prison. She was fined without conviction. After an internal
management review, visitors who use the bathroom or change their baby's
nappy will proceed as a non-contact visit.
Dec 10, 2016 therecorder.com
California: Court reverses bad Wackenhut (G4S) ruling
SAN FRANCISCO — A California state appellate court on Monday reversed a
decision by a trial judge that smashed a long-running wage-and-hour class
action against security contractor The Wackenhut Corp., ruling that the
judge overstretched the U.S. Supreme Court's 2011 decision in Wal-Mart
Stores v. Dukes. The decision is a loss for the employment law defense bar
generally, but is especially a blow for Theodore Boutrous Jr., the Gibson,
Dunn & Crutcher partner who argued Wal-Mart and was brought in by
Wackenhut in 2011 to wield the then-fresh high court decision in its own
case ahead of trial. Second District Court of Appeal Justice Norman
Epstein, writing for a panel also joined by Justices Thomas Willhite Jr.
and Nora Manella, said the lower court was wrong to agree with Wackenhut's
lawyers that Wal-Mart effectively prohibited the use of statistical
sampling in establishing class-wide liability. "[T]he use of
statistical sampling in this case is distinguishable from the method
rejected by the Supreme Court in Wal-Mart because, in that case, the
plaintiffs proposed to use representative evidence as a means of overcoming
the absence of a common policy," Epstein wrote. The justice added that
"here, the results of the statistical sampling … served as a
manageability tool—an alternative to burdensome production." He also
said that in a ruling subsequent to Wal-Mart, Tyson Foods v. Bouaphakeo,
the U.S. Supreme Court had made clear that sampling is permissible. The
case centers on claims that Wackenhut, a global security contractor now
owned by British company G4S, failed to give security guards in California
off-duty meal and rest breaks, and also did not provide them with adequate
wage statements, as required by state law. In order to establish class
liability for the meal break claim in particular, the plaintiffs' attorneys
proposed to sample 1,200 of the at least 13,500 security guards in the
class period to determine which had signed agreements to take their meal
break while still on duty. The sample found that depending on the year, the
percentage of employees with valid agreements ranged between 0 and 88
percent. Wackenhut initially agreed to that plan because it did not want to
have to dig through its records and produce documents for all of the
employees covered by the class period, which stretches back to 2001, and
trial court judge William Highberger certified the proposed class in 2010.
But the company changed tack after the Wal-Mart decision and sought class
decertification, which it won in 2012. "This is a fairly definitive
statement as to the limitations of Wal-Mart with respect to class action
jurisprudence in the state of California," Jason Marsili, a partner at
Posner & Rosen who argued the case on appeal for the plaintiffs, said
of the appellate court's ruling on Monday. Marsili said the decision should
shift the law on the issue of sampling back in favor of plaintiffs after a
decision by the California Supreme Court 2014 in Duran v. U.S. Bank, which
held that a class must be decertified if individual issues are later shown
to predominate. Boutrous, meanwhile, hinted that he would try to take the
case up to the state's highest court. "The trial court was right to
decertify this class," Boutrous said in a statement. "The Court
of Appeal misinterpreted the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in the Wal-Mart
case and its ruling raises several important issues under state and federal
law about class actions and employment law that warrant review by the
California Supreme Court."
Sep 10, 2016 wftv.com
State slaps $151,000 fine on security company that hired Pulse shooter
The Florida Department of Agriculture has slapped the security company that
hired Pulse shooter Omar Mateen with a $151,000 fine. It’s the largest fine
of its kind in Florida history. The doctor listed on Mateen's psychological
evaluation didn't do the exam, documents said. The state says it’s not the
doctor's fault, but rather a clerical error, adding that there's no
evidence that doctor even knew her name was on more the hundreds evaluation
forms The state released the more than 1,500 psychological evaluation forms
from security company G4S Secure Solutions. The state requires the exams
for anyone trying to get an armed security guard license. Mateen worked for
the company for nine years. After the June 12 massacre, the state found out
the doctor listed on Mateen's evaluation form didn't conduct the exam. The
doctor, psychologist Carol Nudelman, told state officials she never even
met Mateen. The state said a review of G4S Secure Solutions records going
back a decade show Nudelman's name appears on 1,514 exam forms, even though
she never did those exams. The state said when Nudelman retired and another
psychologist took over, the company never updated its evaluation forms with
the new doctor's name. The state says, in all of these cases, the armed
security guard applicants did receive a psychological exam, it just wasn't
from the doctor listed on the form.
Jul 9, 2016 birminghammail.co.uk
Riot squad officers sent into Winson Green prison
West Midlands Police deny incident linked to “unexplained” death of
prisoner in a different wing at G4S controlled prison A squad of specialist
prison service riot officers was sent into Birmingham prison after a
stand-off between a prisoner and staff. G4S, which operates HM Prison
Birmingham, confirmed the incident happened on Friday night but denied that
it was linked to the “unexplained” death of a prisoner in a different wing
earlier in the day. Police were called to the Winson Green prison at 1pm on
Friday after a prisoner - who has not been named - was found dead in his
cell on L wing. Police have confirmed they are treating the death as
“unexplained” and a post mortem examination is due to take place next week.
Sources inside the prison had claimed that a number of prisoners had been
involved in a protest later in the day on B wing. But G4S said one person
had climbed on to safety netting and added that it was not connected to the
earlier death. They also confirmed that a team of prison riot officers -
known as a tornado squad - had been deployed to deal with the protestor. It
said that the stand-off ended when the prisoner came down just after
midnight. G4S had tweeted a number of statements, which said: “Sadly a
prisoner was found unresponsive at 12.30pm and pronounced dead shortly
after. Their next of kin have been informed. “We are supporting staff and
prisoners, particularly on the affected wing. The wider regime is
uninterrupted. As with every death in custody, it will be investigated by
the Ombudsman. Prisoner-staff forums have taken place. And on Friday night
it said: “There is an incident at height involving one prisoner on B-wing.
Evening meal was served and rest of the wing is running as normal.” A
spokesman for West Midlands Police said: “Police were called to HM Prison
Birmingham at 1pm on Friday after a man was found dead in his cell. “His
death is currently being treated as unexplained. “A forensic post mortem
examination will take place in due course to determine the cause of death.
This is standard protocol for all prison deaths.”
Jul 4, 2016 heraldsun.com.au
Prison officers at Port Phillip Prison sacked over gun licences
FOUR officers from the maximum-security Port Phillip Prison have been
sacked for not having proper firearms licences. The move follows an
internal investigation at the privately run Truganina facility. A
spokeswoman for operator G4S told the Herald Sun: “G4S confirms that
following an internal investigation completed in May 2016, four
correctional officers were subject to internal disciplinary action.” “The
four officers were subsequently dismissed from G4S in June 2016,’’ she
said. The Herald Sun understands the sackings relate to officers not having
the appropriate firearms licence and allegedly falsifying related records
but G4S did not provide further detail. A Corrections Victoria spokesman
said the issue was a matter for the operator. “All contractors and private
prison operators are required to meet the strict security and licensing
regulations as required by law,’’ he said. “Corrections Victoria works
closely with contractors and private prison operators to ensure these
regulations are adhered to.” The Herald Sun in May revealed firearms
licensing issues had triggered the sacking of a Port Phillip Prison
officer. It was understood the issue of whether officers have the
appropriate licence to take firearms off-site, such as when escorting
prisoners to hospital or court, had been raised. The prison’s general
manager resigned on June 10 but G4S confirmed this was not related to its
investigation. Port Phillip Prison is Victoria’s largest maximum security
prison with capacity for up to 1087 inmates. G4S operates it under contract
to the Justice Department.
Jul 9, 2016 theage.com.au
Port Phillip prisoner may have died after ingesting smuggled drugs
A young prisoner died in hospital this week after allegedly smuggling
drugs into the Port Phillip Prison and then ingesting the substance. A
Corrections Victoria spokesman confirmed on Saturday that a 21-year-old
Port Phillip Prison inmate died on July 6. He said that as the Coroner was
investigating, Corrections Victoria was not in a position to confirm the cause
of death. But a prison source told Fairfax Media the prisoner, who was
housed in the high-security unit at Port Phillip, had appeared "under
the influence", and before being taken to medical he was
strip-searched by guards. The source said drugs fell out of his bottom as
he was being searched, and the prisoner then allegedly ingested the drugs.
The prisoner stopped breathing and was transferred to ICU at St Vincent's
Hospital. The prison source did not know what type of drug was allegedly
ingested. Port Phillip is operated by security company G4S. A spokesman for
the union representing prison guards criticised the number of staff
rostered at the maximum-security prison on weekends. "The private
company's refusal to roster enough staff, especially intel officers, on
weekends, leaves this site particularly vulnerable to contraband and this
weakness is known across the system," the spokesman for the Community
and Public Sector Union said. "Unfortunately, Corrections seem happy
to have its operation at arm's length, but the private operator is failing
Victorians." A G4S spokeswoman said the death was subject to a
coronial inquest and Victoria Police were investigating on behalf of the
Victorian Coroner, who would formally determine the cause of death. "We
are therefore unable to make any further comment," she said. In
response to the union's criticism of staffing at Port Phillip, she said
"G4S has a minimum staffing level agreement with the CPSU". In
June 2015 a 21-year-old inmate died at the prison, from a suspected
methamphetamine overdose. Port Phillip, located in Truganina, is Victoria's
largest prison and houses more than 1000 inmates.
Jul 1, 2016 pjmedia.com
Senator to DHS: How Did Omar Mateen Pass Employment Check with Federal
Contractor?Omar Mateen appeared in a documentary about the BP oil spill
while working as a security guard in 2010 near Pensacola, Fla. A Senate
Democrat is demanding that the Department of Homeland Security probe how
Orlando nightclub terrorist Omar Mateen was able to clear a background
check to hold a security officer position at a federal contractor. Mateen,
who claimed allegiance to the Islamic State during his attack and also
consumed propaganda from late al-Qaeda recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki, was
investigated in 2013 and 2014 for potential ties to terrorism. He was
employed by G4S Secure Solutions after being kicked out of a correctional
officer training program in 2007 for threatening to bring a gun to class.
After Mateen was flagged for an FBI terror probe, the company moved him from
his courthouse security job to the entrance at a gated residential
community in Palm Beach County. In a letter this week to DHS Secretary Jeh
Johnson, Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) pointed to "clear and troubling
signs that Mateen's screening as an employee at G4S was inadequate" --
particularly given the company's work with DHS, including a recent $234
million contract from DHS. G4S has contracted in the past with the State
Department, Justice Department, Energy Department, Drug Enforcement
Administration, Army and Air Force. The company also assists Customs and
Border Protection operations along the southern border and aids U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement with illegal immigrant transfers.
Through Mateen's employment, he was granted a state security guard firearm
license. “As the investigations into this tragedy continue, it is
imperative that we also ensure that depraved individuals like Mateen are
properly vetted and barred from these sensitive posts,” Tester wrote. “It
is clear that the screening procedures in place failed in this case. It is
critically important that we all take the necessary steps to ensure we are
keeping our nation safe by ensuring that individuals charged with the
protection of others are suitable, stable, and capable of fulfilling their
duties.” Tester asked Johnson to provide specific information about
Mateen's background checks both before being offered a job and throughout
the course of his employment. The senator also wants to know how DHS
screens its contractors. "Given the screening procedures provided by
G4S, would Mateen have been eligible to work at a federal facility or
operate federal equipment for DHS?" Tester asked. When Tester was
chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Programs and the Federal
Workforce, he introduced the Security Clearance Oversight and Reform
Enhancement (SCORE) Act in response to Edward Snowden's NSA leaks. That was
approved by Congress. It removed a block on the Inspector General of the
Office of Personnel Management (OPM) using resources from the agency's $2
billion revolving fund to investigate the integrity of background checks.
Jun 25, 2016 miamiherald.com
"Orlando shooting sharpens scrutiny on screening of
security guards
Psychologists
say the use of mental-health tests for armed guards is skewed.
Mass shooter Omar Mateen
worked for G4S since Septembet 2007. Industry voices are mulling recommendations for
stricter background checks. Before getting the state stamp of approval to carry a
weapon as a security guard, Omar Mateen — and every other armed guard in
Florida — had to be officially certified as “mentally and emotionally
stable.” But no psychologist ever sat him down for a face-to face
interview, reviewed his personal records or talked to a single person who
knew or worked with him. He took a standard written personality test, which
asks for true-false responses to questions such as “I would like to be a
singer.” It was assessed by a psychologist contracted by the company
looking to hire him. In Mateen’s case, that means his only evaluation in
September 2007 did not take into account frequent misbehavior in school,
his misdemeanor battery arrest as a teen or a troubling gun joke that led
to his firing as a state prison guard trainee that same year. So the state
soon granted him a license to carry a firearm as a guard for what was then
known as the Wackenhut Corp., one of the country’s biggest suppliers of
private security. A more thorough psychological evaluation may have done
nothing to stop the bloody shooting spree at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub
earlier this month. Mateen wasn’t acting in a role as guard and the weapons
he used are readily available to the general public. But his case
underscores the challenge of making sure armed security guards — generally
a high turnover, low-paying profession — are screened properly before they
are given guns for patrol. Florida’s security industry is now mulling
possible recommendations to the state for increased screening of
candidates. “Vouching for a prospective security guard based just on a
favorable test score is like saying someone who passed a grammar test will
make a great journalist,” said South Florida forensic psychologist Michael
Brannon. “You need to know a whole lot more to determine if someone is
emotionally stable for the job. The test is a great tool, but should not be
used in isolation.” While some industry experts recommend full-blown
psychological evaluations for each and every candidate, one possible
suggestion is requiring mental-health tests every five years for armed guards,
instead of just once at the time of hiring. “Whether it’s a written test or
not, you don’t know when that person is going to change mentally a year
later, or five years later,” said K.C. Poulin, the chairman of the Florida
Association of Security Companies. “That test can’t predict the future.”
The security industry is also hoping Florida lawmakers next year will pass
measures allowing companies access to FBI background checks, to more
effectively screen job candidates. That’s something being supported by G4S,
the company that took over Wackenhut and employed Mateen and is a member of
the National Association of Security Companies (NASCO). “The tragic events
in Orlando highlight an important issue that NASCO has promoted for many
years,” the company said. “We support, at a minimum, a clearing house or
intermediary approach to sharing FBI information that protects the public
but does not compromise ongoing investigations.” It has been more than two
weeks since Mateen, 29, armed himself with a rifle and a pistol, killing 49
people and wounding 53 at the Pulse gay nightclub. The FBI says he appeared
to be radicalized by Islamic extremism through the Internet. His record as
a private security guard with Jupiter-based G4S has come under scrutiny
since the tragedy. While stationed at a Port St. Lucie courthouse, Mateen
made “inflammatory” remarks to co-workers suggesting he was linked to
al-Qaida in 2013. After a 10-month investigation, the FBI found no evidence
of ties to terrorism; Mateen admitted he made the comments but only because
co-workers were teasing him about his Muslim faith. G4S said that the FBI
never informed it about the probe, although Mateen disclosed he was
questioned by agents as the company explored his workplace harassment
claims. The FBI also never told G4S about an unfruitful 2014 probe into
whether Mateen had ties to a Vero Beach suicide bomber in Syria. Mateen was
not fired, but instead was moved to a check-in booth at a Palm Beach gated
community. One former co-worker later told the Miami Herald that he had
complained about Mateen’s violent rhetoric about gays and blacks, although
the company said it had no record of any such complaints. Across the
country, regulating security guards varies from state to state. Even though
the industry has received its share of criticism, particularly in the wake
of the Orlando shooting, Florida’s vetting process for armed guards is
considered more thorough than in most states. The pool is deep — there are
135,671 active security guard licenses in Florida, and 19,538 also hold
licenses that allow them to carry guns on the job. The industry says it
supports improved screening. “We’re pushing to raise the standards. You
raise the standards, you’re going to raise the pay,” said Steve Amitay,
NASCO’s executive director. “We would like to see requirements that would
make for a more professionalized force.” To become an armed Florida
security guard, you need two state licenses. The “D” license is for a
general unarmed position — the uniformed security guard who checks you into
your condo or patrols the strip mall in a golf cart. That requires 40 hours
of training, and the license can be denied for a felony conviction or if an
applicant has “demonstrated a lack of respect of the laws of this state or
nation.” The statewide firearms “G” license is supposed to be more
intensive. In all, candidates must complete an additional 28 hours of
firearms training, sponsored by the hiring company. Current background
checks for G licenses sometimes miss factors that might raise questions.
For instance, in 2012, Miami armed security guard Lukace Kendle shot two
unarmed men outside a strip club, killing one, paralyzing the other. He is
doing life in prison after being convicted of murder last year. Kendle held
a “G” license to carry a firearm as part of his job with Force Protection
Security. But the state background check did not catch his alcohol and drug
abuse, several arrests in Florida and Pennsylvania, as well his ejection
from the U.S. Navy for “alcohol rehabilitation failure.” After his arrest,
he was twice found mentally incompetent to proceed to trial, and was
diagnosed with personality disorder and symptoms of schizophrenia. As for
Mateen, his paperwork also checked out. “All of the information related to
his application to receive those licenses was in order,” Agriculture
Commissioner Adam Putnam told reporters soon after the massacre. But that
paperwork also revealed Florida’s less than rigorous mental health
evaluation standards. Under state law, an armed guard must be deemed
“mentally and emotionally stable” by either a full psychological evaluation
or a “validated written psychological test.” G4S acknowledged that in
September 2007, Mateen was only asked to fill out the “Minnesota
Multiphasic Personality Inventory,” or MMPI-2, as part of the “character
certification.” With more than 500 questions, the MMPI is a true-false test
that is widely used in job screenings and accepted in court cases.
Questions range from “My soul sometimes leaves my body” to “Once in a while
I think of things too bad to talk about.” But many psychologists say that
the test alone is simply not enough, especially because candidates can
easily fib on paper. “You have to be concerned that a person is not giving
straight forward answers — that a person is trying to look too good — if
they are trying to get a certain position,” said Brannon, the South Florida
psychologist. In contrast, clinical psychologists who examine police
recruits consider test scores, but also interview acquaintances, review
personal and mental-health records and, most importantly, speak to the
candidate one on one. David Corey, an Oregon clinical psychologist who
specializes in police evaluations, said that full evaluations are important
not only for the state and security companies but “to ensure public safety
is considered.” “The stakes are raised when a weapon is involved, and there
are the potential catastrophic consequences that may result by someone who
is unsuited to make a lethal-force decision,” said Corey, who is a member and
former president of the American Board of Police & Public Safety
Psychology. A probing psychologist might have certainly found some of those
red flags. Records showed Mateen struggled with his grades throughout
school and had numerous emotional and violent outbursts. Mateen was
suspended a total of 48 days at two high schools he attended, including two
stings for “fighting with injury.” When he was high school, Mateen was also
arrested for misdemeanor battery after a fight with a student. What punishment,
if any, he received is unknown because the juvenile record was ultimately
sealed and expunged. G4S said it was unaware of the sealed arrest record.
The Florida corrections department hired him as an officer trainee. He was
stationed at the Martin Correctional Institution. But records showed he was
fired in early 2007 after repeatedly falling asleep in class, skipping
school, and laughingly wondering whether a classmate would tell if he
brought a gun to class. The gun comment was made two days after a gunman
killed 32 people during a rampage at Virginia Tech University. “In light of
recent tragic events at Virginia Tech officer Mateen's inquiry about
bringing a weapon to class is at best extremely disturbing,” the prison
warden at the time wrote in a memo. To G4S, Mateen only disclosed that he
was dismissed for skipping work because of a fever. Corrections only
verified that he worked there. To add to questions about Mateen, the
“character certification” document sent to the state by the company listed
a psychologist who had closed her South Miami practice more than a year
earlier. After the Orlando shooting, the company acknowledged that it was a
“clerical error” and that the test was actually administered by the firm
that bought her business. The company has said Mateen underwent an
“extensive” and “rigorous” background check. G4S said it also analyzed
everything from Mateen’s work references to his credit and driving record.
In determining whether he would succeed on the job, the company deemed him
“above average.” “We are continuing to conduct a full and thorough
investigation,” the company said Friday. “However, at this stage, we have
found nothing in Omar Mateen’s work behavior that suggested he was capable
of committing — or planned to commit — such an atrocity.”
Jun 25, 2016 tcpalm.com
Investigation: Treasure Coast judges want G4S security guards removed
from courthouses
FORT PIERCE — Treasure Coast judges fear for their safety in the wake
of the Orlando shooting rampage by G4S security guard Omar Mateen, who did
stints guarding the county courthouses in St. Lucie and Indian River, St.
Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara said Friday. The judges want sheriff's
deputies to handle all security at the St. Lucie courthouses, as they do in
Martin County, Mascara said after meeting with Chief Judge Elizabeth
Metzger Monday. Deputies currently are stationed in St. Lucie and Indian
River courtrooms while G4S security guards are stationed at the metal
detectors at the entrances to the court buildings. Mascara and Indian River
County Sheriff Deryl Loar said they are satisfied with G4S' service and
employees, but will consider replacing the private security guards with
deputies. There are eight or nine G4S guards in the Fort Pierce and St.
Lucie West courthouses, and two in Vero Beach, both of whom have worked
there for a decade. Loar said Metzger hasn't raised any issues with the G4S
security guards at the Indian River County Courthouse and it was unclear
how she feels about security there. Replacing G4S with deputies would cost
St. Lucie $200,000 more and Indian River $60,000 more than the respective
$377,000 and $86,000 the sheriffs are paying G4S this year. Loar said his
staff had considered replacing G4S with deputies three months before
Mateen's shooting spree — but didn't specify why — and are more likely to
do so now. St. Lucie's contract originated in the mid-1990s when Bobby
Knowles was sheriff, Mascara said. Indian River's contract originated in
2003 when Roy Raymond was sheriff, Loar said. Metzger and the judiciary had
concerns even before Mateen's June 12 rampage at the Pulse gay nightclub
left him and 49 others dead and 53 wounded, Mascara said. "The Orlando
shooting was a motivating factor to bring all those concerns to the front
burner," Mascara said, adding the change could go into effect as soon
as Oct. 1. "If we find that they're under-performing at any of the
locations or they're not fulfilling the obligations of their contract, we
would most likely terminate it. The concerns of the judiciary would be an
influence because we are there to protect them, and if they have concerns
about their security we want to address that." Metzger referred
questions about her security concerns to Trial Court Administrator Tom
Genung. "The tragic event and senseless loss of life in Orlando
heightens our already existing concerns about security in our
courthouses," Genung said in an emailed statement. Martin County
Sheriff Will Snyder said he never considered hiring G4S or any other
security firm because he wouldn't have the same confidence in private
guards as he has in his deputies. I think that there can be too much
volatility in those courtrooms. There is too much potential for
violence," Snyder said. "We have divorce court, we have criminal
court, we have a lot of civilians going in and out of there. It's too
sensitive of a target in today's day and age. I want my people in there and
I'm not open to any discussions about changing it." The Florida
Division of Licensing is investigating an issue related to Mateen's firearms
license, and "G4S is cooperating fully," the company said in an
emailed statement. CBS News reported the psychologist listed on a notarized
license application as having evaluated Mateen's mental competency told
reporters she never saw him. Mateen completed the required psychological
assessment, known as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, and
it was evaluated by a doctor with the Headquarters for Psychological
Evaluation, the G4S statement said. He had worked as a substitute security
guard at the Vero Beach courthouse as recently as April 20. Before that,
Mascara's courthouse supervisor removed Mateen from his Fort Pierce
courthouse post on Oct. 2, 2013, based on concerns about his aggressive
behavior. Mateen, who had worked at the courthouse for less than a year,
complained he had been harassed by co-workers, the G4S statement said. G4S
found no reason to discipline Mateen as a result of the removal, an emailed
statement said. "Allegations of workplace harassment were
investigated, and were determined not to disqualify him from employment or
require any additional training or counseling as a result of the customer's
request to remove him from the courthouse," the statement said. After
Mateen's rampage, G4S learned the FBI had investigated Mateen after his
courthouse removal, the statement said. "The FBI did not inform us of
this inquiry or its nature, nor were we advised about a subsequent FBI
investigation in 2014," the statement said. "FBI Director James
Comey confirmed that agents investigated Omar Mateen in 2013 and 2014 and
closed their investigations after deciding that no further action was
necessary." Some of G4S's private clients on the Treasure Coast don't
hold Mateen's rampage against the massive corporation. The Lake Charles Association
in St. Lucie West has not considered hiring a new security company to staff
the community's gate house as a result of Mateen's notoriety, said Paul
Bettencourt, the association's secretary. None of the homeowners brought up
G4S or Mateen during the association's June 16 meeting or with him
personally, he said. "I myself, as a board member, have no complaints
at all," Bettencourt said. "They do a good job. Their guys are
conscientious. Their uniforms are always sharp. They look good. They
represent the community very well. They're very polite to our residents and
guests. They seem to follow their standard operating procedures pretty
well." Bettencourt said he is familiar with most of the G4S security
guards who work at Lake Charles and does not recall ever seeing Mateen
working in the community. Residents are more concerned at PGA Village,
where Mateen's last security guard shift at the St. Lucie County gated
community was June 11, two days before the shooting. The homeowners
association and the management company did not respond to questions about
whether they were considering replacing G4S. Homeowners at a June 15
special meeting with G4S questioned how Mateen could have passed the
company's employee screening process and wondered whether he ever posed a danger
to them. G4S said Mateen passed the company's vetting process and
subsequent investigations. "We were never given any information,
either by law enforcement authorities or Mateen's co-workers, that caused
us to question his continued employment with the company," the G4S
statement said. "Mateen was subject to multiple criminal records
checks, background investigations and a psychological assessment, all of
which met the criteria for initial and continuing employment. We are
continuing to conduct a full and thorough investigation. However, at this
stage, we have found nothing in Omar Mateen's work behavior that suggested
he was capable of committing — or planned to commit — such an
atrocity."G4S, based in London and quoted on the London Stock Exchange,
reportedly is the third largest employer in the world, with 610,000
employees. It reported $8.7 billion in revenue in 2015. Doing business in
100 countries, it has offices throughout the U.S., including Jupiter and
Palm Beach Gardens. It has provided security services to several other
public and private facilities on the Treasure Coast over the years,
including the St. Lucie Regional Juvenile Detention Center in Fort Pierce,
where Mateen once worked as an intake officer in 2008. The company gained
notoriety on the Treasure Coast because of its operation of the Martin
Girls Academy, which has been plagued by violence against the inmates and
staffers. G4S runs the academy, on the Martin County Sheriff's Office
compound, under a contract with the state Department of Juvenile Justice.
The Martin County School Board is set to discuss its relationship with G4S
and the school district's role in the Martin Girls Academy during a meeting
July 21. The school district provides educational services to the girls at
the academy. G4S also provided overnight security at the Martin County
Airport, which is also known as Witham Field, from 2005 through 2012.
Martin County paid G4S about $75,000 per year. G4S has provided security at
Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute in Fort Pierce since
2011, said Ronda Barnes Wilburn, the marketing director for the hospital's
parent company, Treasure Coast Healthcare System. Mateen never worked
there. "G4S is our current security provider and we are satisfied with
the service they provide," Wilburn said in an emailed statement.
Jun 18, 2016 miamiherald.com
‘Clerical error’ on Orlando killer’s psychological eval named wrong
doctor
Nine years ago, the state of Florida received documentation from a
security firm vouching for the mental health of Omar Mateen, who launched a
bloody attack this week on Orlando nightclub patrons. But the psychologist
whose name appears on the document in state records said Friday that she
never evaluated a man who now ranks as the worst mass killer in American
history. In fact, she wasn’t even living in Florida when the evaluation was
supposedly completed. The revelation Friday became another source of scrutiny
for the G4S security firm, which was known as Wackenhut at the time. The
psychological evaluation done for the company, which is required under
state law, cleared Mateen to carry a firearm as a private security guard.
“What I do know is that in September 2007, I was not living or working in
Florida, I was not performing any work for Wackenhut, and I did not
administer any type of examination to Omar Mateen,” Dr. Carol Nudelman, who
now lives in Colorado, said in a statement released through her attorneys
to the Miami Herald and other papers who had published her name. The
company on Friday called the discrepancy a “clerical error” and said that
Mateen was indeed evaluated, but by a different psychologist. The global
security firm — which does work in more than 100 countries — is locally
based in Jupiter. Its operations have come under scrutiny a number of times
over the years. In the mid-2000s, G4S was accused of overbilling Miami-Dade
County taxpayers of at least $3 million for security services that were not
actually provided at Metrorail stations. But a criminal case against
company employees fizzled in 2012, with charges being dropped against two
high-level executives. In 2009, a G4S employee shot and killed two
coworkers while on a security detail in Iraq. A British inquest later
revealed the company didn’t do enough to vet the man. The company was also
criticized for not providing enough security for the 2012 Summer Olympics
in London. The company fell under the spotlight again Sunday after its employee,
Mateen, stormed the Pulse gay nightclub on Sunday, killing 49 and wounding
53. Mateen had been a G4S employee since 2007. In phone calls to police
during the attack, he pledged support to the Islamic State terror group and
other extremist attackers. In 2013, he drew the attention of the FBI after
making “inflammatory” statements to co-workers while based at the St. Lucie
criminal courthouse, claiming he was affiliated with al-Qaida. The FBI
conducted a 10-month investigation but could not prove any ties or
wrongdoing; he was not charged. He admitted to making the statements,
saying that he made them only because co-workers had teased him about his
Muslim faith. The company kept Mateen as an employee, moving him to a kiosk
at a gated community in Palm Beach County, where he was not armed. A former
co-worker, Daniel Gilroy, told the Miami Herald that he had complained to
superiors about Mateen’s frequent violent, racist and homophobic tirades.
He alleged that the company had ignored him, while G4S said it had no
record of those complaints. The FBI in 2014 also probed his ties to a Vero
Beach man who became an ISIS sympathizer and killed himself in a suicide
attack in Syria. That probe into Mateen also yielded nothing; G4S said it
never knew of the probe. When Mateen was hired by G4S in 2007 — after being
fired as a state corrections officer — the company trained him and
sponsored his application to become a security guard and carry a firearm.
In his application for the firearms license released by the state on
Wednesday, G4S submitted a “character certification” that indicated that
Nudelman, then of South Miami, had evaluated or administered a
psychological test to Mateen on Sept. 6, 2007. Nudelman has been in the
news before for evaluating a prospective G4S security guard who later
turned to violence. In 1998, she passed Paul D. Ahern, who went on a
shooting spree in Miami, killing two people and wounding a cop. On
Wednesday, Nudelman’s lawyers released a lengthy statement to various media
outlets saying that G4S’ form was a “false document.” The reason: Nudelman
had closed her Florida practice on Jan. 1, 2006 – 21 months before Mateen
was supposedly evaluated. “She had no involvement in the psychological
screening of individuals for Wackenhut after 2005,” said her lawyers,
Taylor Wilson and Lin Wood. In an email on Friday, the company said Mateen
was indeed evaluated by the firm that bought Nudelman’s practice,
Headquarters for Psychological Evaluation, owned by Dr. Joanne Bauling. She
could not be reached for comment on Friday. The company also said Friday
that Mateen was not interviewed by a psychologist, but rather, the
psychologist evaluated the results of a standard test used in job
screenings.
Apr 23, 2016 newera.com.na
G4S guard granted bail for alleged theft
A member of the G4S security company was granted bail of N$3 000 in the
Windhoek Magistrate’s Court for allegedly conniving to steal N$100 000.
Jacobs Appolus, 25, made his first appearance in connection with the case
in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Monday, where Magistrate Ilge Rheent
granted Appolus bail. The matter was remanded to July 4 for further
investigations and to enable him to get legal representation. Prosecutor
Rowan van Wyk represented the State. A statement issued by the police on
Friday indicates that on Thursday, April 14, at about 10h00 the Serious
Crime Unit in Windhoek received a report from the management of G4S
Securicor company that an amount of N$100 000 had gone missing while in
transit from their offices at Eros Suburb to First National Bank (FNB) Cash
Centre in Windhoek central business district. It is alleged six employees
(the male and three female) were onboard the cash-in-transit vehicle when
it departed from the office, but upon arrival at the bank, it was discovered
that N$100 000 was missing from the total amount signed out at the office,
according to the police statement. The police immediately launched an
investigation, as a result of which N$60 000 was recovered from a bathroom
at Maerua Mall at about 12h00, after it was allegedly handed to an
accomplice employed at a furniture shop at Maerua Mall. A short while later
N$39 800 was recovered from a handbag of a cleaner at Maerua Mall. Appolus
was arrested with N$120 hidden in his socks and reportedly confessed that
he had used the missing N$80 to pay for taxi fare and a recharge voucher.
Mar 19, 2016 newschannel5.com
Security Guard Charged With Sexual Battery9
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A security guard has been charged in connection with a
sexual battery. According to reports, the security guard, identified as
Aaron Mepham, was charged with attacking a woman. Officials said he was an
employee of G4S Secure Solutions, which is a company the Davidson County
Sheriff's Office contracted to run security at several businesses. Mepham
had been assigned to work at Metro Courthouse. Authorities confirmed Mepham
was not on duty at the time of this incident. Officials said the female
victim was a civilian employee with the Metro Nashville Police Department.
The victim said Mepham walked her to her vehicle at a downtown business
parking lot after dark. That’s when Mepham allegedly grabbed her at the
waist suddenly, pulled her toward him, and started kissing her. She said he
then told her he wanted to follow her home. The woman told officers she
pulled away, jumped in the car, and drove home where she called police.
Authorities said the security guard admitted to detectives he grabbed and
kissed the victim. Mepham was charged with sexual battery. No further
details were known.
Mar 12, 2016 securitysales.com
G4S Sells Business in Israel Amid Accusations of Being Complicit to
Human Rights Abuses in Prisons
The world’s largest security firm is selling its business in Israel,
yet the reason why is up for debate. G4S announced on Thursday that the
news was for purely “commercial reasons,” however a boycott campaign
against the company is taking responsibility, according to Newsweek. The
global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign claims G4S was
complicit in Israeli human rights abuses within the prisons it operated in
against Palestinian prisoners. “Since 2013, we have been running a review
of our business portfolio to determine which businesses we want to remain
invested in and which we are looking to divest from, purely to streamline
the business and to get a greater degree of strategic focus,” G4S Spokesman
Nigel Fairbrass said in the report. The security company has 8,000
employees in Israel and while it says none work at prisons or are in
control of prisons in the West Bank, it supplies the prisons with security
equipment. BDS has criticized investors in G4S for their involvement with
the company. In fact, The Bill Gates Foundation was pressured into selling
its $170 million stake in the company in 2014 when protests occurred
outside of its offices in Seattle, London and Johannesburg, according to
the report. “As at the height of the international boycott of apartheid
South Africa, BDS pressure is making some of the world’s largest
corporations realize that profiting from Israeli apartheid and colonialism
is bad for business,” said Mahmoud Nawajaa, a spokesman for the Palestinian
BDS National Committee. “We are starting to notice a domino effect.”
Dec 27, 2015 naplesnews.com
Fort Myers Youth Academy mentor arrested for explicit photos
An employee of the Fort Myers Youth Academy has been arrested after
explicit photos of her were discovered on a teen participant's phone. Jo
Ellen Marie Gardner, 32, faces a felony charge of distributing obscene
material to a minor. Gardner resigned Dec. 8 after her employer began
investigating, according to G4S Youth Services, which runs the youth
academy. The Fort Myers Youth Academy is a residential treatment facility
for boys aged 14 to 18. G4S Youth Services contracts with the Florida Department
of Juvenile Justice to provide services. A DJJ spokeswoman said the
department's Inspector General's Office is investigating what happened with
Gardner. A relative of the teen victim discovered nude photos of Gardner on
the teen's phone in early December, according to an arrest report. The
phone also contained explicit text messages between Gardner and the teen.
The victim told detectives Gardner was his mentor while he was housed in
the treatment program in Fort Myers. When confronted by deputies, Gardner
at first denied that anything inappropriate had happened but later admitted
to kissing him and sending him the text messages and photos. Gardner then
started to cry and asked if she was in trouble, according to an arrest
report. Gardner was arrested Dec. 17 and was released two days later after
posting a $15,000 bond. Monica Lewman-Garcia, a spokeswoman for G4S, said
Gardner was hired as a youth specialist in July of 2014 based on her
qualifications and ability to pass a background check and drug test. Lewman-Garcia
said the organization is cooperating with investigators but noted the
incident happened after the teen was discharged from the program. Following
the investigation, she said G4S will "work to ensure that any
necessary changes, based on lessons learned, are fully implemented."
Dec 6, 2015 english.pnn.ps
A UN body that has been facing pressure to end its links with security
company G4S over its role in Israeli human rights abuses has announced that
it no longer has contracts with the company. G4S has been providing
services to UNHCR in Jordan but a spokesperson told a reporter last Monday
that the body does not have any contracts with the firm. The announcement
was made following a wave of protests online and at UN offices across 5
major cities over the weekend calling on the UN to end all of its contracts
$22m worth of contracts with G4S. G4S is the target of an international
campaign over its role in Israeli prisons and check points and the fact it
helps to run an Israeli police academy. Investigations in September 2014
found G4S guards to be working at UNHCR buildings in Amman and at Syrian
refugee camps in Zaatari and Azraq, leading to the start of BDS campaigning
on the issue. UN documents show that UNHCR in Jordan had contracts with G4S
worth $1.7m in 2014. Sources familiar with the matter have told campaigners
that UNHCR started moving security contracts from G4S to a local company
earlier this year. Other UN bodies including UNICEF, the UNDP and UNOPS
still have contracts with the company. More than 200 organisations have
called on the UN to bar the organisation from having contracts doing so
violates the UN’s procurement code of conduct. The #UNdropG4S campaign has
set up a web page that makes it easy for people to write to the UN to voice
their concerns and are urging people to join a Thunderclap social media
action. Yazeed Halaseh, member of the Jordan BDS group who campaign against
G4S in Jordan, said: “We welcome the announcement of UNHCR in Jordan that
it is no longer hiring G4S. G4S is at the heart of Israel’s use of mass
incarceration to repress Palestinian opposition to its military occupation
and settler colonialism. We hope that the UN will listen to the thousands
of people who are taking action and will end all of its contracts with
G4S.” Reverend Don Wagner, Friends of Sabeel North America, who began
investigating the relationship between G4S and the UN in 2014, said: “We
were shocked to discover G4S agents ushering refugees into the UNHCR Amman
office in September of 2014. News that this office no longer holds
contracts with G4S is refreshing. It builds momentum for the UN as a whole
to follow suit and to uphold human rights and human dignity everywhere.”
Rafat Sub Laban from Palestinian prisoner rights group Addameer, who started
lobbying the UN on its contracts with G4S in April, said: “Recent weeks
have seen a wave of mass arrests by Israeli occupation forces aimed at
repressing protests and imposing control and collective punishment on
Palestinians in the occupied territory. Since the beginning of October,
Israeli occupation forces arrested over 2,050 Palestinians including at
least 350 children and over 210 Palestinians including 4 minors who were
placed under administrative detention without charge or trial. Many of
those who were arrested remain detained by Israel.” “These political
prisoners are held in prisons and interrogation centres that G4S helps
Israel to run, making G4S complicit in Israel’s torture, ill-treatment and
administrative detention without charge or trial of Palestinians. “Addameer
welcomes this news from UNHCR in Jordan and hopes the UN will now terminate
all its contracts with G4S and to distance itself from complicity in human
rights violations.” In June 2014, the Gates Foundation divested the whole
of its $170m holding in the company as a result of an international
campaign. The US Methodist Church, the largest protestant church in the US,
divested from G4S after coalition campaigning brought the issue to a vote.
Universities in Oslo and Bergen refused to give G4S contracts over its role
in Israel’s prison system following student campaigns. In the UK, at least
5 student unions have voted to cancel contracts with G4S, and students
successfully pressured 2 other universities not to renew contracts with the
company. Major charities in South Africa, the Netherlands and elsewhere
terminated contracts with G4S. Facing mounting international pressure, G4S
announced in 2014 that G4S “did not expect to renew” its contract with the
Israeli Prison Service when it expires in 2017, and it has also said it
will end some aspects of its involvement in illegal Israeli settlements.
BDS activists have said they will continue their campaign until G4S ends
all aspects of its support for Israeli violations of international law.
Nov
24, 2015 opendemocracy
People
tied up ‘like animals’ on UK deportation flights
Commercial contractors routinely belt
immigration detainees into restraints so extreme that they are rarely used
in prisons. A woman being deported from the UK to Pakistan was compliant
and cooperative throughout the process. Still, the commercial contractor
Tascor, working for the UK Home Office, strapped the woman into a waist
restraint belt until after the plane had taken off. One man on suicide
watch was strapped into a waist restraint belt even though there was no
evidence that he posed a risk to others. Another man, who refused to board
a deportation flight, was belted continuously for eight long hours. His
wrists swelled. He was examined by a paramedic. These cases have come to
light in two new reports by HM Inspectorate of Prisons. The inspectors also
found that waist restraint belts were used six times on three flights to
Pakistan, and that approaches to security were “unduly indiscriminate in
some respects”. Government advisers have described the waist belt as “a
custom-designed piece of restraint equipment, manufactured from manmade
fibres and using plastic snap-locks and Velcro fasteners, designed to be
worn around the subject’s waist. Soft cuffs, with plastic snap-lock and
Velcro fasteners, are attached to the belt by retractable cords.” They
said: “In the ‘free’ position, although still connected to the belt, the
cords are long enough to allow the subject relatively free movement of his
arms and hands (for example, for eating). In the ‘retracted’ position, the
subject’s hands are pulled in to the front of the belt, where they can be
further secured by a snap-lock fastened mesh.” Inspectors described the
waist belt as “almost equivalent … to the most extreme and very rarely
used” restraint equipment in prisons. The belts were introduced by the Home
Office as part of a new training program for deportation staff, that was
prompted by the unlawful killing of Angolan deportee Jimmy Mubenga by G4S
guards in 2010. The independent panel that advised on the use of the new
equipment warned last year that “indiscriminate use of the restraint belt
was not justifiable ethically or legally”. It said ministers would have to
approve its introduction and it should only be used as “an exceptional
measure”. The coroner who presided over the inquest into Mubenga’s death
wrote in a Prevention of Future Deaths Report in July 2013: “It goes
without saying that the use of a body-cuff would constitute a significant
interference in the bodily integrity of any person to whom it is applied.
Dignity and bodily integrity are matters in which close regard must be had
in determining what new techniques are to be introduced.” Yet HM
Inspectorate of Prisons has found that the waist restraint belts “were now
embedded in practice” and that they risked “being overused”. On three
flights to Nigeria and Ghana, the belts were used ten times. Inspectors
said that “the justification for several of these uses was not explicit in
the records” which they examined. On another flight, the belt was used on
eight passengers, even though five of them did not resist being put on the
flight. Inspectors said: “while risk factors were used to justify each
case, the evidence was sometimes minimal.” Some authorisation forms for
using restraints “did not indicate what specific risk factors might have
existed”, and lacked sufficient detail, the inspectors noted. This appears
to falls short of the Home Office’s own guidance on the use of these belts,
which requires a senior manager to record “whether the restraint was
reasonable, proportionate and necessary”. Two detainees arrived at the
airport “in a small van that had been contaminated with their urine”. The
men were then kept in the van for several hours, which, according to the
inspectors, was “unacceptable treatment”. The inspectors noted that one
man, who was on suicide watch, had lived in Britain for 15 years and was
being taken away from his mother who was very ill in hospital here. Another
man who was placed in one of the waist restraint belts had been on suicide
watch for the previous six months in a series of detention centres. The
investigative organisation Corporate Watch tracked down one detainee who
was on the same deportation flight as the man on suicide watch mentioned in
the inspectors’ report. Speaking under the condition of anonymity, the
witness described the scene on board: “A lot of people were tied up, in
like a vest on your tummy and arms,” he said. “They tightened up the back
so you cannot move and you have pain in your back. You cannot move your
hands. They put people on that plane like animals.” Corporate Watch spoke
to one former detainee who claims he was recently restrained by guards in a
device which sounds similar to the new belts. He says it blocked his
airflow and caused him to pass out. He spoke anonymously, fearing reprisals
from the Home Office: “The guards tried to pin me down with their legs and
their knees. After some time they put a belt from under my my armpit down
to my abdomen. They started tightening it and I was screaming and screaming
‘This is too tight for me!’” He went on: “After some time I passed out –
there was no air. Someone shouted that they should put me in the recovery
position. I was in panic and hyperventilating. They held my head and tried
to force a tablet into my mouth. I was choking and gagging for 30 minutes.”
Despite his passing out, the guards continued trying to deport him, the man
claimed. “They put me in a wheelchair and moved me into the deportation
van. On the way to the airport my condition deteriorated and they called an
ambulance on the motorway and I went to hospital for some hours.” He says
he was taken to hospital in handcuffs, despite the new Home Office policy.
“I was still handcuffed on the way to hospital. The handcuffs cut the bone
of my wrist and I’m having pain in the scrotum and lower back from the
assault,” he said. In the days before one of the deportation flights
featured in the inspection reports, volunteers at the Unity Centre in
Glasgow spoke to many of the men facing deportation. Among them were
fathers leaving behind their partners and young children. The sense of fear
and desperation was strong. One young man, Fred (not his real name), scaled
the fence at Harmondsworth detention centre. The inspectors said this
caused “considerable delay” in taking people to the airport. Whenever Home
Office officials tried to come near him, Fred threatened to jump. A
mattress was placed underneath him. The flight left without him, and
at the end of the night he came down from the fence. One week later
Corporate Watch visited Fred in detention. He said he was born in Sierra
Leone, where his father, an aid worker with the British Red Cross, was
killed during the civil war. He had lived in the UK since he was 11 years
old with his surviving family. He said all the detainees were talking about
not wanting to go on the flight, “but no one was doing anything. So I got
up the fence and they couldn't touch me”. At 24, he had spent the past two
years of his life in detention, apart from one brief spell when he was
released on tag, and required to walk miles each day to report to the Home
Office. His face was vacant and expressionless. Detention was sucking the
life out of him. He was being deported on the basis of police ‘intelligence’,
not evidence or convictions, of association with a London gang. Operation
Nexus allows the Met Police to bar people from the UK if officers believe
someone is not conducive to the public good. Despite Fred’s desperate
resistance, he was later deported to Sierra Leone. Another deportation
flight for dozens of Nigerians from London to Lagos, is scheduled for
Tuesday 24th November. Campaigners from Movement for Justice rallied
outside the Nigerian High Commissioner on Wednesday 18th, and women in Yarl’s
Wood detention centre published a statement opposing the flight, saying “we
refused to be slaves to the British government”.
Jun
27, 2015 eveningtelegraph.co.uk
PRISON
VAN DRIVER CHARGED AFTER MULTI-VEHICLE CRASH ON EDGE OF DUNDEE
The driver of a van which crashed
while carrying three prisoners has been charged with careless driving. The
44-year-old man was given an on-the-spot fine following the smash near
Longforgan yesterday which also involved two other lorries. There were
three male prisoners and two staff members inside the G4S van at the time
of the crash about 11am. While the prisoners were all accounted for
following the impact — a gaping hole was left in the side of the van. The
ambulance service also attended and three people were taken to Ninewells
Hospital with minor injuries. The collision caused significant traffic
delays on the westbound carriageway, with police asking motorists not to
slow down as they looked at the crash. One eyewitness told the Tele they
believed the G4S van had collided with the back of one of the lorries. He
added: “I was just driving towards Perth along the A90 and about two miles
past the Bullionfield garage, just before the Longforgan turn-off, it
looked like there was a nasty crash between a lorry and a prison van. “The
traffic was down to one lane and there was a long build-up of cars and
lorries. “I got a good look at it and it looks like one of those white
prison vans that goes back and forward to court was involved. “The
left-hand door of the prison van was completely ripped off. “I didn’t see
any prisoners, but I passed two ambulances going back to Ninewells, so they
must have been carrying people. “To me, it looked like the prison van has
collided with the back of the lorry — it’s caved in at the back.” A spokeswoman
for Police Scotland confirmed officers were investigating. She added:
“Three people have been injured after two lorries and a van collided near
to the Bullionfield filling station. “The extent of the injuries is not
known, but an ambulance was in attendance.” One lane was closed for about
two hours while emergency services dealt with the incident, but it reopened
just before 1pm.
Apr
18, 2015 mirror.co.uk
Union leaders criticised the security company after guards were given the
notices on Wednesday in swoops on hospitals in Scotland. Union bosses have
slammed 'disgraceful' G4S bosses after security guards were given
redundancy notices – while handcuffed to dangerous prisoners. The stunned
workers were escorting cons on visits to hospitals when bosses broke the
news that their contracts were being ripped up. Union leaders said they
were given the choice of redundancy or cuts to pay and hours that would
cost more than £4000 a year. They said 56 guards got the letters, and at
least 10 of them were cuffed to prisoners at the time. Steve Farrell of the
guards’ union, Community, said: “In 20 years, I’ve never heard of such an
inhumane way of treating staff. “It was humiliating, degrading and a total
disgrace. G4S should be ashamed. “In 2015, there are many ways of
communicating with people. It’s a terrible indignity to serve such a letter
in front of someone else, never mind a handcuffed prisoner.” The guards
were given the letters on Wednesday in swoops on hospitals in Perth,
Glasgow and Wishaw, Lanarkshire, reports the Daily Record. Other workers
affected had letters hand-delivered to their homes the next day – by
colleagues who normally monitor offenders on tags or early release
programmes. Mr Farrell said police were called to one house after a guard’s
wife refused to accept the letter and the person delivering it was
“persistent to the point of causing offence”. He claimed G4S were
scrambling to save money after signing a “loss leader” Scottish Government
contract that they couldn’t make pay. He urged bosses to negotiate. G4S
said overall staff numbers in their prisoner escort business had increased,
but 50 roles were being made redundant as part of a “restructuring”. A
spokesman said: “We have taken steps to help these colleagues through this
change. All those affected have been
offered alternative roles, financial support and protection of their hours.
“We took the decision to inform all those affected at the same time, and
regrettably this meant some colleagues were on duty. We are sorry for any
distress this caused.”
Mar
1, 2015 shropshirestar.com
Riot jail inmates were overseen by
just two prison officers from security firm. Just two prison officers were
in charge of 59 prisoners, including one from Telford, when a riot broke
out at HMP Oakwood that saw staff lose control for nine hours, the
Shropshire Star can reveal. Inmates caused damage estimated at
£171,000 as they ran rampage at the £160 million super-jail, which
takes prisoners from Shropshire. Security firm G4S, which runs the prison
in Featherstone, and the Ministry of Justice say the staffing level on the
day was “comparable” to those at public sector jails. The prisoners took
over two levels of Cedar wing at 5pm on January 4 last year, barricading
themselves inside and putting glue in locks to prevent them from working.
Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said
officers had to be highly trained. She said: “It is not just a case of
number crunching, it depends of the environment. If you have got violence,
bullying, attempted suicides and drug problems, which we know there have
been at Oakwood, then you need staff with that expertise and knowledge. For
there to be a riot with two officers covering 59 prisoners it makes you
question what they were doing.” Prisoners threw TVs and even tried to
tunnel out as they ran amok. Windows were smashed and booby-traps set,
while a pool table was tipped over and large flat-screen TVs thrown down
the stairs. A 62-strong riot team with dogs was needed to restore order.
Six prisoners were given sentences for their roles in the riot last week,
including Daniel Jeffrey Rust, 23, from Telford. A Prison Service spokesman
said: “Staffing levels across the estate are strictly risk-assessed and we
will always ensure that there are enough staff to deliver safe and
effective prison regimes. Oakwood prison staffing levels are comparable to
those in similar prisons in the public sector.” The prison, close to the
M54 in Staffordshire, serves Shropshire and the West Midlands. South Staffordshire
MP Gavin Williamson said: “The issue here is that you have to make sure you
have enough staff to respond quickly to disperse and prevent incidents such
as this quickly. Obviously this did not happen in this case but we have to
remember it was the atrocious and unforgivable behaviour of a number of
prisoners as to why this violent disorder broke out.”
Feb
18, 2015 staffordshirenewsletter.co.uk
BULLYING, self-harm, and drug addictions – a penal reform charity has
responded to continued problems at Oakwood Prison in Featherstone. The
Howard League for Penal Reform has responded to Her Majesty’s Inspectorate
of Prisons’ report, published today, on the G4S-run prison. When inspectors
visited Oakwood in June 2013, they found high levels of violence and self-harm.
Prisoners even claimed that “you can get drugs here but not soap”. The
report, based on an announced follow-up inspection conducted last December,
noted some improvements but rated Oakwood as “not sufficiently good” at
keeping prisoners safe and providing purposeful activity. Self-harm
remained a serious problem – there were 358 recorded incidents in the six
months prior to the inspection – and the number of men on suicide watch was
very high. Inspectors noted that the prison was calmer than before and
staff had become more experienced, but bullying and victimisation were
rife, mainly linked to drugs, medicine and debt. The worst violence was
found on the vulnerable prisoner wing, where many prisoners felt unsafe.
Use of force incidents were double the number in comparable prisons. Use of
segregation was high and had increased since the last inspection. The
regime on the segregation unit was poor and only one in four prisoners said
they had been treated well by staff.
Healthcare had improved since the last inspection, but still
suffered from chronic staffing shortages. Drugs were still easily
available, with use of the legal high ‘black mamba’ being a particular
problem. More prisoners than elsewhere said that they had developed a
problem with drugs at the prison. Many reported that alcohol was available.
One in five prisoners was locked up during the working day. This was an
improvement since the last inspection, but still not good enough. Much of
the work was unskilled, mundane and without accreditation. Teaching quality
varied significantly and was rated as “requires improvement” by Ofsted.
Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said:
“The powers-that-be seem to be living in a Wonderland where there is no
recognition that there are still safety problems in Oakwood.
"Thousands of people have gone through the prison. Many have come out
more dangerous and even acquired a drug addiction. “Oakwood only opened in
2012, but the years of failure will have created thousands of extra victims
and the powers-that-be are ignoring the plight of those victims. “We are
told that lessons are learned but every single private prison ever opened
has started with huge problems – and some both continue to have, and to
cause, huge problems.”
Aug
23, 2014 theguardian.com
Campaigners have criticised private
firms for using immigration detainees as cheap labour inside detention
centres after research suggested this saves them millions of pounds. Some
detainees said they were being paid as little as £1 an hour to cook and
clean. Home Office figures showed that in May this year, detainees in
centres run bySerco, G4S and other contractors did nearly 45,000 hours of
work for a total of nearly £45,500 in pay. Had they been paid at the
national minimum wage, the cost would have been more than £280,000. Over 12
months, the figures suggest that the firms – which also include Mitieand
GEO – could have saved more than £2.8m, according to research group
Corporate Watch, which obtained the data, and said firms were
"exploiting their captive migrant workforce". The Home Office
insisted, however, that detainees had a choice whether or not to work and
that inspectors had praised the practice of allowing them to work while
they await removal from the UK. One female detainee, who spent months in
the Yarl's Wood centre in Bedfordshire, where she was employed as a
cleaner, said she believed the detainees were being used to do essential
work in place of staff paid the minimum wage. Another detainee, Ralph
Ojotu, who works as a cleaner in Harmondsworth detention centre, said that
it was hypocritical of the British government to ban him from working to
support his two children in the outside world, but to allow him to be
employed on around £1 an hour in a detention centre run by its contractor
GEO. "We are not allowed to work out there, but in here, they are
handing out jobs like pieces of cake," he said. The figures relate to
seven centres: Yarl's Wood and Colnbrook, which are operated by Serco;
Brook House and Tinsley House, which are run by G4s; and Harmondsworth and
Dungavel, which are managed by American firm GEO. The seventh centre,
Campsfield, is run by Mitie. Two government-run centres, Dover and Morton
Hall, also employ detainees on £1 per hour, potentially saving more than
£1.4m per year. Phil Miller, a researcher at Corporate Watch, said:
"These companies are potentially saving millions of pounds by
exploiting their captive migrant workforce on a grand scale. Our research
has shown that the detention centres would grind to a halt without the
amount of essential work done by detainees on a daily basis – cooking and
cleaning." The status of immigration detainees held in centres while
their cases are decided is distinct from that of convicted prisoners. Yet,
like prison inmates, they do not qualify for the national minimum wage.
They are also barred from any other form of work, yet must pay for
essential goods such as toiletries. The latest financial figures from G4S
in the UK and Ireland show that the company made £122m in pre-tax profit in
2013, while Serco made £106m in the same period. Mitie's accounts show it
made £127.5m in the 12 months to June 2014, while GEO's US-based parent,
GEO Group Inc, reported £184m in pre-tax profit. On behalf of the firms, a
Home Office spokesman said: "The long-standing practice of offering
paid work to detainees has been praised by Her Majesty's inspectorate of
prisons as it helps to keep them occupied whilst their removal is being
arranged. Whether or not they wish to participate is entirely up to the
detainees themselves. This practice is not intended to substitute the work
of trained staff." Wyn Jones, of Serco, said the paid work was
voluntary and in accordance with Home Office rules. He added: "It is
offered to residents alongside other constructive activities to help reduce
boredom and improve mental health and, if not conducted, would have no
effect on the running of the [centres]. Serco refutes any implication that
we use residents to conduct work in place of officers or staff at any of
the IRCs that we manage and thereby increase profits."
Aug
10, 2014 bbc.com
Police concern at G4S home plan for
Wellingborough Police were called to 200 incidents at G4S children's homes
in Northamptonshire last year, officers say in a report raising concerns
about a new home planned for Wellingborough. G4S has applied to the borough
council to allow a home in Hatton Avenue to be used to house up to five
girls and boys aged from 10 to 17 with two carers.
Northamptonshire Police said that a
new home would add to its workload. G4S said: "We cannot comment on
planning applications." The police report said: "Police officers
have spent at least 90 hours dealing with initial reports of absent/missing
persons with the Northamptonshire G4S homes. "Should the local
authority be minded to grant permission for this proposal Northamptonshire
Police will need a robust management plan from the applicant, setting out
policies and procedures for minimising crime and disorder, dealing with
disruptive children/young people within their care and the policy related
to missing persons." The plans have also received more than 100
objections with residents expressing concern that the home would attract an
"excessive number of police visits" and bring increased traffic
to the street. G4S said in a report to the council that it is a
"recognised quality provider within children's services". The
plans will be considered by Wellingborough Borough Council's planning
committee later on in the year.
Jul
19, 2014 ft.com
G4S, the private security company,
has lost a contract to run detention cells in Wales, in a blow to a sector
that had been expecting a wave of police outsourcing work. South Wales
Police Force said it was scrapping plans to issue a fresh contract for the
management of so-called custody suites, including risk assessments,
identity checks and guarding detainees. G4S had been paid £3m over the past
five years for the contract, which it had held for a decade. The move
follows a decision by Avon and Somerset Police not to outsource custody
suites, despite running a year-long competition among private sector
providers to provide detention centres, detainee transport and
identification services. Both forces said it was cheaper to run the
services in-house. Alun Michael, police and crime commissioner for South
Wales, and a former Labour home secretary, said keeping the staff in-house
was the “most effective and cost-efficient system for dealing with custody
across South Wales”. Peter Vaughan, chief constable for the South Wales Police
Force, agreed it would “provide a better organisational fit”. Analysts
suggest that police outsourcing has stalled partly as a result of the
election of police and crime commissioners, which has politicised the
process in some areas. About a third of the UK’s 41 PCCs, elected on a
dismal voter turnout in November 2012, had campaigned on a no-privatisation
manifesto, according to a study by the University of Leeds. Stuart Lister,
senior lecturer in criminal justice at Leeds, said that although many chief
constables are supportive of greater moves towards outsourcing given the
need for forces to make 20 per cent cost savings by 2015, PCCs are more
concerned with public perceptions because they need to be re-elected.
“You’ve got professional police officers suggesting one thing and elected
police commissioners doing another,” he said. “The short-term political
imperatives appear to be a buttress against the trend towards outsourcing
but the wider political and financial pressures suggest it will remain a realistic
prospect. The government also remains supportive of the push towards
outsourcing.” Around 16 Conservative police and crime commissioners were
elected; 13 Labour and 12 Independent. “Where they are red and where they
are blue you may find different political approaches to how costs are
reduced,” said Mr Lister. The prospects for police service outsourcing were
badly damaged by criticism of a £1.5bn deal proposed by West Midlands and
Surrey forces in March 2012. Facing far-reaching budget cuts, the force
wanted to save cash and bridge a £126m funding gap, but the plan was
cancelled by Bob Jones, a recently deceased Labour police commissioner,
within days of his election after concerns were raised about the inclusion
of operational police duties such as carrying out patrols. Companies argue
that much of the political controversy is unwarranted and that the biggest
savings come from administrative improvements rather than operational and
frontline services. Staff account for about 80 per cent of police expenditure.
They say that by taking over more mundane roles, trained police officers
will be freed to do their traditional jobs and that cuts to police budgets
mean authorities will have little alternative to outsourcing if they are to
preserve frontline services. “We would have expected to have seen much more
movement in the market by now,” said one private sector operator. “There’s
a lot of failed bids right now; organisations are holding the competitions
and then failing to award the contracts having spent the time and money on
the procurement process.” The private sector’s hopes had been raised by
Lincolnshire police’s trailblazing deal with G4S, which encompassed the
widest spectrum of services offered in a single contract by a British
police authority. The £200m, 10-year contract involved the transfer of half
the force’s civilian staff to the private security company. A report on the
second year of operation is expected soon after the first year showed it
had delivered 18 per cent savings and trimmed £5m from the force’s budget,
while improving services and increasing frontline staff numbers. But unions
warn that companies are achieving cost reductions by employing civilian
rather than police staff. Research by Suffolk Police shows that such
savings are significant: a uniformed drugs liaison officer, for example,
would earn £45,229 a year – 39 per cent more than a civilian doing the same
job at £27,443; a uniformed sergeant would earn £54,651 if employed
directly by the state, compared with £34,030 by the private sector.
Jun
30, 2014 opendemocracy.net
• For almost an hour after Steve Ham
was found unresponsive, G4S guards failed to call an ambulance
• Panic, inexperience, understaffing
and lack of transparency exposed at UK's flagship private prison
In the early hours of Thursday 6
February 2013, in his cell at Oakwood Prison, Edward Ham, known to friends
and family as Steve, rang the emergency bell. He told officers he had chest
pains. The time was 3.29 am. Guards at the Birmingham jail, which is run
for profit by security company G4S, monitored Ham, but failed to call a
doctor. On checking Ham at 4.52 am, G4S officer Anita Duggal “knew
something was wrong because there was no response from him.” She told the
inquest into Ham’s death at Stafford Coroner's Court last week: “I went in
his cell after getting approval from my manager to see if there was a pulse
but there wasn’t.” Even though all staff were trained in first-aid it took
12 minutes before anybody attempted CPR. It was 53 minutes before an
ambulance was called. “They all thought one of them had called an ambulance
when in fact none of them had,” paramedic Neil Weaver said in a statement
read out at the inquest. Prison officer Sarah Hollyhead told the court: “It
was my belief that there was a defibrillator available but it was locked
away.” She said: “We were given demonstrations on defibrillators but were
not allowed to test them out.” The inquest heard that the two private
prison officers had less than two years’ experience between them. Both
officers accepted that they had panicked. One was too fearful to enter
Ham’s cell. When paramedics arrived at 6.20am, almost three hours after Ham
had complained of chest pains, it was immediately apparent to them that he
was dead. Steve Ham was 54 years old. Last week South Staffordshire coroner
Andrew Haigh concluded that Ham had died of ischemic heart disease. The
cause of death was “natural causes in a man who received sub-optimal care”.
The coroner said he would make a report regarding staffing levels at the
jail. HMP Oakwood is run by G4S, the self-styled “world’s leading security
company” that is currently under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office
for inflating fees on public contracts. Under what’s known as a “manage and
maintain” contract, over 15 years G4S is due to get £349 million of public
money for running Oakwood. (That’s according to Ministry of Justice FOI
response reference 82754 June 2013). When the prison opened two years ago,
minister of justice Chris Grayling, a former PR man, told Parliament: “We
have a very good model for prison development in Oakwood… To my mind, it is
an excellent model for the future of the Prison Service.” [Hansard, 5
February 2013] G4S declared Oakwood's ambition to be, within five years,
“the leading prison in the world”. The prison would be “‘restorative’ in
the widest sense of the word,” said G4S. And here’s how: “Prisoners and
staff will be encouraged to repair individual or group harm as soon as possible
and at the lowest level. Staff will
contribute to reducing re-offending by acting pro-socially and modelling
socially acceptable and desirable traits.”
Eh? Ever since the first prisoners
moved in (before the builders had moved out) in April 2012, G4S has failed
to deliver the basics. In July last year even the Ministry of Justice
expressed “serious concern” over Oakwood, granting the prison its lowest
possible rating. The Howard League for Penal Reform called that a “damning
indictment” of for-profit companies’ involvement in justice. In August,
Oakwood’s Independent Monitoring Board reported that:
• A very high level of staff had
little or no prison experience, and high rates of sickness left too few
staff for front-line duties.
• Cell furniture was made of cheap
fibre-board that was easy to break up into weapons
• The stairwells, out of sight of
CCTV cameras, were perfect for assaults
• Hooch, drugs and mobile phones were
plentiful; it was easy to throw contraband into the grounds, there being only
one perimeter fence instead of the usual two
• Self-harm was a worry — several
prisoners had gone over the landing railings; there were no nets
(You can access the PDF here).
In October HM Inspectorate of Prisons
(reporting on their unannounced visit in June) found those faults and more.
Well over a third of inmates were locked up during the working day.
Prisoners found it was easier to get drugs than soap. Levels of self-harm
were high. “Many staff were passive and compliant, almost to the point of collusion,”
said Chief Inspector of Prisons Nick Hardwick, “and there was clear
evidence of staff failing to tackle delinquency or abusive behaviour.” He
went on:
The inexperience of staff was
everywhere evident and systems to support routine services were creaky, if
they existed at all . . . Against all four healthy prison tests: safety,
respect, activity and resettlement, the outcomes inspectors observed were
either insufficient or poor. In January this year, G4S and their Ministry
of Justice handlers tried to pass off serious disturbances at the prison as
“an incident of concerted indiscipline”. G4S insisted that only 15 to 20
prisoners had been involved. But a member of the emergency “tornado team”
brought in to quash the disturbance told BBC’s Radio 4’s investigative
programme The Report that many more prisoners had been involved and they
had taken over an entire wing of the jail. “Wires had been strung as
tripwires at leg level and at chest and neck level as well, to try and
prevent us from moving in an orderly fashion down the wing and sort of
break us as we went through,” said the tornado team officer. “I would sum
it up as a full-scale prison riot and we were very lucky that it only took
place on one unit and didn’t spread.” Chris Grayling's exemplar of private
sector efficiency has leaned heavily upon publicly funded police and
ambulance emergency services. In the year before the riot, 128 emergency
calls had been made from the prison to Staffordshire police, according to
information obtained by the Wolverhampton Express & Star under
the Freedom of Information Act. In the year after Ham’s death,
Oakwood staff called an ambulance 358 times — more than twice as much as
any comparable jail, the BBC revealed. The week after Steve Ham died, the
Prisons Ombudsman’s investigator visited Oakwood to try to establish what
had happened. In accordance with normal procedure the investigator issued
notices to staff and prisoners inviting anyone with information to contact
the investigator. Nobody came forward. That’s HMP Oakwood, the blueprint
for a privatised future. By G4S, “Securing your World”. Note: Quotations
from witnesses’ evidence are taken from Wolverhampton Express & Star
court reports, and an account supplied by No5 Chambers; barrister Ian
Brownhill represented two members of Ham’s family at the inquest. A Report
by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman Nigel Newcomen CBE: Investigation
into the death of a man in February 2013 at HMP Oakwood, completed August
2013, to due to be published soon.
Jun
7, 2014 (Updates with confirmation from Gates Foundation)
(Reuters) - Microsoft Corp co-founder
Bill Gates has sold his entire stake in G4S Plc , the British security firm
trying to bounce back from a series of scandals that have hurt its
reputation and profits. Cascade Investment, a firm owned by Bill Gates that
manages assets exclusively for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Trust, had last June disclosed a stake in G4S, when its holding crossed the
3 percent threshold for the first time. A filing on May 28 showed the
holding was reduced below 3 percent, and a spokesman for the Gates
Foundation told Reuters on Saturday it no longer held any interest in G4S.
G4S declined comment. G4S, which runs services such as cash transportation
and prison management in more than 125 countries, is in the middle of
overhauling its sprawling business, shaking up management, cutting costs,
improving customer service and restructuring weak divisions to help revive
its fortunes. Having failed to provide enough security guards for the London
2012 Olympics, G4S suffered another scandal last July when, alongside rival
Serco Group Plc, it was banned from new UK government work after being
found to have charged for monitoring criminals who were dead, in prison or
not tagged at all. On Thursday G4S's own security guards ejected protesters
from its annual shareholders' meeting, after they criticised the company's
work in Israel, where it provides security at prisons and occupied
Palestinian territories. Gates's investments range from stakes in the
Canadian National Railway Co to drinks group Diageo Plc. The Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation works to eradicate the world's most deadly
diseases and poverty. (Reporting by Neil Maidment in London and Doina
Chiacu in Washington; Editing by David Holmes and Sonya Hepinstal.
May
10, 2014 greenleft.org.au
Iranian asylum seeker and aspiring
architect Reza Berati was beaten to death inside the Manus Island detention
camp more than two months ago, during what former employees of the
detention centre described as “inevitable bloodshed”. Now, the five
witnesses who say they can identify those who allegedly kicked, punched and
beat the 23-year-old until he succumbed to massive head injuries, have been
receiving death threats from local security guards. Their lawyers have
filed urgent requests to the High Court to have the witnesses placed in
protective custody in Australia, saying they are “gravely concerned” about
the men's safety. But the refugees remain in the Manus camp and are afraid
to speak to PNG police. All five were seriously injured during the violence
as well. One was shot in the buttock while running away and beaten again.
Another was held down and slashed across the throat. Yet this has not been
the first challenge PNG police have encountered while investigating the
alleged murder. Lawyer Ruth Hudson said previous attempts by police to get
access to the witnesses have been “routinely thwarted” by staff. G4S guards,
both Australians and locals, have refused to cooperate with local
investigations. Two Australians also emerged as suspects in the death, but
have since returned to Australia. Requests to have them extradited to PNG
have been ignored. The Australian Federal Police have been speaking to the
guards, but have also neglected to cooperate with the local investigations.
Of the five official inquiries into conditions in the Manus Island camp and
the human rights of the asylum seekers, two that were being headed up by
Justice David Cannings were stonewalled in PNG's domestic courts — with
Australian backing. Jay Williams, the barrister who obtained the original
affidavits detailing the brutal assault on Berati, was forcibly deported
from Manus Island in March. But more allegations keep coming. The
Australian Senate inquiry into the violence has received a submission from
whistleblower Liz Thompson, who was working as a migration agent for the
immigration department when the violence occurred. The submission included
more witness accounts that said Berati and others were beaten with a
baseball bat, and named a Salvation Army worker, “Joshua”, as its carrier.
A postmortem assessment of Berati's body in February suggested he had
suffered injuries caused by “a heavy [piece of] timber or wood or some such
object”. Thompson wrote in the submission that the violence was ultimately
the design of the Australian government: “It is my belief that DIBP
[Department of Immigration and Border Protection] manufactured an atmosphere
of extreme hostility, suspicion and tension through its actions in the
weeks leading up to February 16th and displayed utter disregard for the
welfare of injured and traumatised asylum seekers and frontline staff such
as interpreters in the immediate aftermath.” Asylum seekers said in a
petition to Prime Minister Tony Abbott that they have been “under military
attack that caused us to lose one of our friends forever after more than
seven months of suffering from continuous pressure and humiliation in this
prison”. The petition requests that they be sent to Indonesia. The lawyers
of the five murder witnesses have also submitted a separate habeas corpus
writ on behalf of more than 350 detainees on Manus Island that alleges
human rights violations and international crimes against humanity by the
Australian and Papua New Guinean governments, and immigration minister
Scott Morrison. Former employees of the Manus detention camp told ABC's
Four Corners they knew a violent outbreak was inevitable. Steve Kilburn said:
“I'd say that within a week of arriving on Manus Island I formed the
opinion … that there is only one possible outcome here, and that is
bloodshed … “We couldn't guarantee the safety of those people, and we still
can't.” Another witness told the program: “The reality is that if somebody
from outside wants to come in and do harm to those people, there's not a
lot we can do to stop it, especially if they're armed, or en masse.” Four
Corners reporter Geoff Thompson said there were three “pressure points” in
the centre: the different ethnicities of asylum seekers forced to live in
cramped, stressful conditions; the presence of PNG locals living near the
fences of the centre; and the uncertainty faced by the asylum seekers.
Indeed, the peaceful protests within the centre's compound began after a
meeting revealed to asylum seekers that PNG had no plan to resettle them as
refugees. They faced repatriation to their home countries, or a life
sentence in detention. If charges are ever laid against anyone for the terrifying
bloodshed that took place in the Australian-run detention centre, it will
be in spite of Australia's apparent wish to sweep it under the rug.
Morrison's admission to Four Corners that, despite his “aspiration”, the
Australian government cannot actually ensure the safety of asylum seekers
sent to the offshore detention centres shows that even the violent murder
of someone who only asked for a safer and better life is no impetus to
reverse this appalling regime. In fact, the Manus Island and Nauru detention
centres are being expanded as six onshore detention centres are being
closed. The expected closures of the Northern immigration detention centre,
the Darwin Airport Lodge, Inverbrackie in South Australia, Curtin detention
centre in Western Australia and two sites on Christmas Island would
apparently save $280 million. Small change compared with the more than $1
billion contract Transfield holds to run the offshore nightmare camps.
Mar
22, 2014 presstv.ir
UK private security firm under fire
for death of Angolan Father of five, Jimmy Mubenga died on October 12th,
2010 and his family have spent nearly four years campaigning for the G4S
officers they hold responsible for his death to be brought to trial. Now
Colin Kaler, Terrence Hughes and Stuart Tribelnig are facing manslaughter
charges. Kuka Nyoh fought his own deportation and says the officers are
poorly trained and the companies only interested in the bottom line. When
the three men, scheduled to stand trial at this court on April 7 make their
first appearance, there'll be a sense of disappointment from some quarters
who believe standing beside them in the docks should have been senior
officials from G4S who should have been brought up on corporate
manslaughter charges. The CPS ruled that there was insufficient evidence to
bring charges against the world’s largest private security contractor.
Campaigners want an oversight body to monitor deportations and for the use
of private contractors to be scaled back. The three accused all maintain
their innocence.
Mar 22, 2014 opendemocracy.net
On Thursday the Crown Prosecution
Service announced that three former G4S guards, Stuart Tribelnig, Terry
Hughes and Colin Kaler, would stand trial for the manslaughter of Jimmy
Mubenga on a BA plane in October 2010. Long before Mubenga's death, Lord
Ramsbotham was among those who warned repeatedly that Home Office
contractors used dangerous methods of restraint. Jimmy Mubenga died aged 46
under restraint by three G4S guards in October 2010. When, in 2012, the
Crown Prosecution Service announced that it had decided not to bring any
charges against the three G4S detainee custody officers, under whose
restraint Jimmy Mubenga, who was being returned to Angola, died in an
airliner at Heathrow, I described the decision as ‘perverse’. I did so
because, at the time, I was chairing a National Independent Inquiry into
Enforced Removals, during which we had been told that the restraint
techniques used on Jimmy Mubenga, had also been used by G4S staff in
Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre, resulting in the death of 15 year old
Gareth Myatt in 2004. Gareth Myatt died aged 15 under restraint by G4S
guards in 2004The Coroner at Gareth Myatt’s inquest had both condemned the
techniques, and instructed the Home Office to issue a warning about their
use. In the report of our inquiry, which I gave to the Home Secretary in
December 2012, I explained that we, and the House of Commons Home Affairs
Select Committee, had also been told that the Home Office continued to
require plainly inappropriate, pain-compliant, Prison Service restraint
techniques to be used by detainee custody officers, not having bothered to
find out that these had been rejected both by NHS special mental hospitals
and such as the Liverpool police on Mersey ferries. Warnings dismissed:
Outsourcing Abuse (Medical Justice, 2008) Foreword by
RamsbothamFurthermore, in 2008, on behalf of Medical Justice and other
organisations, I had given the then Home Secretary a dossier of 78 cases of
injuries inflicted during enforced removals, long before Jimmy Mubenga was
unlawfully killed. Therefore I hope that, now that the CPS has changed its
mind, and the three G4S employees are to be charged with manslaughter, the
Home Secretary will do the same, and, at last, take firm action to ensure
that Home Office enforced removal processes and procedures are made not
just fit for purpose, but no longer something of which a so-called
civilised nation should feel ashamed. The CPS change of direction came the
day after Channel 4 news had disclosed another appalling case involving the
death of someone during Home Office immigration procedures. Alois Dvorzak,
an 84 year old Canadian citizen, in transit from Canada to Slovenia, having
landed at Gatwick, was removed from his flight to Slovenia by officials and
taken to Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre. Alois Dvorzak died aged
84, handcuffed by GEO Group guards, Harmondsworth 2013As he was both
elderly and frail, and neither claiming nor seeking UK nationality, the
doctor at Harmondsworth tried to alert both the Home Office and the
Canadian High Commission to his plight, saying that he ought to be
released, so that he could continue his journey to his family. However, for
reasons that Ministers have yet to explain, Mr Dvorzak was in handcuffs
when he died, in the Harmondsworth Health Care Centre, three weeks later.
Lord Reid, when Home Secretary, famously said that the then Immigration and
Nationality Directorate was not fit for purpose. What these two cases prove
is that neither was its successor, the UK Border Agency, and nor, yet, is
there any proof that the new arrangements, announced by the Home Secretary
last year, are any better. The overall situation is not helped by
500,000 uncompleted cases, which are swamping the under-staffed immigration
bureaucracy. This backlog has not just arisen, but has built up over a
number of years, and represents a millstone around the Home Secretary’s
neck, which will impede any progress for years to come. But what all
this makes abundantly clear, as many people and organisations involved with
the immigration and asylum process have been trying to get across to
successive Home Secretaries for years, is that, if there is not to be more
avoidable damage, such as the tragic deaths of Messrs Mubenga and Dvorzak
while in the care of Home Office contracted staff, urgent remedial action
must start now.
Mar
9, 2014 wsws.org
Further testimony emerged this week
from witnesses of the brutal violence inflicted on refugees detained in an
Australian-run camp on Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island on the night of
February 17–18. One refugee, 23-year-old Iranian Kurd Reza Berati, was
killed, and several others were seriously wounded in the attack. An
employee of G4S, the British-based security company contracted by the
Australian government to run the Manus camp, spoke anonymously with the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and said he was “badly
traumatised after witnessing a frenzy of out of control violence.” He
explained that during the refugee protests, senior G4S personnel decided to
call in the Papua New Guinea (PNG) mobile squad, an Australian-funded
paramilitary unit that is notorious for its violence and criminal
activities. The G4S whistleblower told the ABC that he heard a discussion
between G4S managers, with one asking about handing over responsibility to
the PNG police, “Are you sure? Do you know the consequences of that?” The
reply was: “Yes, hand it over.” This account underscores the responsibility
of Australian authorities for the violent rampage that followed. The obvious
question is: who in Canberra was involved in this decision? As Immigration
Minister Scott Morrison has openly acknowledged, his department knew that
tensions were escalating in the camp, fuelled by the terrible conditions
endured by the 1,300 detainees and continued uncertainty about
resettlement. Australian authorities and the G4S were also aware that
hostility toward refugees had been whipped up among sections of the local
population. On Tuesday, the SBS network’s “Dateline” program broadcast an interview
with a Salvation Army worker in the camp who said that late last year local
residents attempted to storm the camp with machetes. In his ABC interview,
the G4S employee detailed what happened last month. The PNG paramilitary
forces fired a burst of warning shots, before standing back as armed local
residents, G4S security guards and other camp contractors went in and
attacked the refugees. “We saw them going in with machetes,” he explained.
“They had anything they could pick up: rocks, sticks, the poles from the
exercise weights. Once they knocked people to the ground, they were
stomping on their heads with their boots. A day later you could still see
guards and staff and cleaners walking around with blood on their boots.”
The G4S staffer confirmed previous reports from asylum seekers that their
assailants went through the centre, smashing down doors and attacking
everyone they could find. He explained that PNG police joined in the
violence: “The police went from room to room as well and held guns to people’s
heads and said, ‘If you don’t give me your cigarettes, we’re going to shoot
you’.” Numerous reports from those in contact with asylum seekers have
described the detainees’ fear of being attacked again. A Fairfax Media
article this week cited a “well-placed source employed at the Manus Island
detention centre” who said Reza Berati had been killed by a local employed
by the Salvation Army, which has a $75 million contract with the Australian
government to work at the camps on Manus and Nauru. “Everyone knows who
attacked him and is surprised no one has been taken into custody,” the
source said. Several refugees in the camp reported that Berati was in the
computer room when the violence began, then sought refuge in his room
before being attacked. He died, Fairfax Media reported, “after repeated
blows to the head, most likely by a piece of timber, a PNG autopsy found
last week.” Media reports indicate that the cleaning staff quickly scrubbed
the camp clean, mopping up blood, including in the area where Berati was
killed, compromising any investigation. Berati’s family held his funeral in
Tehran late last month, with 1,500 people from the Kurdish community
attending. The young man’s cousin angrily told reporters that Iraq’s former
president, Saddam Hussein, did not treat Iranian prisoners of war as badly
as the Australian government treated refugees from the country. Immigration
Minister Morrison initially lied about the incident, declaring that no
violence took place within the camp and blaming refugees for escaping. Amid
overwhelming evidence to the contrary, Morrison was forced to retract.
Manus camp staff, speaking anonymously, described seeing bullet casings and
bullet holes in centre walls. Photos taken inside the Manus camp and
published on a Facebook page appear to confirm these accounts, showing
lockers, walls, and doors with bullet holes. Other photographs showed
refugees, who held up their identity cards for the camera, with what
appeared to be knife or machete wounds to their heads and necks, and also
bad bruises and cuts to their eyes and noses. Prime Minister Tony Abbott
and Morrison are proceeding with an abject whitewash. The terms of the
official inquiry are almost entirely focused on strengthening “security”
and “intelligence” measures in the camp to suppress any more protests.
Robert Cornall, who is conducting the inquiry, was tasked by the previous
Labor government to conduct an “independent” review into revelations last
year by former Manus Island camp manager, turned whistleblower, Rod St George.
St George said immigration department officials knew that refugees were
being raped in the detention centre, treated, and then returned to the
single male compound where they were raped again. Cornall’s review flatly
denied this happened, and endorsed the management of the Manus camp. The
Abbott government is also supporting the investigations being carried out
by PNG authorities. These will no doubt produce blatant cover-ups. Prime
Minister Peter O’Neil, a long-time lackey of the Australian government, has
publicly denied that Manus Island residents were involved in any violence,
and also made the ludicrous accusation that the detained refugees had
firearms. The Labor Party and the Greens have initiated a Senate inquiry
into the Manus Island violence. The two parties bear direct responsibility
for what happened, with the Manus camp reopened as part of the revival of
the “Pacific Solution” by the previous Greens-backed Labor government. No
one should have any confidence in the Senate investigation, which will
begin next month. In the aftermath of the SIEV X disaster in which 353
refugees drowned at sea in 2001, the Labor Party initiated a parliamentary
investigation. Once evidence emerged that Australian officials knowingly
allowed the drownings, Labor lined up with the Howard government and shut
down the investigation, preventing senior military and other officials from
testifying under oath. The Manus Island killing, like the SIEV X disaster,
is a product of the reactionary “border protection” regime that the entire
Australian political establishment defends. In denying refugees their basic
democratic and legal right to seek asylum in the country, the ruling elite
has deliberately ratcheted up the violence and misery inflicted on detained
asylum seekers, as a “deterrent” to others thinking about fleeing to
Australia.
Mar
2, 2014 Tampa Tribune
AVON PARK — A report detailing how
and why 11 dozen juveniles rioted at Avon Park Youth Academy will be
released soon. “We’re still working on the IG’s investigation,” said Meghan
Speakes Collins, communications director for the Florida Department of
Juvenile Justice. The Inspector General’s report “is in the final stages.
It is to be released shortly, and it will outline the high points.” On the
night of Aug. 17, two rival gangs bet on a basketball game. At the Avon
Park Bombing Range, 10 miles northeast of the city, DJJ contracted with G4S
Youth Services of Tampa to teach job skills and treat mental health and
substance abuse to 16-19 year-old males at the 144-bed moderate-risk
prison. One group — Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd labeled them the St.
Pete gang — challenged the Orlando group to a basketball game. St. Pete
lost but reneged on a bet of three packages of soup, and a fight broke out.
When a G4S staffer tried to stop a
juvenile from walking into a restricted area, inmate Zayroux Graham hit him
in the mouth with a fist and knocked down the adult, Judd said. Other
inmates enticed the players to fight, which Avon Park Youth Academy G4S
staffers were unable to break up. More juveniles became rebellious, and the
melee was on. G4S staffers retreated into a structure near the gate. A few
minutes later, the Polk County 911 center received a “frantic call” that a
“full-blown riot” was in progress. Lt. Curtis Ludden said a dozen Highlands
County deputies responded to Avon Park Youth Academy, along with 140 Polk
County deputies, SWAT and K-9 teams, corrections officers, Fish &
Wildlife, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, state troopers, Sebring
police officers and EMS. G4S staffers were ushered out. “They were
terrified, and with good reason,” Judd said. One staffer fell during the
riot and injured a knee; she was taken to the hospital, treated and
released. No other staffers or law enforcement were injured. Seven juveniles
were transported to Florida Hospital Heartland in Sebring: one had a broken
leg, others had bruises, lower back pain, lacerations and one concussion.
“They weren’t trying to escape. They were inside the compound. Some of them
were riding around on golf carts and bicycles,” Ludden said. “We took about
120 of them into custody,” Ludden said. Most were handcuffed and wound up
in Polk County Jail. The 64 (DJJ counts 62) youths charged weren’t
misguided children, Judd said, they were hard-core thugs. G4S (formerly
Wackenhut Corp.), a worldwide corporation with 50,000 employees, “acted
appropriately,” DJJ Deputy Communications Director Heather DiGiacomo said.
G4S also had the appropriate number of staff on site. At a press conference
in September, Judd didn’t blame the G4S staff for letting the 138 juveniles
get out of control, but blamed DJJ for not equipping the staff with the
proper tools, which could have been as simple as pepper spray and flexible
handcuffs. “We will not be equipping them with pepper spray. That will not
change,” DiGiacomo said. “They do have plastic handcuffs. “There was no
contingency for this event,” said Judd. “The Department of Juvenile Justice
needs to understand that there is a difference between a ... child and a
hard-core thug.” Some of the rioters were just kids who had made serious
mistakes, Judd conceded, and he can’t be certain how many of the 138
inmates participated in the riot. But the 64 had been charged with more
than 900 previous crimes, an average of 15 each. Many were gang members, he
added. “The sad truth of this riot is that it was 100 percent preventable.
By DJJ rule, the G4S employees are not allowed to have any specialty
equipment.” “The sheriff stands by his original statements,” Carrie
Eleazer, the public information officer for Polk County Sheriff’s Office,
said Thursday. Since there was no video at the prison, Polk County deputies
prepared charges by relying on DJJ and G4S staffers, who recognized voices
over stolen staff radios, noted which juveniles were throwing punches, and
which were riding on staff golf carts. G4S Maintenance director Mark
Frederick Magrini estimated $350,000 in damage to the facility. All 64 were
charged with rioting and felony criminal mischief. Others were charged with
burglary, petit theft, breaking into a vending machine, contraband and
theft of a fire extinguisher. Three were to be charged with arson. None
were from Highlands County. They were from Alachua, Broward, Charlotte,
Columbia, Duval, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lee, Leon, Marion, Manatee,
Miami-Dade, Oklaloosa, Orange, Polk, Palm Beach, Pinnelas, Sarasota,
Seminole and Volusia counties. “Everyone accepted a plea deal to either
misdemeanor affray or misdemeanor criminal mischief,” Eleazer emailed
Thursday. DiGiacomo disagreed. “Per the state attorney, seven were ‘no
bills; 44 pled guilty, and 11 cases are pending. The majority were charged
with misdemeanors. About half returned to Avon Park; the rest were
transferred to another facility or remained in adult jail.” If this riot happened
again, what would be different? Video cameras have been installed,
DiGiacomo said. The 144 beds were reduced to 80 beds. “We have learned from
this experience,” DiGiacomo said. DJJ will wait for the IG’s report before
considering other changes, but the size of its 47 residential facilities
have already gotten smaller. “This was an anomaly. It is not something that
happens in DJJ programs, And we don’t want anything like this to ever
happen again.”
Feb
8, 2014 expressandstar.com
Claims of cover-up over trouble at
HMP Oakwood are denied Government chiefs have flatly denied there had been
a cover-up to hide the scale of the trouble at HMP Oakwood, amid
suggestions of a ‘full-scale riot’. Conflicting reports emerged after
trouble broke out on a wing at the G4S-run prison last month. An Oakwood
prison officer made the riot claims, alleging that doors were booby-trapped
and an entire wing of the £150 million superjail was trashed. The official
word from G4S and the Ministry of Justice was that the incident was
‘concerted indiscipline’ which took nine hours to resolve and involved up
to 20 prisoners, who threatened officers and caused damage to cells.
However, during a heated debate in the House of Commons, Prisons Minister
Jeremy Wright flatly denied the riot allegations. He told the House:
“There’s been no cover-up here. I went to Oakwood 10 days ago. I spoke to
an officer engaged in the incident, I also spoke to a prisoner who was
there at the time – though not involved – and I saw some of the CCTV
coverage too. “So I’m very clear about how serious that incident was. But
to describe it as a full-scale prison riot is, in my view, inaccurate.
“There were 20 prisoners involved in this incident out of a total of 1,600
in Oakwood. The wing is now back in use and the issue was professionally
resolved.”The minister was responding to a question from Labour MP Paul
Flynn, who told the Government to abandon its ‘PR spin’ and ‘tell the
truth’ about what had happened. During the session shadow justice minister
Jenny Chapman said more progress should have been made in the two years the
prison had been open. She told Mr Wright: “You are being way too complacent
about the failure of G4S at Oakwood and given the delay in the implementation
of the probation changes due to fears of public safety, how do we know you
are not going to be equally as tolerant with failure when you privatise
probation?” The minister replied saying there was no complacency and said
it was not unheard of that prisons which are running-up in the first two
years of operation have difficulties.
23
January 2014 JONATHAN BROWN
A nine-hour disturbance at a private
prison run by controversial operator G4S has been described as a “full
scale riot”. An unnamed member of the so-called Tornado squads sent
in to quell the violence at HMP Oakwood near Wolverhampton earlier this
month has claimed that inmates set tripwires and threatened officers as
they were leaving a wing strewn with debris, including iron bars. G4S said
the incident was "emphatically not a riot". A spokeswoman said:
"It was a disturbance involving 20 prisoners out of a prison of 1,600
which was confined to one wing. Oakwood – which has been dubbed “Jokewood”
by critics – is England’s largest prison and has been hailed by the
Government as a blueprint for the prison service of the future. At
the height of the violence inmates barricaded themselves in and overturned
pool tables. It took 10 days to return Cedar wing to full operation. The
officer told BBC Radio 4’s The Report that specially trained teams sent in
to quell the trouble were warned that the prisoners were “armed and
dangerous”. “They'd interfered with locks to try and prevent staff getting
into the wing and they were destroying everything they could get their
hands on. I did hear prisoners shouting threats, saying, 'We're ready for
you, come on - we're gonna get you' and words to that effect,” he said.
“Wires had been strung as tripwires at leg level and at chest and neck
level as well, to try and prevent us from moving in an orderly fashion down
the wing and sort of break us as we went through. “I would sum it up as a
full-scale prison riot and we were very lucky that it only took place on
one unit and didn't spread.” G4S said in a statement that the indiscipline
involved 15-20 inmates and that the trouble was rapidly contained. It was
initially reported that the disturbance had lasted for five hours although
it later emerged that it had taken nearly twice as long to bring the
situation back under control with G4S and the Ministry of Justice denying
claims that prison officers had been taken hostage. Jerry Petherick,
director of custodial and detention services at G4S was challenged over
claims that alcohol caused the violence and that illegal home brewing it
was a particular problem at Oakwood. He said illicit drink was a constant
feature of all prisons and that staff conducted routine searches,
confiscating and destroying alcohol found whilst those caught producing it
were punished. He said of the disturbance: “I've made it clear this was a
significant event. And of its type, in the spectrum of such events, it was
at the lower end of that spectrum.” An investigation is underway into the
cause of the incident. The £180m jail which is home to 1,600 category C
offenders was the scene of rooftop protests last year. HM Inspectorate of
Prisons (HMIP) reported inexperienced staff and high levels of violence and
self-harm. Prisoners claimed that it was easier to come by drugs including
heroin than it was to get soap. Labour has described the jail as “failing”.
G4S was heavily criticised for its botched handling of its Olympics
security contract in 2012 and has been under review by the Government
following revelations it overcharged for criminal-tagging contracts. G4S
also denied that drugs were readily available in the jail. The company said
it had invested heavily in anti-drug measures since the HMIP report.
Jan
11, 2014 ft.com Financial Times
When private security contractor G4S
opened Oakwood jail nearly two years ago, it said the facility would soon
be seen as “the leading prison in the world”. Its star-shaped housing
blocks form a constellation in the Wolverhampton countryside but despite
the modern design and bold ambitions, a nine-hour protest by Oakwood
inmates this week has cast further doubt on the competence of G4S and
raised questions about prison outsourcing in the UK. The most recent
disturbance – euphemistically described by a company executive as “an
incident of concerted ill-discipline” – is embarrassing for justice
secretary Chris Grayling, who two months ago said Oakwood was a “first
class” prison, It also fuels union claims that putting prisons under the
control of private contractors means compromising security. Even before the
Sunday night disturbance, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons had
criticised the inexperienced staff, high levels of violence and easy access
to drugs that have earned this jail the nickname “Jokewood”. Seizing on
this week’s unrest, Labour has suggested G4S should be given six months to
improve performance or lose the contract. The party’s attempt to curtail
justice outsourcing is in direct opposition to Mr Grayling’s plans for an
austerity-driven “rehabilitation revolution” that will open not only
prisons but also probation services to private sector competition –
bringing new contracts worth £500m a year into the criminal justice market
by early 2015. While this new drive has attracted controversy, it fits
Britain’s past form. The UK is far more relaxed than the rest of Europe
about private involvement in state security provision – only the US and
Australia have comparable levels of prison outsourcing. Currently 14 of 119
jails in England and Wales are under private management, with contracts
divided between G4S and its rivals Serco and Sodexo. Bernhard Frevel, a
criminal justice expert at the University of Applied Science of Public
Administration in North Rhine-Westphalia, explains this would not happen in
Germany, where they have “different feelings” about private security. “We
say that security and management of prisoners is a sovereign duty of the
court, and that should not be handed over to private organisations, they
should not become entangled in this,” he said. Criminal justice charities
in Britain have raised similar concerns. Juliet Lyon, director of the
Prison Reform Trust, is keen to avoid repeating the common stereotype of
“public good, private bad”, but she is wary of vested interests. “Any
company wants to grow a market, but in criminal justice the last thing you
want to do is to grow a prison market – you should be trying to shrink it,”
she says. The US experience shows that such fears are not unfounded. Under
the 2008 “cash for kids” scandal, two judges in northeastern Pennsylvania
were found guilty of handing out unusually long jail sentences to
juveniles, in return for payment from prison building and management
companies who were keen to swell the jail population. In the UK, prison
officers’ unions have more everyday anxieties. They argue that privatisation
has led to lower staff wages, less training for new officers and fewer
staff per prisoner, leading to a higher likelihood of protests and that
they will get out of hand. The Ministry of Justice will not disclose exact
prisoner to staff ratios, but officials suggested that in Oakwood the
figure is not dissimilar to the one officer to 30 inmate ratio common in
the public sector. However, the reality may be more nuanced. Following a
series of scandals, including ongoing fraud investigations, media interest
in G4S means that while the Oakwood incident was widely reported, three
protests at publicly-run Nottingham prison in early January were not. G4S
said this week that any new prison was “complex and challenging” operation
and that disturbances happened throughout the prison estate. “We know there
is much to do to bring Oakwood up to the standard we have achieved at our
other prisons,” the company said. One prison expert said that disturbances
at new year were predictable, given that prisoners were more likely to be
consuming home brewed alcohol made from fruit they had been given for
Christmas. Tom Gash, director of research at the Institute for Government,
believes that prison contracting has been handled well. “I would say this
is one area where government has gone about using private sector services
more effectively than other areas, because they have quite robust ways of
assessing which prisons are doing a good job and they can keep track of
that,” Mr Gash said. He even argues that outsourcing has been a “net gain”
for the UK prison system. “Competition between the different sectors has
actually pushed up performance overall,” he says. “That public versus
private rivalry spurs the best in both.”
Jan
6, 2014 theguardian.com
The private security company G4S has
confirmed a disturbance erupted at HMP Oakwood, Britain's largest prison,
over Sunday night. Staff at the privately managed prison, which was the
scene of rooftop protests in 2012, were supported by local police in
tackling the incident at HMP Oakwood in Featherstone, near Wolverhampton,
which provides places for more than 1,500 Category C male prisoners. Sky
News reported that serious disorder had broken out in one of the wings,
possibly involving weapons, and that specialist riot police had been called
to help restore order. G4S would not give any details of the nature of the
incident. A spokesperson for G4S said the incident started early on Sunday
evening on one wing but was contained under "standard procedures"
at the £180m prison and was over at 2am on Monday. "Police and
internal investigations will now take place. It would be inappropriate to
comment further until these have been completed." Staffordshire police
said the force was offering support and assistance to G4S. The prison was
the focus of a highly critical report last year that cited prisoners who
claimed it was easier to get hold of illicit drugs than a bar of soap. The
chief inspector of prisons confirmed that drug use at the
"supersized" jail, which opened in April 2012, was more than
twice the rate of similar jails and that inmates found it difficult to get
hold of clean prison clothing, basic toiletries and cleaning materials. The
jail has also taken on a political significance, with the justice
secretary, Chris Grayling, praising it as a "first class
facility" and the Labour party threatening to renationalise it and
other prisons if managers failed to make improvements. A spokesman for
Staffordshire police said the force was aware of the incident at the prison
and was offering support and assistance to G4S. However, a popular Facebook
page established to campaign for safer conditions for prison officers
claimed that reports indicated "an entire wing has been lost to
prisoners control". In Oakwood's first official inspection report,
published last October by Nick Hardwick, the chief inspector of prisons, it
was found that the level of drug use was matched by high levels of
assaults, victimisation and bullying. The use of force to restrain inmates
was twice as high as at similar jails, with 241 incidents in the first six
months of this year. Prisoners subsequently staged a number of rooftop
protests, including one last November in which six inmates were involved.
The shadow justice secretary, Sadiq Khan, said last week that Labour would
take control of privately run prisons if their managers failed to meet a
six-month "buck up" deadline and accused Grayling of a
"catastrophic misjudgment" after he praised Oakwood as his
favourite prison.
Jan
2, 2014 theguardian.com
Labour would take control of
privately run prisons if their managers failed to meet a six-month
"buck up" deadline, the shadow justice secretary, Sadiq Khan, has
said in the wake of a damning report on a flagship jail run by G4S. Tougher
contracts would be negotiated, including stiffer financial penalties, after
the chief inspector of prisons reported that inmates find it easier at HMP
Oakwood to get hold of illicit drugs than soap, Khan said. He accused Chris
Grayling, the justice secretary, of a "catastrophic misjudgment"
after he praised the "supersized" 1,605-place Oakwood in
Staffordshire as his favourite prison. Nick Hardwick, the chief inspector
of prisons, said in October that the first official inspection report into
Oakwood had shown that a retrieval plan for the prison was urgently needed.
Hardwick said prison staff were inexperienced and were so unwilling to
challenge inmates that they came close to colluding. In an unannounced
two-week visit to the prison in June inspectors reported that "on more
than one occasion we were told by prisoners that you can get drugs here but
not soap". Khan said: "It's clearly not working at Oakwood. I
can't remember a week going by without a disturbance, or a damning
inspection. I've actually been and seen at first hand the problems in the
prison and I came away really worried about conditions for prisoners and
staff. As things stand, it's not delivering what the public should expect
of the millions being paid to G4S to run it." The shadow justice
secretary described Grayling as a "repeat offender" after he
responded to the report by describing Oakwood as a first-class facility.
Grayling told the Express & Star during a visit to Wolverhampton in
November: "It's a newly opened prison. Every new prison has teething
problems, whether public or private. I am very optimistic for Oakwood. It
is a first-class facility. It is the most impressive set of facilities I
have seen on a prison estate. Clearly the management of the prison need to
address the problems but it's a prison that will be very good." Khan
said: "I'd have done things very differently than Chris Grayling. I'd
have summoned in the management of G4S and told them they've got six months
to buck up their ideas or they're out. Simple as that. If there's no
improvement in six months, then I'd be prepared to take control of Oakwood
prison away from G4S back into the hands of the public sector. "I'd do
just the same for a failing public prison – give them six months to sort
themselves out, and if they fail, impose new management that will sort it
out. I see no difference whether the underperformance is in the public,
private or voluntary sector – I'd apply the same laser zero tolerance. We
shouldn't tolerate mediocrity in the running of our prisons."
Construction started on the £180m Category C prison in 2009. The contract
to run it was awarded to G4S by the then justice secretary, Ken Clarke, in
March 2011. Khan said: "We can't go on with scandal after scandal,
where the public's money is being squandered and the quality of what's
delivered isn't up to scratch. The government is too reliant on a cosy
group of big companies. The public are rightly getting fed up to the back
teeth of big companies making huge profits out of the taxpayer, which
smacks to them of rewards for failure. " If we are going to get the
full bang for the public's buck then we need a totally new approach."
Dec
8, 2013 Tampa Bay Business Journal
The organization was notified by
their contracting agency that its contract will be competitively bid at a
new smaller location in Fort Myers, decreasing the bed capacity from 165 to
28, according to a letter filed with the Florida Department of Economic
Opportunity. G4S filed its Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification,
or WARN, notice for 130 positions on Dec. 2. The layoffs are expected to be
permanent, but the organization says it will work closely with team members
who wish to relocate to open positions at other locations. G4S Youth
Services provides treatment for at-risk youth. Jo-Lynn Brown is Editorial
Assistant for the Tampa Bay Business Journal.
ourkingdom, Nov 20, 2013
Two outsourcing giants who tagged and
monitored ex-offenders charged British taxpayers tens of millions of pounds
for doing nothing. A new report reveals flagrant and systematic abuses,
ahead of executives' interrogation by Members of Parliament today. Earlier
this month, in the briefest of press releases, the Serious Fraud Office
(SFO) announced that it had initiated a criminal investigation into
security companies G4S and Serco, following allegations that they had
overcharged on electronic monitoring contracts. A few months earlier both
companies had pulled out of bidding for the next generation of such
contracts. Yesterday the National Audit Office (NAO) published a report on
the matter. According to the NAO report, the Ministry of Justice first
identified anomalies in data provided by G4S earlier this year, as part of
preparations to retender the electronic monitoring contracts. Not satisfied
with the G4S explanation the Ministry called in accountants PwC to conduct
a forensic audit of the G4S contract. PwC began its work in May 2013,
subsequently expanding it to cover the Serco contract in addition to the
G4S one. The audit identified three charging practices that are at the
heart of the dispute between the Ministry on the one hand and G4S and Serco
on the other.
1. Charging based on orders vs
charging based on subjects: One individual (the subject) can have more
than one order imposed upon them. Even though each subject is monitored
only once, Serco and G4S appear to have charged for each order, something
the Ministry argues they should not have done. For example, Serco monitored
one subject with four separate orders, charging for each order being
monitored, rather than just for the subject.
2. Charging a fee after electronic
monitoring has ceased: Serco and G4S were continuing to charge a
monitoring fee when individuals were no longer being monitored. Examples
cited in the report include: An individual sentenced to two years'
imprisonment for breach of curfew conditions in September 2011. G4S removed
the monitoring equipment in the same month. However, by May 2013 it was
still charging a monitoring fee, at the cumulative cost of around £3,000.
In another case Serco charged monitoring fees for over two and a half years
after equipment had been removed following a breach of bail conditions.
3. Charging monitoring fees
whether or not monitoring equipment had been installed: Serco and G4S
have been charging from the formal start of the monitoring period even if
monitoring equipment has not been installed. In most cases this might have
resulted in an extra day of charging. However, the NAO observes that 'in
some cases equipment was never successfully installed but charging
nonetheless occurred for months or even years'. In an example cited by the
report Serco tried unsuccessfully to install monitoring equipment at an
address on multiple occasions between July 2008 and April 2012, charging
some £15,500 over the five year period, despite the fact that the monitoring
equipment was never installed. Monitoring into the next millennium: One
of the most striking paragraphs in the report covers the different, and
rather arcane, matter of determining end dates in relation to bail orders:
'Although Serco and G4S used different management information systems, our
understanding is that both systems required an end date for an order to be
entered so that those systems could function properly. As bail orders
typically did not have specified end dates that could be entered both
providers chose arbitrary end dates as standard, on the basis that
otherwise there was a risk that orders might have been closed down before
an appropriate authority requested that this occur. In the case of G4S this
was set as being the year 2020, and in the case of Serco the year 3000.
This meant that charges on individual cases could have continued until an
end date was formally notified by an appropriate authority.' Taken together
these practices were rather lucrative. The NAO reports that potential
overcharges could be in the region of 'tens of millions of pounds'. G4S
have offered to repay £23.3 million — in the form of credit notes, an offer
the government has, apparently, declined. Serco has said that it will
'refund any agreed overcharges'. A further audit of the contracts is
currently being undertaken. Both companies also continue to face
investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. This should all provide extra
spice to what was already shaping up to be compulsory viewing for policy
anoraks everywhere: the appearance this afternoon of G4S, Serco, Capita and
Atos executives before the powerful House of Commons Public Accounts
Committee.
The Guardian, 12 November 2013
G4S has been barred from government
contracts while claims of overcharging are investigated. G4S has launched
an internal investigation after a judge referred a number of its employees
for prosecution for forgery and contempt of court in a "truly
shocking" case of what he called disgraceful behaviour. In the high
court, Mr Justice Mostyn said three employees from G4Srunning Brook House
immigration removal centre in Gatwick, East Sussex, had been involved in
forging a document and contempt of court after giving witness statements
during an immigration appeal involving allegations of torture at the hands
of a foreign government. In an excoriating judgment which has been referred
the attorney general and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mostyn
said G4S employees Tamara Burns, Marilyn Bennett and Matthew Newman were
involved in "corruptly redacting" an official certificate, an
action which helped bolster the case against an immigrant who was being
deported from the UK. Last week the Guardian revealed the Home Office is in
discussions with G4S to expand Brook House by 30% despite a freeze on new
government contracts for the multinational security company while it is
investigated by the Serious Fraud Office for allegations of criminally
overcharging taxpayers. The asylum seeker, who is not allowed to be named
for legal reasons, claimed he had been tortured and beaten with a heated
metal rod on arrival at his country of origin after UK officials refused to
remove paperwork from his luggage which identified him with anti-government
organisations there. Mostyn found that after his room at Brook House was
cleared of belongings, a certificate was drawn up by officials making
reference to "various paperwork". But during court proceedings,
centre staff submitted a second "doctored" certificate, which
scrubbed all mention of the paperwork. "The conduct of the secretary
of state's agents in falsifying the room clearance certificate is corrupt
and truly shocking," Justice Mostyn said in his judgment Thursday.
"The original clean certificate was only produced by the secretary of
state following a request made by the claimant's solicitors after the
doctored certificate has been produced in evidence as exhibits to the
witness statements of Tamara Burns, Marilyn Bennett and Matthew
Newman," said Mostyn. The three officials behaved disgracefully, the judge
said, adding: "When agents of the state falsify documents it
undermines, if not fatally then certainly very seriously, the trust of the
people in the operation of the rule of law. "It makes no difference
if, as here, the agents are private contractors to whom the secretary of
state has outsourced her powers. Corruption by state officials is insidious
and corrosive and it is the duty of the authorities where it is found to
root it out ruthlessly." Mostyn referred his findings of forgery and
providing false witness testimony to the DPP and the attorney general.
However, he added that his "finding as to the turpitude of the agents
of the secretary of state" did not detract from the "lack of
credibility of the claimant", and he dismissed the appeal. G4S said
one employee was no longer with the company and the remaining two had been
suspended with immediate effect. "The allegations made in respect of
the conduct of our employees are extremely serious, and we have launched an
immediate internal investigation," a G4S official said. "Due to
the nature of these allegations, we have suspended the two personnel
concerned with immediate effect, pending the outcome of the investigation.
"We will, of course, co-operate fully with any inquiries the appropriate
authorities may pursue in connection with this case."
9 November 2013 heraldscotland.com
A PRISONER has escaped from custody
while on an escorted visit to a relative. Police have warned Sean McGregor,
31, may be a danger to the public and should not be approached. He escaped
from G4S custody at about 1.45pm on Thursday while on escorted leave to
visit a relative in Patna, East Ayrshire. McGregor was imprisoned for four
years for assault and robbery in September 2011. At the time he was serving
16 months for possession of a weapon, imposed in February 2011. The
Ayrshire area is being searched and officers are appealing for information
about his whereabouts. Detective Chief Inspector John Hogg, of Ayrshire
CID, said: "I would advise that Mr McGregor may present a danger to
the public and people are advised not to approach him if seen but to
contact police. Officers are continuing with a search of the area, making
contact with known associates and checking CCTV in an effort to trace Mr
McGregor. "I would appeal to Mr McGregor to give himself up and make
contact with Police Scotland with a view to handing himself in. I would
also like to reassure people that Police Scotland will have an increased
high-profile police presence in the Ayrshire area until Mr McGregor is traced
and arrested." McGregor admitted assaulting a shop assistant and
snatching hundreds of pounds from her till after brandishing a knife at her
on January 18, 2011. When he was sentenced, the High Court in Edinburgh
heard he had panicked when challenged by a customer, dropping cash and his
knife as he tried to flee. Lord Bannatyne said at the time that his record
was "wholly dreadful". A G4S spokesman said yesterday: "The
prisoner was granted this special leave on licence which means he was
authorised to be out of prison custody but subject to certain conditions.
"On-licence leave is a privilege that is earned. Therefore, it is
disappointing the prisoner made the decision to undermine the trust placed
in him. "As is the normal procedure, a full report into the
circumstances of the incident will be submitted to the Scottish Prison
Service."
30
October 2013 Our Kingdom
That's G4S, experts in "robust
employee screening". A murder conviction raises fresh doubts about a
government outsourcer's competence and integrity. Last November a 42
year-old pharmaceutical worker from Thailand took part in a conference
about HIV treatment at Glasgow's Clyde Auditorium. Her name was Khanokporn
Satjawat. A G4S guard checked Satjawat's ID. He didn't like her manner.
Later he followed her into the toilets and bludgeoned her to death with a
fire extinguisher. Yesterday, at the High Court in Glasgow, Clive Carter
was found guilty of Khanokporn Satjawat's murder. The court heard that the
35 year-old G4S man tended to become enraged when women contradicted him.
In a police interview his wife described him as "violent and
manipulative". His GP had referred him for anger management
counselling. A few days before the killing, Carter had knocked on a woman’s
door at the Holiday Inn Express hotel, carrying a fire extinguisher and
claiming there had been a report of a fire. G4S works on police
investigations, runs prisons, children's homes and detention centres, among
other privatised public services. They're having a very bad month. Their UK
flagship Oakwood Prison is in crisis. In South Africa, the state has taken
back control of G4S Mangaung Prison; guards are accused of torturing
inmates. Yesterday's murder conviction raises fresh doubts about G4S's
fitness for public service. "A robust employee screening programme
helps organisations minimise the risk of making inappropriate recruitment
decisions," G4S tells potential customers. "We have a wealth of
experience in developing and implementing background checks and security
clearance for companies in the private and public sector." But are
they any good at it? What evidence is there of G4S's commitment to the
safety of people who fall into the company's hands? Earlier this year
OurKingdom revealed that the health and safety manager for G4S Children's
Services was involved in the death of child prisoner Gareth Myatt nine
years ago. We noted that the Coroner criticised G4S for ignoring repeated
warnings about the use of force and other problems at Rainsbrook Secure
Training Centre near Rugby. (PDF here) Another G4S employee approved by the
company's screening process was Danny Fitzsimons, a former paratrooper
passed fit for work in Iraq. Ahead of Fitzsimons's deployment in 2009, a
fellow worker sent a series of emails warning G4S about the man's instability.
"I am alarmed that he will shortly be allowed to handle a weapon and
be exposed to members of the public," wrote the whistleblower, who
signed one email "a concerned member of the public and father".
Another email warned: "Having made you aware of the issues regarding
the violent criminal Danny Fitzsimons, it has been noted that you have not
taken my advice and still choose to employ him in a position of trust. I
have told you that he remains a threat and you have done nothing."
Within 36 hours of arriving in Baghdad’s Green Zone in August 2009,
Fitzsimons had shot and killed fellow security contractors Paul McGuigan
and Darren Hoare. In 2011 the Karkh Criminal Court of Iraq sentenced him to
life in prison for the murders. His parents said he was suffering from PTSD
and should never have been employed in a war zone. Clive Stafford Smith,
director of the charity Reprieve, said: “If G4S had done the proper checks
and risk assessments when Danny applied to work with them, they would have
quickly seen that he was suffering from serious PTSD, a consequence of
loyally serving his country. Instead they conducted minimal checks and sent
him off to Iraq. Now Danny could spend the rest of his life in a hostile
prison hundreds of miles from home, when he should be receiving psychiatric
treatment.” Last year a BBC Scotland investigation unearthed the
whistleblower's repeated attempts to alert G4S to Fitzsimons's instability.
Why did the company fail to act? G4S issued a statement, admitting that its
screening of Danny Fitzsimons "was not completed in line with the
company's procedures". The statement included a curiously worded
assertion about the whistleblower's warnings: "We are aware of this
allegation but following an internal IT investigation it is clear that no
such emails were received by any member of our HR department." Note
that G4S is not denying that the company received the warnings, only
denying that the human resources department received them. Such assertions
are known among reporters as "non-denial denials". BBC Scotland
put a further question to G4S: "When did the company first become
aware of the emails and did anyone else - outside of the company's HR
department - become aware of them?" A G4S spokesman replied: "I'm
sorry I can't track down the relevant individual so I am afraid we can not
comment further on when we received the emails." G4S's competence and
culture were found wanting yet again earlier this year during the Inquest
into the death of Angolan asylum seeker Jimmy Mubenga. The Inquest jury
found that Mubenga had been unlawfully killed by G4S guards during an
attempted deportation in October 2010. After the killing, police checks on
guards' mobile phones revealed numerous racist texts that were extremely
offensive. Assistant deputy coroner Karon Monaghan QC said that the quality
and number of racist texts, and the fact that they were circulated widely
among G4S guards, suggested not a couple of "rotten apples" but
evidence of "a more pervasive racism within G4S". [PDF here] The
Coroner wrote: "For example, one message read as follows: 'fuck off
and go home you free-loading, benefit grabbing, kid producing, violent,
non-English speaking cock suckers and take those hairy faced, sandal
wearing, bomb making, goat fucking, smelly rag head bastards with
you.'” G4S, among other Home Office contractors, had for years been warned
about the dangers of excessive force and guards' racist abuse, most
resoundingly in the Medical Justice dossier Outsourcing Abuse, published in
July 2008, more than two years before the killing of Jimmy Mubenga. Today,
in response to questions relating to the guard convicted of murdering
Khanokporn Satjawat, G4S told OurKingdom: "Clive Carter passed
screening in May 2010, following receipt of two employment references and
two character references. He had a Security Industry Authority licence and
therefore went through Home Office screening including a criminal record
check." They went on: "His instability only became apparent after
the murder . . . The incident at the Holiday Inn was not reported to G4S
and only came to our attention during the trial. Had we received any
complaint concerning him at that time, we would have immediately launched
an investigation and if necessary suspended him from duty whilst that
investigation was underway."
11
Oct 2013 birminghammail.co.uk
Three prisoners in protest at
heavily-criticised Wolverhampton jail. Three prisoners climbed on to a roof
for a protest at Oakwood Prison on Friday. The inmates began their protest
at Wolverhampton's privately-run prison at about 11am. A spokeswoman for
G4S, which runs the prison, said: “We can confirm that three prisoners have
been involved in a rooftop protest at HMP Oakwood since this morning. “The
Ministry of Justice was informed immediately and established contingency
plans were put into place. "A team of specialist negotiators, trained
to work at height, are being deployed and our hope is that this situation
can be resolved quickly and peacefully. “The normal prison regime has been
unaffected and there is no danger to staff, prisoners or the public. “An
internal investigation has been launched.” It is not known what the protest
is about but the Category C prison was slammed in a recent report from
inspectors, which said it needed to urgently address its approach to its
near 300 sex offenders, many of whom were due for release without their
offending having been addressed. The scathing report from HM Inspectorate
of Prisons came after a surprise visit, which said it had inexperienced
staff and high levels of violence and self-harm.
August 25, 2013 express.co.uk
There is speculation that the company
may mount a cash call. Ashley Almanza, chief executive since June, is set
to announce underlying earnings for the period of £207 million down from
£236 million last year. He is not expected to reveal the outcome of his
strategic review. G4S fell from grace when it failed to recruit enough
staff to guard London Olympic venues. It has since suffered the departure
of long-standing boss Nick Buckles and been hit by accusations that it
overcharged taxpayers for tagging and monitoring offenders. The accusations
prompted the threat of a Serious Fraud Office investigation. An analyst
said: “We expect to see a messy set of results following a number of
restatements and looking at the underlying performance of the firm at the
Olympics last year. “The question is how the company plans to deleverage,
with disposals likely to be the preferred route, although we do not think
an equity rights issue can be fully discounted.” Swedish-based investment
company Cevian Capital has taken a 5.11 per cent stake. Microsoft founder
Bill Gates is also a major shareholder in the group.
22 August 2013 morningstaronline.co.uk
A penal reform charity threatened the
government with legal action today for failing to protect vulnerable
children in privately run detention centres. The Howard League for Penal
Reform threw a spotlight on the government over its failure to implement an
effective procedure for children who are abused while detained in privately
run secure training centres. The centres house many vulnerable children and
the charity warned that many of them are regularly subjected to
mistreatment, including the use of physical force by staff. Figures
published by the Ministry of Justice in January revealed that there were on
average 111 incidents of physical restraint per month during 2011-12 in the
centres. In the same year, 68 restraint incidents resulted in injury. The
charity pointed out that the law requires children with credible
allegations of mistreatment should have access to an effective and
independent investigation. But while children and adults detained in
prisons have access to an independent complaints system, no such system
exists for children in the secure training centres. And prisons are also
subject to Freedom of Information, but the secure training centres - run by
G4S and Serco - are exempt. The charity's legal team wrote an open letter
to Justice Secretary Chris Grayling, calling on him to confirm that he will
begin plans to change the system, within a fixed-time frame, or face a
judicial review. It said that the current complaints procedure was
"wholly inadequate" and "unfair, discriminatory and contrary
to the protections afforded by the European Convention on Human
Rights." It called on Mr Grayling to implement a complaints system for
children in the centres "that is fit for purpose and includes an
accessible right of appeal to an independent body." Howard League
chief executive Frances Crook said: "These child jails for profit have
existed for 20 years yet there has been no proper public scrutiny of what
has happened to the billions of taxpayers' money. "We have to make sure
children know they will be listened to by someone fair and impartial when
things are going wrong if we are to change the culture of impunity, change
poor practice and avoid children being seriously mistreated." A
Ministry of Justice spokesperson added: "It is not true that children
in custody cannot raise complaints. "There are a number of routes for
young people to take, if they have a complaint regarding their treatment in
custody. We are looking into the points raised by the Howard League and
will respond in due course." Two children have died in secure training
centres. Adam Rickwood, 14, took his own life at the Serco-run Hassockfield
secure training centre in Co Durham in 2004 after being subjected to an
unlawful use of force. In the same year, Gareth Myatt, 15, died while being
restrained by staff at the G4S-run Rainsbrook secure training centre in
Northamptonshire.
August 18, 2013 The Tampa Tribune
Three Cup O' Noodle soup servings
were at the heart of a riot that destroyed 18 buildings, causing hundreds
of thousands of dollars in damage at a Highlands County juvenile detention
facility Saturday night. The melee needed 150 law enforcement officers from
several state and local agencies to quell. Seven juveniles were taken to a
nearby hospital for treatment of minor injuries. Polk County sheriff's
deputies said 18 of the 20 buildings at the Avon Park Youth Academy were
destroyed and nearly half the juveniles had to be taken to a jail. Rioters
confiscated a guard's radio and all of the staff golf carts and set fire to
a building containing the teens' records and a trash bin, deputies said.
The riot started about 8:30 p.m. after a fight on a basketball court. A
team of five juveniles from St. Petersburg was playing a team of five from
Orlando and had wagered three Cup O' Noodles soups on the outcome. The
losing team, from St. Petersburg, refused to pay and the two teams started
fighting. Juveniles who weren't playing joined in, deputies said. Staff are
forbidden from using specialty equipment, including pepper spray, which
would have allowed them to deal with the fight before it escalated,
authorities said. The security company called 911 and sheriff's deputies
arrived to form a perimeter around the facility, assisted by officers from
three state agencies and other emergency responders, including SWAT team,
K-9 units and air support. Every juvenile in the riot area was secured and
handcuffed before being removed, deputies said. No staff members or law
enforcement officers were injured. Seven youths were taken to Florida Hospital
in Sebring with minor injuries, the most serious of which was a broken leg.
Other injuries included bruises, lacerations and one concussion. The youth
were injured while fighting, breaking glass, being hit by flying objects or
rammed by golf carts, said Carrie Eleazer. spokeswoman for the Polk County
Sheriff's Office. No one was injured while being taken into custody,
Eleazer said. During the riot, none of the juveniles escaped from the
secured compound. Sixty-four juveniles were removed from the academy and
taken to the sheriff's South County Jail in Frostproof, where they were
being kept in a location away from the adult inmates. The rest remained at
the academy, deputies said. Damage to the academy was extensive, with all
but two of the buildings destroyed, deputies said. Deputies plan to file
charges against those juveniles who participated in the riot. Some could
face multiple felony counts. There are no security cameras at the facility,
so authorities don't have surveillance video of the riots. Avon Park Youth
Academy is a 144-bed, moderate-risk program for males in the juvenile
justice system between the ages of 16 and 19 years old. It's a non-secure
facility, meaning youth are not confined to their rooms during the day.
They are allowed to move about without handcuffs or shackles for
activities, while accompanied by staff at all times. Teens are taught job
skills and receive mental health and substance abuse treatment, according
to a spokeswoman from the Department of Juvenile Justice. The Department of
Juvenile Justice contracts with the private company G4S to provide security
guards and staff. “Once law enforcement officials have completed their
investigation, DJJ will conduct a thorough internal review to enhance
safeguards that provide for the safety of youth and staff in Florida's
juvenile justice facilities,” DJJ spokeswoman Meghan Speakes Collins said
in a statement. She said this was the first incident of this magnitude at
the facility. The facility has three shifts, with the night shift having
the lowest staff-to-juvenile ratio. DJJ officials said 21 employees were at
the facility when the riot started.
July
26, 2013 northjersey.com
LOWER ALLOWAYS CREEK TOWNSHIP, N.J. —
Federal regulators are worried that a security manager's firing from a job
at a nuclear plant could deter employees and contractors from questioning
safety at one of the nation's largest nuclear power stations. A federal
jury in Camden last month concluded that the 2009 firing of Robert Scull
was in retaliation for the manager's plan to tell the NRC about his safety
concerns at the adjoining Hope Creek and Salem nuclear plants in Lower
Alloways Creek Township, south of Wilmington, Del. Scull said he did not
have enough assistants to maintain security of the plants, the second-largest
nuclear generating facility in the U.S. He was awarded $400,000 and has
since made court filings asking for his old job back. The Nuclear
Regulatory Commission sent a letter to plant operator PSEG Nuclear on
Friday asking it to detail what actions the company was taking to ensure
the firing doesn't have a chilling effect on other would-be whistleblowers.
PSEG said in a statement that it is taking the matter seriously. "We
are confident that the right nuclear safety-conscious work environment
still exists within PSEG Nuclear and that employees and contractors are
comfortable raising concerns," spokesman Joe Delmar said in a
statement. "However, we are taking this opportunity to once again
reinforce the nuclear safety culture expectations with our employees and
leadership." PSEG was not part of the court case because the security
manager worked for a private contractor, the Wackenhut Corp., which is now
known as G4S Secure Solutions. But the NRC said in the letter that PSEG is
responsible for the actions of contractors. "The finding that
Wackenhut retaliated against the individual for engaging in a protected
activity raises questions with the NRC as to whether the work environment
at Salem and Hope Creek is such that employees are encouraged and willing
to raise safety and regulatory concerns," said the letter from William
Dean, an NRC regional administrator.
12
July 2013 opendemocracy.net
G4S & Serco fraud inquiry: Five
things the British public need to know about privatising criminal justice.
It was a shocking announcement. Chris Grayling, looking more rattled than
at any other time since he became Justice Secretary, told the House of
Commons yesterday that Serco and G4S had overcharged his department by tens
of millions of pounds for electronic monitoring services. Flabbergasted MPs
heard that the government had been invoiced for the monitoring of people
who had been sent back to prison. For people who had left the country. For
people who had never been monitored at all. Even for people who had died. As
a result, Serco will undergo a forensic audit to uncover the extent of the
wrongdoing. G4S, perhaps calling the Justice Secretary’s bluff, refused to
cooperate and now find themselves the subject of an investigation from the
Serious Fraud Office. The scandal has already shone a light on the extent
to which our public services are provided by these two companies. Combined,
Serco and G4S receive around £1.5 billion of taxpayers’ money each year
through contracts with ten different government departments – with almost
£500 million worth of contracts from the Ministry of Justice alone. There
needs to be much more public debate about the privatisation of justice as
well as access to detailed information about how these companies operate,
the profits they make and whether privatisation is providing the taxpayer
with value for money. Here are five points that I think ought to be central
to any such debate. 1.Handing the justice system to private security firms
is Plan A – and there is no Plan B. While the huge number and value of
government contracts G4S and Serco already hold will have surprised many,
it is highly likely even more public money will be paid to these companies
in the coming years. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) are currently planning
to massively expand the number of people subject to electronic monitoring,
privatise approximately 80 per cent of the probation service and outsource
much of the court service to private companies. Without the involvement of
large private security companies like Serco and G4S, these reforms will be
impossible. 2.The Ministry of Justice is not very good at outsourcing
services. This is the second time this year that huge failings have been
uncovered in contracts between private companies and the MoJ. Just a few
months ago, the department’s handling of the court translation services
contract was the subject of damning criticism, with a Justice Select
Committee report concluding that the ‘Ministry of Justice's handling of the
outsourcing of court interpreting services has been nothing short of
shambolic. It did not have an adequate understanding of the needs of
courts, it failed to heed warnings from the professionals concerned, and it
did not put sufficient safeguards in place to prevent interruptions in the
provision of quality interpreting services to courts.’ 3.There is no real
market in criminal justice. The tagging scandal makes it plain that when
the MoJ talks about competition in criminal justice services it only really
means competition between Serco, G4S and, at a stretch, one or two other
large private companies. If they are to continue to pursue their ambitious
privatisation plans the MoJ should at the very least take steps to ensure
that this discredited oligopoly is broken down. 4.Privatisation leads to
less transparency and accountability. The removal and restriction of
liberty are some of the most powerful tools at the state’s disposal – and
should therefore be a crucial area of public inquiry and democratic
oversight. But private companies are exempt from freedom of information
legislation even when providing public services. Further, contracts between
government departments and corporations can often not even be scrutinised
by parliament, let alone the public, on the grounds of commercial
confidentiality. 5.Privatisation can lead to growth in the wrong areas. The
MoJ is planning to greatly expand electronic monitoring, with some
predicting that the number of people tagged will rise from 30,000 to
100,000 under current proposals. However, it should be remembered that
despite many studies and evaluations there is yet no evidence that tagging
reduces reoffending or improves public protection. Electronic monitoring
might be highly profitable, but is most definitely not highly effective. As
in many other sectors, marketisation provides producers with an incentive
to try and push up demand, clearly conflicting with the public good or
taxpayer value.
Jun.
28, 2013 tennessean.com
One day after nine teenage girls
escaped from a Department of Children’s Services facility in Donelson, all
of them were back in state custody, police said. The girls slipped from the
G4S Academy for Young Women on Stewarts Ferry Pike early Wednesday after
overpowering an employee. Six of the girls were found soon afterward.
Police said they arrested the seventh girl early Thursday. Police saw the
girl, 16, with Gregory Vincent, 51, in the parking lot of the Exxon on
Broadway. She was taken into custody and charged with violating curfew.
Vincent was arrested on charges of public intoxication and contributing to
the delinquency of a minor. Two more were nabbed Thursday afternoon near
the Hermitage Inn on Lebanon Pike after a brief foot chase with officers,
according to a statement.
March
08, 2013 getsurrey.co.uk
A DOUBLE amputee from Woking died
from head injuries when his unsecured wheelchair tipped over in a G4S
ambulance that the driver had not been properly trained to use, an inquest
jury has found. Palaniappan Thevarayan, 47, of Hawthorn Road, Barnsbury,
was being transferred to St Helier Hospital in Sutton on May 4 last year
when his wheelchair came free from the built-in clamps and he fatally hit
his head. The jury at Westminster Coroner’s Court ruled on Thursday (March
7) that Mr Thevarayan had not been securely clamped into the back of the ambulance.
Driver John Garner and fellow G4S staff were insufficiently trained to
transport hundreds of patients from their homes to clinics and hospitals
across London and the south east, the inquest heard. The court was told
drivers were aware of problems with the clamps prior to the incident, and
were then told to stop using them immediately after Mr Thevarayan’s death.
New vehicles were introduced in November 2011. The former newsagent was
being moved from a dialysis treatment centre in Epsom to St Helier’s when
he had to be diverted because his catheter had become blocked, the inquest
heard. After hearing that Mr Garner’s manual handling training had not been
refreshed since 2009, jurors decided: “Patient transport service staff were
not sufficiently trained in the safe transportation of patients by
ambulance.” Mr Thevarayan, who was born in India, had been undergoing
dialysis three times a week for nearly three years when he died and was
only using the Epsom centre because his usual facility in West Byfleet had
been temporarily shut down in April 2011 due to storm damage. Mr
Thevarayan’s wife and full-time carer Nirmala told the inquest she wanted
answers about his treatment by G4S and why it took so long to get him into
surgery. She said her husband was given a 50:50 chance of survival if
operated on immediately after the injury but nearly six hours passed before
he went for surgery. “I want to know why they didn’t look after him
properly,” she told the court on Monday. “And in hospital, why did they
take so long to treat him?” Mrs Thevarayan said her husband had called to
say he would receive antibiotics and be back home that night. But he was
given a bleak outlook when assessed by doctors on arrival at St Helier’s,
the inquest heard. Despite his condition, it was not until 10pm that he was
transferred to St George’s in Tooting for surgery and a further four hours
until he went into the operating theatre. The inquest heard Mr Thevarayan,
a devoted family man, was diagnosed as diabetic when he was 23 and developed
kidney problems later on in life. He was forced to retire when both his
legs were amputated after he developed circulation difficulties, and had a
heart bypass in 2009. But Mrs Thevarayan said her husband remained fiercely
independent, despite his health problems. “He was a very capable man, and
what he could do, he would do,” she told the inquest. “He never asked
anyone for any help.” She added he was nearing the top of the kidney
transplant list when he died and was also due to be fitted with a prosthetic
leg. “The next day he had an appointment with the transplant surgeon and he
was so looking forward to that,” his wife said. Mr Thevarayan died of an
acute chronic subdural haematoma and head injury contributed to by chronic
renal failure and diabetes. Assistant deputy coroner Kevin McLoughlin said
to Mrs Thevarayan and her son and daughter, who sat through the four-day
inquest: “I pay tribute to the calm dignity which you and your family have
conducted yourself through what must have been heartbreaking evidence.”
22 Feb 2013 itv.com
Two employees
who stole thousands from a cash collection depot in Maidstone have been
jailed for four years each. Barry Jackman from Ashford and Mark Knight from
Maidstone, were charged after an internal investigation by G4S, who
contacted police when they noticed money going missing. The pair were
employed as depot manager and deputy of the Maidstone depot, which conveys
money to banks and financial institutions. Jackman and Knight came under
suspicion after they were allegedly seen in a car park exchanging what
appeared to be a bag of money. Police officers searched Knight’s home and
found eight cash bags, each containing £500 in £2 coins. At Jackman’s
house, £100 in £2 was found in a box in the garage. Mark Knight was also
sentenced to four years in prison Credit: Kent Police -- The two had come up with techniques to
remove money from the depot, bypassing the searches that they were
subjected to when leaving the premises. It's estimated that between January
2010 and September 2011 that £90,000 went missing from the depot. **Knight
blamed temptation as the main factor. One of the methods involved moving a
loose ceiling tile, allowing access to the roof space, and leaving the bags
in the space. Once through the security checks, Jackman or Knight accessed
the roof space via the ladies toilets to collect the cash. The pair also
took real money, but balanced the books by sending counterfeit cash that
the depot had sorted back out to financial institutions to ensure that
there were no anomalies.
February
13, 2013 express.co.uk
The group said the final settlement
with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG), would
cover its failure to provide all the 10,400 security guards needed to
protect the event last summer. Military personnel had to be drafted in to
cover the shortfall with G4S boss Nick Buckles hauled before Parliament to
explain why it had not met its targets. G4S had previously forecast a
£50million loss from the £284million contract but said its decision to
waive a larger chunk of its management fee had sent the bill higher. It is
also taking a further £18million hit including the cost of Games marketing
and a £2.5million goodwill donation to a military charity. However the
overall loss was less than the £150million speculated by some in the City
leaving G4S shares flat at 280½p. Buckles said: "Whilst we are
extremely disappointed to find ourselves in this position we are pleased to
have concluded these negotiations. "The Government is an important customer
and it was in our interests to bring this matter to a close in a
professional manner without the need for lengthy legal proceedings." A
G4S spokesman said the settlement had drawn a line under the affair and it
was now keen to "restore its reputation" with the Government,
which accounts for about half of its UK revenues.
Dec.
19, 2012, Daily Advertiser
The contractor running Australia’s mainland immigration detention centres
has lost a bid for an injunction stopping an ex-employee working for a
rival on Manus Island. Christopher Manning left Serco Australia in May 2012
as their managing director of immigration detention centres. He was hired
by G4S in September, shortly before the company secured the contract to run
the Manus Island centre in Papua New Guinea. Mr Manning was tasked with
managing the project, and helped G4S in its bid for the job. But Serco took
legal action against him in the ACT Supreme Court, arguing he breached a
contract banning him from working for a rival in Australia for a year. Mr
Manning’s legal team argued their client honoured the terms of the
agreement. In October the contractor sought an interim injunction banning
Mr Manning from working for G4S until the court case was resolved. Lawyers
for Serco told Master David Harper their former employee had detailed
knowledge of confidential information and a tight relationship with the
Department of Immigration and Citizenship. They argued his work with
Serco's rivals had the capacity to damage its commercial operations and
relationship with the department. But Master Harper on Wednesday said the
Supreme Court had since offered an expedited hearing date, and granting the
injunction would case “immediate negative effect” to G4S. The master said
while the rival contractor wasn’t a party to the case there was an
“irresistible inference” they were legally backing him. “Nevertheless,
there is no basis for a conclusion that G4S has enticed the defendant away
from the plaintiff, or that G4S has any intention of utilising the
defendant’s services to enhance its relationship with the [government or
DIAC],” he said. “There is no basis for a finding which goes any further
than that G4S sees the plaintiff [Mr Manning] as the best available
candidate to manage the Manus Island operation.” He refused the injunction,
and ordered Serco to pay Mr Manning’s legal costs for the application. The
decision comes after the first groups of asylum seekers arrived at the
Papua New Guinean facility integral to Australia’s off-shore processing
policy.
12 October 2012 By Scotsman.com
Police had to cover “thousands” of extra shifts at the London 2012 Games
after private security firm G4S failed to recruit and train enough guards.
Officers working overtime covered around 500 shifts, earmarked for G4S
staff, in London alone. Regional events such as the football competitions
meant this figure jumped “significantly” outside London during the Games,
the national Olympic security co-ordinator, Assistant Commissioner Chris
Allison said. He told London Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee: “It was
significantly more than that [500 shifts in London]. I think it was in the
thousands that we had to do nationally.” G4S confirmed the shortage just
weeks before the Games began. All the forces, such as Strathclyde Police
who took over responsibility for security at the Olympic venue in Glasgow,
are being reimbursed by G4S, Mr Allison said.
October 1, 2012 AP
The security contractor at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in Tennessee was
fired Monday after authorities said three protesters cut through fences and
vandalized a building in an unprecedented break-in. Security contractor WSI
Oak Ridge said it has started winding down operations and will transfer its
protective force functions to B&W Y-12, the managing contractor at the plant,
over the next several weeks. The Department of Energy had earlier
recommended that WSI's contract be terminated. The security contractor was
criticized for its poor response when the protesters, including an
82-year-old Roman Catholic nun, cut through fences on July 28 and defaced a
building that stores the plant's weapons grade uranium. Peter Stockton, a
Department of Energy adviser on nuclear security during the Clinton
administration, called the firing long overdue. "This the most
egregious thing we've ever run into," said Stockton, a senior
investigator with the Project On Government Oversight. "It's the worst
of the worst."
September
28, 2012 The Upcoming
Two senior executives from G4S (Group 4 Securicor) have resigned after a
report blamed management failings for the Olympics’ security fiasco. G4S,
the world’s largest security firm, failed to provide the contracted and
adequate number of security personnel to cover the Olympics in a public
blunder that nearly overshadowed the successful Games. Nick Buckles
survives the G4S management cull in the wake of the Olympics scandal. G4S
chief operating officer, David Taylor-Smith, and the managing director for
G4S Global Events, Ian Horseman-Sewell, are stepping down in wake of the
scandal.
September
22, 2012 Reuters
G4S's bill for its embarrassing London Olympic staffing failure could
rise after a government committee demanded the embattled security firm
waive its management fee and compensate Games staff neglected in its
chaotic recruitment drive. The world's biggest security firm has been under
fire since admitting just two weeks before the Games began that it could
not provide a promised 10,400 venue guards, embarrassing the government - a
key customer - and forcing British troops to cancel holidays and fill the
shortfall. G4S has already estimated a 50 million pound loss on the Olympic
contract relating to the cost of deploying additional police and military
personnel and the likely penalties the London Organising Committee of the
Olympic and Paralympic Games will impose, but that may prove conservative.
In a report published on Friday, the Home Affairs Committee, which twice
hauled in G4S chief Nick Buckles to explain the Olympic debacle, said
responsibility for the failure was with G4S and that its most senior
personnel should be held accountable for making misleading staffing
assurances to security officials so close to the start of the Games.
"Far from being able to stage two Games on two continents at the same
time, as they recklessly boasted, G4S could not even stage one," said
Keith Vaz, Chairman of the influential Home Affairs Committee, referring to
an interview managing director of G4S Global Events, Ian Horseman Sewell,
gave to Reuters in July. "G4S should waive its 57 million pound management
fee and also compensate its staff and prospective staff who it treated in a
cavalier fashion." LOCOG has so far parted with only 90 million pounds
of the 237 million pound contract and earlier this month insisted the
remainder would have to be negotiated.
September
12, 2012 Star and Stripes
A British-based security company has paid back half of the
approximately $750,000 it owes the U.S. government for failing to fully
staff entry gates at a number of U.S. Forces Korea installations, according
to the U.S. Army Installation Management Command Pacific Region. The
company, G4S, took over gate security at most Army bases on the peninsula
on Dec. 1, 2011, but at first could not hire enough civilian guards to do
the job. Most guards who worked for the previous security provider, Joeun
Systems Corp., initially refused to work for G4S, claiming the company was
offering lower wages and longer hours. Because of the shortage of South
Korean guards, U.S. troops were forced to help man the gates for nearly
four months until G4S reached full staffing on March 23, 2012. Despite the
lingering problems with G4S, the U.S. military said in March it had no
plans to terminate its contract with the company. “We consider this matter
closed,” 8th Army spokesman Col. Andrew Mutter said in a March 29 email to
Stars and Stripes. Reilly said in an email this week that the IMCOM-Pacific
command decided to add new requirements to its security guard contract as
G4S’ one-year deal approached its Oct. 31 expiration date. “This offered us
the opportunity to review the needs of our access control point security
procedures, update new requirements to ensure we provide the most efficient
and effective protection at our bases and rebid the contract,” he said. The
U.S. military had not previously disclosed the amount G4S agreed to
reimburse the government for violating its contract. IMCOM-Pacific
spokesman Larry Reilly said G4S is scheduled to pay the rest of the money
in January.
September
9, 2012 The Guardian
Home Office ministers have ordered weekly reports on the progress of two
new contracts with the private security companies G4S and Serco to house
and provide support services for thousands of asylum seekers and their
families. The chief executive of the UK Border Agency (UKBA), Rob Whiteman,
has confirmed that serious concerns about the ability of the two companies
to find housing for thousands of asylum seekers across the north of England
by November has led to closer monitoring at the most senior levels of the
Home Office. The £883m a year Compass contract to provide support services
for dispersed asylum seekers is the largest project run by the Home Office.
The two private security companies took over the five-year asylum housing
contracts in four of the six UKBA regions across Britain from social landlords,
including councils, in March. The companies were expected to start moving
people in June. But after a contractual dispute G4S dropped its housing
subcontractor for the Yorkshire and Humberside region, United Property
Management, in June and its new subcontractors have yet to find enough
homes. Two councils, Sheffield and Kirklees, have raised concerns about
their ability to deliver the housing contract within the expected
timetable. Kirklees council said that a fortnight ago, only one family out
of 240 asylum seekers had been moved as part of the transition from the
council to the new providers. "There are 240 asylum seekers being
assisted. We understand the subcontractors are finding it difficult to
procure accommodation and the council has been asked to continue to provide
assistance until the end of October. There is no suggestion however that
the council's contract will be renewed after this time," Whiteman has
told the Commons public accounts committee there were also concerns about
the two Serco contracts, one covering north-west England and the other
Scotland and Northern Ireland, including the "speed at which
properties are being acquired". He said the issue had been
"escalated" to directly involve himself and Jeremy Oppenheim, the
UKBA director of immigration and settlement. Weekly reports are also being
sent to ministers. "It is not at this stage anywhere near penalties
because they are acting within the contract in terms of how the work is
handed over to them," Whiteman told MPs. "We do have concerns
about mobilisation. We are escalating this and I have been involved in
meetings on that but it is at a relatively early stage." He added
there were other remedies available under the contracts but he hoped the
difficulties would be resolved.
September
7, 2012 Reuters
Embattled security firm G4S will be forced to relive its embarrassing
London Olympics staffing failure on Tuesday when its boss returns for a
second showdown with British lawmakers demanding to know how the debacle
was allowed to happen. Group Chief Executive Nick Buckles and David
Taylor-Smith, who is the group's UK and Africa CEO, w ill be pressed for
further explanation of the recruitment failure which has hit shares and
raised questions about its prospects on future deals. "Everyone now
accepts that G4S let the country down before the Olympics began. We need to
ascertain the reasons why this happened and who else was responsible for
the pre-Olympics shambles," Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs
Committee and a member of Parliament for the opposition Labour party, told
Reuters. Vaz said the committee had quizzed Home Secretary Theresa May, who
is in charge of domestic security, on Thursday, and had received a detailed
letter outlining the department's oversight of the contract and the
minister's meetings with Buckle and the Olympics organizers during the
run-up to the Games. G4S, the world's largest security firm, which in
Britain runs services for airports, prisons, immigration and the police,
admitted just 16 days before the Games began that it could not supply a
promised 10,400 venue guards. It eventually raised 7,800 at peak times,
leaving the military to make up the shortfall. The failure embarrassed the
government, one of G4S's core clients which accounts for more than half of
its 1.8 billion pounds British revenue. More than 20 percent of its
pipeline of potential UK work also stems from that market. Those numbers
mean the UK public sector is one of the biggest global clients for the
group, whose revenue for 2012 is forecast at just over 8 billion pounds
according to a Reuters poll of 21 analysts. G4S has said it expects to take
a 50 million pound ($79.7 million) loss over the contract failure, but the
potential for a longer-lasting reputational blow goes beyond the UK market.
A week before it conceded recruitment problems, the company told Reuters it
expected its work at the 2012 Games would help it win a bigger share of a
four-year cycle of global events whose safety and security budget has been
estimated at more than $10 billion.
August
20, 2012 Reuters
G4S is set to pull out of Pakistan amid an increasingly hostile environment
for foreign security companies, the Financial Times reported on Monday. The
company, which trades under the name Wackenhut Pakistan Ltd, has agreed to
sell the business to its chairman in the region for about $10 million.
Ikram Sehgal, chairman of G4S's Pakistani operation, who already owns a 50
percent stake in the company, is expected to buy the company's Pakistan
interest. "The Pakistani government has decided it doesn't want
foreign security companies in the region, which makes it tough for
outsiders to operate," Sehgal is quoted as saying. G4S, the world's
largest security firm, employs 10,000 staff in Pakistan, where it provides
security for the UN and multinational corporations. G4S is under fire over
its failure to provide enough guards at the London Olympics.
August
19, 2012 The Independent
G4S boss Nick Buckles once said that he "never had any ambition of
working for anyone else". Early retirement it is, then, for the
51-year-old with the odd mullet haircut, because there is no way he should
be allowed to continue at the world's second biggest private-sector
employer. This is not because of the security fiasco at the Olympics, when
G4S failed to stump up enough security guards so that the army had to step
in to protect the event. Don't get me wrong, the epic failure at a global
event that means the company has ruled itself out of bidding for contracts
at the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics in Brazil was certainly
deserving of his head. Nor is this about the disastrous failure to buy ISS
for £5.2bn last year, when shareholders effectively vetoed his plans and
were proven right last week when the Danish cleaner was valued some 20 per
cent below that level in a stake sale. And, obviously it's a bit odd how
corporate advisers, brokers and a chairman lost their jobs with G4S when
Buckles goes around boasting that his role nowadays is "reputation and
pricing bids". Of course he should have gone over the Olympics. Of
course he should have gone over the ISS fiasco. But, to go for those
reasons alone means that all the other shambles and controversies during
his eight-year leadership then would be forgotten. Buckles should go for
the many, many awful mistakes the company has made during his reign. It's
difficult to know where to start, so I'll trot out the rebuttal that many
shareholders will make against my argument: G4S has gown hugely under
Buckles, the share price hovered below 120p in mid-2004 and since 2009 has
traded at well over double that. Yes, the financial performance is
impressive, with consistently strong turnover, profit and dividend pay-out
figures. But, the operational performance has been shameful and when the
industry is something as crucial as security, it is not enough to use
accounts as a defence. Buckles is not personally responsible for any of the
following, but the list is long enough to suggest that he has failed to
impose the right culture on G4S's employees: In 2007, staff at US
subsidiary Wackenhut were found asleep while "securing" a nuclear
power plant, resulting in the loss of its contract with the US's biggest
energy provider; In 2008, Aboriginal elder "Mr Ward" died of severe
heat stroke in the back of a G4S prison van in Australia. G4S was fined
after pleading guilty to charges of failing to protect the 46-year-old's
health and safety; In 2010, father-of-five Jimmy Mubenga, who was being
deported from the UK to Angola, was restrained by three G4S security guards
and died of cardiac arrest. Last month, the Crown Prosecution Service did
not bring charges to the guards over insufficient evidence, a decision that
a former chief inspector of prisons branded "perverse"; In 2011,
G4S lost a major government contract after a record 773 complaints by
immigration centre detainees, including nearly 50 of assault. Current chief
inspector of prisons Nick Hardwick found that G4S guards used "highly
offensive and sometime racist language". Individually, these are
hardly the fault of the boss of one of the world's most sprawling empires.
It is also hard to say when enough emerged that Buckles should have taken a
hard look at himself and admit that he hadn't corrected what appears to be
cultural deficiencies. But the list has gone well beyond whatever that
point is and he should go.
August
18, 2012 The Sun
A ROBBER dressed as a G4S guard walked out of a store with £14,000 takings
— while the real security man was sat outside reading a paper. Duped staff
at Poundland became suspicious after handing over the cash. They went
outside to the waiting G4S van and told the driver: “We’ve just given the
money to your mate.” But the stunned security guard put down his newspaper
and replied: “What mate?” Cops reckon the robber had watched the G4S
staff’s regular routine before “mocking up” a uniform — complete with crash
helmet and body armour. A source said: “The real G4S guys often take a
quick break when arriving in their security wagon. On this occasion the guy
was reading a paper in the cab. “The robber has been caught on CCTV
appearing from the back of the van, as if he’d got out of the passenger
seat. “Staff had no reason to think he wasn’t a G4S man. He handed them two
cash containers which they filled up. “He then calmly walked out and
disappeared. He must have been laughing his head off under his helmet.”
Police are appealing for witnesses to Thursday’s heist in
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warks. It is the latest embarrassment for gaffe-prone
G4S after its failure to provide 10,400 Olympic security staff. A
spokeswoman said: “We’ll be working closely with Poundland and Warwickshire
Police.”
July
31, 2012 Manchester Evening News
Embattled security firm G4S was booted out of Old Trafford before the first
Olympics football match there, the M.E.N. can reveal. Hundreds of G4S staff
workers were supposed to patrol United’s home ground while it hosted
matches at the 2012 Games. The arrangement was part of a £284m contract
between Games organisers Locog and the crisis-hit company. But a string of
problems led to the decision to drop G4S at Old Trafford and bring in
security firm Controlled Event Solutions, (CES) which looks after the
stadium for Reds’ matches. A United source said the final straw for Olympic
bosses had come when G4S sub-contractors walked out, claiming they had not
been paid. The source added: “Someone has looked at it and said enough is
enough and they have sent them packing and brought in CES.”
July
25, 2012 Aiken Standard
A civil lawsuit against Wackenhut Services Inc. at the Savannah River Site
claiming discrimination should proceed to trial, a U.S. magistrate judge
recommended in federal court documents last week. Judge Paige Gossett
recommended granting in part and denying in part motions for summary
judgement in the case of Marvin Timothy Oerman, who filed a lawsuit in 2010
claiming he was demoted by former employer Wackenhut because he is white.
The judge's July 17 recommendation said the lawsuit should proceed on a
race discrimination claim, but not on a sex discrimination claim. "It
is our understanding that the magistrate issued recommendations partly in
our favor and partly against us," said WSI spokesperson Rob Davis.
"If the recommendations are upheld, the case will proceed to trial on
one of Mr. Oerman's claims." Davis said that Wackenhut continues to
deny any discriminatory actions against Oerman. Oerman, who is no longer
employed with Wackenhut, worked for the contractor for more than 25 years,
and claims that he was demoted while a less experienced black male was
selected for the position of manager of Wackenhut's training operations
department. The complaint states Oerman later learned that another manager
planned to leave the department, and that Randy Garver, general manager of
WSI-SRS, did not post the position before choosing another black male with
less experience. Oerman filed a second lawsuit in 2011 against Wackenhut
claiming retaliation once it became known that he had filed the initial
lawsuit. He claimed Wackenhut Services Inc. selected individuals on the
basis of race and gender and has "instituted an ad hoc racial and
gender quota system," according to the complaint. Court documents
state that, according to Garver, "there were continuing performance
failures at the barricades for which [Oerman] was responsible," and as
a result, he selected a new manager to oversee perimeter protection and
transferred Oerman elsewhere. "Unfortunately, there were a significant
number of employees who lost jobs through downsizing at SRS over the last
several years, and this is our only lawsuit related to that
downsizing," Davis said.
July
23, 2012 Ekklesia
The Howard League for Penal Reform has revealed new findings from polling
firm Populus showing that half the public oppose privately run prisons.
While just 37 per cent describe themselves as comfortable with private
prisons, 49 per cent are uncomfortable, including 23 per cent very
uncomfortable. The gap is even wider amongst women (32 per cent
comfortable, 50 per cent uncomfortable) and the electorally crucial over-65
age group (32 per cent comfortable, 59 per cent uncomfortable). When the
specific example of G4S running a local prison is presented, just one in
four (26 per cent) describe themselves as comfortable with the idea and
even fewer (23 per cent) view the service as suitable for a payment by
results approach. Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for
Penal Reform, which campaigns for less crime, safer communities and fewer
people in prison, said: “It’s clear that the public understands the dangers
of putting such a key service as the prison system into the hands of
unaccountable companies, who are driven by cutting costs rather than
cutting crime. "The scandal of the Army having to step in to provide
security at the Olympics after private firm G4S failed to do its job proves
yet again that when private firms underperform, the public pays through the
nose and safety is compromised. We shouldn’t be allowing the same thing in
our prison system.”
July
16, 2012 The Guardian
The slide in the G4S share price on Monday reflected the Olympic-sized blow
to the private security company's reputation, not only in Britain but
throughout its global operations. The company has been here before. In its
former incarnation as Group 4 in the early 1990s it became a national joke
in Britain, as its first contracts to escort prisoners from courts to jail
were hit by one high-profile escape after another. Since those dark days –
helped by the fact that it was not then a publicly quoted company with a
share price to protect – Group 4 not only recovered but has gone on to
become a global success story, with 657,000 employees in 125 countries. G4S
is now the largest player in global security, with 8% of the market and
contracts that include protecting ships from pirates in the Indian Ocean
and supplying security systems to the Pentagon. But its proud boast to be
"securing your world, in more ways than you might realise" has
been dealt a massive blow by overstretching itself on such a high-profile
contract. While Olympic tier-one sponsors such as British Airways and
Adidas have paid more than £700m to ensure they harvest a positive boost to
their profiles, G4S is experiencing a turbocharged PR meltdown. Will this
prove fatal to the company's UK reputation as the go-to contractor for
everything in the criminal justice system from running police stations to
managing prisons? Replacing its chief executive, Nick Buckles, 51, may not
prove sufficient to repair the damage, especially if he pockets, as he will
be entitled to, £20m in pay and benefits if he goes. The company will
already have written off its hopes of winning the security contracts at the
2014 football World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, both in Brazil.
May
30, 2012 Our Kingdom
On Tuesday 8 May a Bradford asylum seeker and her twelve week old baby were
given barely a week’s notice by private landlord UPM to quit their home. On
Thursday 17th they were transported forty miles to a tiny flat in Doncaster
with no cooker, table or chair, and only a tiny sink to wash dishes and
clothes. Campaigners in Bradford and Doncaster supported the mother and
engaged with local medical services and the Red Cross, and protested to the
UK Border Agency and local authorities. The protests prompted a Border
Agency inspector to visit the Doncaster flat. On Monday the Border Agency
declared the flat “contractually non-compliant” and “not suitable in its
present state for mothers and babies”. The Border Agency claimed it had
instructed UPM to relocate the mother and baby as a matter of urgency. But
they remain in the Doncaster flat, marooned 40 miles from anybody they
know. This is the new world of asylum seeker housing controlled by G4S, the
world’s biggest security company. In March G4S won a massive £30 million UK
Border Agency contract to house asylum-seekers in the Midlands, the East of
England, the North East, Yorkshire and Humberside. Using the “prime
contractor model”, which G4S tells investors is “attractive”, the company
granted subcontracts to UPM and the charity Migrant Help. UPM, or United
Property Management (slogan “Serve like a charity. Perform like a
business”), describes itself as “a market leading provider of accommodation
and support services to people from all walks of life.” They’re based just
up the road from Manchester’s Victoria Station. Beatrice Botomani, a worker
at Bradford Refugee Action Forum who has coordinated protests and emergency
help for the Bradford women and children, said: “We met UPM at the end of
April and they gave a long list of pledges about not taking children out of
Bradford and away from social and medical services and schools, and giving
adequate notice on removals. Only a few days later they started evictions
and removals with less than a week’s notice. Some of these women and
children have been in Bradford for two years or more awaiting decisions on
asylum claims. UPM has not told us where people are going and we cannot
alert local support services to contact them – many of these people are
already traumatised and have fled from terrible conditions in their home
lands, UPM is adding to their stresses.”
March
30, 2012 Journal-Sentinel
Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr.'s plan to privatize courtroom
bailiffs won't fly - at least not for now. Judge Dominic D'Amato ruled that
Clarke could not place private security guards in courtrooms, a move the
sheriff had already started by issuing a $1.4 million contract with G4S
Secure Solutions. The firm, formerly known as Wackenhut, is an
international company that provides personnel and technology services. D'Amato
issued a temporary injunction halting the deployment of 25 part-time G4S
guards, siding with the county Deputy Sheriffs' Association. Clarke argued
that he had the power to hire the G4S guards as an emergency stopgap and
wanted that to avoid paying full-time bailiffs overtime. Clarke issued the
G4S contract on an emergency basis after his 2012 budget was cut and
eliminated 48 deputy jobs. The budget also called for creating a new
category of part-time hourly bailiffs, who would be county employees but
not deputies. Until now, the county has used only full-time deputies for
courtroom security. The deputies' union has resisted opening the door to
part-time bailiffs or private security for the courtroom. Under current
staffing, felony courts have two bailiffs each, while misdemeanor and civil
courts have one. Roy Felber, president of the Deputy Sheriffs' Association,
said Friday the ruling was "a big win for us. I'm very disgusted that
we are trying to privatize law enforcement." Private security guards would
be loyal to their company, not to the county, Felber said.
January
13, 2012 The Guardian
The chairman of the company tasked with protecting athletes and visitors at
the London Olympics has paid the price for a failed deal to take over a
cleaning company and fallen on his sword. Alf Duch-Pedersen, who has headed
the world's largest security firm G4S for the past five years, said he was
"sad" to be stepping down this year but accepted the time was
right to find a successor. Chief executive, Nick Buckles, is still in a job
but Duch-Pedersen is to go after shareholders rebelled against a rights
issue for a planned £5.3bn takeover of Danish cleaning firm ISS. Investors
would not support a £2bn money-raising exercise unveiled last October –
which would have allowed a merger to create a group with more than 1.2
million staff worldwide – at a time of deep economic uncertainty. Many
analysts argued at the time that G4S – the result of an earlier merger
between Group 4 and Securicor – should concentrate on its core protection
work where it had won a groundbreaking contract to deliver back office
functions for Lincolnshire police – the first of its kind by a British
Police Authority.
November
22, 2011 The Guardian
Serious injuries or other life-threatening warning signs have been detected
on 285 occasions when children have been physically restrained in privately
run jails over the past five years, according to Ministry of Justice
figures. The figure reflects the number of "exception reports"
submitted by the four privately run secure training centres to the youth
justice board since 2006. The warning signs triggering an exception report
include struggling to breathe, nausea, vomiting, limpness and abnormal
redness to the face. Serious injuries are classified as those requiring
hospitalisation and include serious cuts, fractures, concussion, loss of
consciousness and damage to internal organs. The MoJ figures, which have
been disclosed for the first time, show that there were 61 such exception
reports made last year. There have been 29 so far in the first 10 months of
this year. Their disclosure comes as a two-day High Court challenge is due
to get underway over the MoJ's refusal to identify and trace hundreds of
children who have been unlawfully restrained in the privately run child
jails using techniques that have since been banned. Children's rights
campaigners believe they should be entitled to compensation. The Children's
Rights Alliance for England (Crae) has brought the case challenging the
justice secretary, Ken Clarke's, refusal to contact former detainees dating
back to 1998, when the first secure training centre opened. The legal
challenge follows a second inquest earlier this year into the death of
14-year-old Adam Rickwood, who was found hanging in his room at
Hassockfield Secure Training Centre, where he was on remand in 2006. It
concluded there was a serious system failure which gave rise to an unlawful
regime at the child jail. The use of several "distraction"
restraint techniques, that involved inflicting pain with a severe blow to
the nose or ribs, or by pulling back a child's thumb, were banned in 2008.
The use of physical restraint techniques to control teenagers simply for
the purposes of "good order and discipline" was also ruled
unlawful by the court of appeal. Carolyne Willow, Crae's national
co-ordinator, said their lawyers will argue there had been a chronic
failure by the authorities to protect vulnerable children over many years.
"It was not children's responsibility to know about, challenge and stop
unlawful and abusive treatment," said Willow, adding there were
potentially thousands of former detainees who should now be contacted.
"Children in custody are among the most disadvantaged in society and
they were held in closed institutions where unlawful restraint was routine
and ordinary. It was the state, and the private contractors, who were
duty-bound to protect the welfare and rights of vulnerable children."
She said that government officials now had a duty to notify potential
victims that their rights had been infringed. The abuses should no longer
remain hidden and unchallenged. The security company, G4S, which operates
three of the four child jails is also joining the case as an 'interested
party'.
October
17, 2011 BBC
Shares in G4S, the world's largest security group, fell almost 20% after it
announced a £5.2bn ($8.2bn) takeover of Denmark's ISS. G4S will pay ISS's
private equity owners cash and shares, and will raise £2bn from existing
shareholders to help fund the deal. ISS operations range from catering to
cleaning, while G4S services include running prisons and army training. The
takeover will double the size of G4S, giving it revenues of about £16bn.
G4S said the deal would create an estimated £100m of annual savings for the
combined business by 2014.
October
11, 2011 Canberra Times
The Commonwealth Government is suing its former immigration detention
operators for failing to protect it against lawsuits lodged by people kept
in detention facilities. The case will be heard in the South Australian
Supreme Court on November 21. It is part of a long-running case launched by
former asylum-seeker Abdul Amir Hamidi, who won a confidential settlement
against the Federal Government after almost five years in detention. As The
Canberra Times revealed on Saturday, Mr Hamidi's lawyers predict that the
confidential settlement will spark dozens more claims for damages. In a
case to be heard on November 21, the Commonwealth will claim its former
detention centre operators - GSL and Australasian Correctional Services -
breached their contracts by exposing the Government to the legal action.
The Commonwealth will argue both companies agreed to indemnify it against
damages based on their running of Australian detention centres.
Australasian Correctional Services operated Australia's mainland
immigration detention facilities until early 2004. Group 4 Falck Global
Solutions Pty Ltd (which later changed its name to Global Solutions
Limited, or GSL) commenced management of the centres in late 2003. Both
companies will fight the claim, with ACS arguing it had insufficient time
to respond to the allegations and the terms of its agreement included
dispute resolution measures. GSL says it is not responsible for
indemnifying the Commonwealth for any ''negligent, wilful, reckless or
unlawful acts or omissions of the Commonwealth, its employees, officers or
agents''. Between 2000 and March 2010, detainees in Australian immigration
detention centres were paid more than $12.3million in compensation for
personal injury or unlawful detention.
September
20, 2010 Florida Times-Union
A rookie Jacksonville security guard said today he is thankful for being
rescued from a suicidal inmate who held him hostage with his own gun and
was then subdued at gunpoint by another guard and a corrections officer at
Shands Jacksonville hospital Saturday. A Sheriff's Office official said
this afternoon she is trying to determine why the private guard with less
than six months experience was assigned to the high-risk inmate, whose
previous charges include twice attacking corrections officers at the Duval
County jail. Also being explored are how the inmate broke partially free
from his restraints, beat the guard and took his gun and what else may have
led to the attack. "I think it's pretty dramatic an inmate was able to
do the things he was able to do," said Chief Tara Wildes of the
Sheriff's Office Corrections Division. "I consider us all very
fortunate that it turned out as well as it turned out." The
Times-Union is waiting for comment from officials of The Wackenhut
Corporation, which has a security contract with the Sheriff's Office to
guard hospitalized inmates. Wildes said Sheriff's Office protocol for such
inmate transports will be reviewed along with inquiries to be made of
Wackenhut and Shands about the attack. She said one immediate change now
requires the person manning the lone corrections officer post at the
hospital do additional checks of restraints on inmates kept overnight.
Security guard John Scarborough, 62, told The Florida Times-Union this
morning he was able to wrestle the gun away from the man after a momentary
standoff with another security guard and a corrections officer who pointed
their weapons at the gunman in a hospital hallway. No shots were fired. The
rescue occurred as the gunman threatened panicked nurses that “you all
better run because I’m going to start shooting.” A handful of nurses ran
for cover. Police charged Larry Garner, 19, of Jacksonville with aggravated
battery and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and possession
of a firearm by a convicted felon. Court records show Garner was awaiting
trial after being charged with attacking corrections officers at the jail
early this month and July. He was being held for sentencing after being
convicted of carrying a concealed firearm and resisting arrest in June.
Scarborough, a guard for Wackenhut Security, said he had previously watched
Garner and was aware of his pending charges. Scarborough said he felt
capable of guarding Garner, who'd given him no trouble in the past. He said
he saw no reason to have more than one guard on Garner, despite his
criminal history. "I knew the guy," Scarborough said. Scarborough
said he's worked as a security guard for about five months and experienced
nothing like Saturday's attack. Previously self-employed selling gun
cleaner at gun shows, Scarborough said he's aware his new job has its
dangers, but he never figured on being taken hostage. "You’re never
prepared for it," Scarborough said. "It was quite a to do there
for awhile." Wildes said Wackenhut employees at the hospital should
have known Garner could be trouble because they were aware of his criminal
record and propensity to act out. She couldn't say whether her staff had a
conversation with Wackenhut about Garner after he was brought to the
hospital. She said she prefers that the company's better trained guards
watch such high-risk inmates. Wildes said she doesn't believe the Sheriff's
Office contract with Wackenhut addresses specific levels of security. “In
retrospect, of course, I would have expected someone with more experience,”
Wildes said. “But I can’t say somebody with just five months experience
would in every case be a bad choice.” Police Union President Nelson Cuba
said the incident reinforces his ongoing argument with the Sheriff’s Office
against having security guards watch hospitalized inmates versus trained
corrections officers. Wildes said the job was privatized to save the
Sheriff’s Office money. Cuba said the no other Florida sheriffs have
private guards watching prisoners. Cuba said the state’s Criminal Justice
Standards and Training Commission last month discussed seeking an
injunction against the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office to stop the practice.
He said he's not sure if the action has been taken by the commission, whose
duties include setting training standards for police and corrections
officers. “This guy had nowhere near the training that a corrections
officer has in dealing with these types of situations,” Cuba said. “Our
officers know how sneaky these guys can be.”
September
11, 2011 Scotland on Sunday
HUNDREDS of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money is being spent holding
asylum-seekers at Dungavel detention centre for months at a time. Scotland
on Sunday has learned that almost £500,000 has been spent housing 13
long-term detainees, several of whom have been at the former prison in
South Lanarkshire for more than a year. Asylum-seekers are supposed to stay
at so-called pre-departure centres for no more than a week. But in a number
of cases, delays in the deportation system mean the UK Border Agency is
holding people for an unspecified period. For the duration of detention,
the Home Office pays security firm G4S £110 a day for each asylum-seeker.
At Dungavel, two men have been held for two years and four months, while
others have been held for more than a year, at a cost to taxpayers of about
£480,000. Detaining Christian Likenge, 27, a former law student from the
Democratic Republic of Congo, who has been held for 28 months, has cost
£100,000 to date. Likenge, a Christian preacher, is being held after the UK
rejected his application for asylum but officials in his native country
refused to give him the necessary identification to return home. "It's
very difficult and frustrating being here this long," he said.
"It's mental torture. I feel depressed. You miss your people, you miss
your friends. You feel half-dead."
September
7, 2011 The Age
Specialist security guards at a mental health hospital that houses some of
Victoria's most disturbed patients have been locked out over a pay push for
an extra $2 an hour. The union representing the guards now fears there
could be security breaches at the Thomas Embling Hospital, in Fairfield in
Melbourne's north-east, which houses psychiatric patients from the prison system,
some of them killers found not guilty on the grounds of mental impairment.
The Health and Community Services Union said about 10 guards found
themselves denied access to the hospital this morning and replaced by
guards sent there by security contractor G4S. The hospital's guards have
been campaigning for nine months to be paid the same as security officers
who worked at public hospitals. They were about to put in place bans on
working overtime and filling out paperwork, the union said. Union state secretary
Lloyd Williams said the guards were paid about $18 an hour, despite
requiring specialist qualifications in dealing with patients in a mental
health hospital. The rate is about 10 per cent lower than they received by
guards who patrol public hospitals. He said his members wanted pay parity
with colleagues at public hospitals. Mr Williams doubted whether the
replacement guards had the appropriate skills to work at the hospital, and
lacked the detailed knowledge of patients and daily running of the centre.
He warned of a risk to the safety of patients, hospital staff and even the
public if security was breached. "That's our concern, that when - and
not if - there is a security problem, these people who are there now will
not be able to respond appropriately," he said. The hospital
experienced one security breach yesterday, when a man considered by police
to be dangerous failed to return after being sent out on day release.
Dwayne Lee Spintal, 37, was apprehended peacefully by detectives in South
Yarra this morning. Mr Williams said the standing down of the hospital's
guards had been felt already, as one patient who was scheduled to be taken
to another hospital for medical treatment had to have his treatment
cancelled. "They clearly don't know how to run the facility because
senior management are shadowing them as we speak, making sure that
something doesn't go wrong," he said. "We know already because of
the situation that a patient who needed to go out of the hospital for
[medical] treatment had to have that treatment cancelled. "Clearly
[G4S] are putting their profits ahead of patient treatment." G4S said
in a statement it replaced the guards under provisions of the Fair Work
Act.
August
29, 2011 UKPA
Two members of staff at a private security firm have been sacked after an
electronic tag was put on an offender's false leg, the company said.
Christopher Lowcock, 29, wrapped his prosthetic limb in a bandage and
fooled G4S staff who failed to carry out the proper tests when they set up
the tag and monitoring equipment at his Rochdale home. Lowcock could then
simply remove his leg - and the tag - whenever he wanted to breach his
court-imposed curfew for driving and drug offences, as well as possession
of an offensive weapon. A second G4S officer who went to check the
monitoring equipment also failed to carry out the proper test. Managers
became suspicious last month, but when they returned to the address a third
time Lowcock had already been arrested and was back in custody accused of
driving while banned and without insurance. A G4S spokeswoman said:
"G4S tags 70,000 subjects a year on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.
Given the critical nature of this service we have very strict procedures in
place which all of our staff must follow. "In this individual's case
two employees failed to adhere to the correct procedures when installing
the tag. Had they done so, they would have identified his prosthetic leg.
Failure to follow procedure is a serious disciplinary offence, and the two
employees responsible for the installation of the tag have now been
dismissed." A Ministry of Justice spokesman added: "We expect the
highest level of professionalism from all our contractors, and there are
strict guidelines which must be followed when tagging offenders. "Procedures
were clearly not followed in this case and G4S have taken action against
the staff involved. Two thousand offenders are tagged every week and
incidents like this are very rare."
July
20, 2011 BBC
The trial of an alleged gang accused of using guns and grenades to
intimidate rivals collapsed after two defendants escaped from a prison van.
Kirk Bradley and Tony Downes, both 25, were being taken to Liverpool Crown
Court when the security van they were in was ambushed by armed men. The van
was attacked in Trinity Way, Manchester on Monday morning. Judge Henry
Globe, the Recorder of Liverpool, discharged the jury following a 10-week
trial. He sent the jurors home after asking if they could ignore Monday's
events and consider the case only on the evidence they had heard. Judge
Globe said: "In other words, an insufficient number of you have been
able to confirm that you will be able to ignore the events of Bradley and
Downes' escape from the prison van last Monday. "The events of last
Monday are extremely rare and were very unexpected and their impact cannot
be underestimated. "The fact of this decision is that the trial simply
cannot continue." The judge said it was not clear if the armed men who
sprung them from the van were friends or enemies Before being discharged
the jury was told that Mr Bradley and Mr Downes remained "at
large" and that it was not known whether the armed men who sprung them
from the prison van were "friends or enemies" or if they went
"willingly or unwillingly".
July
19, 2011 BBC
Police have mounted an international search for two men who escaped from a
prison van after it was attacked by an armed gang in Manchester. Kirk
Bradley and Tony Downes fled after the gang stopped the van in Trinity Way
on Monday morning, attacked the driver and forced him to open the vehicle.
The men, both 25 and from Liverpool, were being transported to Liverpool
Crown Court, where they were on trial. Police said efforts were being made
to see if they have left the country. Bradley and Downes stand accused of
conspiracy to possess firearms with intent to endanger life and conspiracy
to commit criminal damage with intent to endanger life.
July
18, 2011 BBC
Two prisoners have escaped from a jail van after it was ambushed by armed
men on the outskirts of Manchester city centre. A number of men attacked
the van in Trinity Way at about 0830 BST, Greater Manchester Police said.
They fled in a Saab, which was found abandoned about a mile away in Barrow
Street, Salford. A security guard has been taken to hospital but his
injuries are not believed to be life threatening. Det Sgt Paul Copplestone
urged anyone with information to contact Greater Manchester Police.
July
8, 2011 POGO
Private security contractor ArmorGroup North America Inc. (AGNA) agreed to
pay $7.5 million to settle whistleblower allegations that it violated
procurement rules that put the security of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul,
Afghanistan at risk. AGNA's parent company said the settlement was made
solely "to avoid costly and disruptive litigation—and that there has been
no finding or admission of liability." This is the same company whose
employees are depicted in lewd pictures POGO made available in fall
2009—which demonstrated a serious breakdown in discipline among the
security personnel defending the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan. POGO
Executive Director Danielle Brian called it a 'Lord of the Flies'
environment. Former AGNA director of operations James Gordon was the
whistleblower who filed the lawsuit—he will receive $1.35 million from the
$7.5 million AGNA has agreed to pay. According to a Department of Justice
(DOJ) press release, these are the whistleblower allegations that were
resolved by the settlement: •"AGNA submitted false claims for payment
on a State Department contract to provide armed guard services at the U.S.
Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan"; •"[I]n 2007 and 2008, AGNA guards
violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) by visiting brothels
in Kabul, and that AGNA’s management knew about the guards’
activities"; •"AGNA misrepresented the prior work experience of
38 third country national guards it had hired to guard the Embassy";
and •"AGNA failed to comply with certain Foreign Ownership, Control
and Influence mitigation requirements on the embassy contract, and on a
separate contract to provide guard services at a Naval Support Facility in
Bahrain." Gordon’s lawsuit was filed in September 2009. Nearly a year
and a half later, DOJ joined Gordon’s whistleblower lawsuit on April 29,
2011. Slightly more than two months later, AGNA settled. According to DOJ
statistics, whistleblower lawsuits (or qui tam lawsuits) that allow
insiders to sue on behalf of the federal government have a much higher
success rate when the government intervenes and joins the whistleblower,
known as a relator, in their lawsuit (or parts of their lawsuit). In 2009,
Gordon stated that he filed his lawsuit “to hold ArmorGroup accountable for
the blatant disregard of its obligations to ensure the safety and security
of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. In an industry where good people are required
to face extreme risk on a daily basis it is essential that those companies
who disregard the rules be removed as they not only endanger their own
staff but also endanger the mission, all in order to increase profit.” On
September 14, 2009, POGO’s Executive Director Danielle Brian provided
testimony on the breakdown of discipline among many of AGNA’s employees in
Kabul before the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Shortly after the Commission hearing, Brian was contacted by Samuel
Brinkley, Wackenhut Services, Inc. (WSI)’s Vice President of Homeland and
International Security Services, who offered to work with POGO on behalf of
WSI and AGNA to identify and remedy mistreatment of victims of this hazing,
retaliation against some of the whistleblowers who had come to POGO, and
other matters raised in POGO’s disclosures. WSI is AGNA’s parent company.
During the intervening months, Brinkley and Brian had many discussions
regarding the fair and appropriate treatment for POGO’s whistleblowers and
others not involved in the wrongdoing. As a result, POGO was pleased that
WSI/AGNA resolved the employment concerns of those five personnel at issue.
WSI issued a statement yesterday as well in response to the DOJ press
release announcing the settlement. WSI disputed the DOJ’s assertion that
there was a violation of the False Claims Act, that it did not have an
anti-trafficking policy in place, and that it violated rules regarding
third country nationals, and foreign mitigation requirements. It also said
“the sole individual confirmed to have frequented prostitutes was fired by
AGNA in normal course when his conduct became known.” WSI noted that the
period of AGNA’s alleged behavior predated WSI’s acquisition of AGNA.
Regarding the violation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, Gordon’s
allegations are more serious than they sound in the DOJ press release. Last
year, the Washington Post/Center for Public Integrity wrote about Gordon’s
case in the context of a perceived lack of U.S. enforcement regarding
alleged sex trafficking by U.S. contractors and subcontractors: In
Afghanistan, evidence of trafficking came to light when 90 Chinese women
were freed after brothel raids in 2006 and 2007. The women told the
International Organization on Migration that they had been taken to
Afghanistan for sexual exploitation, according to a 2008 report. Nigina
Mamadjonova, head of IOM's counter-human trafficking unit in Afghanistan,
said the women alleged in interviews that their clients were mostly Western
men. In late 2007, officials at ArmorGroup, which provides U.S. Embassy
security in Kabul, learned that some employees frequented brothels that
were disguised as Chinese restaurants and that the employees might be
engaged in sex trafficking. A company whistleblower has alleged in an
ongoing lawsuit that the firm withheld the information from the U.S.
government. James Gordon, then an ArmorGroup supervisor, alleged that a
manager "boasted openly about owning prostitutes in Kabul" and
that a company trainee boasted that he hoped to make some "real
money" in brothels and planned to buy a woman for $20,000. The
settlement is a victory for accountability, but ultimately may be
unsatisfying for critics of the government's less-than-robust oversight of
contractors. Can we really expect other contractors to see this settlement
as a wake-up call? The State Department fell asleep at the switch with AGNA
and still has yet to prove that it's serious about contract oversight and
enforcement of trafficking in persons regulations.
July
6, 2011 WA Today
The family of Aboriginal elder Mr Ward, who died in custody, is calling for
any court fines due to be issued today against those responsible for the
death to be invested in a community Environmental Science Centre. Warburton
man Mr Ward, whose first name is not used for cultural reasons, died from
heat stroke in the back of a prison van, with no working cooling system,
after being driven 360 kilometres from Laverton to Kalgoorlie in 42-degree
heat in 2008. State Coroner Alastair Hope conducted an inquest into the
death in 2009, concluding the department, private prison security firm G4S
and the two drivers had contributed to Mr Ward's death. The state
government and G4S have since pleaded guilty to failing to prevent the
death of Mr Ward, after charges were sought by WorkSafe WA earlier this
year. Both parties are due to be sentenced in the Kalgoorlie Magistrate's
Court today and are expected to face heavy fines of up to $400,000 each. In
anticipation of the decision, Ward family spokesperson Daisy Ward has
written to Attorney-General Christian Porter asking for the fines to be
reinvested in the development of a beneficial science centre in the remote
community of Patjarr in the Gibson Desert rather than being put back into
government revenue. Ms Ward wrote: "I believe that when the magistrate
brings down his sentence, the penalty put on your government will come from
consolidated revenue and then be paid back into consolidated revenue.
"This is both hurtful and painful to us. This pain does not go away
from us. Where is the penalty? ... Any penalty that the company, G4S, has
to pay will also go back to your government. "... If the government is
getting the money, could you think about giving us the penalty monies
because then it really is a penalty." An environmental science centre
would reflect the work carried out by Mr Ward to educate environmental
science students about indigenous land management, according to his family.
"We believe that this will give our families and communities some
justice for what happened, and will act as a living legacy of his
work," Ms Ward said. "If the fines imposed are paid to the
government, this will not bring any justice for what happened to my
cousin."
July
5, 2011 The Advertiser
A PRIVATE security firm responsible for prisoner transport has been fined
$50,000. This comes after a review into the March escape from custody of
Drew Claude Griffiths. The review found private security firm G4S had
failed to secure a controlled entry point and van door on March 22 in the
prisoner hold area of the Parole Board's Adelaide premises, allowing
Griffiths to escape. He was recaptured on March 25 by STAR Group officers.
Correctional Services Minister Tom Koutsantonis said the fine sent a strong
message to G4S. "This is a message for G4S that any escape is
unacceptable," Mr Koutsantonis said. "I am getting sick and tired
of prisoners escaping secure custody."
May
20, 2011 Palm Beach Daily News
A limited liability company associated with Richard R. Wackenhut of the
security-services fortune has paid a recorded $11.5 million for a
landmarked oceanfront home at 930 S. Ocean Blvd. The Palm Beach County
Clerk’s office on Friday recorded the warranty deed of sale for the house,
which was built in 1929 by noted society architect Maurice Fatio for his
own use. Broker Lawrence Moens of Lawrence A. Moens Associates acted on
behalf of the buyer, listed on the deed as 1111 Partners LLC, whose sole
managing member is Richard Wackenhut, according to state records. He is the
son of the late George Wackenhut, the Miami founder of the Wackenhut
security-services company. Richard Wackenhut served as CEO and president of
the company that went through ownership changes beginning in 2002. Today it
is part of G4S Secure Solutions, which last year changed its name to drop a
reference to Wackenhut. G4S Secure Solutions-North America is based in
Jupiter. The house was not on the market at the time of the sale, said
Moens, who arranged the deal privately. Moens said he had no comment about
the buyer or details of the sale. The house was sold by Steve and Linda
Horn Inc., an entity affiliated with Steve and Linda Horn of New York. The
company had bought the house for $9.45 million in 2005. Linda Horn, who
owns an antiques and decorative accessories shop in New York, said Friday
she had no comment on the sale. Fatio and his wife, Eleanor Chase Fatio,
lived in the house at the intersection of South Ocean Boulevard and Via
Bellaria. Fatio designed the home in the Florentine Renaissance style with
an exterior featuring coral key stone, one of his favorite building
materials. The two-story, L-shaped home has a poolside covered loggia
featuring an arched colonnade and a pecky-cypress ceiling. The house also
has a 500-square-foot basement. Architectural features include French doors
— with sidelights and fanlights — that open onto the pool area and side
gardens. The Fatios lived in the house until 1930, when Fatio sold it to
Franklin Simon, a New York City department store owner. County property
records show that the limited liability company that purchased the house
this week bought other property owned by Richard Wackenhut. He and a land
trust paid $3.95 million for a home at 338 Eagle Drive in Jupiter’s
Admirals Cove in 2001. Wackenhut took full ownership of the property a year
later. Last November, Wackenhut, acting with his wife, Marie, transferred
ownership of the Jupiter home to the same LLC that bought the South Ocean
Boulevard house.
April
15, 2011 All Africa
The Mozambican judicial authorities on Thursday ordered the release of the
24 workers from the firm Group Four Securicor (G4S) who were jailed in
Maputo awaiting trial on charges relating to demonstrations outside the G4S
offices on 6 April. The decision was made by Judge Ana Felisberto Cunha of
the Maputo Judicial Court, on presentation of declarations of identity and
residence by the strikers. The release of the workers comes after the
company withdrew the criminal complaints it had made against the group.
According to G4S managing director, Pedro Baltazar, the decision to
withdraw the charges was taken during a meeting of the Board of Directors
held in Maputo on Monday as part of efforts to find a peaceful solution to
the labour dispute at the company. The workers' lawyer, Salvador Nkamati,
said that the 24 will have to wait for new developments, and must comply
with certain obligations imposed by the law. "They will have to appear
before the Court whenever requested, as well as other relevant authorities
such as the police and prosecutors" he explained. Riot police used
excessive force to disperse workers who were protesting outside the human
resources department of the Maputo branch of G4S. A riot police unit was
ordered to the scene after protestors broke windows and tore up fencing.
According to the newspaper "O Pais", despite having been beaten
and arrested, the security guards are still loyal to the company and are
all set on returning to work. However, the General Secretary of the
National Union of Private Security Workers (SINTESP), Julio Sitoe, argued
that they should be entitled to compensation from the company for injuries
sustained when members of the riot police violently attacked the
demonstration.
February
16, 2011 The Street
After fiery closing arguments in the Smith v. Walmart trial, a jury found
Wackenhut, but not Wal-Mart(WMT), liable for inadequate security in a store
parking lot where a customer was murdered. The jury awarded over $1M in
damages. Michael Born was murdered in a Wal-Mart parking lot while
replacing his car's headlight. The plaintiffs claimed that Wal-Mart knew
the store was located in a high-crime area, and that police were repeatedly
called to the site. However, neither Wal-Mart nor its hired security
service, Wackenhut, took adequate measures to protect Wal-Mart customers.
Plaintiff attorney Mont Tanner reminded the jury that there had been more
than a hundred similar incidents of serious crimes at the store, such as
battery and robbery, most within the two years prior to the murder.
However, said Tanner, there was no annual security assessment at this
"crime magnet" by either Wal-Mart or Wackenhut, and the Wackenhut
patrol officer was not trained to identify or deal with suspicious persons.
Wal-Mart also allegedly failed to comply with its own security guidelines.
February
8, 2011 The Guardian
The Guardian has obtained a training video used by Securicor - now G4S - to
instruct guards deporting asylum seekers on flights. The footage forms part
of a dossier of evidence produced by G4S whistleblowers. The inaugural
flight to Afghanistan should have been a showcase for a multinational
company vying for the lucrative contract to deport foreign nationals on
behalf of the British government. The plane heading to Kabul on 26 January
2004 had been chartered by a company that would go on to become part of the
world's largest private security firm – G4S. Its cargo included refused
asylum seekers in handcuffs. A number had their legs bound with tape and
had been placed in the first-class cabin. But according to new evidence
some of the guards on that flight, recruited to supervise the deportation,
had not completed a full training course, and they included a number of
inexperienced prison staff. Some had not even received Home Office
accreditation. Shocking details about that flight and dozens more are
contained in previously unseen evidence to parliament obtained by the
Guardian. The documents reveal how G4S employees spent several years
raising concerns about the potentially lethal methods being used on refused
asylum seekers. The most disturbing technique involved bending deportees
over in their seats and placing their head between their legs. The
procedure became known within the company as "carpet karaoke"
because it would force detainees, struggling for breath, to shout downwards
toward the floor. Although an apparently successful method of keeping
disruptive detainees quiet, it can lead to a form of suffocation known as
positional asphyxia. Its alleged use is documented in written testimony by
four G4S whistleblowers, submitted to the home affairs select committee in
the aftermath of the death of Jimmy Mubenga, an Angolan who died on a
British Airways flight from Heathrow in October last year. The cause of
Mubenga's death remains unknown. Passengers on BA flight 77 reported seeing
three guards heavily restraining the 46-year-old, who they said had been
bent over and complained of breathing difficulties before his collapse.
Police later arrested the guards in connection with the death and recently
extended their bail until next month. Grievances -- All four whistleblowers
have registered personal grievances against G4S, including some that have
been settled out of court. Some are understood to have been themselves
accused of inappropriate behaviour or later barred from conveying their
concerns to the press. However, they now accuse G4S managers of presiding
over a "macho" corporate culture that ostracised staff who showed
compassion towards detainees or questioned the safety of their treatment.
One of the whistleblowers, the company's serving charter operations
manager, concedes that his detailed dossier to parliament is likely to
result in his dismissal. The dossier records how he repeatedly wrote to his
seniors expressing concerns, including one letter in which he stated that
some G4S employees were playing "Russian roulette with detainees'
lives".
January
18, 2011 The Age
THE wife of an Aboriginal elder who died of heatstroke in the back of a
prison van says she is ''happy and relieved'' that Western Australia's work
safety watchdog will lay charges over his death. WorkSafe WA has laid four
charges under the Occupational Safety and Health Act against the state
government, the transport company and the two staff involved. Mr Ward, 46,
who cannot be fully named for cultural reasons, died of heatstroke in the
prison van in January 2008. He was being transported from Laverton to
Kalgoorlie on a drink-driving charge. WorkSafe charged the Department of
Corrective Services with failing to ensure non-employees were not exposed
to hazards. Transport contractor G4S was charged with failing to ensure the
safety and health of a non-employee for the transportation of people in
custody. Drivers Nina Stokoe and Graham Powell were charged with failing to
take reasonable care to avoid affecting the safety or health of the person
in custody. Mr Ward's wife said the charges had been ''a long time
coming''.
December
26, 2010 The Guardian
A security company has recruited two former senior civil servants, sparking
an outcry about the "revolving door" between Whitehall and the
company. G4S, formerly Group 4 Securicor, hired Dr Peter Collecott, the one
time director of corporate affairs at the Foreign Office, and David Gould,
the Ministry of Defence's former chief operating officer in charge of
defence equipment, according to a government report. The company, whose
guards are under investigation over the death of deportee Jimmy Mubenga,
supplies armed guards for embassy staff around the world. It has recruited
former ministers including Lord Reid as well as senior figures in offender
management. The disclosure comes two weeks after Sir George Young, the
leader of the Commons, said he would examine the "revolving door"
between Whitehall and defence companies. Denis MacShane, the Labour MP for
Rotherham, called for a closer examination of civil servants before they
are allowed to take private sector roles that may overlap with their former
public duties. "There is great excitement over politicians and outside
interests but the real issue is the gilded path from Whitehall where
billions of pounds worth of public spending decisions are made into
employment with companies that gained from such contracts and
contacts," he said. "We need new rules so that anyone in public
service cannot go straight into employment with companies to which they
previously awarded contracts." Harry Fletcher, the assistant general
secretary of the probation union Napo, who has been critical of the way G4S
has recruited senior civil servants from the Home Office, said:
"Appointments such as these give G4S a commercial advantage over their
rivals and will encourage others to go down the same route." The
appointments are listed in the latest report from the Advisory Committee of
Business Appointments, released earlier this month. Collecott, 60, was the
ambassador in Brazil from 2004 to 2008. He was a member of the Foreign
Office's senior leadership forum that brought together the most senior
heads of mission overseas. G4S said he has worked for their company on two
separate domestic projects – once in 2009 and again this year, a contract
which ended in September. The company has declined to explain the nature of
the project. Gould, the MoD's former chief operating officer of defence
equipment and support – which put him in charge of billions of pounds worth
of procurement contracts – took up a consultant post with G4S last year. He
left the MoD in 2008, and has also had roles at Selex Sensors and Airborne
Systems Ltd. A spokesman for G4S said he worked on a specific project with
G4S in 2009. Last month, G4S prompted an outcry by hiring Philip Wheatley,
the former director general of the National Offender Management Service.
Wheatley's G4S role, which he takes up just as Ken Clarke launches a plan
to privatise much of the probation service he managed until June, has been
criticised by probation unions. Wheatley's appointment is part of a pattern
of G4S lobbying over probation privatisation. The company paid for a meeting
at the last Conservative conference, where G4S "offender
management" executive Jerry Petherick, spoke alongside the prisons
minister, Crispin Blunt.
November
17, 2010 CBS 4
After watching the movie "The Hangover" with her brother and his
friends, the 17-year-old girl headed off to her room. "She was
undressing to get ready for bed, she had just taken her top off, she had
taken off her shorts, and when she reached down to get her T-shirt, she saw
a phone in her window and she screamed, grabbed something to cover herself
and charged at the window, banged on it and yelled," the teen's mother
said. "I heard that, it was loud and it was fear." For the first
time since that August 15 incident the mother of the teenage girl is
speaking out. In order to protect the identity of her daughter, CBS4 News
has agreed not to use the family's name. "She was angry, she was
hysterical because someone had completely violated her life, they were in
her window that's so frightening," the mother said. "She just kept
repeating the same things that she was naked, she was naked. She was
totally mortified." The teen and her mother raced to the living room
where her brother and his friends were still hanging out. When they
discovered what happened the young men rushed outside to see if they could
catch the Peeping Tom. All anyone spotted were the tail lights of a small
SUV off in the distance. "One of the boys said, `Should I get the
security guard?'" the mother said. "And I said, `Yes,
absolutely.' Because they were just down the street." The family lives
inside a gated community, agreeing to pay more than $3,500 a year in
additional taxes for the added security provided by Wackenhut, now known as
G4S. "If somebody wants to do harm they are not going to come into a
neighborhood that has security sitting outside and security driving around
24 hours," She said. "You just feel safe in your home." When
the family friend ran down to the guard house a block away, he saw the
Wackenhut guard sweating and out of breath. The family friend told the
guard that someone had been spying into the one of the bedrooms. "He
goes, `I know, I know, I know,'" the mother recounted. "He was
totally out of breath and he said, `I was just chasing the guy, I have a
complete description of him, I'm just writing it down, I'll be there in a
minute, I'm calling the police.'" A few minutes later the Wackenhut
guard showed up to the house and introduced himself. His name: Eric Michael
Owens. He reassured the mother and the teenage girl that everything would
be fine, that they were safe now. He even added the reassuring biographical
detail that he was a former Marine. "I patted him on the back and put
my arm around him and said, `I'm so glad to have you here, especially to
know you are an ex marine,'" The mother said. "`That makes me
feel really good.'" The mother asked Owens if he had called the
police. Owens assured her he did, but warned they might not come out on
something like this. He even tried to make it seem that the Peeping Tom may
not have been peeping at all. He may have been trying to break into the
cars parked in the driveway. The teenage girl, however, made it clear there
was a voyeur. She described the phone she saw pressed against her window –
the new iPhone 4. At one point Owens, 28, raised the possibility that
perhaps one of the boys in the house may have been responsible, telling the
mom, "You can't trust anybody today." "It kind of just went
over my head that he said that," she offered, "but my son caught
it, and when we came inside he said, `That's weird that he said that mom.
Did you ask to see his phone?' and I said, `No, why would I ask a security
guard to see his phone?' It didn't even cross my mind." Other issues
made the mother suspicious. In describing the man he chased, Owens gave a
nearly perfect description of himself. Besides describing his own height,
weight and hair color, he also said the Peeping Tom was wearing a track
suit with a pair of stripes running up the side of the leg. Wackenhut
guards have two stripes down the side of their pants. After about 30
minutes, the mother began to wonder why Coral Gables hadn't responded. When
she called to check she was told by dispatchers that there was no record of
anyone having called to report a prowler or a voyeur. When the police
finally did arrive it didn't take long for them to focus on Owens. They
asked Owens what type of phone he carries. He said he has an iPhone, but he
told detectives he had left it with his girlfriend and didn't have it with
him that night. But at the same time he was telling this to detectives,
another security guard was telling police that she had indeed seen Owens
with his iPhone earlier that evening. Police spread out to look for places
where Owens might have hidden the phone and eventually they found it
stashed at a construction site a few houses away. Police not only found
images of the teenager naked on Owens' cell phone, but they also discovered
he had secretly recorded video of her while she slept ten days earlier.
Confronted with this evidence Owens confessed, according to police.
"This was someone waiting outside our house, waiting for her, stalking
her," the mother said. Owens was charged with burglary of an occupied
dwelling and video voyeurism. His attorney, Christopher Pole, declined to
comment on the criminal case which is scheduled for trial next year.
Amazingly, it was soon uncovered that Owens had been arrested twice and
convicted once in California for being a Peeping Tom. "They did a
lousy job of screening this employee in particular," said Melissa Visconti,
an attorney with The Ferraro Law Group, which is representing the family.
Wackenhut issued a statement to the CBS4 I Team blaming "the
peculiarities of California law" which list voyeurism under disorderly
conduct. "Given all the information available to the local hiring
manager at the time, the decision to employ Mr. Owens was reasonable,"
the statement argued. For the mother of the young victim, Wackenhut's
response is far from good enough. She notes with amazement that no one from
Wackenhut ever came by the house to check to see if the family was okay or
to apologize for what happened. Two weeks after the incident, Wackenhut's
president, Drew Levine, sent a rather sterile letter noting that,
"Unfortunately, sometimes people do unexpected things that hurt others.
We regret that Mr. Owens caused you harm." The letter, however, was
addressed to the wrong person and the name of the street they live on was
misspelled. "I want this company to take responsibility for their
negligence in this, for hiring someone who had a history of doing this and
putting them in a neighborhood where we were meant to feel safe in,"
the mother said. "This is a classic case of putting the fox in the hen
house," added Jeffrey Sloman, the former U.S. Attorney in South Florida
who, along with Visconti, is representing the family. Sloman noted that
Wackenhut advertises itself as the leader in background security
investigations and yet here, in this case, they fail to adequately
investigate the people they hire. "In this case a public company which
holds itself out to be the world's leader in background investigative
services," Sloman said. "And then you find out they hire a
previously convicted voyeur and place him in the very environment in which
he thrives. It's appalling."
October
29, 2010 Financial Times
G4S, the security group, is to be replaced on a £30m-a-year ($48m) contract
to deport detainees from the UK, the Home Office said. The loss comes after
three security guards employed by G4S were arrested over the death of an
Angolan man last week. However, the UK Border Agency said its decision to
award a new four-year “escort services” contract to Reliance Security
rather than G4S, which had done the job for the past five years, had no
connection with the incident. Jimmy Mubenga, a 46-year-old deportee, died
after he collapsed onboard a British Airways flight that was preparing to
depart to his homeland from London’s Heathrow airport. The Home Office
declined to disclose the sums involved in the G4S or Reliance contracts,
citing commercial confidentiality. However, G4S said that it would take a
hit of £30m in revenues and £2m in profits next year – a fraction of the
company’s £7.4bn forecast sales and £393.7m pre-tax profits in the year to
the end of December. Shares in G4S fell 4.8p at 261.7p. G4S said it was
disappointed at the decision to hand the contract to its privately owned
rival.
October
28, 2010 The Sentinel
A SECURITY guard who stole £20,000 worth of takings he collected from
supermarkets has avoided an immediate jail sentence. Group 4 van driver
Stuart Grey would park up after collecting cash from Morrisons, Asda or
Somerfield and remove a bundle containing £1,000, Stafford Crown Court
heard yesterday. He was caught when Morrisons launched an internal
investigation over missing money and laid a trap with marked notes from its
store in Stone. Pat Sullivan, prosecuting, said a collection from Stone in
April was £1,000 short when it reached the company's headquarters. Police
carried out a search of the defendant's Stoke-on-Trent home and found £460
of the company's money hidden in a washing machine and a mug, plus a bank
deposit slip for £260. Grey explained how he had been stealing cash. He
said he drove away from the store, pulled over a short distance away,
opened up sealed plastic bags and took one bundle of notes containing
£1,000. Grey had done it a total of 20 times over a period of 14 months
from January last year. How he got away with it for so long was yet to be
explained.
October
15, 2010 Bloomberg
Computer Sciences Corp., an information-technology company that relies on
government business for almost 40 percent of its revenue, won $4 billion in
U.S. contracts in fiscal 2009 after failing to pay more than 250 employees
the wages and benefits they were owed. Computer Sciences, based in the
Washington suburb of Falls Church, Virginia, topped a list of 15 companies
that received more than $6 billion in federal contracts despite records of
wage, health or safety violations, according to a report by the Government
Accountability Office. Tyson Foods Inc., the largest U.S. chicken
processor; Corrections Corp. of America, the nation’s biggest private
operator of prisons; and Wackenhut Services Inc., owned by U.K.- based
security contractor G4S Plc, are also among the contractors identified. The
names of the companies, not revealed in the public report released Oct. 1,
were provided by Representative Robert Andrews, a New Jersey Democrat who
criticized the awarding of contracts to companies that didn’t meet required
standards. “If a company has a pattern of violations, at the very least, it
should raise greater scrutiny before they get government contracts,”
Andrews, chairman of the panel that requested the investigation, said in a
telephone interview. “There doesn’t seem to be much incentive to follow the
laws because you can still get a contract anyway.” The report by the GAO,
the investigative arm of Congress, covered a sample of contracts in the
fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, 2009. ‘Work to Do’ -- Computer
Sciences, which was awarded the $4 billion from the Defense Department and
NASA, was assessed $1.6 million in back pay by the Labor Department
covering a five-year period. Tyson, with more than $500 million in Defense,
Agriculture and Justice department contracts, was cited for more than 100
health and safety violations by the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration, the GAO said. Wackenhut, which received $200 million in
security contracts with the Defense, Agriculture and Homeland Security
departments and NASA, violated fair-labor laws, according to Labor
Department data cited by the GAO. “Some companies that continue to receive
lucrative government contracts not only pay rock-bottom wages, but have
long histories of labor and workplace safety violations,” Representative Patrick
Murphy, a Pennsylvania Democrat who joined in requesting the GAO report,
said in an e-mailed statement. “We have a lot of work to do to ensure that
the federal contracting process encourages safe and good-paying jobs.”
Workers Misclassified -- In addition to the pay violations, Computer
Sciences didn’t provide protections against cave-ins for employees working
in a trench more than 10 feet (3 meters) deep, according to a 2006
inspection by the occupational safety agency cited by the GAO. Chris Grandis,
a company spokesman, said Computer Sciences paid the back wages to
employees assigned to a U.S. immigration office in Vermont in 2009, after
the Labor Department found they had been misclassified as contract workers
entitled to less compensation. The company also received a minor citation
from the occupational safety agency and agreed to pay a small fine, he
said. Computer Sciences, a government contractor since 1961, received 37
percent of its $16.1 billion in revenue from federal contracts in the fiscal
year ended April 2, according to a regulatory filing. Army, Immigration --
It ranked 12th in U.S. government contracts in fiscal 2009, the year
studied by the GAO, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Its biggest
federal contract that year was with the U.S. Army to provide engineering
and logistics support for the Communications-Electronics Life Cycle
Management Command. Computer Sciences also has a contract with the Homeland
Security Department for a processing system used in applications for
immigration benefits and services. The company said on Oct. 4 that it was
one of four firms that will share in a $2.8 billion contract by the Social
Security Administration for consulting and information technology services.
Tyson has received more than 100 U.S. health and safety citations,
including for an incident in which a worker died after being asphyxiated in
a pit of wastewater debris, according to the GAO report. Last year,
Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson won $500 million in federal contracts, the
GAO’s report showed. Gary Mickelson, a Tyson spokesman, said the company
seeks to comply with federal regulations and the report doesn’t give “the
full context of the issues involved, nor does it report the measures our
company takes to operate responsibly.” Corrections Corp. -- Corrections
Corp., based in Nashville, Tennessee, was cited for five safety violations
since 2005 and for failing to follow labor laws when firing an employee for
union participation, according to the GAO. Last year, it was awarded $800
million in contracts, the agency said. Steve Owen, a Corrections Corp.
spokesman, said the U.S. contracts are subject to oversight and
accountability. He declined to comment on safety and labor violations cited
in the GAO report. Wackenhut, based in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida,
received $200 million in contracts, the GAO said. From 2005 through 2009,
the Labor Department said the company owed $4.4 million in back wages to
more than 2,100 employees, and OSHA cited the company for seven cases of
health and safety violations, resulting in $9,000 in fines. The company
agreed this year to pay $290,000 in back pay and interest to 446 rejected
black job applicants. Susan Pitcher, a Wackenhut spokeswoman, said the
company had no response to the report. Violations by other federal
contractors included hiring undocumented workers, failing to meet
environmental standards and fraudulently billing Medicare or Medicaid,
according to the report.
October
8, 2010 CBS News
U.S. reliance on private security in Afghanistan that is poorly monitored
and often results in the hiring of Afghan warlords is profiting the Taliban
and could endanger coalition troops, according to a Senate report. Military
officials warn, however, that ending the practice of hiring local guards
could worsen the security situation. Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the
Senate Armed Services Committee which issued the report, said Thursday that
he is worried the U.S. is unknowingly fostering the growth of
Taliban-linked militias and posing a threat to U.S. and coalition troops at
a time when Kabul is struggling to recruit its own soldiers and police
officers. The investigation follows a separate congressional inquiry in
June that concluded trucking contractors pay tens of millions of dollars a
year to local warlords for convoy protection. "Almost all are Afghans.
Almost all are armed," Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said of the army of
young men working under U.S. contracts. State Dept. Awarding Contractors Up
to $10B -- "These contractors threaten the security of our troops and
risk the success of our mission," he told reporters. "There is
significant evidence that some security contractors even work against our
coalition forces, creating the very threat that they are hired to
combat." "We need to shut off the spigot of U.S. dollars flowing
into the pockets of warlords and power brokers who act contrary to our
interests and contribute to the corruption that weakens the support of the
Afghan people for their government," he added. A well placed source in
the Afghan government told CBS News' Fazul Rahim that the senate report
"is what we have been saying for the past couple of years. This report
confirms our suspicions." The Defense Department doesn't necessarily
disagree but warns that firing the estimated 26,000 private security
personnel operating in Afghanistan in the near future isn't practical. This
summer, U.S. forces in Afghanistan pledged to increase their oversight of
security contractors and set up two task forces to look into allegations of
misconduct and to track the money spent, particularly among lower-level
subcontractors. The Defense Contract Management Agency has increased the
number of auditors and support staff in the region by some 300 percent
since 2007. And in September, Gen. David Petraeus, the top war commander in
Afghanistan, directed his staff to consider the impact that contract
spending has on military operations. The military says providing young
Afghan men with employment can prevent them from joining the ranks of
Taliban fighters. And bringing in foreign workers to do jobs Afghans can do
is likely to foster resentment, they say. Also, contract security forces
fill an immediate need at a time when U.S. forces are focused on
operations, commanders say. "As the security environment in Afghanistan
improves, our need for (private security contractors) will diminish,"
Petraeus told the Senate panel in July. "But in the meantime, we will
use legal, licensed and controlled (companies) to accomplish appropriate
missions." Levin says he isn't suggesting that the U.S. stop using
private security contractors altogether. But, he adds, the U.S. must reduce
the number of local security guards and improve the vetting process of new
hires if there's any hope of reversing a trend that he says damages the
U.S. mission in Afghanistan. His report represents the broadest look at
Defense Department security contracts so far, with a review of 125 of these
agreements between 2007 and 2009. The panel's report highlights two cases
in which security contractors ArmorGroup and EOD Technology relied on
personnel linked to the Taliban. Last week, EOD Technology was one of eight
security companies hired by the State Department under a $10 billion
contract to provide protection for diplomats. A statement released by EOD
Technology said the Lenoir City, Tenn.-based company had been encouraged to
hire local Afghans and that it provided the names of its employees to the
military for screening. The company said the military has never made it
aware of any problems with its handling of the contract. In the case of
ArmorGroup, the Senate panel says the company repeatedly relied on warlords
to find local guards, including the uncle of a known Taliban commander. The
uncle, nicknamed "Mr. White" by ArmorGroup after a character in
the violent movie "Reservoir Dogs," was eventually killed after a
U.S. raid that uncovered a cache of weapons, including anti-tank land
mines. ArmorGroup, based in McLean, Va., lost a separate contract this year
protecting the U.S. Embassy in Kabul after allegations surfaced that guards
engaged in lewd behavior and sexual misconduct at their living quarters.
Susan Pitcher, a spokeswoman for Wackenhut Services, ArmorGroup's parent
company, said the company only engaged workers from local villages upon the
"recommendation and encouragement" of U.S. special operations
troops. Pitcher said that ArmorGroup stayed in "close contact"
with the military personnel "to ensure that the company was constantly
acting in harmony with, and in support of, U.S. military interests and
desires." In August, Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced that
private security contractors would have to cease operations by the end of
the year. The workers, he said, would have to either join the government
security forces or stop work because they were undermining Afghanistan's
police and army and contributing to corruption.
September
29, 2010 NBC Miami
When eight current and former employees, supervisors and executives for
Wackenhut Security, now called G4S, were arrested recently and charged with
racketeering, one man felt justice. "I felt vindicated,
vindicated," said Marty Bair. Bair was a senior supervisor for
Wackenhut when he told top executives there that the company was
dramatically overbilling Miami-Dade County for empty guard posts on transit
systems. They fired him. "They did everything they could to try to
destroy me, and prevent me from telling the truth," said Bair.
Wackenhut says they fired him for other reasons and have attacked his
credibility as well as his findings, but Bair is suing Wackenhut over the
firing. And his lawyer says Wackenhut owes him. "They fired him
because he took part in uncovering their cover up," said attorney Gary
Costales. Costales is referring to allegations from Miami-Dade County and
from a separate whistleblower lawsuit accusing Wackenhut management of
"systematically" overbilling the county for empty guard posts and
fraudulent timesheets. The lawsuit claims the overbilling amounts to $17
million over the life of the contract while the county, which sampled a
much smaller timeframe, found the overbilling amounted to several million
dollars. Wackenhut says both allegations are wrong and points to supportive
statements from judges. In an NBC Miami investigation in 2007, more than a
dozen current and former guards and supervisors who worked for Wackenhut
and its contractor gave detailed accounts of how they were routinely
instructed to work a few extra hours yet sign timesheets declaring they
worked a full 8-hour shift. They were also offered overtime for extra hours
so timesheets could place them in two guard posts. Even though it was like
free money to them, they told NBC Miami they knew it was wrong and spoke
up. When they did, many were fired. Wackenhut has insisted previously those
employees were let go for other reasons. Drew Levine ran Wackenhut's
Florida operations at the time of some of the questionable billings, and
now Levine is Wackenhut's (G4S) top executive in North America. But did
Levine know about the widespread overbilling of taxpayers back then?
Wackenhut says Levine was not involved in day to day operations. But Bair
says he informed Levine face-to-face. "I briefed him personally, in
1999," Bair said. Wackenhut has consistently said it did nothing wrong
and disputes the Miami-Dade County audit that lead Mayor Carlos Alvarez to
demand Wackenhut repay taxpayers millions of dollars. And on Monday, a
Wackenhut spokesman said Levine's attorney says he's been told by
prosecutors he will not be arrested, as the other current and former
employees have. One of them, Eddy Esquivel, who runs G4S' operations in
Miami-Dade, sent an internal executive memo five days before his arrest
Friday. His memo discusses the arrest of several current and former
employees September 10, calling the case full of "grave injustices,"
and that Wackenhut "stands squarely behind me" amid a
"malicious corporate campaign" against Wackenhut and warns his
colleagues, "Do not be tempted to buy into the negative and
sensationalistic media spin." A new internal memo from Levine offers
talking points to managers in the wake of the arrests. He says Wackenhut
made mistakes due to timesheets filled out by hand, but without any intent
to defraud taxpayers. And the lawyer for Rene Pedrayes, who ran Wackenhut
in Miami-Dade before being promoted to run the Florida region, says they'd
been assured he, too, would not be arrested, and blamed the arrest on a
lying, disgruntled former employee. As for Bair, is he sorry he told his
employer the unflattering information? "Nope, not at all," he
said. "Anyone who knows me, knows I will tell the truth."
September
25, 2010 NBC Miami
The man at the head of Wackenhut security services in Florida at the time
of a 2007 NBC Miami investigation was arrested and charged with
racketeering Friday, NBCMiami has learned. Rene Pedrayes, 49, was general
manager of Wackenhut's state operations when he left the company amid
allegations that the company systematically overcharged Miami-Dade
taxpayers million of dollars for empty guard posts on county transit. [Read
the arrest affidavit (PDF).] State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle also
announced the arrest of two other high-ranking Wackenhut officials who
oversaw the transit contract. Eduardo "Eddy" Esquivel was the top
Wackenhut official in Miami-Dade County, managing the firm's lucrative
security contract for MetroRail and Peoplemover train systems as well as
the county's juvenile detention center, and Erika M. Ryan worked as a
secretary and assistant to then-project manager of the Wackenhut Miami-Dade
Transit contract, Elijah G. Pendleton. Pendleton was himself arrested and
charged with racketeering two weeks ago. Two others were also arrested with
Pendleton during the first wave of arrests related to the Wackenhut case.
All are charged with racketeering, a felony. A county audit found Wackenhut
overcharged taxpayers by several million dollars over three years, while an
independent audit linked to a whistleblower lawsuit against Wackenhut found
the amount as high as roughly $17 million over the life of the contract.
Wackenhut has said it did nothing wrong, while investigators on the lawsuit
case claim to have gone through every single invoice and timesheet. Will
there be more arrests? Fernandez Rundle's office isn’t saying. But
documents have made reference to the possibility of Wackenhut being charged
as a corporation, a possibility that would make government contracts more
difficult for Wackenhut nationwide. Government contracts are an important
part of the security giant, which was founded in South Florida but has
since been taken over by a British firm. Its American operations are still
based in Palm Beach Gardens, where it is run by president Drew Levine --
the same executive who presided over the firm during the unfolding scandal
in Miami-Dade County.
September
10, 2010 Miami Herald
Miami-Dade authorities have charged five former employees of security firm
Wackenhut -- which has been accused of overbilling taxpayers for millions
of dollars -- with racketeering, court records show. The arrest warrants
issued for Nathan Holmes, Robert Alvarado, William Acosta, Roberto Pereira
and Elijah Pendleton, have been sealed as part of the ongoing probe,
according to documents filed in Miami-Dade court. A Miami-Dade audit
previously found that Wackenhut -- which guarded Metrorail stations for more
than a decade -- overbilled the county from $3.3 million to $5.8 million
for work it never performed. Other estimates put the number much higher. In
February, county commissioners voted to approve a settlement in which
Wackenhut would pay the county $3 million in compensation. Documents filed
in court this week do not detail the allegations against the four men. At
least one man, Pendleton, was removed from working on the Metrorail
contract after a Miami Herald story in 2006 detailed a whistle blower lawsuit
against Wackenhut. A spokesman for the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office
declined to comment. According to court records, the warrants were sealed
by a judge so that Miami-Dade police public corruption detectives can
``seek cooperation of one of more of the said Defendants in furtherance of
the investigation.''
August
27, 2010 Yahoo
Judge James Cacheris of the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia has denied Defendants ArmorGroup North America
("AGNA"), ArmorGroup International, Wackenhut Services, Inc., and
Cornelius Medley's motions to dismiss whistleblower James Gordon's lawsuit
brought under the False Claims Act. On September 9, 2009, Mr. Gordon,
former Director of Operations of AGNA, filed a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit
under the False Claims Act in United States District Court for the District
of Columbia, charging that ArmorGroup management retaliated against him for
whistleblowing, internally and to the United States Department of State
("DoS"), about illegalities committed by ArmorGroup in the
performance of AGNA's contracts with the United States to provide security
services at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan and at the U.S. Naval
base in Bahrain. The Complaint charges that during Mr. Gordon's seven-month
tenure as Director of Operations, he investigated, attempted to stop, and
reported to DoS a myriad of serious violations committed by ArmorGroup,
including: •Severely understaffing the guard force necessary to protect the
U.S. Embassy; •Allowing AGNA managers and employees to frequent brothels
notorious for housing trafficked women in violation of the Trafficking
Victims Protection Act; •Endangering the safety of the guard force during
transport to and from the Embassy by attempting to substitute company-owned
subpar, refurbished vehicles from Iraq rather than purchasing armored
escort vehicles as promised to DoS; •Knowingly using funds to procure cheap
counterfeit goods from a company in Lebanon owned by the wife of AGNA's
Logistics Manager; and •Engaging in practices to maximize profit from the
contract with reckless disregard for the safety and security of the guard
force, the U.S. Embassy, and its personnel. In his Memorandum Opinion
(August 27, 2010), Judge Cacheris noted that "Plaintiff alleges and Defendants
offer no facts to dispute that Defendants ... began to try to
constructively discharge [Mr. Gordon] by 'making [his] working conditions
intolerable.'" Judge Cacheris further noted that "Plaintiff
alleges, and Defendants have not offered any evidence refuting the fact,
that [Defendant] Medley excluded Plaintiff from management meetings,
shunned him, and relegated him to a position of persona non grata in the
office" and that "Medley made clear to Plaintiff by his behavior,
and to other staff members by his direct boasts, that his priority was to
force Gordon to quit." In denying Defendants' Motion for Summary
Judgment, Judge Cacheris concluded that "there is a genuine issue of
material fact regarding the continued nature and duration of the allegedly
illegal acts Plaintiff was requested and required to participate in."
The parties will now proceed into the discovery phase of the litigation.
According to Debra S. Katz, counsel for Mr. Gordon, "this is an
important victory for conscientious employees, like Mr. Gordon, who blow
the whistle on fraudulent practices by defense contractors and wind up then
paying the ultimate price. The court's decision today makes clear that such
employees can bring federal claims under the False Claims Act to obtain
redress."
August
19, 2010 Miami Herald
It's hard to be a security guard and a peeping tom at the same time. That's
what police say Eric Michael Owens of Miami found out last Sunday when he
was called to a home in the Old Cutler Bay neighborhood to help a family who
reported spotting an intruder in the middle of the night. The security
guard got into hot water after Coral Gables police arrived and questioned
Owens, whose story did not add up, they said. The intruder was Owens,
police said. Coral Gables police arrested him later Sunday morning. He is
accused of entering the home and taking photos with his cellphone of an
unidentified 17-year-old girl as she was undressing. The incident wasn't
the first time Owens, a security guard for G4S Secure Solutions USA, formerly
known as Wackenhut, had taken photos of the teenager, he later confessed.
And it wasn't the first time Owens was charged with the same offense. He
was convicted in 2004 in California for peeping into someone's home. That
same year, Owens was also convicted of ``disorderly conduct'' -- a
misdemeanor -- and was honorably discharged from the U.S. Marine Corps,
which he joined in 2001. Coral Gables police charged Owens, 28, with two
felonies -- two counts of burglary -- and three misdemeanors -- two counts
of video voyeurism and one count of providing false information to police.
According to Sgt. Janette Frevola, a spokeswoman for the Coral Gables
Police Department, this is what happened: Owens was on his Sunday shift
when he entered a Coral Gables home and took photos of the unidentified
17-year-old girl as she was undressing. Frevola said she did not know how
the security guard entered the property. At one point, the girl noticed
someone with a cellphone. She screamed. About 2:48 a.m., another person in
the house called the security guard at the front gate of Old Cutler Bay,
and the guard asked Owens, who was on a roving patrol, to check it out.
Frevola would not identify the address of the house or the victim. Owens
came to the house and spoke with the girl's parents, telling them police
were on their way. By 3:32 a.m., when police had not shown up, the family
called the Coral Gables Police Department. Officers arrived and questioned
Owens, whose story did not match the accounts of other people. Meanwhile, Owens'
phone was missing. Police later found it after searching the neighborhood.
It contained images of the teenage girl. Officers took Owens to the station
for questioning. He confessed to the crime -- and to taking photos of the
same teenager two weeks earlier, police said. "The officers did an
excellent job of putting all the pieces together while it was happening,''
Frevola said. Owens was released Monday. Meanwhile, he is out of a job.
"G4S takes these matters very seriously and is committed to upholding
the highest standards of honesty and professionalism and to preserving the
trust of the public and our clients. . . . Upon learning of Mr. Owens'
recent conduct, G4S immediately terminated Owens' employment,'' a company
statement said. Monica Lewman-Garcia, a G4S spokeswoman, said the company
had conducted a preemployment background check before hiring Owens in 2008.
Yet, until Owens' bond hearing Monday, G4S did not know he had been
convicted of peeping into an inhabited dwelling in California in 2004, she
said.
August
16, 2010 CBS 4
A suspected peeping tom was arrested over the weekend after he allegedly
used a cell phone to spy on a woman in her Coral Gables home. Michael
Owens, 28, was employed by Wackenhut and worked as a guard in the Old
Cutler Bay Community. According to Coral Gables police spokeswoman Sgt.
Janette Frevola on Saturday he snuck into a woman's yard and used a cell
phone to video tape a young girl undressing in her bedroom. The girl
reportedly spotted Owens who took off. Instead of contacting police,
Frevola said the girl's mother called the gated community's gatehouse to
report a prowler. According to the arrest affidavit, Owens went to the
house and told the woman that he was there to investigate the incident.
When asked if the police had been called, Owens reportedly lied and said
yes they had. After talking with the woman, he went back to the gatehouse
where allegedly told a co-worker that the woman said she was fine and that
the police didn't need to be called in. Frevola said when the police never
came, the woman called them directly. When they questioned Owens, he
reportedly filed a false written statement concerning a prowler in the
neighborhood. Owens was arrested and during questioning police say he
admitted to taping the girl undressing in her room two weeks ago. He's been
charged with two counts of burglary, two counts of video voyeurism and
lying to a law enforcement officer.
August
8, 2010 Miami Herald
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kendrick Meek is proud of his résumé: state
trooper, state legislator, member of Congress. But there's one job always
left out of stump speeches and campaign ads: his nine-year stint selling
security contracts for Wackenhut Corp., which also employed his wife and
his mother as lobbyists. The reason Meek would not choose to highlight his
ties to Wackenhut are obvious. The Palm Beach Gardens-based corporation was
accused of overbilling Miami-Dade County for security at transit stations
and agreed to a $7.5 million settlement earlier this year. Meek's chief
rival in the Democratic primary, Jeff Greene, has pointed to Meek's work
for Wackenhut as a prime example of the ``pay-to-play'' culture in
politics. Wackenhut's political arm gave Meek the maximum campaign donation
allowed under the law -- $5,000 for the primary and another $5,000 for the
general election. "It is time to send Meek and his lobbyist cronies a
wake-up call that the hardworking people of Florida have had enough of
their politics as usual,'' said Greene, a billionaire bankrolling his campaign
without special-interest money. In a brief interview Monday after voting
early in Miami, Meek denied that he had ever given Wackenhut preferential
treatment. As a state senator in 2000, he voted against a bill largely
favored by the prison industry that established guidelines for bringing
out-of-state inmates into Florida. "I've been against privatization of
prisons,'' Meek said. ``Wackenhut had no undue influence over me
whatsoever.'' Meek's mother, former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek, quietly withdrew
as a lobbyist for Wackenhut in November, just four months after Miami-Dade
County commissioners cleared her of any conflicts of interest in her dual
representation of the county and the security company. At the time, the
county and Wackenhut were at loggerheads. Miami-Dade claimed the company
bilked taxpayers out of between $3.3 and $5.8 million by doctoring time
sheets and leaving county transit stations unguarded. Wackenhut countered
with a lawsuit seeking $20 million in damages. The two sides reached a settlement
in February, around the same time Carrie Meek stopped lobbying for the
county and her son's Senate campaign was getting underway. Under the deal,
Wackenhut agreed to pay $3 million to the county and $4.5 million to a
former Wackenhut whistle-blower and her lawyers. In return, Wackenhut got
permission to compete again for Miami-Dade government contracts. The
dispute with the county emerged after Meek joined Wackenhut in 1994. He won
a Florida House seat that year and remained with the company until he was
elected to Congress in 2002. He earned as much as $68,500 annually with the
security firm. Meek's wife, Leslie, picked up the Wackenhut lobbying
contract from 2004 to 2006. His mother, Carrie, registered to lobby for
Wackenhut in 2007.
August
2, 2010 News-Leader
Nassau County Sheriff's office detectives arrested a 19-year-old Yulee man
Tuesday for allegedly forcing a 14-year-old girl to have sex with him. They
arrested a 45-year-old Bryceville man July 19 for allegedly having sex with
a 16-year-old girl. Police arrested William Harry Steedley III, 19, of
85216 Joann Road in Yulee on a charge of sexual battery in an alleged
February incident, and additional charges of grand theft and dealing in
stolen property from an unrelated incident in April. Authorities said
Steedley allegedly approached a 14-year-old girl from behind, covered her
mouth and forced her to have sex with him. According to Steedley's arrest
warrant, which was issued July 21, the incident occurred between Feb. 15
and Feb. 20. The additional charges of grand theft and dealing in stolen
property stem from an April incident in which he allegedly stole a handgun
from a friend's home in Yulee and sold it for $150. Steedley is being held
in lieu of $135,006 bond at Nassau County Jail. Darren Robert Winslow, 45,
of 14304 US 301 in Bryceville, an armed security guard employed by
Wackenhut in Jacksonville, is charged with two counts of sexual battery and
one count of lewd and lascivious behavior toward a minor. The victim
allegedly told authorities she and Winslow had engaged in various types of
sexual activity an estimated 29 times over the past month. Winslow
reportedly admitted to one incident, in which he didn't immediately stop
the victim from touching him, but denied any other sexual activity with
her. Detectives collected DNA and other physical evidence from places where
the sexual activity between Winslow and the victim was said to have
happened. Winslow is being held in lieu of $450,006 bond at Nassau County
Jail.
July
29, 2010 WA Today
The family of an Aboriginal elder who roasted to death in searing heat in
the back of a prison van will receive a $3.2 million compensation payment
from the WA government, one of the largest such payouts in Australian
history. It is an ex-gratia settlement by the government to the family of
Mr Ward, whose full name cannot be used for cultural reasons, and includes
a $200,000 interim payment already awarded. Attorney-General Christian
Porter today revealed $1.4 million of the money would go to Mr Ward's
widow, Nancy Donegan, with amounts of $400,000 to be placed in trust
accounts for each of her four children. Mr Ward, 46, of Warburton, died in
January 2008 while being transported 360 kilometres from Laverton to
Kalgoorlie to face a drink-driving charge. Temperatures in the van,
operated by private security company G4S, reached more than 50 degrees
after it was revealed the air-conditioning in the van was broken. The
compensation - which Mr Porter said was one of the largest ex-gratia
payments by a government in Australian history, as well as that of common
law countries - came after negotiations with the family's lawyers, the
Aboriginal Legal Service, and on receipt of legal advice detailing what
action could be brought against the state, and what that case might look
like. It represented an "unequivocal apology" by the government.
"It's meant to show contrition... deep, deep, remorse for what has
occurred," Mr Porter said. It also took into account the fact that no
criminal charges would be laid. While it did not come with an admission of
liability, Ms Donegan could still take legal action if she chose. An
"initial view" was that legal action would be likely, Mr Porter
said. "I don't know if that position will change by virtue of this
payment," he said. "If this does not bring finality to the
family, (if civil action was to be launched), we don't want to stand in the
way of Ms Donegan embarking on that action." ALS chief executive
Dennis Eggington said that his organisation would consult with Mr Ward's
family about possible civil proceedings against both the government and
G4S. The ALS also requested further information to determine whether it
would apply to have a coronial inquest into the death reopened. He
described the culpability of G4S as "astronomical" and called on
the company to apologise. "That's the least G4S can do," he said.
"They have been very quiet in all of this. We've been very
disappointed." ALS director of legal services Peter Collins said the
role of G4S in Mr Ward's death was "absolutely diabolical".
"It was their van, their employees driving the van, at a bare minimum
(G4S) should be offering compensation to the family," he said.
July
28, 2010 Scoop
A private prison company that is bidding to run Mt Eden remand prison is
under scrutiny in Australia for failing to make recommended changes after a
high profile death in custody, said the Green Party today. An Australian
parliamentary inquiry this week has heard that G4S has not implemented all
the recommendations of an inquiry into the death of an Aboriginal elder in
2008. In particular, G4S has not been providing training to its workers in
remote areas, according to Ian Johnston, the Australian Department of
Corrective Services Commissioner. Green Party Corrections spokesperson
David Clendon said “All of the prison corporations bidding to run Mt Eden
remand prison have skeletons in their closets. It’s time for John Key’s
Government to review whether any of these companies are suitable to operate
in New Zealand,” said. “It is not good enough for the Minister to hide
behind the tender process. She needs to let the public know what the
minimum standards are for prison corporations who want to operate in New
Zealand.” There had been two damning reports of G4S UK operations in the
last month and now their Australian operations were coming under scrutiny,
added Mr Clendon. “New Zealand’s public prisons are a long way from perfect
but the evidence shows that privatisation is no magic bullet. It will not
make our prisons safer, better or cheaper. “The community and public sector
have lots of good innovative ideas about how the prison system can be
improved. The Government should listen to them rather than flogging off
prison management to corporations. “Private prisons have to make a profit,
which means either cut backs on staff levels and rehabilitation, or
charging more per prisoner. The perverse incentive to make a profit out of
prisoners is at the heart of the problem,” said Mr Clendon.
July
2, 2010 APP
Protesters over an Aboriginal elder's death from heat stroke in a prison
van have accused the West Australian Director of Public Prosecutions of
racism for not laying charges. More than 100 people rallied outside DPP Joe
McGrath's office in downtown Perth office on Friday chanting "Racist
Police" and "Racist DPP". Mr McGrath announced on Monday
that no charges would be laid against two security guards over the
46-year-old elder's death because there was insufficient evidence of
criminal negligence.
June
27, 2010 The Western Australian
The State's top prosecutor has told the family of an Aboriginal elder who
died of heatstroke in the back of a prison van that criminal charges will
not be laid over his shocking treatment. The West Australian understands
that DPP Joe McGrath flew to the remote community of Warburton over the
weekend where he broke the news to relatives of Mr Ward. The decision is
expected to get an angry reaction from family members who have long called
for charges to be laid over the matter. The West Australian was unable to
contact Mr Ward's relatives today. A spokeswoman for the DPP declined to
comment. The latest development comes a year after State Coroner Alastair
Hope handed down a damning report on the disgraceful treatment of Mr Ward,
whose first name is not used for cultural reasons. Mr Hope found two
transport guards, Nina Stokes and Graham Powell, the Department of
Corrective Services and private prison transport company G4S had
contributed to Mr Ward's death. Mr Ward died after being driven 360km in a
prison van from Laverton to Kalgoorlie in 42C without air-conditioning in
January 2008. Mr Ward's cousin told The West Australian earlier this month
that that the matter had dragged on too long and the family wanted both
drivers charged as soon as possible over the death. Daisy Ward said at the
time that family members were getting frustrated about the lack of action
and wanted justice. "I still want them to lay a charge," she said
last month. "If it was an Aboriginal person that did that, they would
get thrown behind bars. My cousin was like in a furnace…like he was cooked
alive in the back of the van." Deaths in Custody Watch Committee Marc
Newhouse said this afternoon that he was shocked and dismayed to learn that
the DPP would not press charges against the two guards who transported Mr
Ward. He said the information on how the DPP reached the decision needed to
be released publicly. "There has basically been a lack of transparency
in this whole process," he said. "It just highlights that there
are some serious flaws in our justice system that when something of this
nature happens and no-one is brought to account for negligence." Mr
Newhouse said Mr Ward's family and community of Warburton would be
devastated by the decision. "It is a complete kick in the guts,"
he said. "It is going to do nothing for Aboriginal people's confidence
in the criminal justice system and particularly where Aboriginal people are
the victims." "The community has been very, very patient,
including the family, and that patience has just ended." Mr Newhouse
said the Deaths in Custody Watch Committee would seek legal advice to
determine whether charges could be brought against the Department of
Corrective Services or private prisoner transport company, G4S. Mr Hope
referred his report to the DPP under a section of the legislation which
allows his findings to be sent to prosecutors on the basis that he believed
indictable offences may have been committed. But in his written findings,
Mr Hope recognised that legal issues relating to the involvement of various
individuals and organisations were "complicated". "I do not
wish to create unrealistic expectations on the part of the family or in the
hope that they will see 'justice' as a result of such a report (to the DPP)
being made," Mr Hope said.
April
7, 2010 Info 4 Security
G4S Wackenhut is changing its name to G4S, in turn reflecting the
company’s vision of providing comprehensive security solutions. Brian Sims
reports. By building on Wackenhut’s proven success in the States as
"the premier supplier of manned security services" G4S has
aggressively positioned itself to deliver a new category of integrated
security solution that combines manpower and technology. Through a series
of acquisitions that includes the Nuclear Security Services Corp, Touchcom
Inc, Adesta and AMAG Technology, G4S will continue to evolve its core
competencies from its Wackenhut roots to deliver integrated security
solutions for greater performance and efficiency. “Our transformation from
G4S Wackenhut to G4S is not something that happened overnight,” explained
Drew Levine, president of G4S Secure Solutions. “Since before Wackenhut
became part of the G4S family of companies, we’ve been developing new and
more efficient means of supplementing our security officers with powerful
technologies such as our Secure Trax Management Software platform."
Levine added: "Now, with the global resources of G4S behind us, we can
deliver a wider range of services – including security consulting, design
and engineering; compliance and risk management; facilities management and
remote video monitoring. That being the case, we can offer truly integrated
security solutions, unlike any other company in the industry.”
February
19, 2010 Miami-Herald
Democratic Senate candidate Maurice Ferre is calling on his primary rival,
Kendrick Meek, to return $10,000 in campaign contributions from Wackenhut's
political action committee -- a week after the company agreed to pay $7.5
million to settle claims it systematically overbilled Miami-Dade County.
"Kendrick Meek was part of the team that enabled Wackenhut to bilk
Miami-Dade taxpayers out of millions of dollars," said Ferre.
"Floridians need a Senator who will put their interests before special
interests and Meek has proven he is not the man for the job." Meek
sold security contracts for the company from 1994 to 2002, and his Senate
campaign received the maximum $10,000 donation its political action
committee. Meek's wife, Leslie, and his mother, Carrie, have also lobbied
for the company, Ferre noted, adding that Carrie Meek lobbied for both
Wackenhut and Miami-Dade County while the two were fighting over billing.
"The Democratic establishment is making a big mistake in anointing
Kendrick Meek," said Ferre. "Meek has never faced a real election
and has never answered for his wheeling-and-dealing as an elected official.
Congressman Meek's record would not hold up to the intense scrutiny applied
by the Republican machine in a general election."
February
19, 2010 Miami Herald
Miami-Dade Commissioners voted 8-3 Thursday to approve a settlement with
Wackenhut Corp., formally ending the testy dispute between the county and
security firm that guarded Metrorail stops for two decades. Under the deal,
Wackenhut will pay $3 million to the county and $4.5 million to a former
Wackenhut employee and her lawyers who filed a whistle-blower suit alleging
bogus billing practices. In return, Wackenhut gets a clean bill of health
with the county and can compete for Miami-Dade government contracts in the
future. A Miami-Dade audit previously found Wackenhut overbilled the county
anywhere from $3.3 million to $5.8 million for work it never performed.
Other estimates put the number much higher. Last year Miami-Dade leaders
said they would bar the firm from doing business with the county.
Wackenhut, which stopped guarding railway stops in November, denied
overbilling the county and filed a $20 million lawsuit last year against
Miami-Dade. While commissioners approved the deal, some were uneasy.
``We're not getting back what we're owed,'' said Commissioner Joe Martinez,
who voted against the settlement.
February
16, 2010 Grand Rapids News
Less than a month after a federal judge rejected James and Glenna
Chandler's bid to punish the security company that employed five men
convicted of killing their daughter in Holland in 1979, the couple has
filed an appeal, pushing their case forward. Janet Chandler's father filed
the appeal Tuesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth District in
Cincinnati, records show. The Chandlers have claimed Wackenhut Corp. --
which employed five of the six people convicted of Janet Chandler's slaying
-- did not conduct sufficient employee background checks, or properly
supervise their workers. They also contended Wackenhut helped hide the
employees' involvement in the murder, which took nearly three decades to
solve. The family was seeking cash damages for the mental pain and
suffering inflicted by the death of Janet, a 22-year-old Hope College
student. On Jan. 19, U.S. District Judge Janet Neff dismissed the
Chandlers' claims against the Florida security firm, which hired guards
during a strike at a Holland area plant. Neff said the allegations were
filed after a three-year statute of limitations.
February
16, 2010 Miami-Herald
Heading to an end: the long-running dispute between Miami-Dade County,
Wackenhut Corp. and a whistleblower named Michelle Trimble over millions in
alleged overbillings for phantom workers at Metrorail. On Thursday county
commissioners are scheduled to vote on a proposed settlement in which all
parties would drop their competing lawsuits, Wackenhut would pay $7.5
million, and Miami-Dade would end its bid to keep the private security firm
from doing business with the county. It would promise not to use the facts
of this case against Wackenhut on current or future contracts. Out of the
$7.5 million Wackenhut has agreed pay, $3 million would go to the county,
$1.25 million to Trimble and $3.25 million to her attorneys, led by
plaintiffs lawyer Mark Vieth and the Miami firm Josephs Jack. The proposed
settlement comes nearly a year after a final audit by Miami-Dade County
concluded that taxpayers were overbilled by Wackenhut -- which provided
security at the county's Metrorail stops for two decades -- by $3.3 million
to $5.8 million. In the proposed settlement, the county also agreed to
clarify its final audit by Miami-Dade's chief auditor Cathy Jackson, saying
her comments ``should not be construed to mean that the principals or
management of Wackenhut engaged in fraud.'' In a memo to commissioners,
County Manager George Burgess defended the proposed settlement, writing
that the deal avoids the risks associated with trial and required ``all
parties to make some compromises.'' Drew Levine, Wackenhut's president,
declined to comment. Trimble could not be reached for comment. Vieth, who
has been leading the civil case against Wackenhut since August 2005, did
not return calls. Michael Josephs of the Josephs Jack firm declined to
comment. If approved, the settlement will end a dispute that's been part of
a broader history of waste and mismanagement underscoring the county's
stewardship of the transit system. In this case, the county has been
criticized for responding slowly to allegations that taxpayers were paying
for guards who did not show up at Metrorail stops. In August 2005 the whistleblower
lawsuit against Wackenhut was filed alleging phony billing practices; the
suit is called a Qui Tam action, in which a private citizen sues on behalf
of the government. Trimble worked as a guard at the county's Juvenile
Services Department, where Wackenhut also previously provided security
services. The county balked at participating in the case, instead ordering
its own audit that was not finished until 2008. The inquiry found that
Wackenhut billed the county for service not rendered. It wasn't until a
year later, in April 2009, that a final audit was issued -- again
concluding taxpayers were bilked. County manager Burgess had said he would
replace Wackenhut once its contract expired in November and pledged to bar
the firm from doing business with the county in the future. Burgess also
said the county would cooperate with the Qui Tam lawsuit. At the time,
plaintiff attorney Vieth said the ``evidence of overbilling has been
overwhelming and existing for four years.'' For its part, Wackenhut denied
wrongdoing and subsequently filed a $20 million suit against the county,
saying the future damages it will suffer ``as result of this unfair and
malicious taint'' on the firm's reputation ``are incalculable.'' Last month
-- on the eve of trial in the whistleblower case -- the proposed settlement
was reached, according to Burgess' memo.
February
11, 2010 KATU News
In a Seattle bus tunnel a 15-year-old girl was viciously attacked while
security guards did nothing but call 9-1-1. The incident, in addition to sparking
outrage, has many asking whether security guards in Portland are allowed to
step in. Disbelief and disgust was the reaction by people who were shown
surveillance footage of a girl being repeatedly kicked in the head by
another girl while private security guards stood by at arm’s length and did
nothing but call 9-1-1. “I know the transit isn’t exactly the same over
there (Seattle), but I know it’s still good and that’s, that’s horrible,”
said one man after watching the video at a MAX station. “Somebody’s getting
hurt, I mean you don’t want them to get hurt, I don’t know, like, do
something,” said another man at a MAX station. TriMet and its private
security contractor Wackenhut, said if one of their guard’s is near a
fight, they won’t just stand back and dial 9-1-1. Wackenhut project
manager, Maj. Ellis Bremer, said there’s no question employees can and will
get directly involved to stop fights. “We will not stand by,” he said. “We
are here to protect the employees and assist the employees of TriMet and in
so far as the ridership goes, of course, protect the ridership and inform
the ridership.” The state only requires eight hours of classroom work to
get a license to be a private security guard, but Wackenhut said it
requires its people to go through an initial minimum of 80 hours and then a
16-hour refresher course every year. Most riders said they believe security
should mean more than just dialing 9-1-1. Transit officers in Seattle say
they are reconsidering the limits put on their private security guards.
December
24, 2009 Miami-Herald
The former chairman of the Florida Board of Medicine and another Fort
Lauderdale physician have agreed to pay substantial sums to settle federal
civil charges of insider stock trading. Dr. Mammen P. Zachariah, appointed
to the board of medicine by Gov. Jeb Bush in 2004, and Dr. Sheldon Nassberg
allegedly reaped illegal windfalls by acting on stock tips supplied by
Mammen Zachariah's brother, prominent Broward heart specialist and major
Republican fundraiser Dr. Zachariah P. Zachariah. Zach Zachariah, who has
raised millions of dollars for Republican causes and candidates, including
both presidents Bush, faces similar charges, but has declined to settle his
case. A federal magistrate has set trial for Aug. 23, 2010. That trial
promises to offer a unique look at Republican fundraising and how political
access is bought and sold. Among the expected highlights is witness
testimony from two of South Florida's better-known corporate chieftains --
The Geo Group's George Zoley and Phil Frost, formerly of IVAX. The
Zachariah brothers and Nassberg, all of whom practice at Fort Lauderdale's
Holy Cross Hospital, were named in a May 2008 civil complaint brought by
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The complaint accuses them of
collecting more than a half-million dollars in illegal profits during a
fraudulent stock-trading scheme in 2005. Without admitting or denying the
government's allegations, Mammen Zachariah, 61, agreed to pay nearly
$136,000 in what a judge labeled ``ill-gotten gains,'' plus an equal amount
as a civil penalty. Nassberg, an endocrinologist, agreed to similar
payments totaling $52,668. He admitted no wrongdoing. Both men are required
to pay up by the end of the month. The final judgments signed by U.S. Magistrate
Linnea Johnson on Wednesday also include permanent injunctions that
restrain both doctors from future securities law violations. Zach
Zachariah, another past chairman of the Florida Board of Medicine, is
alleged to have used nonpublic information to buy and sell shares of two
unrelated Florida companies, Miami-based generic drug maker IVAX and
Sarasota's Correctional Services Corp. (CSC). Zachariah was on IVAX's board
of directors in July 2005 when company chairman Phil Frost informed him
that IVAX had agreed to be acquired by Teva Pharmaceuticals for $26 a
share. Within minutes, Zachariah bought 35,000 IVAX shares for about $21 a
share, the SEC said. At the time of the alleged purchase, company insiders
were forbidden from trading in IVAX stock. Zachariah also allegedly tipped
off his brother, who bought 2,000 IVAX shares for about $23 a share on the
last trading day before the deal was announced in July 25. Zachariah
allegedly used inside information to make even more money trading shares of
CSC, which was acquired by The GEO Group of Boca Raton in 2005. According
to the SEC, the Zachariah brothers and Nassberg turned $380,000 in quick
profits. The government says Zachariah acquired that inside knowledge in a
couple of ways. One was through his son Zachariah ``Reggie'' Zachariah, who
worked in GEO's mergers and acquisitions department. Reggie Zachariah has
denied under oath tipping off his father to the deal. Another was through
Zachariah's own moonlighting work for GEO. The SEC says Zachariah made ``millions
of dollars'' as a corporate consultant, service provider and lobbyist for
GEO, a giant prison contractor once known as Wackenhut Corrections.
Zachariah, who owns a $2.3 million home on the Intracoastal Waterway in
secluded Sea Ranch Lakes, said under oath last winter that he was paid to
provide access for GEO chief executive George Zoley to top federal and
state Republican politicians. Those politicians include former President
George W. Bush, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, former Florida
Senate President Tom Lee and House Speaker Alan Bense and former attorney
general Charlie Crist, now Florida's governor.
December
22, 2009 Aiken Standard
A long-serving member of the Savannah River Site's military-style
security force is suing his employer, claiming he was discriminated against
because of his race. His former employer, however, states they fired him
due to numerous arrests and his unwillingness to cooperate with Department
of Energy physicians who were assessing his "fitness for duty."
Lagone Melton of Hephzibah, Ga., filed a federal civil rights lawsuit
against Wackenhut Service Inc. recently, claiming he was treated
differently and more severely than white colleagues in similar disciplinary
actions. He further claims he was demoted, decertified and terminated when
he raised the issue of racial discrimination to union officials. His former
employer denies all of Melton's claims. Melton has been employed by the
security firm since 1990 and has received positive performance evaluations
since that time, he claims in his complaint. He was fired from his position
on July 9, 2007, under what he believes are false pretenses. In December
2006, Melton was charged with reckless driving, he wrote in his complaint.
After reporting this to his employer, they required Melton to attend
alcohol and anger management treatment, he claims. "Other white
employees of the same rank, SPO III, received driving under the influence
charges but were not treated in the same manner as the plaintiff,"
Melton's complaint reads. "They were not required to enter into a
treatment program." Court records show, as the defendants claim in
their response, that Melton was arrested Dec. 24, 2006, and charged with
DUI and weaving over the roadway, but it was reduced to reckless driving
when Melton pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to two days in jail, probation
and had his car fitted with an ignition interlock device which acts as a
breathalyzer that will not allow someone over the legal alcohol limit to
drive. Wackenhut officials state that this was not the first time Melton
was arrested for DUI and that they ordered alcohol dependence and anger
management classes at the behest of a clinical psychologist. "(The)
plaintiff was arrested for driving under the influence in December 2006; he
had been arrested on at least three previous occasions for (DUI) and on
other occasions arrested for other misconduct, and, as a result, ... he was
referred to an off-site clinical psychologist for evaluation for fitness
for duty," the response states. An outspoken proponent of employees
unionizing, Melton was made an administrator when the Local 125
organization was ratified in January 2007. He states in his complaint that
he was targeted for termination after he expressed that African-American
applicants were being "denied hire" and that Wackenhut
"demonstrated unwillingness to work with African-American union
executives." Wackenhut officials deny all of this charge.
December
13, 2009 KESQ
Jimmy Hughes, wanted for a 1981 triple murder in Rancho Mirage, was booked
in a Riverside jail late Saturday night. Riverside County Sheriffs
detectives took him into custody at a Miami jail and flew him to Ontario
airport. Hughes is now booked at the Robert Pressley Detention Center. His
first scheduled court date is Thursday, December 17th at 8:00AM. On July
1st, 1981, Fred Alvarez, his girlfriend Patty Castro, and friend Ralph
Boger were shot to death at 35040 Bob Hope Drive in Rancho Mirage. There
was a house there that has since been bulldozed. As previously reported on
KESQ.com, This cold case is known as the "Octopus Murders," a
term coined by investigative journalist Danny Casolaro in 1991, because the
murder plot has tentacles that reach into our police agencies, Indian
tribes and political leaders. Detectives now believe it was a contract
killing and that, 52 year old Jimmy Hughes is the hitman. Hughes was
arrested as his plane was waiting on the tarmac at Miami airport September.
He was on his way to Honduras, where he now runs a Christian ministry.
Extradition for Hughes from the Miami-Dade Pre-Trial Detention Center had
been postponed for three months until Hughes' attorney declared they would
no longer fight extradition earlier this month. Nearly 30 years ago, Hughes
was security chief for the Cabazon Band of Mission Indians. Tribal Vice
Chairman Fred Alvarez was going to blow the whistle on weapons
manufacturing deals between the tribe and defense contractors, including
Wackenhut Corporation. Those weapons deals later turned into database
software development that became a major spy scandal known as
"PROMIS" with national security impacts to this day. Rachel
Begley, daughter of murder victim Ralph Boger, confronted Hughes last year
with a hidden camera and demanded answers. Begley said to Hughes, "You
were the 'bagman' in our father's murder. I'd like to talk to you about
that." Hughes, confronted during a break at an evangelical conference
in California replied, "I have nothing to say about that. Can't can't.
Can't say anything about that" Hughes added, "I want to forget
about a past that is ever so awful and scary in my past. I don't live there
anymore. I don't got nothing to do with that. Screw the FBI. Screw the
police. Screw everybody in my past. The world I live in is screwed
up." "I wake up in the morning with a clear conscience. Let me
tell you something about my past. My past is dead. I don't care about my
past. My past is my past. It's none of your business. It's nobody's
business. I don't care who died. I don't care who got killed. I was trained
in the military. I killed people all over the world, right or wrong because
the government ordered me to," said Hughes. Hughes even admitted to
shooting at least 6 people in the head as a professional hitman on the
website of the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship. Hughes explained to
Begley, "Your parents got killed. In a mafia hit. That's life. That's
what happened. Your parents were involved in some very dangerous things.
Your dads. That's the only thing I can tell you. Your dad and I were
friends. I knew your dad. He touched... He touched somebody. They gave an
order and that is what happened to him." "It's a lot bigger than
the murder of this guy or the murder of that guy. It is a big... You're
talking political people," said Hughes. From Richard Armitage to
William Weld, those political people include a "who's who" of
past Republican Administrations. Documents obtained by News Channel 3 show
many of the weapons made on tribal land were meant for the Iran-Contra arms
deals. Hughes claimed, "I was investigated by the FBI. I was
indoctrinated by... I was messed around by them. So I don't care. I can't
tell you anything that the police don't already know."
December
8, 2009 Reuters
The State Department will not renew the contract of a security company
embroiled in a scandal involving the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, where guards
were accused of drunken conduct and sexual hazing. U.S. State Department
spokesman Mark Toner said on Tuesday Virginia-based ArmorGroup would not
have its contract renewed when it expires in June, although it will receive
a six-month extension to allow the contract to be put up for new bids.
Toner said officials had reviewed the contract and "concurred that the
next option year should not be exercised and that work begin immediately to
compete a new contract." He said the review included both recent
misconduct allegations against ArmorGroup personnel and the company's
"history of contract compliance deficiencies." This week a report
by the non-partisan Government Accounting Office identified a number of
shortcomings in the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security
including staffing shortage and increased reliance on contractors in
high-risk posts. The Kabul embassy scandal broke in September, when a
watchdog group accused ArmorGroup of jeopardizing security at the embassy
by understaffing the facility and ignoring lewd, drunken conduct and sexual
hazing by some guards -- and provided graphic photos as evidence.
ArmorGroup North America, now owned by Florida-based Wackenhut Services,
was also hit by a federal whistle-blower lawsuit that said it had ignored
brothel visits by guards and other misconduct because of what a lawyer said
was a "myopic preoccupation with profit" in its five-year, $187
million contract with the State Department. State Department officials said
the safety of embassy staff was never in jeopardy. But they subsequently
said 12 embassy guards had been removed or resigned, ArmorGroup's entire senior
Kabul management replaced and alcohol banned at the group's camp. Secretary
of State Hillary Clinton ordered a thorough review of how contractors are
used. The GAO report noted that worldwide, the U.S. diplomatic security
budget had grown to $1.8 billion in 2008 from just $200 million in 1998,
when truck bomb attacks on U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed more
than 300 people including 12 Americans. The bureau's workforce has also
doubled over the same period but is failing to keep pace with rising
security threats including those faced in Iraq and Afghanistan, it said.
"Staffing shortages in domestic offices and other operational
challenges -- such as inadequate facilities, language deficiencies,
experience gaps, and balancing security needs with State's diplomatic
mission -- further tax its ability to implement all of its missions,"
the report said. The report urged the State Department to develop a
strategic plan to directly address the rising demands of diplomatic
security including increased staffing.
November
24, 2009 The Guardian
The brutal truth of child detention 2,000 asylum seekers' kids a year
are locked up, and the only beneficiaries seem to be firms running centres
like Yarl's Wood A report by the novelist Clare Sambrook of End Child
Detention Now, which campaigns against the detention of 2,000 asylum
seekers' children every year, asks the very reasonable question: who does
this expensive incarceration benefit? Clearly not the children who,
according to every study ever written on this issue, suffer acutely from
being taken from their homes on the orders of the UK Border Agency and
placed in a confined space for an indeterminate period. Many argue that
society benefits because it is protected from the asylum seekers and their
families. Sambrook wonders how that can be when there is no evidence that
asylum seekers are likely to abscond. So who benefits? Clearly the private
companies that run so much of this operation have a lot to gain. G4S, the
company that operates Tinlsey House, one of three detention centres where
last month 10-year-old Adeoti Ogunsola tried to strangle herself after
being forcibly redetained, recently reported rising profits and growth in
government business which had offset weakness in commercial sectors. As
Sambrook reports: "Last year G4S handed chief executive Nick Buckles a
£1.4m pay package. That's £3,835 every day. He owns £4m in G4S shares,
tipped by the Daily Telegraph recently as, 'a solid buy for these uncertain
times'." Someone else who may reasonably be said to benefit from this
policy is Christopher Hyman, the chief executive of Serco, who also earns
in the region of £3,000 a day. His company runs the notorious Yarl's Wood
detention centre where children have been detained far beyond the 28-day
with charge maximum allowed for terror suspects. "Traumatised child
inmates, who must carry ID cards at all times, refer to Yarl's Wood as
'prison' and 'the camp'," says Sambrook. Among the indirect
beneficiaries she also identifies John Reid, the former home secretary, who
is paid £50,000 a year as a consultant to G4S for, among other things,
hosting government and security industry breakfasts. Meanwhile children are
suffering. The Lorek report in the peer review journal Child Abuse and
Neglect says detained children experience "increased fear due to being
suddenly placed in a facility resembling a prison … the abrupt loss of
home, school friends and all that was familiar to them". Some exhibit
"sexualised behaviour". Older children are so stressed they wet
their bed and soil their pants. Who benefits from this expensive and harsh
policy? Sambrook answers her own questions with this – " some
extremely wealthy grownups".
November
23, 2009 Wall Street Journal
G4S PLC (GFS.LN), an international security solutions group, said
Monday it Monday it has bought Champions of the West, Inc--trading as All
Star International from the Junge Revocable Trust and John P. Junge
individually, by its U.S. Government Services business, Wackenhut Services,
Inc. for $59.9 million in cash, on an enterprise value basis.
November
6, 2009 West Australia Today
The ongoing contract with a private prison transport company
responsible for the death of an Aboriginal elder in January last year has
sparked legal retaliation. The Deaths in Custody Watch Committee has told
radio 6PR that it was seeking independent legal advice to appeal the
decision to keep the $25million a year contract between the State
Government and contractor G4S. The State Coroner found that the company was
responsible for the death of 46-year-old Mr Ward, who had been arrested for
drink driving and was being transported 350kms to a Kalgoorlie Court when
he suffered heat stroke from the 50C heat inside the unairconditioned
truck. "It is outrageous and unimaginable that they [G4S] could
continue their contract. They have been responsible for six deaths in
Australia in less than nine years," committee spokesman Mark Newhouse
said. He said the company, under its current terms, could still be
responsible for two more deaths in custody and not have its contract
terminated before it expired in 2011. "What is even more concerning is
that in one incident, if there are four to five deaths, that is not
considered a breach of contract, which is outrageous," he said. The
group is also planning on mounting a public campaign to improve proper
approvals for public contracts and improving the monitoring of those being
transported while in custody. Mr Newhouse said there had been no evidence
from the company that any improvements had been made. G4S have refused to
comment on the grounds that it was a confidential contract. The Attorney
General Christian Porter was also unavailable for comment.
October
11, 2009 Weekly Standard
There seems no end to contractor abuse scandals in countries fighting
terrorism or undergoing "nation-building." The latest to be
reported in the media involves ArmorGroup North America, a private security
firm guarding the American embassies in Iraq and Afghanistan. It began in
Baghdad on August 9, when an ArmorGroup employee shot two of his colleagues
dead. The victims were Darren Hoare, 37, an Australian, and Paul McGuigan,
37, a Briton and ArmorGroup executive. The alleged killer, Daniel
Fitzsimons, 33, is also British. ArmorGroup North America is owned by
Wackenhut Services, Inc., a Florida-based company, which is a division, in
turn, of a Danish enterprise, G4S, that advertises itself as the world's
largest security company. The shootings reportedly occurred late at night,
inside the ArmorGroup compound in Baghdad's international area known as the
Green Zone. Fitzsimons, according to a Baghdad source who declined to be
named, is said to have shot his coworkers because they claimed he was
homosexual. After killing them, he shot an Iraqi, Arkhan Mahdi, in the leg,
then was arrested by Iraqi police (who now patrol the Green Zone).
Fitzsimons faces a possible death sentence. He will be the first foreigner
employed in Iraq since the beginning of the 2003 intervention to be held to
account under Iraqi law. Fitzsimons says he cannot remember the incident.
According to the London Sunday Times, Fitzsimons was seen on an earlier
occasion injecting Valium and morphine into his leg while already drunk.
Another trail of misconduct has led to an uproar in Kabul, where 16 U.S.
embassy guards provided by ArmorGroup were fired in early September for
alleged drunkenness and for forcing those under their control to engage in
deviant and humiliating behavior. U.S. press coverage of the Fitzsimons
case has been minimal, and even the contractors' misbehavior in Kabul,
although documented by video, has mostly been handled with discretion by
the print media. The New York Times mentioned "lurid details" and
"lewd conduct" at weekly parties hosted by embassy guards. The
Kabul carousing was disclosed when the Project on Government Oversight
(POGO) released a report on September 1. More information emerged in a suit
filed September 9 by James Gordon, a New Zealander and former operations
director of ArmorGroup North America. Gordon says he is a "whistle-blower,"
forced out of his job after warning company executives and the U.S.
Department of State about the situation at the embassy. According to the
New York Times, the POGO report stated that victims of "deviant
hazing" included Afghans, whose conservative Muslim culture left them
especially repelled by such behavior; those who refused to submit were
dismissed from their jobs. The report described a " 'Lord of the Flies' environment."
Fitzsimons, the accused Baghdad shooter, has been treated in the British
media as a case of post-traumatic stress disorder caused by his prior
military service in Iraq and the Balkans. But it would be a mistake to
blame such dissolution on the stress of war alone. The Green Zone syndrome
of alienation from the local population, as chronicled by critics of the
Iraq war, is a ubiquitous feature of life among foreign administrators in
conflict and post-conflict areas across the globe. Sex trafficking and
corruption of locals have become prominent wherever operations are
conducted by transnational bureaucracies like the United Nations and the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) along with the
attendant ranks of nongovernmental organizations and private contractors. I
have observed similar patterns in the Balkans for a decade.
September
30, 2009 ABC
The West Australian Government has officially responded to the
coroner's findings in the case of Mr Ward, who died of heatstroke in a
prisoner transport vehicle. The coroner said the Aboriginal elder's death
in searing desert heat was a disgrace, as the van was "not fit for
humans". But the Government has decided not terminate the contract of
the private company which transported Mr Ward. The Government says it
supports all of the coroner's recommendations - some of which have already
been acted on. But the full response has come three months after the
coroner handed down his findings, and 20 months since the tragedy occurred.
The Government agrees there should be more training and monitoring of
staff, and there should not be transportation of prisoners over long
distances. But the Attorney-General Christian Porter says the contract with
private operators G4S is likely to continue. Mr Porter has suggested the
company may have to pay a penalty. "The penalties that you've spoken
of, for a death for instance, I understand are $100,000 which seems to me
to be ridiculous in the scope of what occurred here," he said.
"But again, the question about termination is very unfortunately a
question about the legality of being able to terminate under the terms of
the present contract." The coroner called for the prisoner transport
fleet to be completely replaced. This will not happen until the end of next
year. Mr Porter says responsibility for transporting prisoners could be
brought back to the public sector. "The final decision as to whether
or not this service will be public or private has not yet been made but I
can say that if a determination is made to keep this service in the private
sector, the contract that governs the process will be a completely
different type of contract to the one that presently exists," he said.
The Deaths In Custody Watch Committee says Group 4 and GSL staff have
contributed to the deaths of six people in Australia. The committee's Marc
Newhouse says the contract should have been terminated. "We're
completely outraged that the contract with G4S - he hasn't announced the
termination of it, it has to be terminated," he said. "They've
been subject to critical reports by the Australian Human Rights Commission.
This company is not fit to operate in this country and they should be
terminated." Noongar elder Ben Taylor says he believes racism in the
system is causing Aboriginal people to suffer. "There's a lotta racism
there and the only ones who're gonna suffer are my people, Aboriginal
people," he said. "This is got to go wider, and I'm on the Watch
Committee with Marc and we're going to keep hanging on here because there's
more lives that are going to be taken, and that's going to be blackfellas,
Aboriginal people, my people, and that's the full stop." Mr Newhouse
says the committee had also called for a speedier response in the wake of a
death in custody. "That the Coroner's Act is amended in line with the
Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody recommendations, that a
system of mandatory reporting be put in place so that government and other
relevant bodies have to report within a certain time frame," he said.
"The point of it is to save lives and to prevent lives being
lost." But Mr Porter says the Labor state government should have ended
the contract with the company. But the Opposition Leader Eric Ripper says
there were other considerations. "You can't just terminate a contract
without there being financial consequences for taxpayers and the government
does have a responsibility to both protect prisoners and the interests of
taxpayers," he said. "That's why this matter needs careful
examination rather than a kneejerk reaction."
September
18, 2009 AP
A top executive of the private security contractor hired to protect the
U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan was informed in July 2008 of alleged illegal
and immoral conduct by guards, attorneys for a whistleblower suing the
company said Friday. The claim contradicts the sworn testimony of Samuel
Brinkley, a vice president for Wackenhut Services, the owner of ArmorGroup
North America. Brinkley told the Commission on Wartime Contracting under
oath on Monday that he and other corporate officials outside of Afghanistan
didn't know until a few weeks ago of problems that reportedly included
lurid parties and ArmorGroup employees frequenting brothels in Kabul. But
in a 10-page letter to the commission, the attorneys say their client,
James Gordon, told Brinkley during a meeting on July 15, 2008, of alleged
guard misconduct. The meeting took place in Brinkley's office in Arlington,
Va., Gordon said in a separate e-mail through the lawyers. Gordon was
ArmorGroup's director of operations until February 2008. He says he was
forced out of the job after trying to get the company to fix a long list of
shortcomings with the $189 million embassy security contract that the State
Department awarded ArmorGroup in March 2007. He filed a lawsuit earlier
this month in federal court claiming the company retaliated against him for
telling the department about the deficiencies. Brinkley and Wackenhut did
not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a previous statement
on the lawsuit, a Wackenhut spokeswoman called Gordon's claims baseless and
said he voluntarily resigned from the company. Clark Irwin, a spokesman for
the wartime contracting commission, said the congressionally mandated panel
is reviewing the letter. At the commission's Sept. 14 hearing on
ArmorGroup's performance, Brinkley portrayed himself and other company
executives as being blindsided by the misconduct of a small number of
employees. "I am not here to defend the indefensible," Brinkley
said. "Certain of our personnel behaved very badly." During a
series of heated exchanges, commissioners pressed Brinkley to explain why
he didn't tell the State Department of reports that guards were behaving
inappropriately, potentially putting security of a key U.S. diplomatic
outpost at risk. Brinkley said ArmorGroup managers in Afghanistan only told
him about an Aug. 11 incident involving nine employees who got drunk at a
bar near their living quarters. Those workers were counseled by the on-site
manager and a temporary ban on alcohol was imposed. He said the State
Department was informed of this incident on Aug. 26. Brinkley said he wasn't
aware of the scope and duration of the misconduct until Sept. 1 when a
watchdog group released a report with photos showing guards and supervisors
in various stages of nudity at parties flowing with alcohol. The watchdog
group, the Project on Government Oversight in Washington, also said guards
were subjected to abuse and hazing by supervisors who created a hostile
work environment. The letter from Gordon's attorneys says they are
concerned Brinkley's testimony did not provide the commission with a "full
and accurate understanding of many of the events in question."
September
16, 2009 The West Australian
The prison watchdog’s powers will be expanded to allow him to audit
individual cases as part of the Government’s response to a coronial inquiry
into the death of an Aboriginal elder in the back of a transport van. A
legislative package to be announced by Attorney-General Christian Porter
this morning will strengthen the powers of the Inspector of Custodial
Services in line with recommendations of State Coroner Alastair Hope. The
laws will include giving him the power to issue "show cause"
notices which require a response from the department of Corrective
Services. Mr Hope delivered a damning report in June which found the
Department of Corrective Services, prisoner transport company G4S, formerly
known as Global Solutions Limited, and the two guards who drove the van had
all contributed to Mr Ward’s death. Mr Porter said the Government would not
support the Opposition’s proposed legislation on the recommendations, which
is scheduled to be debated in State Parliament this afternoon. He said the
Labor Bill was flawed and the Government’s legislative package would go
further than the Coroner’s recommendations, giving Inspector Neil Morgan
the power to carry out individual audits the treatment of up to about 40
prisoners each year. Mr Porter said he would be seeking Cabinet approval
for more money to provide extra staff to conduct the audits. Today’s debate
on the powers of the inspector coincides with a "day of action"
organised by the Deaths in Custody Watch Committee, which is calling on the
Government to respond to the Coroner’s report on Mr Ward’s death.
September
14, 2009 Government Executive
The State Department should terminate ArmorGroup North America's contract
for security services at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, witnesses and panelists
said during a Commission on Wartime Contracting hearing on Monday. The
recent photographs and report from the Project on Government Oversight
detailing alleged lewd, drunken behavior by guards at the embassy just
describe the latest and most egregious violation by ArmorGroup, witnesses
told the panel. State Department Undersecretary of Management Patrick
Kennedy testified that the contract has required "extensive oversight
and management." Since awarding the contract to ArmorGroup on March
12, 2007, State has issued seven deficiency notices addressing 25
deficiencies, one cure notice and one show-cause notice. Each notice
demanded separate correction action plans to resolve contractual issues and
several involved serious allegations, including that the contractor had
deceived the government in its contract proposal. Despite these problems,
State has not terminated the contract with ArmorGroup and has, in fact,
exercised an extension of the contract period. State officials said they
are awaiting the results of an ongoing investigation into the contractor's
conduct at the embassy. Commissioner Clark Kent Ervin pressed Kennedy to
pledge State would terminate the contract if the probe validates the
allegations made against the contract employees. While Kennedy was hesitant
to speculate on a hypothetical situation, he said he could imagine an
outcome of the investigation that would lead the agency to terminate the
contract. "We're seeing a serious case being made for
termination," he said. William Moser, deputy assistant secretary of
State for logistics management, told the commission a public hearing was
not the proper forum to talk about future contract actions. Regardless, he said
the department is discussing potential alternatives and approaching the
reevaluation of the contract "with a great deal of seriousness."
Danielle Brian, executive director of POGO, said the organization's
investigation shows State officials were notified of serious issues
relating to the ArmorGroup contract repeatedly, and took limited action.
"For the two years of this contract, State's response to
whistleblowers' sustained complaints and to its own finding of severe
noncompliance consisted mainly of written reprimands and the renewal of
ArmorGroup's contract," Brian said. "Simply documenting a problem
or even levying a fine is not effective oversight when those same problems
continue to occur." Brian said State has been "stubbornly defensive"
in not recognizing its own failures, and how those failures have caused
misconduct and potential lapses in security. While POGO strongly believes
the contract should be canceled and ArmorGroup -- or its parent company,
Wackenhut -- should be debarred from doing business with the government,
that will not prevent future problems, Brian said. To ensure proper conduct
by contractors overseas, State must shorten the rotations of its regional
security officers, perform more frequent audits and independent
verification of contractor reports of compliance, and prioritize
accountability, she said. "This cultural shift will be aided by
canceling contracts when the contractor consistently underperforms -- which
will have the added benefit of acting as a deterrent to future contractors
-- and by disciplining the State Department officials who are responsible
for the failed oversight of the ArmorGroup contract," Brian said.
Commissioner Linda Gustitus said State already lost authority with industry
by not terminating its contract with Blackwater Worldwide in the wake of
the Nissor Square shooting incident in Iraq. "That helped to send a
message to other contractors that you can do a lot and not have you
contract terminated," Gustitus said. Several commissioners joined
Brian in urging Kennedy to hold accountable the State employees responsible
for managing Armor Group by firing them, withholding bonuses or taking some
other disciplinary action.
September
14, 2009 Wayne Madsen Report
At a September 10 press conference at the National Press Club in
Washington, two former managers for ArmorGroup North America (AGNA),
headquartered in McLean, Virginia and a subsidiary of ArmorGroup
International (AGI), revealed a litany of contract fraud and abuse charges
against AGNA and AGI and provided further details of sexual deviancy among
AGNA security guards in Kabul tasked with protecting the U.S. embassy.
ArmorGroup is now owned by Wackenhut Services, Inc., headquartered in Palm
Beach Gardens, Florida. The two former employees are suing AGNA, AGI, Wackenhut,
and Corporation Service Company for wrongful termination, false claims, and
conspiracy. John Gorman, a retired Marine Corps veteran who was the camp
manager at the security guard force’s Camp Sullivan, blew the whistle on
contract non-performance, security pitfalls, and sexual deviancy, and was
placed under virtual house arrest in June 2007 by AGNA’s top manager in
Kabul, Michael O’Connell, and flown out of the country. Gorman was
terminated and confined for some 24 hours, along with two other AGNA managers,
James Sauer, a retired Marine sergeant major and Pete Martino, a retired
Marine colonel, who filed complaints to both AGNA and the Regional Security
Office (RSO) for the U.S. embassy in Kabul, also Marine Corps veterans.
Because they told the RSO they feared for their personal safety after
bringing the charges against AGNA, he offered them the security of his
apartment on the embassy compound, which they turned down only to later
have their cell phones and weapons confiscated by AGNA and being confined
before their flight out of the country. Gorman said no one at AGNA “ever
mentioned or indicated a concern for the actual security at the embassy --
the greatest and only concerns were the profit margin and the bottom line.”
Gorman said the project manager for the security contract, Sauer, a man
with 35 years of experience as a 30-year career Marine with private
security contractor experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, was “ignored,
second guessed, and rejected.” Sauer had vehemently objected to allowing
security personnel to be deployed to Kabul who had engaged in “lewd and
deviant behavior” during their subcontractor training in Texas. After
Gorman, Sauer, and Martino made their complaints known to McConnell, the
corporate executive replied that ArmorGroup was a publicly traded company
and could, therefore, not hire more people “because he had a responsibility
to the shareholders.” The effect was the hiring of clearly unqualified
personnel for the security guard force. Gorman said that there were people hired
as guards who had “no DD214s, driver’s licenses, passports,” including one
person who had been fired from a previous security project for pulling a
pistol on another employee while drunk. AGNA, according to Gorman, covered
up the security contract failures because the firm was “to assume the $187
million a year security contract for the American embassy in Kabul in less
than two weeks and they were bidding on the more lucrative $500 million
contract for the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. James Gordon, a New Zealand
citizen and New Zealand Army veteran who is married to an American, worked
for ArmorGroup Iraq as the operations manager, a subsidiary of AGI, also
spoke about corporate malfeasance involving AGNA. He later became the
business development director for AGNA headquarters in McLean. In 2007,
Gordon took over as operations director for the Kabul embassy security
contract and attempted to bring the contract into compliance with State
Department requirements. Eventually, Gordon was forced out of the company
because instead of correcting contract violations the firm’s only goal was
to “maximize profits.” Gordon said among AGNA security personnel were
unqualified personnel, some of whom had serious criminal records. Some
guard recruits had engaged in “disgusting behavior” during their initial
training at AGI’s subsidiary’s training facility, International Training
Inc. (ITI) of Pearsall, Texas. Sauer, Martino, and Gorman had received
reports that some of the AGNA recruits, while undergoing pre-deployment in Texas,
had engaged in “lewd, aberrant, and sexually deviant behavior, including
sexual hazing, urination on one another and equipment, bullying,
‘mooning,’” exposing themselves, excessive drinking, and other conduct
making themselves unfit for service on the contract. The AGNA employees who
were later forced out of the company attempted to ensure that the trainees
in Texas never arrived in Kabul. Several email exchanges (“e-pong”) show
they tried to block the sexual deviants from duty in Kabul. AGNA also misrepresented
ethnic Nepalese Gurkha farmers hired as security guards for the Kabul
embassy job as Gurkha military veterans of the British and Indian armies.
In fact. the Gurkha farmers hired from Nepal and northern India were not
proficient in English as required under the State Department contract. In
fact, some could speak no English. The language test had never been
administered to the Gurkha recruits. When some Gurkha guards walked off
their jobs in May 2007 because of poor wages and treatment, Carol Ruart,
AGI’s human resources director in London, ordered AGNA management in Kabul
to “lock [the Gurkhas] in their rooms until they agree to work for less.”
Gordon also stated that AGNA never invested in secure vehicles to transport
embassy guards between the embassy and other locations. AGNA used broken
down vehicles called “white coffins.” After the State Department released
funds to AGNA to buy secure vehicles, the firm never bought the vehicles
but transferred the money to AGI in London. AGNA also hired a “rogue” South
African program manager for the embassy contract in Kabul, according to
Gordon. DuPlessis replaced Sauer. Jimmy Lemmon replaced Martino as deputy
program manager. During the tenure of the South African, Nick duPlessis,
ammunition went missing from Camp Sullivan where the guards were bivouacked
and illegal weapons were stored at the facility. Moreover, duPlessis did
not possess a security clearance to receive classified briefings, a
requirement for the program manager position. In addition, Gordon stated
that the AGNA logistics manager, Sean Garcia, used contract funds to
purchase counterfeit North Face and Altama jackets and boots for the
security guards from his wife’s company in Lebanon, Trends General Trading
and Marketing LLC of Beirut. Gordon said, “the cheap knock-offs could never
keep the men warm during the cold winters in Afghanistan.” After Gordon
notified the State Department about the contract breach, the order to
remove him was ignored and the State Department continues to own sub-par
counterfeit material. Gordon sent an email dated September 3, 2007 to
duPlessis and his staff in Kabul. Gordon also said that the AGNA armorer in
Kabul, responsible for maintaining all the weapons, had to be “forcibly
removed” from a brothel in Kabul. Many of the prostitutes working in Kabul,
according to Gordon, are young Chinese girls who were taken against their
will to Kabul for sexual exploitation. When Gordon ordered the armorer’s
immediate termination, he discovered that the AGNA medic, Neville Montefiore,
and duPlessis, the program manager, had also frequented the brothels with
the armorer. Gordon also discovered that there had been an outbreak of
sexually-transmitted diseases among the AGNA guards in 2007 and this was
never reported to the State Department as required by the contract.
Prostitutes also frequently visited Camp Sullivan. Gordon also discovered
that the guard force routinely visited brothels in Kabul and Montefiore’s
replacement discovered the improper storage of regulated narcotics at Camp
Sullivan’s medical facility, including morphine. “You can rest assured that
there is no hiding of information from the DoS [Department of State].
Anyone who thinks that they can get away with this will probably end up in
a Federal Penitentiary. It is our duty to report on all aspects of the
contract performance and we are required to be transparent and honest in
our dealings. Personally I wouldn’t accept anything else.” Gordon’s plans
to visit Kabul to conduct an investigation were immediately shut down by
ArmorGroup’s parent office in London. Gordon said it is contrary to U.S.
law for a foreign company to direct or influence any activities on a
classified contract. Moreover, the British parent conducted their own
investigation, which resulted in a three-page whitewash. Gordon was denied
access to all information about AGI London’s investigation. After the
whitewash, Gordon received a report that an AGNA trainee wanted to be hired
on as a security guard at the embassy in Kabul because he knew someone “who
owned prostitutes there.” The trainee boasted that he could purchase a girl
for $20,000 and earn a handsome profit each month. The trainee, according
to Gordon, had previously worked in Kabul under duPlessis. Neither AGNA nor
the State Department conducted a follow-up investigation of the violations
of the U.S. Trafficking in Victims Protection Act by AGNA employees. AGNA
responded to Gordon’s warnings by blaming him for all the contract’s
failures and he was forced to leave the firm on February 29, 2008. After
Wackenhut Services Inc. bought ArmorGroup, after Gordon left the company,
he met with Sam Brinkley, the vice president of Wackenhut, to discuss the
contract problems. Brinkley promised to remove duPlessis and investigate
all the charges of misconduct. On June 10, 2009, Gordon was present during
hearings held by Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO). Gordon said that Brinkley
and the State Department testified to McCaskill’s subcommittee on
contracting oversight that AGNA was “fully compliant” on the security
contract for the embassy in Kabul. Brinkley told the subcommittee that he
“was proud” of the way the company had been managing the embassy security
contract. Gordon said the situation at Camp Sullivan had worsened and the
U.S. Embassy was facing a grave security threat. McCaskill and ranking
Republican member Susan Collins (R-ME) never heard testimony from any of
the whistleblowers on AGNA’s poor security record in Kabul. The only
witnesses heard were Brinkley and William Moser, the Deputy Assistant Secretary
of State for Logistics Management. Brinkley, in addition to the U.S.
Embassy in Kabul, has responsibility for the security contract for the U.S.
Naval Support Activity in Bahrain, which, according to ex-AGNA sources, may
be using untrained Gurkha farmers from the Indian subcontinent as crack
veterans of the British and Indian armies. The Gorman/Gordon lawsuit states
that on October 10, 2007, the AGNA security force in Kabul was involved in
a number of serious incidents, including: detaining a group of Afghan
civilians and involuntarily transporting them to the U.S. embassy; verbally
and physically engaging in an altercation with Afghan Ministry of Interior
policemen and handcuffing the policemen; confronting an Afghan general and
several Ministry of Interior policemen; refusing an order from the embassy
RSO to withdraw from a checkpoint to defuse a potentially explosive
situation. The statements of the two ex-AGNA employees reveal a culture of
depravity and unprofessional behavior that Gordon stated still exists to
this very day in Kabul.
September
14, 2009 AP
A member of a federal commission investigating wartime spending said
Monday that photos showing private security guards in various stages of
nudity at drunken parties may be as damaging to U.S. interests in
Afghanistan as images of detainee mistreatment at Abu Ghraib were in Iraq.
Dov Zakheim, a former Pentagon comptroller, made the comment at a hearing
Monday held by the Commission on Wartime Contracting on allegations of lewd
behavior and sexual misconduct by employees of ArmorGroup North America,
the company hired to protect the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Zakheim said the
photos are circulating heavily on the Internet and give Muslims in
Afghanistan a negative image of the United States. Patrick Kennedy, the
State Department's management chief, acknowledged the department should
have been paying closer attention to the activities of the ArmorGroup
guards at their living quarters near the embassy. The private security
contractor hired to protect the embassy said Monday it erred by not
immediately telling the State Department about an alcohol-related incident
involving its guards that proved far more serious than company officials
first believed. "I am not here to defend the indefensible," said
Samuel Brinkley, vice president of Wackenhut Services, the company that
owns the contractor, ArmorGroup North America. A manager for ArmorGroup
counseled nine guards after they got drunk at a bar near their living
quarters in Kabul on August 10. But after photos surfaced showing the
guards had been at a party where ArmorGroup employees engaged in lewd and
inappropriate behavior, they realized they made a mistake by not alerting
U.S. officials. Photos showed guards and supervisors in various stages of
nudity at parties flowing with alcohol. Brinkley said the manager's
response, which included a temporary ban on alcohol, seemed adequate at the
time. "In retrospect, we were wrong in not notifying the State
Department," Brinkley said in testimony before the independent Commission
on Wartime Contracting. Kennedy, under secretary of state for management,
told the commission the State Department is very concerned about
ArmorGroup's delays in reporting its knowledge of any misconduct by its
employees. The State Department has been sharply criticized for its
management and oversight of the security contract at one of the country's
most important diplomatic outposts. In addition to the allegations of
misconduct, other problems have included a shortage of guards and inferior
equipment. As the department's top management officer, Kennedy said he
takes full responsibility for having failed to prevent the problems that
reportedly ranged from out-of-control parties to Armor Group supervisors
frequenting brothels in Kabul. The State Department has launched an
investigation into ArmorGroup's handling of the $189 million contract
embassy security contract. Kennedy told the commission that the misconduct
"dishonored" the State Department in Afghanistan, where "the
success of U.S. objectives depends on the cultural sensitivity of all
mission personnel, including employees under contract." But he and
other State Department officials said no decision will be made on whether
to terminate the contract with ArmorGroup until the investigation is complete.
Members of the commission pressed Kennedy to be more aggressive, saying the
evidence already available is enough to warrant firing ArmorGroup, which
was awarded the contract to protect the embassy in March 2007. "To me,
it's just totally out of control and it's been going on for a long
time," said Michael Thibault, co-chairman of the commission.
Commissioner Clark Ervin asked Kennedy to pledge to terminate the contract
if the investigation proves all the allegations prove to be true. Kennedy
refused to commit, saying the inquiry needs to run its course. However,
Kennedy added, "We are seeing a very, very serious case being made for
termination."
September
13, 2009 Washington Post
In 2005, the State Department hired a Northern Virginia company to provide
security for the U.S. Embassy in Afghanistan. Diplomats quickly became
concerned about whether the new guards, who barely spoke English, could
protect such a sensitive site. "They had serious problems,"
recalled Ronald E. Neumann, who was ambassador at the time. The department
then brought in another security contractor, ArmorGroup North America. But
the difficulties didn't cease. In recent days, evidence of ArmorGroup's
failings has burst into public view -- photos depicting its guards in
semi-naked hazing rituals and official documents showing persistent staff
shortages. Harold W. Geisel, the acting inspector general of the State
Department, told Congress last week that his investigators are checking for
possible criminal conduct by ArmorGroup, and a congressional hearing is
scheduled for Monday. Lawmakers and watchdog groups are questioning how the
department could have continued to employ a company that, in addition to
tolerating bullying and understaffing, failed to ensure that its guards had
proper security clearances and sufficient equipment -- or that they spoke
English. The criticism is particularly intense because the State Department
had promised to improve oversight after a 2007 shooting incident in Iraq
involving bodyguards from security contractor Blackwater that left 17 Iraqi
civilians dead. "State's management of these contracts has been
self-evidentially abysmal," said Peter W. Singer, an expert on
government contracting at the Brookings Institution. ArmorGroup's efforts
to guard the Kabul embassy were troubled from the start, according to
congressional hearings, internal State Department documents and interviews.
The McLean-based company submitted "an unreasonably low price" in
2007 for the contract, said Samuel Brinkley, an official with Wackenhut
Services, the firm's parent company, at a congressional hearing in June.
Former ArmorGroup supervisors have said in interviews that the company
slashed guard staffing so it could squeak out a profit. State Department
officials have expressed outrage about the lewd behavior shown in the
photos. Still, they defend their selection of ArmorGroup, saying they are
legally required to award such contracts to the lowest qualified bidder and
noting that ArmorGroup was well-regarded. They also insist that the embassy
was never endangered by the guard problems -- even though internal
department documents say it was. "The fact you find something is wrong
means something is wrong. But you find it," the department's
undersecretary for management, Patrick F. Kennedy, said in an interview. He
emphasized that many of the guards' failings emerged in documents written
by department officials. "There was oversight present," he said.
The troubles at the Kabul embassy raise questions about how authorities will
manage what is expected to be a surge in the number of contract guards at
U.S. facilities in Iraq as the American military presence declines. The
scandal has also given new impetus to a debate over whether too many
government wartime jobs are being outsourced. "The State Department
should consider whether the security for an embassy in a combat zone is an
inherently governmental function, and therefore not subject to contracting
out," Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government
Oversight, wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton this month.
Brian's group released the photos of what it called near-weekly sessions of
hazing and sexual humiliation of ArmorGroup guards at their camp. The State
Department has for years used local contract guards to secure the
perimeters of its embassies, while generally keeping a modest Marine
contingent for interior access. But in Iraq and Afghanistan, the department
decided not to use local guards because of vetting concerns, officials say.
Instead, as the military withdrew forces from around those embassies in
recent years, the department turned to contractors such as ArmorGroup. But
the department, which suffers from a shortage of contracting staff, has had
a rocky history of managing such guard contracts. Each of its three
contracts in Kabul has come under fire. The first was awarded to
McLean-based Global Strategies, to replace a Marine combat force
withdrawing from the U.S. Embassy in March 2005. The department justified
the $6-million-a-month sole-source contract by saying it had received late
notification of the Marines' departure. But the inspector general found
that the Defense Department had given six months' official notice, and
scolded the State Department for poor planning. By July 2005, the State Department
had signed a contract with MVM of Ashburn, cutting its guard costs to less
than $2 million a month, according to the inspector general's report. But
MVM could not provide enough guards, partly because it was paying much less
than its predecessor, according to Neumann. And, he said, the guards spoke
so little English that they could not understand instructions. "We
went back to the State Department and said, 'These people are
unacceptable,' " Neumann said. State canceled MVM's contract and kept
on the Global guards temporarily. MVM's chief executive, Dario O. Marquez,
did not return a call seeking comment but told the Wall Street Journal last
year that the State Department did not give him enough time to fix the
problems. Neumann said the department was handicapped in selecting guard
companies because of regulations stipulating that the contract go to a
qualified U.S. firm that offers the lowest bid. "People low-bid, and
then they're not competent," he said. Finally, in March 2007, the department
turned to ArmorGroup. The firm, which also guarded the British Embassy in
Kabul, was one of only two bidders deemed technically qualified by the
department's acquisition and security specialists. Its price was about $3
million a month, officials say. "ArmorGroup was not a small,
undercapitalized, underfunded, fly-by-night organization," Kennedy
said. "They put forth a proposal that met every requirement." But
within weeks of the company starting work, the State Department sent
ArmorGroup a warning that its deficiencies -- including shortages of guards
and armored vehicles -- were so serious that "the security of the U.S.
Embassy in Kabul is in jeopardy," according to the House Subcommittee
on Contracting Oversight. State Department officials issued eight more warnings
to the company over the next two years, including one last September
threatening to terminate the contract. Despite the problems, the department
stuck with ArmorGroup, agreeing this summer to extend its contract for a
year. State Department officials have said that the company appeared to be
making progress and that changing firms would be disruptive. A spokeswoman
for Wackenhut, which took over ArmorGroup North America last year, declined
to comment. In a lawsuit filed last week, former ArmorGroup supervisor
James Gordon accuses the company not only of failing to properly staff the
embassy but also of lying to the State Department about its capabilities.
The operation "was a complete shambles," he said.
September
12, 2009 New York Times
When a security guard at the United States Embassy in Kabul,
Afghanistan, was leaving for breakfast Monday morning, he froze at the
sight of a crude poster of a rat hanging on his door. “Warning!” the poster
said in stark, black letters. “Rats can cost you your job and your family.”
The guard was a whistle-blower who had told of security lapses and lewd,
drunken bacchanals by fellow workers, sparking an outcry and enraging
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Now he wonders whether he should
have kept his mouth shut. “Threats are still running rampant here,” he said
in a telephone conversation from Kabul, speaking on condition of anonymity
for fear of reprisal. “So even though it looks like State may finally turn
things around, no one’s ready to celebrate yet.” Such skepticism may be
warranted. A review of two years of e-mail messages, letters and memos
reveals that the State Department had long known of the serious problems
with ArmorGroup, the contractor chosen to protect its embassy. The
complaints went beyond the lurid pranks that made headlines, the documents
show, and included serious understaffing, bullying by management, petty
corruption and abusive work conditions. In fact, the deficiencies became so
severe that they threatened the security of the compound, the documents
show, and State Department officials withheld payments to ArmorGroup as a
way to compel it to comply with the terms of its agreement. On a few
occasions, government officials warned the company that if it did not
correct the most egregious problems it would lose the five-year, $189
million deal. Yet both times the contract came up for renewal, in 2008 and
2009, the State Department opted to extend it, officials confirmed. The
troubles with the ArmorGroup contract, and the State Department’s frustrated
dealings with the company over two years and through two administrations,
illustrate how the government has become dependent on the private security
companies that work in war zones, and has struggled to manage companies
that themselves are sometimes loosely run and do not always play by the
government’s rules. With a stretched military, the government relies on the
security companies themselves to vet, train, and discipline the guards, all
at the lowest cost. “It’s expensive for the State Department to withdraw a
contract from one company, rebid the project and award it to a new one,”
said Janet Goldstein, a Washington lawyer who represents one of the
ArmorGroup whistleblowers. “So businesses know that once they get a
contract, State may ding them around a little bit, but it’s not going to
fire them.” The perils of this reliance were most graphically illustrated
in Iraq in 2007, when security guards from another contractor, Blackwater,
were involved in shootings that left 17 civilians dead on a Baghdad street.
But interviews and documents show that the ArmorGroup affair, in its
mundane, unsavory details, offers perhaps a more representative look inside
the troubled relationship between contractors and the government in war
zones. State Department officials acknowledge they had a litany of
complaints about the company, none of which, they insist, compromised the
security of the embassy. But they profess to being deeply embarrassed by
reports of parties where security guards were photographed naked, fondling
and urinating on each other. “I’ve been doing this for 37 years; I’m proud
of what I do,” said Patrick F. Kennedy, the undersecretary of state for
management who oversees outside contractors. But, he added, “This is
humiliating.” Mr. Kennedy, however, defended the State Department’s overall
handling of the contract. The frequent letters of complaint the government
sent to ArmorGroup, he said, were evidence that the department was keeping
close tabs on the company. The “greatest majority” of the failures cited in
the letters were addressed, he said. Part of the problem, officials said,
was that the guards are housed in a complex six miles from the embassy,
Camp Sullivan, with little oversight by State Department officials. Susan
Pitcher, a spokeswoman for Wackenhut Services, the American subsidiary of
the Danish company that owns ArmorGroup, referred questions to the State
Department, saying only that it was cooperating with the government’s
investigation. On Monday, the independent Commission on Wartime Contracting
in Iraq and Afghanistan will hold a hearing to examine the State
Department’s oversight of the contract. Christopher Shays, a former
congressman and co-chairman of the commission, said there was “a serious
failure on the part of the State Department in being unable to compel the
contractor to fulfill its commitment.” The disclosures, which were
originally made by a nonprofit organization, Project on Government
Oversight, deeply rattled the State Department. At a staff meeting
following the release of the group’s report, senior officials said, Mrs.
Clinton vented her anger about the lurid pictures. Karl W. Eikenberry, a
retired Army general who became President Obama’s ambassador to Afghanistan
last May, was livid, an official said, because he had never been briefed
about the problems. Despite their unease with contractors, officials
acknowledged the department had no choice but to keep using them. “In
situations where there is a surge of intense security requirements, it is a
real challenge,” said Jacob J. Lew, the deputy secretary of state for
management and resources. “We cannot reduce the security presence.” The
State Department was not in a buyer’s market when it looked for a company
to protect its embassy in Kabul. It picked ArmorGroup in March 2007, after
its previous choice, MVM, proved unable to marshal the necessary personnel
or equipment, officials said. Of the eight companies that bid for the
contract the second time around, only two were deemed technically capable.
ArmorGroup was the cheapest. The company’s most recent contract extension
was granted in June this year, after a Senate hearing in which one of its
executives, Samuel Brinkley, a Wackenhut vice president, said in sworn
testimony that his company was in full compliance with the terms of its
contract, and a State Department official, William H. Moser, a deputy
assistant secretary of state, also under oath, said he was satisfied with
the company’s performance. In interviews, ArmorGroup whistleblowers said
they felt betrayed by the testimony. By many measures, they said, things
were worse, not better. After largely uneventful company barbecues morphed
into what have been described as scenes from “The Lord of the Flies,” at
least a dozen of the men started a document trail of their own, sending
e-mail messages and photographs to the Project on Government Oversight.
According to interviews and those documents, from July 2007 to April 2009,
the State Department issued ArmorGroup at least nine warnings, nearly one
every other month, about contract violations that ranged from mundane
concerns about the company’s ability to keep accurate personnel logs, to
more critical concerns about corruption among company managers and the
hardships faced by sleep-deprived, underpaid guards — the majority of them
Gurkhas from Nepal — who could not understand simple commands in English.
While the Gurkhas were largely the source of the language problems, the
lewd hazing rituals were largely the activity of the native English
speakers, a mix of Americans, South Africans, New Zealanders and
Australians. In 2008, after ArmorGroup was acquired by the Danish company,
G4S, Wackenhut informed the State Department it was taking control of the
Kabul contract, and promised to fix any problems. Government officials agreed
to give the new owners a chance. According to their own correspondence,
their optimism seemed to dim fairly quickly. On Aug. 22, 2008, the State
Department wrote to ArmorGroup to express concerns that staffing shortages
were so severe the company might not be able to provide security after a
situation with mass casualties. On Sept. 21, 2008, the State Department
deducted $2.4 million in payments from ArmorGroup, warning that its failure
to provide a sufficient number of guards “gravely endangers the performance
of guard services.” In March 2009, the department again advised ArmorGroup
that it had “grave concerns” about staffing shortages, noting that
inspectors on a recent tour found 18 guardposts left uncovered. In April,
it denied ArmorGroup’s request for a third waiver to the requirement that
it teach its foreign guards English. A month later, without much
explanation, ArmorGroup told the State Department that deficiencies
relating to language and staffing had been resolved. And a month after
that, a senior State Department official told the Senate Subcommittee on
Contracting Oversight that “despite contractual deficiencies, the
performance by ArmorGroup North America has been and is sound.” “I sat in
the audience that day, and shook my head in disbelief,” said James Gordon,
a former ArmorGroup executive who has filed a whistleblower’s lawsuit
against the company. He says he was forced out for complaining about the
problems. “I knew that conditions at Camp Sullivan were deteriorating, that
the contract continued to be understaffed, that the conditions in Kabul
were getting more dangerous, and that the U.S. Embassy was facing grave
threats.”
September
10, 2009 New York Times
Two former employees of a private contractor hired to provide security
at the United States Embassy in Afghanistan charged that State Department
officials were aware as early as 2007 that guards and supervisors were
involved in lewd conduct. In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, one of the former
employees, James Gordon, a native of New Zealand who served as director of
operations at the contractor, ArmorGroup North America, charged that he had
spoken numerous times with State Department officials about significant
problems that threatened security at the embassy. Among other things, he
said that ArmorGroup hired guards who could not speak English and had no
security experience; that the company employed fewer guards than needed and
worked them for longer hours than at other embassies to cut costs; and that
it allowed managers and employers to hire prostitutes. “Their goal was to
perform the contract as cheaply as possible,” said Mr. Gordon, speaking by
telephone from Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, where he is now employed by
another private security contractor which he declined to name. “Their goal
was to do everything they could to prevent the State Department from
discovering their multiple contract violations and operational
shortcomings. Their goal was to provide a fig leaf of security at the
embassy, and to pray to God that nobody got killed.” Mr. Gordon and another
former supervisor, John Gorman, said they warned State Department officials
in Kabul several times that ArmorGroup was plagued with problems and that
it was determined to cover them up. They said that as a result of their
efforts to correct the problems and to make the government aware of the
issues, ArmorGroup forced them to leave their jobs. As evidence to support
his assertions, Mr. Gorman provided a packet of memos and e-mail messages
that he said he and two other former employees gave State Department
officials in June 2007, including a three-page memo in which he outlined an
array of contract violations. Among them, he wrote: “The training program
run for new hires has been plagued with hazing and intimidation of students
by students. This included physical threats and perversions.” Senior State
Department officials said they were unaware that guards had engaged in that
kind of activity at their living quarters at a base in Kabul. The officials
spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to speak about a
continuing investigation. The charges echoed those in a report released
last week by an independent group, the Project on Government Oversight,
which accused the guards and supervisors of deviant behavior. Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton ordered an investigation, and about 16 guards and
supervisors were fired or have resigned. ArmorGroup North America, based in
McLean, Va., was acquired in 2008 by a Danish security company, G4S, and
its American subsidiary, Wackenhut Services Inc. In a written statement,
Wackenhut described Mr. Gordon’s allegations as “overstated, ill-founded,
not based on any personal knowledge or otherwise lacking in legal merit.”
September
10, 2009 AP
A former manager for the security contractor protecting the U.S.
Embassy in Afghanistan says the company lowballed its bid for the work and
then failed to hire enough guards or fix faulty equipment. The allegations
come after an independent watchdog group said last week that ArmorGroup
guards were subjected to abuse and hazing by supervisors who created a
climate of fear and intimidation. On Thursday, James Gordon, former
director of operations at ArmorGroup North America, alleged the company bid
too low in order to win the contract and then cut corners to keep profits
up. Gordon says he was fired for reporting the problems. He also claims
ArmorGroup withheld from Congress information about employees who went to
brothels. Wackenhut Services, ArmorGroup's parent company, had no immediate
comment.
September
2, 2009 The Guardian
Pictures have emerged showing private contractors at the embassy holding
'deviant and lewd' parties.The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, has
ordered an investigation into allegations that private contractors employed
to protect the American embassy in Afghanistan were engaged in
"deviant and lewd" parties that have been compared to Lord of the
Flies. The decision to launch the inquiry came after an independent group
sent her a 10-page dossier yesterday claiming that the security guards at
the embassy had been engaged in drunken parties involving prostitutes and
the kind of ritual humiliation associated with gang initiation. Pictures
and video footage were attached to the dossier. The dossier, compiled by
the independent investigative group Project on Government Insight, includes
an email allegedly from a guard currently serving in Kabul describing
scenes in which guards and supervisors are "peeing on people, eating
potato chips out of [buttock] cracks, vodka shots out of [buttock] cracks
(there is video of that one), broken doors after drnken [sic] brawls,
threats and intimidation from those leaders participating in this
activity". The allegations are an embarrassment at a time when the
Obama administration is struggling to win hearts and minds in Afghanistan
and the Muslim world in general. It comes against the backdrop of the
continuing controversy over the widespread use by the US of private
contractors in war zones, of which the most notorious was Blackwater, now
named Xe. The group at the centre of the new allegations are the
ArmorGroup, part of the Florida-based Wackenhut group, one of the biggest
private security organisations in the US. The organisation did not respond
immediately today to the allegations. The Project on Government Insight,
which was established in 1981 to track military procurement and bring to
light evidence of any corruption, described the environment at Camp
Sullivan, where the guards were housed outside Kabul, as comparable to the
anarchy in William Golding's Lord of the Flies. It said about 300 of the
450 ArmorGroup guards are Gurkhas and the rest are a mix of Australians,
South Africans and Americans. In the dossier, it said that guards were
"engaging in near-weekly deviant hazing and humiliation of
subordinates" . It claimed that some guards had barricaded themselves
in their rooms out of fear that the alleged hazing might harm them
physically. It further claims that guard force supervisors "made no
secret that, to celebrate a birthday, they brought prostitutes into Camp
Sullivan, which maintains a sign-in log." According to the report,
Afghan nationals, as Muslims, were humiliated by the behaviour and the
apparently free-flowing use of alcohol. The pictures could be picked up by
the Taliban and used as propaganda against the US and its allies. But the
Project on Government Insight stressed that comparisons should not be made
with the pictures of abuse at the Iraqi prison, Abu Ghraib, because no
allegations of torture are being made. The report says that the general
breakdown in discipline poses a threat to the security of the embassy. Ian
Kelly, the state department spokesman, said of the reports of wild,
anarchic partying: "These are very serious allegations, and we are
treating them that way." Clinton has "zero tolerance" for
the behaviour described and has directed a "review of the whole
system" for farming out security to private contractors that may have
threatened the safety of embassy personnel, Kelly said. The embassy said
today: "Nothing is more important to us than the safety and security
of all embassy personnel - Americans and Afghan - and respect for the
cultural and religious values of all Afghans." It added: "We have
taken immediate steps to review all local guard force policies and procedures
and have taken all possible measures to ensure our security is sound."
Senator Claire McCaskill, a Democrat who heads a subcommittee on contractor
oversight, wrote to the state department calling for the inquiry in the
light of the report. McCaskill's committee earlier this year conducted its
own hearings on the involvement of ArmorGroup in Afghanistan.
September
1, 2009 Washington Post
Private security contractors who guard the U.S. embassy in Kabul have
engaged in lewd behavior and hazed subordinates, demoralizing the
undermanned force and posing a "significant threat" to security
at time when the Taliban is intensifying attacks in the Afghan capital,
according to an investigation released Tuesday by a government watchdog
group. The Project on Government Oversight launched the probe after more
than a dozen security guards contacted the group to report misconduct and
morale problems within the force of 450 guards that lives at Camp Sullivan,
a few miles from the U.S. embassy compound. In one incident in May, more
than a dozen guards took weapons, night vision goggles and other key
equipment and engaged in an unauthorized "cowboy" mission in
Kabul, leaving the embassy "largely night blind," POGO wrote in a
letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton outlining the security
violations. The guards dressed in Afghan tunics and scarves in violation of
contract rules and hid in abandoned buildings in a reconnaissance mission
that was not part of their training or mission. Later two heads of the
guard force, Werner Ilic and Jimmy Lemon, issued a "letter of
recognition" praising the men for "conspicuous intrepidity
(sic)" with the U.S. State Department logo on the letter head.
"They were living out some sort of delusion," one of the
whistle-blower guards said Tuesday in an interview with The Washington Post
from Kabul. "It presented a huge opportunity for an international
incident," said the guard who spokes on condition of anonymity because
he feared retribution. The report recommends that Defense Secretary Robert
M. Gates immediately assign U.S. military personnel to supervise the guards
and remove the management of the current force. It also calls on the State
Department to hold accountable diplomatic officials who failed to provide
adequate oversight of the contract. The report also found that supervisors
held near-weekly parties in which they urinated on themselves and others,
drank vodka poured off each other's exposed buttocks, fondled and kissed
one another and gallivanted around virtually nude. Photos and video of the
escapades were released with the POGO investigation. "The lewd and
deviant behavior of approximately 30 supervisors and guards has resulted in
complete distrust of leadership and a breakdown of the chain of command,
compromising security," POGO said in the letter to Clinton. The guards
work for ArmorGroup, North America, which has an $180 million annual
contract with the State Department to secure the embassy and the 1,000
diplomats, staff and Afghan nationals who work there. The State Department
renewed the contract in July despite finding numerous performance
deficiencies by ArmorGroup in recent years which were the subject of a
Senate subcommittee hearing in June. Susan Pitcher, a spokeswoman for
Wackenhut Services, Inc., the Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. company that owns
ArmorGroup, declined to comment on Tuesday's POGO report. Conduct of
contractors providing security in Iraq and Afghanistan has been the subject
of controversy and other investigations in recent years. The government relies
heavily on such contractors for security and other needs. A new
Congressional Research Service report has found that as of March, the
Defense Department had more contract personnel than troops in Afghanistan.
The 52,300 uniformed U.S. military and 68,200 contractors in Afghanistan at
that time "apparently represented the highest recorded percentage of
contractors used by DOD [Defense Department] in any conflict in the history
of the United States," the report said. Some 16 percent of the contractors
are involved in providing security, a much higher percentage than the 10
percent that were used in Iraq. Although contractors provide many essential
services, "they also pose management challenges in monitoring
performance and preventing fraud," according to Steven Aftergood, who
first disclosed the congressional report on his Secrecy News Web site.
September
1, 2009 AP
Guards hired by the State Department to protect diplomats and staff at
the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan live and work in a "Lord of the
Flies" environment in which they're subjected to hazing and other
inappropriate behavior by supervisors, a government oversight group charged
Tuesday. In a 10-page letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton,
the Project on Government Oversight contended the situation has led to a
breakdown in morale and leadership, compromising security at the embassy in
Kabul where nearly 1,000 U.S. diplomats, staff and Afghan nationals work.
The group is urging Clinton to launch an investigation of the contract with
ArmorGroup North America. It also recommends that she ask the Pentagon to
provide "immediate military supervision" of the private security
force at the embassy. The oversight group's findings are based on
interviews with ArmorGroup guards, documents, photographs and e-mails. One
e-mail from a guard describes lurid conditions at Camp Sullivan, the
guards' quarters a few miles from the embassy. The message depicted scenes
of abuse including guards and supervisors urinating on people and
"threats and intimidation from those leaders participating in this
activity." Multiple guards say these conditions have created a
"climate of fear and coercion." Those who refuse to participate
are often ridiculed, humiliated or even fired, they contended. The group's
investigation found sleep-deprived guards regularly logging 14-hour days,
language barriers that impair critical communications, and a failure by the
State Department to hold the contractor accountable. Wackenhut Services,
ArmorGroup's parent company, had no immediate comment on the allegations.
The State Department also had no immediate comment. The State Department
has been aware of ArmorGroup's shortcomings, the letter says, but hasn't
done enough to correct the problems. It cites a July 2007 warning from the
department to ArmorGroup that detailed more than a dozen performance
deficiencies, including too few guards and armored vehicles. Another
"cure notice" was sent less than a year later, raising other
problems and criticizing the contractor for failing to fix the prior ones.
In July 2008, however, the department extended the contract for another
year, according to the notice. More problems surfaced and more warning
notices followed. Yet at a congressional hearing on the contract in June,
State Department officials said the prior shortcomings had been remedied
and security at the embassy is effective. The contract was renewed again
through 2010. Nearly two-thirds of the embassy guards are Gurkhas from
Nepal and northern India who don't speak adequate English, a situation that
creates communications breakdowns, the group says. Pantomime is often used
to convey orders and instructions. On the Net: Project on Government
Oversight: http://www.pogo.org/
August
16, 2009 Sunday Mail
A SECURITY guard took a day off... so he could steal £40,000 from a
shop where he usually delivered cash. John Liddell used his own motor as
the getaway car and was caught when it was spotted speeding away from the
scene on CCTV. He later claimed he had been paid £1000 for information
which he used to pay off drug debts. Liddell, 33, sat in the car with an
unnamed getaway driver while a third gang member Gary Owen pounced on his
Group 4 Securicor colleagues. Owen, 21, snatched the cash from guards Ann
McIntosh and Roderick O'Donnell, who were delivering money to fill the cash
machine at a Spar store in Barrhead, East Renfrewshire. The female guard
was barged to the ground before being punched and kicked on the head.
Prosecutor Andrew Miller told the High Court in Glasgow: "The shop
would normally have been covered by Liddell. "However, he and his
usual partner were on leave with the result McIntosh and O'Donnell dealt
with the delivery." Shamed dad-of-one Liddell, of Carmyle, Glasgow,
was identified as being the front passenger in the car. His home was
searched and £8580 from the raid was seized. The remaining £31,420 was
never recovered. Liddell admitted the Ford Mondeo getaway car was his but
denied knowing who committed the robbery. He claimed he had been
"afraid" of the people behind the raid and had been paid £5000
from the stolen money. Mr Miller added: "He stated that he told 'them'
where the security van with the money would be and that he provided this
information to repay a drug debt of £1000." Liddell and Owen, of
Shettleston, Glasgow, face jail when they are sentenced next month after
admitting assault and robbery. The pair were also accused of stealing a
security box holding £40,000 at a shop in Castlemilk last March. Owen faced
further allegations that he was involved in two other security raids,
stealing a total of £35,300. However, not guilty pleas to those charges
were accepted. G4S Cash Services said: "This employee was immediately
dismissed upon being charged."
July
8, 2009 Government Executive
The Federal Protective Service is failing to properly oversee its
13,000-strong contract guard force, causing grave security gaps at federal
buildings nationwide, Government Accountability Office officials told
senators on Wednesday. As part of a recent review, investigators from the
watchdog agency successfully entered 10 high-security federal buildings
carrying components for a bomb through doors being monitored by contract
guards. Once inside, the investigators assembled an improvised explosive
device and walked freely around the buildings and into various legislative
and executive branch offices with the IED in a briefcase, GAO said in
testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
Committee. Lawmakers called GAO's findings disturbing, shocking and
outrageous, and asked urgently and repeatedly what they could do to help
FPS gain control of the situation. "In this post-9/11 world that we're
now living in, I cannot fathom how security breaches of this magnitude were
allowed to occur," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, ranking member of
the committee. Chairman Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., said that in all
his years of reading GAO reports, this one represented "about the
broadest indictment of an agency in the federal government I've
heard." Mark Goldstein, GAO's director of physical infrastructure
issues and author of the report, told lawmakers the review revealed
significant shortcomings in FPS' ability to monitor and verify contract
guard training and firearms certifications. In reviewing 663 randomly
selected guards, GAO found that 62 percent had at least one expired
certification. Goldstein said a lack of funding has hindered the agency's
ability to reach appropriate staffing levels and provide the technological
tools necessary to protect federal buildings. But a number of the problems
with the contract guard program are unrelated to budgetary constraints, he
said. "Not having national standards and guidance for inspecting the
guards, [and] better standards for knowing when certifications have expired
-- things like that, are not resource-based," Goldstein said. "I
think there has been a lack of attention to this part of the protective
requirements for federal buildings." Lieberman said he and Collins are
aware of management problems at FPS and that is one reason why they have
not pressed to increase the agency's budget. "We didn't want to just
throw more money at the problem until we fix the agency," he said. FPS
Director Gary Schenkel did not dispute GAO's findings and said he takes
full responsibility for the failures as head of the agency. He assured the
committee that FPS officials have been making progress in addressing
deficiencies and are working even faster now that they are aware of GAO's
findings.
July
2, 2009 WA Today
The Director of Public Prosecutions has begun his inquiries into the death
of an Aboriginal elder in the back of a prison van, giving his family and
supporters hope that charges could be laid. The victim was 46-year-old
Warburton man Mr Ward, who was effectively roasted in the van during a
four-hour journey between Laverton and Kalgoorlie in January last year. A
coronial inquest found Mr Ward's death was "wholly avoidable",
and State Coroner Alistair Hope recommended charges should be laid over the
incident. The inquest was told that Mr Ward - whose first name cannot be
published because of cultural reasons - had endured temperatures in excess
of 50 degrees in the pod of the van. Mr Hope found "inhumane
treatment'' led to the elder's death and said the company involved, Global
Solutions Ltd (GSL), its two guards Nina Stokoe and Graham Powell, and the
Department of Corrective Services had all contributed to Mr Ward's
"terrible death''. Today, DPP Robert Cock QC met with two detective
sergeants from the Major Crime Squad about the "horrendous"
incident and said he had asked them to conduct further inquiries into the
man's death. Mr Cock has also been in touch with the Coroner's Court and
asked for further information. His spokeswoman said once he gathered all
the information, he would then be in a position to decide if charges should
be laid. "I don't know how long the garnering of all the information I
require will take," Mr Cock said. "But as soon as I have it all,
I will make a decision about charges."
June
23, 2009 The West
The West Australian government is reviewing the contract of a security
company involved in the death in custody of an Aboriginal elder, Premier
Colin Barnett says. Global Solutions, which was acquired by UK-based
security services giant G4S last year, provided security for government groups
including the Department of Immigration and the WA Department of Corrective
Services. GSL employed two guards to transport the elder, 46-year-old Mr
Ward, who died in the back of a prison van on a four-hour journey across
the WA goldfields in January 2008. Mr Ward, whose first name cannot be
released for cultural reasons, was being taken from Laverton to Kalgoorlie
to face a drink-driving charge. He died of heat stroke after suffering
temperatures of 50C in the rear pod of a van driven by the guards, Nina
Stokoe and Graham Powell. Earlier this month, WA coroner Alistair Hope
apportioned blame for the “wholly avoidable” death among the guards, GSL
and the WA Department of Corrective Services. The Director of Public
Prosecutions is considering whether charges should be laid over the matter.
Mr Barnett said today that G4S would be scrutinised before their government
contract was renewed. “It is an absolute tragedy that a prisoner in the
care of the state could end up dying in that condition,” Mr Barnett said.
“The coroner’s reported, the attorney-general is dealing with that issue,
and we will certainly look at the contract and the performance, and ensure
that it is never repeated in Western Australia again.” The transport tender
for corrective services is due to come up next year. Mr Barnett said G4S
would be judged on their performance. “I’m not involved directly in the
administration of that contract, but I assure you we will leave no stone
unturned to ensure that future prisoners are treated with respect and
safely,“ he said. “It would be quite inappropriate for me to comment on a
tender process, but obviously their performance will be one of the factors
that will be taken into account when that future tender is awarded.”
June
23, 2009 Brisbane Times
A sacked security guard has offered her apologies to the family of an
Aboriginal elder who died in custody, while the West Australian government
says it's reviewing her former employer's contract. Nina Stokoe, one of two
guards who had charge of the man when he died of heatstroke in the back of
a secure van during a 360km drive, accused authorities of providing
inadequate vehicles to transport prisoners. Security giant G4S last week
sacked Ms Stokoe and the other guard, Graham Powell, claiming the pair
failed to follow directions to check on prisoners every two hours during
the fatal four-hour journey. Mr Ward, whose first name cannot be released
for cultural reasons, died after suffering temperatures of 50 degrees
Celsius in the rear of the privately operated van which had no
air-conditioning. He was being taken from Laverton to Kalgoorlie on January
27 last year to face charges of drink-driving. WA coroner Alastair Hope,
who in his findings said Mr Ward had suffered "inhumane
treatment", has asked the director of public prosecutions to consider
laying charges over the incident. Mr Hope found that Ms Stokoe, Mr Powell,
Global Solutions Ltd (since acquired by G4S) and the Department of
Corrective Services had all contributed to Mr Ward's "terrible death".
Ms Stokoe on Tuesday broke her silence in an interview with the Nine
Network, saying she is distraught over Mr Ward's death. In excerpts aired
on Fairfax Radio on Tuesday, Ms Stokoe broke down while offering an apology
to Mr Ward's family. "I am very sorry that it's happened and I can
understand how they feel," she said. "I only wish that it never
happened and that he was still around. "I am so sorry that it
happened. "Mr Ward will always be on my mind, always, he will never go
away." Mr Stokoe said guards endured terrible conditions in the vans
supplied by authorities but were afraid of complaining lest they lose their
shifts. She accepted her part in Mr Ward's death but said the prison vans
were "untrustworthy". "(We've) probably been scapegoats, but
at the end of the day we were the ones that were driving the vehicle,"
she said. "We had no choice what vehicle to drive. "At the end of
the day, every day in Kalgoorlie when we drove out to pick up prisoners
it's pot luck. "There's many times we have been sat by the side of the
road broken down. "Sometimes 15, 20-odd hours those vehicles have been
stuck out in the middle of nowhere, broken down, with prisoners on board
and without prisoners on board. "Those vehicles were
untrustworthy." WA Premier Colin Barnett said the government was
reviewing G4S' contract. "It is an absolute tragedy that a prisoner in
the care of the state could end up dying in that condition," Mr
Barnett said on Tuesday. "The coroner's reported, the attorney-general
is dealing with that issue, and we will certainly look at the contract and
the performance, and ensure that it is never repeated in Western Australia
again." The transport tender for corrective services is due to come up
next year.
June
19, 2009 Brisbane Times
Two security guards who had charge of a prison van in which an
Aboriginal elder died of heat stroke have been sacked, their employer says.
UK-based security services giant G4S said on Friday it had terminated the
employment of the two guards, Nina Stokoe and Graham Powell, following the
completion of a coroner's hearing into the man's death. West Australian
Coroner Alastair Hope last Friday delivered a finding that the man, known
only as Mr Ward for cultural reasons, had died of heat stroke. He said he
had suffered through temperatures of 50 degrees Celsius in the
un-airconditioned pod of a van during a 360km journey between Laverton and
Kalgoorlie on January 27 last year. Mr Hope apportioned blame for Mr Ward's
death between Ms Stokoe and Mr Powell, the private company Global Solutions
Ltd (GSL), which has since been acquired by G4S, and the WA Department of
Corrective Services. G4S Public affairs director Tim Hall said Ms Stokoe
and Mr Powell had disregarded orders to check on prisoners at least once
every two hours. But he said their dismissal was a result of the Department
of Corrective Services withdrawing their work permits on Monday. "The
withdrawal of their work permits effectively made any other considerations
unnecessary," Mr Hall told AAP on Friday. Mr Hope has asked the Director
of Public Prosecutions to consider whether charges should be laid over the
incident.
June
15, 2009 Four Corners
The company linked to the death of Mr Ward was the subject of a damning
report in 2005. An investigation by the ABC's Four Corners program found
GSL (now G4S) was the subject of a damning report, published in 2005, by
Queensland officials regarding the transportation of immigration detainees
in 2004. In that incident, none of the detainees was given food during a
seven-hour leg of a lengthy trip from Melbourne to South Australia, and
only two were given water. The man who wrote the report, the former head of
Queensland's corrective services, Keith Hamburger, says he is concerned
about the issues raised by the subsequent death of Mr Ward in Western
Australia. The Human Rights Commission later found that one of the
detainees was so thirsty that he was forced to drink his own urine. Last
week the state's coroner found Mr Ward had died of heat stroke after being
carted through the desert in 40 degree-plus heat in a prisoner transport
van that had faulty air conditioning. The Aboriginal elder, who had been
arrested for drink driving, was found with a third-degree burn on his
stomach where his body had come into contact with the van's floor. The coroner
found the private security guards who drove the van, the company which
employed them, GSL, and the WA Department of Corrective Services all
contributed to his death. "The criticism of the company related to our
procedures and processes," GSL spokesman Tim Hall has told ABC radio.
"We accept that there was some ground for criticism." However it
is not the first time GSL's procedures have been criticised. Mr Hamburger's
findings were equally damning. He found GSL was "responsible for
placing the safety of detainees at risk", "humiliating"
them, and "disregarding appeals for assistance from detainees in
obvious distress". The guards had driven the first leg of the journey
to South Australia non-stop for seven hours. None of the detainees was
given food, and only two were given water. "I felt quite appalled
actually," Mr Hamburger told Four Corners. "I sat in the van. I
talked to the staff that did the escort. I saw the CCTV footage. I was very
shocked by the whole thing." One of the asylum seekers, now settled in
Australia, describes for the first time the journey he endured.
"People was in the back shouting and crying and I was banging as well
because I needed to go to the toilet," he said. "And they didn't
stop for anything. And I have to do it in the car." 'Great concern' --
One year after the Hamburger report was released, the WA government gave
the contract for prisoner transport in the state to GSL. "If these
issues are being repeated that's a matter of great concern, because this is
not rocket science," Mr Hamburger said. "We're dealing here with,
as I've said, duty of care. "We've had many years of experience across
the board in corrections and detention and police in dealing with these
situations. "There's a whole body of evidence around I guess on how to
do these things, and so it is concerning. "They should know
better."
June
13, 2009 Perth Now
ONE of two guards suspended over the death of an Aboriginal elder in a
prisoner transport van, says she has been ''gagged'' from talking about the
tragedy. On Friday, State Coroner Alastair Hope recommended Director of
Public Prosecutions Robert Cock consider criminal charges over the
"unnecessary and wholly avoidable death'' of Mr Ward, 46, who died on
January 27 last year. Officers Nina Stokoe and Graham Powell drove the
Warbuton elder, whose first name cannot be released for cultural reasons,
for the 352km Outback journey between the Goldfields towns of Laverton to
Kalgoorlie. In his stinging finding, Mr Hope said Mr Ward died when
temperatures rose to 50C in the pod of the commercially owned van which had
no air-conditioning and little-to-no air flow. Contracted transport
company, G4S, formally known as Global Solutions Ltd, stood down Ms Stokoe
and Mr Powell on Friday. "The two employees have been suspended and
the findings of the coroner, the coroner's report and recommendations will
be considered carefully and it will then be decided what the next step
should be,'' G4S spokesman Tim Hall told ABC radio yesterday. Ms Stokoe
declined to comment on her suspension, saying: "I can't talk about
anything, I would like to, but I can't''. Mr Ward's family is planning to
sue G4S, which runs other custodial services including court security, over
the tragedy. Prison Officer's Union secretary John Welch said the inquest
had raised questions about the privatisation of custodial services in WA.
Mr Welch said he feared G4S would be allowed to be apply for the contract
to run the recently announced Eastern Goldfields prison which was scheduled
for completion by the end of 2013. "You wonder why, in the light
apparent failures of privatisation, you would want to even consider looking
at having at private provider in the Goldfields,'' Mr Welch said. A
spokeswoman for Attorney-General Christian Porter said no decision had been
made on whether the prison would be public or private, and any discussion
on the potential awarding of a private contract was speculative. Deaths in
Custody Watch Committee chair Marc Newhouse said another public protest was
planned for the city on Saturday to lobby the State Government for
improvements.
May
14, 2009 The West
More than 30 family members and supporters of Mr Ward, an Aboriginal
elder who had a fatal heatstroke in the back of a prison van, gathered
outside the Kalgoorlie Courthouse yesterday to call for those responsible
for his death to face tribal punishment. Mr Ward’s widow Nancy and his four
sons were among those who wailed in grief as they demanded justice and
answers to why the Warburton elder died in such horrific circumstances. The
family’s interpreter and relative, Gail Jamieson, said that under
traditional law, anyone found culpable of the death should be speared. “The
family is just devastated,” she said. “He was treated with no respect and
he was a well-respected, outstanding elder. If they were in an Aboriginal
culture, they would be speared because us Aboriginal people are also going
through two cultures.” The inquest was told no disciplinary action was
taken against the two GSL officers responsible for transporting Mr Ward on
the day he died. Mr Ward died after a four-hour journey in a GSL prison van
from Laverton to Kalgoorlie on January 27 last year when temperatures
reached 42C. Global Solutions Limited general manager John Hughes said
security officers Nina Stokoe and Graham Powell were stood down on full pay
and were reinstated when an internal investigation found they had not
violated company policies or procedures. Questioned by the family’s
barrister Michael Rynne, Mr Hughes said any reinvestigation would depend on
Coroner Alastair Hope’s findings. GSL’s multi-million-dollar contract could
require it to pay a penalty of 4.5 per cent of its value if found to have
failed in its duty of care. Mr Hughes said he understood GSL’s obligations
included ensuring officers minimised hardship to detainees, conducting
regular checks to ensure their safety, security and health and preventing
injury. The inquest concludes today.
May
17, 2009 Miami Herald
In the escalating showdown between Miami-Dade County and Wackenhut
Corp., former congresswoman Carrie Meek is on both sides. She lobbies for
Miami-Dade, which is accusing Wackenhut of bilking the county out of $3.4
million. And she lobbies for Wackenhut, which is suing the county for $20
million in damages. ''It's kind of hard to represent two masters,'' said
Robert Meyers, executive director of the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics
and Public Trust. But Meek is asking county officials to disregard the
conflict of interests and allow her to continue representing both
Miami-Dade taxpayers and the security company. She has received $150,000
from the county since mid-2007. She declined to disclose her Wackenhut pay.
''I don't see any reason why I can't continue to represent Wackenhut, and
I've always been a strong proponent of the county,'' said Meek, a
civil-rights pioneer who represented Miami-Dade in Congress from 1992 to
2001. Allegations that Wackenhut was doctoring timesheets and leaving
county transit stations unguarded go back to a whistleblower's civil
lawsuit filed in 2005. The county auditor found evidence of overbilling in
2006 and released a report in 2008. In early April, County Manager George
Burgess said the Palm Beach Gardens-based company should be barred from
doing business with Miami-Dade. Meek didn't file her conflict-waiver request
until April 27 -- a year after the audit became public. She said she didn't
know the county requires its lobbyists to give notice immediately in case
of an ''actual or perceived'' dispute with a private client. ''I can tell
you that Wackenhut feels that they're being unfairly judged,'' said Meek,
who added that she did not know the lawsuit was coming. ``I can't tell you
who is right or wrong.'' LONG-STANDING TIES -- Meek and her family
have long-standing ties to the Palm Beach Gardens-based security company.
Her son, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek of Miami, sold security contracts for the
company from 1994 to 2002, and his Senate campaign has received the maximum
$10,000 donation from Wackenhut's political action committee. Meek's wife,
Leslie, registered with the county to lobby for Wackenhut in 2004,
according to public records. The former congresswoman began lobbying for
Wackenhut in April 2007, the same month the county hired her to focus on
transit issues. She asked the county if she could continue representing
both clients after she was reminded last month about the county's policy
regarding lobbying conflicts, said Joe Rasco, director of the county Office
of Intergovernmental Affairs. ''I think it's time we asked and that they
proferred,'' Rasco said. ``I think it's a fair question and we'll be taking
a look at it.'' Miami-Dade's lobbying contract describes a conflict of
interest as a position contrary to county policy or its financial
interests. Representing a client at odds with the county without permission
''shall result'' in the lobbyist's contract being thrown out and/or the
lobbyist being barred from working for the county for up to three years.
''It is incumbent on the consultant and its employees, partners and
subcontractors to remain mindful of the county's policy and fiscal
interests and positions vis-a-vis other clients,'' reads the agreement.
Meek didn't make the initial cut in 2006 when the county decided to scale
back its Washington lobbying team from eight to three firms and put the
contracts out for bid. The county had been spending nearly $1.2 million a
year. `SIMPLY UNACCEPTABLE' -- ''Paying this much for this many people was
simply unacceptable,'' County Commissioner Sally Heyman said in March 2006.
But two months earlier, Heyman directed staff to add Meek and former state
Rep. Mike Abrams -- who came in fourth and fifth place -- to the lobbying
team. ''This was coming out of nowhere,'' Rasco told county investigators,
who concluded Heyman did not violate the ethics code because the lobbying office
reports to the commission. The commission unanimously approved hiring Meek
and Abrams on an ''as-needed basis'' and set their pay at a maximum of
$75,000 a year. County officials said the money would come from reserves
set aside for hiring outside experts in case of an emergency, such as a
terrorist attack or major hurricane. Two years later, Heyman now says the
county should consider paring down to two lobbying firms. The county pays
two full-time employees in Washington to lobby the federal government, in
addition to the team of three law firms plus Meek and Abrams.
May
16, 2009 The West
He literally cooked to death. Trapped in a prison van for four hours,
suffocated by temperatures that climbed to more than 50C, the Aboriginal
elder had no way to communicate with security officers sitting just a metre
away, in the airconditioned cab. His only sustenance was a small bottle of
water and a meat pie. When he finally collapsed on the van floor, the metal
was so hot it seared his skin. Yesterday, Corrective Services Commissioner
Ian Johnson travelled to Kalgoorlie to publicly apologise to Mr Ward’s
family, accepting responsibility for the 46-year-old’s death in January last
year. It was a dramatic end to a coronial inquest that has revealed a
litany of failures in the justice and custodial systems in WA’s outback.
Widow Nancy Ward and her children will return to Laverton next week after
sitting quietly and with dignity throughout the case, which has attracted
the attention of the United Nations and the Australian Human Rights
Commission. Mr Ward, a conservation worker, a supporter and interpreter for
local police and an advocate and educator for children of the Gibson Desert,
was an international ambassador for the Ngaanyatjarra people. His family
say he was treated like an animal. Mr Ward had been drinking on Australia
Day last year in the remote Goldfields town of Laverton when he was
arrested for driving with more than four times the legal alcohol limit.
Conducting a quasi-court hearing for Mr Ward at his cell door at the local
police station, justice of the peace Barrye Thompson remanded him in
custody to face court in Kalgoorlie the following day. Mr Thompson told the
inquest he had no formal training when appointed as a JP and could not even
remember whether he had read the Bail Act. The Aboriginal Legal Service was
not contacted. Guards and police officers testified the prison vans used by
Global Solutions Limited and maintained by the State were notoriously
unreliable, sub-standard and the air-conditioning was often faulty. GSL’s
supervisor in Kalgoorlie, Leanne Jenkins, had warned her management an
incident would occur unless the vehicles were replaced. At 11.20am, the GSL
prison van pulled into a secure area at Laverton police station where the
guards were told they would have a trouble-free passenger. Mr Ward made a
comment about the warm day and a guard told him “the quicker he got into
the van, the quicker the air-conditioning would kick in”. But the
air-conditioning did not work: it had been reported faulty in the GSL
maintenance log more than a month earlier. Before making the continuous
360km journey to Kalgoorlie, the guards did not tell Mr Ward there was a
duress alarm in the back of the van in case he needed help. Towards the end
of the trip, they heard a loud thump. Pulling over on to the side of the
road and opening the outer door of the van, the guards felt the heat
radiating from the rear pod and they saw Mr Ward face-down on the van floor
— unconscious and unresponsive. Reaching into the back of the van felt like
a “blast from a furnace”, according to Dr Lucien LaGrange, who assisted in
removing Mr Ward’s lifeless body at Kalgoorlie Hospital. Doctors found full-thickness
contact burns on his stomach and tried for 20 minutes to resuscitate Mr
Ward, whose skin felt like a “hot cup of coffee”. They managed to get a
brief return of a heartbeat, but after putting him in an ice bath, his body
temperature was still 41.7C. Coroner Alastair Hope is due to deliver his
findings on June 12. For now, the Ward family will have to return to a
community missing a leader. It is little comfort to them that money was
allocated in this week’s State Budget to replace the fleet of transport
vans — four years after the Department for Corrective Services undertook to
do so. “I am sorry,” Mr Johnson told Mrs Ward yesterday. “I have a deep
regret but no matter what I say, it’s not going to change what happened.”
May
14, 2009 The West
More than 30 family members and supporters of Mr Ward, an Aboriginal
elder who had a fatal heatstroke in the back of a prison van, gathered
outside the Kalgoorlie Courthouse yesterday to call for those responsible
for his death to face tribal punishment. Mr Ward’s widow Nancy and his four
sons were among those who wailed in grief as they demanded justice and
answers to why the Warburton elder died in such horrific circumstances. The
family’s interpreter and relative, Gail Jamieson, said that under
traditional law, anyone found culpable of the death should be speared. “The
family is just devastated,” she said. “He was treated with no respect and
he was a well-respected, outstanding elder. If they were in an Aboriginal
culture, they would be speared because us Aboriginal people are also going
through two cultures.” The inquest was told no disciplinary action was
taken against the two GSL officers responsible for transporting Mr Ward on
the day he died. Mr Ward died after a four-hour journey in a GSL prison van
from Laverton to Kalgoorlie on January 27 last year when temperatures
reached 42C. Global Solutions Limited general manager John Hughes said
security officers Nina Stokoe and Graham Powell were stood down on full pay
and were reinstated when an internal investigation found they had not
violated company policies or procedures. Questioned by the family’s
barrister Michael Rynne, Mr Hughes said any reinvestigation would depend on
Coroner Alastair Hope’s findings. GSL’s multi-million-dollar contract could
require it to pay a penalty of 4.5 per cent of its value if found to have
failed in its duty of care. Mr Hughes said he understood GSL’s obligations
included ensuring officers minimised hardship to detainees, conducting
regular checks to ensure their safety, security and health and preventing
injury. The inquest concludes today.
April
30, 2009 Miami Herald
Three weeks after Miami-Dade County declared that Wackenhut Corp. bilked
taxpayers of millions and would no longer do county business, the security
firm fired back with its own show of force: a $20 million lawsuit against
the county and two top officials. The escalating fight centers on
allegations that Wackenhut Corp. overbilled Miami-Dade Transit for security
services at Metrorail stops and failed to adequately staff guard posts. The
Palm Beach Gardens-based firm, which does other security work for the
county, has held the mass transit security contract for 20 years, though
its latest contract expires in November. But the stakes for Wackenhut may
go beyond its current business with the county. In its lawsuit, filed
Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Miami, the security company said the
move by Miami-Dade to bar the firm from working for the county could
jeopardize contracts with other government agencies across the country. The
future damages we ''will suffer as a result of this unfair and malicious
taint'' on our ''reputation are incalculable,'' Wackenhut said in the
lawsuit, which seeks $20 million in damages and asks the court to stop the
county from relying on an audit which concludes time sheets were doctored
and transit stops unguarded. The suit also names as defendants County
Manager George Burgess and County Auditor Cathy Jackson. Wackenhut contends
the county audit used improper methodology. ''It has no basis in reality,''
said Wackenhut President Drew Levine. ``We've done our job and done it
well.'' Miami-Dade County spokeswoman Victoria Mallette said the county
stands by the report authored by the government's Audit Management Services
department. ''We want to be made whole,'' said Mallette. ``We haven't been
made whole. It would be irresponsible for us to continue doing business
with an entity that we believe has overbilled us.'' Earlier this month,
Burgess wrote in a memo to commissioners that as a result of the audit the
county would seek to recover $3.4 million in alleged overbillings and
support an ongoing whistle blower's civil case against Wackenhut. Burgess
named several firms to replace Wackenhut guards at Miami-Dade railway stops
and bus facilities, the Juvenile Services Department and Public Works
Department. The county manager also declared the county will seek
``debarment.'' The county move earlier this month and subsequent lawsuit
Wednesday come several years after charges of overbillings and so-called
''ghost posts'' were first raised. The county -- roundly rebuked for poor
stewardship of the transit system -- has been criticized for reacting
slowly to the allegations. The whistle blower's civil court case against
Wackenhut was filed in 2005 and the audit was completed in 2008.
April
11, 2009 Miami Herald
Four years after allegations surfaced that Wackenhut Corp. fraudulently
overbilled Miami-Dade Transit for security work it never performed, the
county is moving to replace the firm and support a lawsuit aimed at
recouping millions paid for alleged ''phantom'' workers at Metrorail stops.
County Manager George Burgess, in a memo to commissioners Friday, said he
also wants to bar the Palm Beach Gardens-based security firm from doing
business with the county in the future. The move is sure to escalate the
testy fight between Miami-Dade County and Wackenhut, which has denied
wrongdoing and hired a bevy of lobbyists, including former Congresswoman
Carrie Meek, to press its case. Wackenhut has held the contract to patrol
mass transit stations for 20 years, although the latest agreement -- a
no-bid contract that pays the company as much as $17 million a year --
expires in November. Wackenhut issued a written statement late Friday
saying it is ``shocked that the County Manager has falsely accused us of
intentionally overbilling the county.'' It called claims of overcharging
both false and unsubstantiated, while asserting the county has ``a history
of mismanaged audits.'' The county action comes after several years of
criticism that Miami-Dade government failed to address allegations of bogus
charges for empty guard posts and doctored time sheets. The claims were
first raised in an ongoing 2005 lawsuit and later detailed in a 2008 county
audit, which initially estimated $6.26 million in overbillings but now pegs
the total at $3.4 million. ''The evidence of overbilling has been
overwhelming and existing for four years,'' said attorney Mark Vieth, who
filed the 2005 lawsuit pending in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. He contends
that the Wackenhut overcharges are much higher than the county's number.
After the May 2008 county audit, County Mayor Carlos Alvarez declared that
the security firm had 90 days to rebut the findings or repay the county.
Wackenhut did neither, yet the county didn't move until now -- with six
months left on the contract. Burgess defended the pace of the audit and the
time it's taken to decide a course of action, calling the issues complex
and voluminous.
April
6, 2009 Palm Beach Post
More than two years after a federal investigation found guards were
sleeping on the job at Florida Power & Light Co.'s Turkey Point nuclear
plant, the utility has paid a six-figure fine to resolve the case. FPL sent
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission a check for $130,000 in January. Six
guards slept or served as lookouts for other guards who were sleeping
"on multiple occasions" between 2004 and 2006, the NRC found in
the 2006 investigation. In one case, in April 2006, a guard was
"sleeping while on duty at a post in a vital area of the
reactor," according to the NRC. All of the guards were contractors
with Palm Beach Gardens-based Wackenhut Corp. None remained on the job
after the violations were announced last year. Also last year, FPL paid the
NRC a $208,000 fine for four other security violations that involved
Wackenhut guards at Turkey Point. In that case, the NRC said FPL didn't
properly equip armed responders after two Wackenhut guards disabled their
weapons by removing or breaking firing pins. The agency also said FPL
provided it with incomplete and inaccurate information.
April
3, 2009 The Age
THE Federal Government is set to dump controversial company G4S as operator
of immigration detention centres. The Department of Immigration has
announced that Serco, which runs prisons and immigration centres in
Britain, is its preferred tender to run Australia's six detentions centres.
The contract is believed to be worth up to $500 million. But human rights
advocates have hit out at the decision, saying Serco has a poor record in
Britain, and detention centres should be operated by the public sector.
Advocate Charandev Singh said Serco's record in Britain showed a
"prison mentality" would be brought to its operations in
Australia. "The Government just wants a clean skin in Australia —
somebody with no blemishes (here)," Mr Singh said. "G4S and Serco
are basically the same company. They come from the same corporate
background, running prisons."
March
21, 2009 The West
The security guard who drove the van in which an Aboriginal elder died
of heat stroke has admitted he should take responsibility for the death.
Testifying for a second day at the inquest into the death of 46-year-old Mr
Ward, Global Solutions Limited driver Graham Powell said yesterday he
regretted how Mr Ward died. “In hindsight, if I had to do that journey
again, I would certainly be doing it a lot differently,” he said. He agreed
with lawyer assisting the coroner, Felicity Zempilas, it was inhumane to transport
prisoners in the rear pod of the van over long distances and that the vans
were “certainly not designed for that”. Coroner Alastair Hope told Mr
Powell he was “troubled” over his evidence about phone calls made after Mr
Ward collapsed. Mr Hope said a delay of two minutes between calls was a
long time in an emergency. To questions from his counsel Linda Black, Mr
Powell said he should have checked the airconditioning, made comfort stops
and told Mr Ward explicitly how to communicate with the officers if he was
in distress. The inquest has heard Mr Powell and colleague Nina Stokoe did
not stop during the four hours they had Mr Ward in the van in mid-40C heat
while driving from Laverton to Kalgoorlie in January last year. Mr Ward
suffered a full-thickness hand-size burn on his stomach from a hot metal
surface inside the van. Senior chemist David Tranthim-Fryer said the prison
van temperature would have been above 50C. Evidence from a police
re-enactment he helped with revealed the van floor reached 56C and the air
temperature at least 50C on a slightly cooler day. The temperature would
have been hotter with a person inside because there would have been another
heat source. “We opened the back doors and could feel the heat coming out
of the pods. The hot air affects you more than anything else,” Mr
Tranthim-Fryer said. Mr Ward’s body temperature was 41.7C after 20 minutes
of resuscitation in an ice bath while being fanned. The van’s rear-pod
airconditioning was not working, a fault noted in the GSL maintenance log
more than a month before Mr Ward’s death. Mr Powell said he did not check
the airconditioning in the pod despite knowing it had a history of faults.
He had assumed Ms Stokoe checked it. Mr Hope has heard evidence from
witnesses, including GSL’s Kalgoorlie supervisor Leanne Jenkins, who spoke
of substandard “unreliable” prison vans which were not suitable for long
distance travel. The inquest did not finish within the two-week timeframe
and Mr Hope adjourned it until May 11. Outside, Mr Ward’s cousin Bernard
Newberry said his family wanted those responsible charged. The family has
asked that Mr Ward’s first name not be used.
March
20, 2009 The West Australian
The guard responsible for transporting an Aboriginal elder who died in
custody was previously demoted for breaching procedures and compromising
prisoner safety. Giving evidence at a coronial inquest into the death of
46-yearold Mr Ward, Global Solutions Limited security officer Graham Powell
said he had been stood down as a supervisor because he breached the
company’s policies and procedures. The inquest in Kalgoorlie was told Mr
Powell was stood down from GSL for six months in January 2007 because he
compromised prisoner security when he failed to ensure prisoners were
loaded into a prison van in a secure area. He also breached procedure by
smoking in prison vans and allowing staff and prisoners to smoke in cells.
Mr Ward’s relatives travelled from around the State to attend the inquest
yesterday. Mr Ward’s widow Nancy cried when Mr Powell told how he and
fellow security officer Nina Stokoe heard a “loud thud” when Mr Ward
collapsed in the back of a prison van. Mr Ward died of heatstroke after
collapsing in the back of the GSL prison van during a fourhour, non-stop
journey from Laverton to Kalgoorlie-Boulder on January 27 last year. Mr
Powell said when he arrived at the hospital he checked the airconditioning
in the rear pod of the prison van. “I put my arm inside the prisoner
compartment and it appeared to me there was no air coming out the vents,”
he told State Coroner Alastair Hope. Mr Powell said he had not checked the
prison van’s air-conditioning before leaving for Laverton because it had
not been included on a vehicle inspection check sheet. He agreed with Mr
Hope that it was highly dangerous not to check the air-conditioning before
transporting prisoners.
March
18, 2009 Perth Now
TWO guards responsible for transporting an Aboriginal elder 352km across
the West Australian outback joked about how he must have been
"freezing his balls off" hours before he died of heatstroke in
the back of a corrective services van, an inquest has been told. Giving
evidence via video link yesterday, Global Solutions Ltd officer Nina Stokoe
said she did not check that the air-conditioning in the back of the corrective
services van in which the prisoner died was working - even though it had
been faulty and the outside temperature had soared to 42C - because it was
not part of procedure. Ms Stokoe said she assumed the air-conditioning was
working in the rear because there was no problem with the air-conditioning
in the front cab and Ward, whose family does not want his last name
published for cultural reasons, would have banged on the side of the van if
there was a problem. According to Ms Stokoe, during previous trips, other
prisoners often complained that the air-conditioning was too cold, and she
and fellow officer Graham Powell joked that, while they were too hot, Ward
would be the opposite. "I had a joke with Graham," she told the
inquest into Ward's death. "(I said) I bet he's freezing his balls off
while we're sitting here stinking hot." Coroner Alastair Hope asked
whether it would have been prudent to check the air-conditioning on such a
hot day when it had been known to break down and Ward was in a section of
the van with only metal seats. "It (the air-conditioning) wasn't on
the check list ... I wouldn't know how to check it," Ms Stokoe
replied. Ward died on January 27 last year after attempts to revive him
were unsuccessful. He was being transferred from Laverton to prison in
Kalgoorlie after being arrested for drink driving on Australia Day. Mr Hope
was yesterday also told how the Kalgoorlie-based supervisor for GSL, Leanne
Jenkins, warned her superiors just four months before Ward's death that
someone would "eventually die" if the company's outdated and
poorly maintained vans were not replaced. Ms Jenkins said the only response
she received was that any vehicles in need of repairs should not be driven.
She said the two vans based at Kalgoorlie always had problems and were not
suitable for long trips. Ms Stokoe and Mr Powell made no stops on the 3
1/2-hour journey until they heard a thud in the back of the van when they
were just outside Kalgoorlie. When they pulled over to check on Ward, Ms
Stokoe said, they did not open the van's back doors completely because it
was not procedure and Ward might have been trying to escape. "If he
was mucking around and it was an escape attempt, we would look like
idiots," she said. After realising he only had a faint pulse, the officers
rushed Ward to hospital. The inquest continues today.
March
17, 2009 Perth Now
AN Aboriginal elder who died in the back of a prison van arrived at
hospital, unconscious and with third-degree burns, an inquest has heard.
Lucien LaGrange, who was working in the emergency department of Kalgoorlie
Regional Hospital when Ward arrived in the non-airconditioned van, said a
blast of hot air hit him when he opened the back of the vehicle. Respected
elder Ward - whose family does not want his first name mentioned for
cultural reasons - did not appear to be breathing. "It was like a
blast from a furnace - it was extremely hot," Dr LaGrange told Coroner
Alastair Hope. "I was struck by how wet and slippery he was. It was
almost like he had been coated in soap - he just slid." Dr LaGrange
said that despite medical staff placing ice over Ward's body, his body
temperature was 41.7C. That day, January 27 last year, the outside
temperature climbed to 42C. After many resuscitation attempts, Ward was
declared dead about 90 minutes after arriving at the hospital. Ward was
being transported 352km from Laverton to Goldfields Regional Prison in
Kalgoorlie after being charged with drink-driving on Australia Day. The
inquest was told that the company responsible for transporting Ward, Global
Solutions Ltd, raised concerns with the West Australian Government about
the poor state of its vans before Ward's death, but was told no new
vehicles were available. Under a multi-million-dollar contract, GSL is
responsible for transporting prisoners, while the Department of Corrective
Services is responsible for maintaining the fleet of vehicles. Former GSL
employee Thomas Akatsa told the hearing that after the company failed to
secure new vans from the Government, he raised concerns with the company's
supervisors, including airconditioning faults and overheating, but was told
not to talk about it. Mr Akatsa said the vans used to transport prisoners
were sub-standard, did not contain toilets and were not suitable for
travelling long distances. Despite regular problems with airconditioning in
the back of the vans, Mr Akatsa said there was no requirement for staff to
check the airconditioning was working. He said that while he always did
check, not all officers did, including one of the officers who transported
Ward on that day, Graham Powell. The inquest heard that Mr Powell, who is
to give evidence today, had been demoted from a supervisor to a driver
before the death. One of his colleagues at the time, Lynette
Corcoran-Sugars, testified that she requested not to work with Mr Powell,
accusing him of breaching procedures and inappropriately using constraints
on prisoners. Ms Corcoran-Sugars and Mr Akatsa said that when they
transported prisoners from Laverton to Kalgoorlie, they made at least one
stop and offered prisoners water, food and a toilet break. The inquest has
heard that no stops were made during Ward's journey and that he was given
only a 600ml bottle of water and a pie before leaving Laverton. Questions
were raised about whether Ward should even have been in custody, with
barrister Lachlan Carter for the Aboriginal Legal Service claiming a proper
bail hearing, as defined by the act, did not take place. The inquest heard
that GSL's motto was "safety first". Mr Hope questioned how this
could be the case when the company allowed staff to transport prisoners in
vehicles that did not have a usable spare tyre. The inquest continues
today.
March
14, 2009 Sunday Mail
Former Defence Secretary John Reid faced fierce criticism yesterday as it
emerged the world's largest security firm had won a huge contract from the
Ministry of Defence weeks after taking him on as a consultant. Mr Reid -
who ran the MoD until May 2006 before resigning from the Cabinet while Home
Secretary in June 2007 - was hired by G4S three months ago for £50,000 a
year to offer 'strategic advice'. This week, it was awarded a four-year
contract to supply private security guards for around 200 MoD and military
sites across Britain in a deal thought to be worth tens of millions of pounds.
While many former ministers have taken private-sector jobs, it is unusual
for such a senior Government figure and sitting MP to work for a company so
closely linked to their former department. Opposition MPs last night said
Mr Reid's earnings from G4S were 'totally inappropriate', while the
Taxpayers' Alliance campaign group called for the rules governing
employment for ex-ministers to be reviewed urgently.
March
12, 2009 ABC
A coronial inquest into the death in custody of an Aboriginal elder
from the Central Desert will resume today in Kalgoorlie, in south-eastern
Western Australia . Mr Ward died in Kalgoorlie hospital in January last
year after being transferred in the back of a prison van from Laverton.
Temperatures on the day were mid-40 degrees Celsius and the journey lasted
for four hours. In Warburton earlier this week, the inquest heard the
airconditioning in the back of the van was not working and that Mr Ward
died of heatstroke. Mr Ward's family testified he was a hard working and
respected elder. The inquiry will today hear from police officers who
arrested Mr Ward for drink driving and officers from the private transport
company Global Solutions Limited which transported him to Kalgoorlie.
January
22, 2009 Morning Star
DAVID Miliband said that the war on terror was an error, but some
people don't regret it. Private security companies like Group 4 made a
mint. Now, it wants to spread its good fortune - this month, Group 4
Security gave a £50,000 position to former Labour minister John Reid as an
"adviser." Reid fits in this part-time job when he isn't too busy
representing the good people of Airdrie and Shotts as their Member of
Parliament. Group 4 has plenty of reasons to want access to the contact
book of a former home and defence secretary - the firm now supplies the
armed guards looking after British officials in Iraq and Afghanistan while
locking up prisoners, asylum-seekers and "terror suspects" in
Britain, so Reid is worth every one of the five million pennies that they
are giving the man. Reid was once a Communist Party member, but abandoned
Marxism in favour of new Labour. This is odd, because his career seems to
illustrate the crudest and most determinist kind of Marxism. For years,
Marxists have been grappling with the subtle and sophisticated ways in
which the capitalist class dominates society, but Group 4 opted for a very
unsubtle approach - the capitalists just hired Labour's representative.
Reid hasn't always hawked his brawn for the money men. Back in 1992, Reid
signed a House of Commons motion calling on Sir Norman Fowler to resign
from the board of Group 4. The motion said that the House "regrets
that the right honourable Member for Sutton Coldfield (Norman Fowler),
chairman of the Conservative Party, has not seen fit to resign his
directorship of another Group 4 company, Group 4 Securitas, and urges him
to do so." It added: "The government should suspend all further
moves to privatisation within the criminal justice system." Reid's
call for Fowler to resign from Group 4 and for the government to shun the
firm came after the company let a number of prisoners escape from their
vans on the way to court. Whizz forward a decade and a half and Reid,
having demanded that Fowler abandon Group 4, has himself taken a job with
the firm. In the meantime, Conservative and Labour governments have not
stopped their "privatisation of the criminal justice system,"
they have expanded it. Group 4 has men with truncheons in Britain and men
carrying guns in Iraq. Nor has the firm become any less accident-prone.
Group 4 Security prefers to be called G4S because, in ad people's language,
the brand is tarnished. Group 4 was even described as a "national
laughing stock" by the government's own lawyers in court in 2003 after
a riot at an immigration detention centre that it ran which was later
burned to the ground. Things haven't improved since. Reid himself sent the
firm to new frontiers, where the firm ran new fiascos. When Reid was home
secretary, the Law Lords told him that just labelling foreigners "terror
suspects" didn't mean that he could lock them up without trial. Reid
turned to Group 4 for help. It cobbled together something called
"control orders," a house arrest for these "terror
suspects" administered by Group 4 and other private firms. Control
orders were simultaneously too draconian and too lax - prisoners, including
vulnerable men who had been tortured in their home countries, were tagged
and monitored by Group 4. Those who stuck by the rules were pushed to the
edge of mental illness by the isolation of the strict house arrest. At the
same time, Group 4 allowed another prisoner to simply disappear. This may
have been embarrassing for the firm and for Reid, but they manfully hid
their red faces and entered into a new relationship when Reid left
government. Group 4 has risen thanks to the crudest economic determinism -
Reid, who authorised the signing of cheques for Group 4 as a minister, ends
up getting cheques from the firm. Reid is not alone. A small squad of
politicians worked to get Group 4 where it is today. First, Tory chairman
Fowler helped the firm get into the prisons business in the 1990s. Group 4
tightened its grip on British jails last year when it took over rival
private prisons firm GSL. It bought GSL from an investment company called
Englefield Capital, which employs another Labour ex-minister, former
defence secretary George Robertson, as an adviser. Group 4 then broke into
the international mercenary trade by buying a company called Armor Group,
whose armed men guard British officials in Iraq and Afghanistan. Up until
this, Armor Group's chairman had been another top politician - leading Tory
MP Malcolm Rifkind. Twenty years ago, the idea that a private company would
run our jails and wars would have looked like science fiction. By hiring
politicians, the "security industry" made it a reality.
January
11, 2009 The Observer
John Reid, the former home secretary, has cashed in on his ministerial
experience by taking a £45,000-a-year job with private security company
G4S, the Observer has learnt. His appointment comes just days after a
parliamentary committee warned that former ministers have been exploiting
their insider knowledge "with impunity". Formed from a merger of
Group 4 and Securicor, G4S is Britain's largest security firm with
contracts ranging from private prisons to the armed guards defending
British officials in Iraq. The appointment was disclosed by the advisory
committee on business appointments, which polices former ministers' job
applications. Reid has been judged free to lobby ministers and officials on
behalf of the security company. The public administration committee (PAC)
called last week for all lobbying activity to be registered and monitored
by a tougher watchdog - claiming the industry's attempt at self-regulation
had entirely failed. "We are strongly concerned that, with the rules
as loosely and as variously interpreted as they currently are, former
ministers in particular appear to be able to use with impunity the contacts
they built up as public servants to further a private interest," said
a statement from the PAC.
November
11, 2008 South Florida Business Journal
Broward County auditors are raising red flags over how county agencies kept
tabs on nearly $6 million in billings by Wackenhut Corp. for security services
last year. In a report to be presented to county commissioners on
Wednesday, county auditors noted several problems with the way Wackenhut
invoices have been processed. Specifically, the report noted that county
personnel were not reviewing and validating daily entries on security logs
that document hours worked by guards. The audit also found that there was
no evidence that hours billed were hours actually worked. County Auditor
Evan A. Lukic said the decision to review the county’s oversight of Wackenhut
grew out of news reports earlier this year that alleged the Palm Beach
Gardens-based security company was overbilling Miami-Dade County for
services that were not performed. “We were concerned about the allegations
we heard and whether we were possibly experiencing the same thing here,” he
said. “We wanted to look at it from how are we controlling the contract and
administering it.” At this point in the auditing process, Lukic said, there
was no evidence Wackenhut engaged in any wrongdoing. However, based on the
audit’s findings Lukic said his department will take a closer look at
payments to “make sure that guards who we are paying for are present.” In
June 2005, Broward County entered into a three-year agreement with
Wackenhut to provide security services. Payments for fiscal years 2005,
2006 and 2007 totaled more than $14.8 million. In fiscal 2007, Broward
County’s Aviation Department topped the list with $2.1 million in security
services billings by Wackenhut. The county’s facilities maintenance division
paid out $1.66 million to Wackenhut, and the county’s library division was
billed nearly $633,000. The report found that during a one-week period, the
libraries division paid 233 hours of overtime for security guards and found
no evidence that Wackenhut provided the required written notification and
payroll documentation to substantiate the overtime payments. When queried
by the South Florida Business Journal about the auditor's findings,
Wackenhut issued the following statement: "We've worked closely with
facilities management through the audit department to insure compliance and
to improve our processes." Questions also have been raised about
matching guard qualifications to pay rates. In some instances, the audit
raised concerns about guards with lesser qualifications billing at a higher
rate, resulting in overcharges. In an Aug. 22 letter, Broward’s director of
the facilities maintenance division advised Wackenhut President Drew Levine
that he would now require the company to provide documentation that links
guards’ qualifications with their job classifications. In the meantime,
Lukic is asking the Broward County Commission to direct the county
administrator to come up with procedures to ensure that billings are
validated, that the guards’ qualifications match their job descriptions and
that overtime charges are substantiated. In May, a Miami-Dade County audit
found that Wackenhut overbilled the county by as much as $6 million over
three years for services it did not provide to Miami-Dade Transit, and then
falsified records to cover up the over charges. In its response to that
audit, which Wackenhut published on its Web site, the company said it has
cooperated with the county’s investigation, but “continues to question the
audit methodology.” Wackenhut said a lawsuit by a former guard, who accused
the company of padding its bills, has caused the increased scrutiny. “It is
Wackenhut’s belief that county entities … have been placed under undue
pressure and influence by unsubstantiated allegations in this ongoing
disputed litigation,” it stated. Miami-Dade continues to review Wackenhut’s
response to determine what actions should be taken, county spokeswoman Suzy
Trutie said.
June
18, 2008 NBC6
Miami-Dade County said it is poised to make good on its promise to fire
Wackenhut Security from its massive contract on Metrorail trains unless it
repays taxpayers millions of dollars. NBC6 has obtained internal county
memos that confirm that Miami-Dade County is asking other security firms to
submit bids to replace Wackenhut on Metrorail trains and other facilities.
The county said Wackenhut's only hope of not getting fired is if it returns
up to $6 million in taxpayer dollars. The Metrorail and Metromover systems
are guarded by Wackenhut Security in a lucrative no-bid contract. The
county said it is getting ready to replace Wackenhut, cutting short the
existing contract unless Wackenhut makes amends. "It's very
troubling," said Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez. In May, Alvarez
threatened to fire Wackenhut. On Tuesday, it was clear that was no idle
threat. "We are prepared to cancel all contracts with the Wackenhut
corporation and demand that we get the money that's owed to us,"
Alvarez said. The county said Wackenhut scheduled guards to work partial
shifts while billing taxpayers for a full shift and sometimes billing
taxpayers for a post that had no guards at all, NBC6's Jeff Burnside
reported. The allegations were the same as those contained in an NBC6
investigation called "A Question Of Security." The amount in
question is up to $6 million. An independent audit claimed it was much
more. One problem is that any company that replaces Wackenhut might need to
hire some of Wackenhut's guards because of the size of the contract. In an
internal memo, Wackenhut called that, "underhanded … tactics by
third-party instigators." A labor union urged county commissioners
Tuesday to improve working conditions in any new contract. Wackenhut had no
response on Tuesday, Burnside reported. Previously, the company has
disputed the allegations.
May
9, 2008 Miami-Herald
The Wackenhut Corp. overbilled Miami-Dade County as much as $6 million
over three years for phantom security guards at county transit stations,
according to a long-awaited audit released Thursday. County auditor Cathy
Jackson -- who reviewed a sample of the bills -- found that Wackenhut, one
of the country's largest security firms, routinely charged the county for
empty guard posts at Metrorail stations and along bus routes, and relied on
inaccurate and falsified records to try to cover up the overbilling.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez has given Wackenhut 90 days to repay the
county or rebut the audit findings or he will cancel the company's no-bid
contract, along with a separate Wackenhut contract for guards at a juvenile
detention center. Jackson said Wackenhut should also pay the county an
additional $233,000 for violating the terms of its contract. Wackenhut's
billing is also being examined by public-corruption detectives with the
Miami-Dade Police Department. 'There is no disputing that [Miami-Dade
Transit] was billed for hours not worked by Wackenhut security officers,
which is a very serious offense,'' County Manager George Burgess wrote in a
memo to Alvarez. Wackenhut, however, does dispute the audit. The company
says Jackson used unreliable records to determine that posts were
uncovered, and ignored other records that could prove guards were on duty.
FIGURES DISPUTED -- While Wackenhut says it will reimburse the county for
any ''substantiated billing errors,'' the company says Jackson's conclusion
of $6 million in overbilling from 2002 to 2005 is an exaggerated estimate
based on a small sample. ''If you start with a false premise, you end up
with a false conclusion,'' said Bruce Rubin, a company spokesman. ``We
respectfully but forcefully disagree with the auditor's methodology.''
Jackson based her estimate on a review of 505 billing records -- only .25
percent of the bills submitted in the three years studied -- which found
$14,722 in questionable charges. She also found $83,665 in suspicious
charges, but these were not included in her sample for estimation purposes.
Wackenhut has been providing security for Miami-Dade Transit since 1989,
and the contract has been awarded without bidding since 1994. The current
contract, which pays Wackenhut as much as $17 million a year, is set to
expire in November 2009. The security company, based in Palm Beach Gardens,
has also spent the past three years fending off an unusual lawsuit brought
by a former guard at the county's Juvenile Assessment Center, who accused
her former employer of padding its bill to the county. The former guard's
attorney, H. Mark Vieth, has said he believes the overbilling could be as
much as $3.6 million a year. He has compiled sworn statements from
ex-guards who said they struggled to fill unmanned posts, submitted false
records and received pay for hours they didn't work. Jackson ''found
exactly what we've been telling the county for a while now,'' Vieth said.
''I could have practically written that report for her. The only
difference, really, is that we're auditing 100 percent of the bills and
she's found this much fraud'' based on a far smaller sample. Wackenhut has
denied wrongdoing in the suit and has challenged Vieth to provide proof of
specific instances of overbilling. Vieth has enlisted a team of
investigators and bookkeepers to sort through Wackenhut bills, sign-in
sheets, log books and other records to prove his case, which is not yet
scheduled for trial. If he wins the case -- brought under the county's
False Claims Act -- his client will receive 25 percent of any damages and
the county will receive 75 percent. REFUSED TO TESTIFY -- Yet the lawsuit
has put Vieth at odds with the county. Last month he sought a contempt of
court order against Jackson after she refused to testify about the audit
before it was completed. Vieth plans to call her again for a deposition
next week. The audit was costly to Wackenhut even before its release. The
company had been selected by county staffers to win another $4.8 million
county security contract -- before county commissioners, worried about the
audit findings, decided Tuesday to scrap the bids and start over. In her
audit, Jackson said Wackenhut constantly shifted guards around to cover
unguarded posts, pulling in supervisors or patrols from the bus routes, but
the county was billed as though all these jobs were filled. In some cases,
log books at Metrorail stations contained no notes to prove a guard was
there, the audit found. In other cases, the logs and other records showed
guards in two different locations at the same time. Records showed that one
armed guard was on duty for 34 ½ hours in a row -- violating a rule capping
guards at 13 ½ hours in a 24-hour period and ''leaving in question the
ability of armed employees to remain alert and responsive,'' the audit
said. Wackenhut officials said the log books were never intended to be used
for timekeeping, and said the absence of notes in the books do not prove a
guard wasn't on duty.
May
2, 2008 Edinburgh Evening News
TWO security guards who stole £10,000 of bank notes while on a
collection run have been jailed for six months. Group 4 Security workers
Gary Docherty, 41, and Hugh Drummond, 47, each helped themselves to a £5000
bundle of £20 notes when a bag burst in their van. Staff at the Royal Bank
of Scotland in Edinburgh immediately realised there was something wrong
when the pair delivered a case which should have contained £50,000 with
only £40,000 in it. Police were called in after they found notes in
Drummond's rucksack and the officers recovered the rest from Docherty. They
previously pleaded guilty to stealing £10,000 on March 28 this year –
Docherty's birthday – and were sentenced today. The pair had been
collecting cash in plastic cases from branches of the bank when one of the
cases burst at Bruntsfield Place. They continued with their run, arriving
at the RBS cash collection centre in The Gyle, where the theft was
discovered. Solicitor Andy Gilbertson said Docherty, of Clermiston Drive,
had worked for the firm for 14 years before he carried out the
"spontaneous" crime and had lost his job as a result. He said
Docherty had been suffering stress. "It wasn't a matter of if this
crime would be detected but a matter of when," Mr Gilbertson added,
appealing for a community service order instead of custody. Solicitor Nigel
Bruce said Drummond, of Victoria Road, Harthill, Lanarkshire, had spent
seven years with the firm, before the "moment of madness".
April
12, 2008 Palm Beach Post
Sen. Jeff Atwater has hired an aide who will get on-the-job training
before he becomes Senate president chief of staff, and Atwater's campaign
opponent is criticizing the expenditure. Robert "Budd" Kneip is a
Palm Beach Gardens businessman with no legislative experience. He founded
The Oasis Group, an outsourcing division of Wackenhut Corp. Kneip, who is
earning $7,000 a month, needed to come on board early to get the feel of
how the legislature runs and how government budgets are developed and
negotiated before his new boss officially takes over, Atwater said.
Normally the chief of staff is appointed after the legislative leader
assumes his role in the fall. Atwater is being challenged for reelection in
November by Democrat Skip Campbell, a trial lawyer who formerly served in
the Senate alongside Atwater. Campbell criticized Kneip's salary at a time
when lawmakers are slashing about $5 billion from the state budget because
of plummeting tax collections. "How can we be hiring somebody for on
the job training at 7K a month when we're cutting education, food for the
poor, Medicaid treatment for the mentally ill? This is one of the most
hypocritical actions I've seen in government," Campbell said. Kneip
has sat on the advisory boards for Florida Atlantic University and the
Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, and served as chairman of the Palm Beach
County Task Force on Business Development. In the latter role, he
successfully pushed a 2004 referendum for a half-penny sales tax hike to
pay for building schools to comply with the constitutional amendment limiting
class sizes. Kneip's know-how at implementing state policy at the local
level and business acumen are why he's right for the job, said Atwater, a
North Palm Beach Republican. "He doesn't have the experience in this
process," Atwater said. "To have him be able to watch how this
works is going to help me as we think about structure, the design, the flow
and process of work."
March
13, 2008 The Age
A NIGERIAN man who twice resorted to drinking his urine during a
nightmarish seven-hour transfer to Baxter detention centre without food or
water will be given $20,000 compensation. Four others who endured the trip
in the back of the van with him will also be compensated after the Human
Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission found they had been subjected to
"degrading treatment". The five detainees, whose plight was
revealed in The Age, were taken from Maribyrnong in Melbourne to Baxter on
September 17, 2004 by guards from GSL, the company that runs Australia's
detention centres. A report by commission president John von Doussa found
the van did not stop for any breaks in the seven hours from Melbourne to
Mildura, breaching the detainees' human rights. The report said the drivers
ignored signs that the detainees needed toilet stops, having watched them
urinate on closed-circuit camera, and disregarded their banging on the
walls. Nigerian man Austin Okoye, 26, suffered the "additional
indignity" of twice drinking his urine to relieve his "excessive
thirst", the report said. GSL guards were also accused of using excessive
force in removing 53-year-old Vietnamese detainee Huong Hai Nguyen from his
dormitory at Maribyrnong for the trip. The Immigration Department initially
denied Mr Nguyen's allegations. But the department referred the case to the
commission after receiving a second complaint from Mr Okoye. In July 2005,
Immigration Department secretary Andrew Metcalfe said GSL would be fined
$500,000 after the independent report substantiated most of the
allegations. Yesterday Mr Metcalfe said GSL would also pay the compensation.
"These people were mistreated and they deserve to be
compensated," he said. The report said Mr Okoye and Mr Nguyen should
get $20,000 each, and the others $15,000. GSL spokesman Tim Hall said the
company did not accept the claims about Mr Okoye being forced to drink his
urine. But he said GSL endorsed the rest of the report and the Commonwealth
would be fully indemnified. The report urged the Government to locate the
victims as soon as possible (three of them, including Mr Nguyen and Mr Okoye,
have been deported) to provide them with their compensation and a formal
apology.
February
22, 2008 The Green Left
A February 22 meeting between Western Australian prisons minister Margaret
Quirk, Aboriginal Legal Service chief executive Dennis Eggington and WA
Deaths in Custody Watch Committee chairperson Marc Newhouse resulted in
some ministerial promises of reforms following the the death in custody of
an Aboriginal elder on January 27. The elder, from the desert town of
Warburton, died after collapsing in the back of a prison van while being
transported for four hours in 43oC heat to a jail in the outback city of
Kalgoorlie. He had been arrested on January 26 for alleged drink-driving
while visiting relatives in the remote town of Laverton, 352 kilometres
north of Kalgoorie. The van was driven and staffed by employees of Global
Solutions Ltd, an Anglo-French prison management company, which the WA
government has contracted to transport prisoners. Professor Richard
Harding, the WA government’s inspector of custodial services, told the news
media on January 29 that he was not surprised at the Warburton elder’s
death, given the state of the prisoner transport fleet. He said that the
“government-owned vans are continually breaking down, leaving prisoners stranded
in searingly hot conditions in remote areas”. Among other things, Quirk has
agreed to overhaul procedures followed when a prisoner is transported. New
procedures, to be in place by March 14, will include a health assessment
and provision of water and food.
February
4, 2008 News.com.AU
THE contractor that transported an Aboriginal leader who died in
custody last weekend has previously been criticised for the treatment of
detainees. Government contractor Global Solutions Limited has been accused
of the humiliation and sensory deprivation of detainees, who were forced to
urinate in their cramped compartments, inadequate provision of food and
fluids and the prank strip search of a prisoner. The death of Ian Ward in
the sealed compartment of a "bloody hot" van last Sunday as the
outside temperature climbed to 43C has prompted an unprecedented attack on
the Carpenter Government by the Inspector of Custodial Services, who said
the state's chronically deficient prisoner transport system would probably
not be tolerated if 95 per cent of prisoners were white, instead of up to
95 per cent of them being Aboriginal. Anger is growing in the desert
community of Warburton in WA's Ngaanyatjarra lands over the death of Mr
Ward, who collapsed in what may have been an unairconditioned or
inadequately airconditioned rear compartment while being transported 352km
by GSL. The van transporting Mr Ward left the town of Laverton about midday
for Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison to be remanded in custody on a
drink-driving charge when he vomited on himself and fell unconscious. His
body was wheeled into Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital at 4.30pm on Sunday
after the two GSL guards in the van found he had collapsed in the back.
Witness Jodie Aurisch said a female GSL guard told an emergency department
doctor: "It is bloody hot in the back of the van". GSL and its
$70 million prison transport contract with the Carpenter Government are
likely to be examined as part of a coronial inquest into Mr Ward's death in
custody. It will not be the first time the company faces scrutiny. In 2005,
GSL was fined almost $500,000 over mistreatment of immigration detainees.
In 2006, GSL was fined a reported $200,000 after guards at Port Phillip
Prison in Victoria jokingly strip searched a prisoner as part of a prank
called "Sausagegate". A federal government report into GSL's
transfer of five detainees from Maribyrnong Detention Centre in Melbourne
to Baxter Immigration Facility in South Australia over two days in 2004
found the officers involved had not been adequately trained and treated the
detainees inhumanely. In his report into the incident for the Howard
government, investigator Keith Hamburger found the van used was unsafe and
inhumane and that the detainees had been denied access to toilet facilities,
forcing them to urinate in their compartments. The officers were also found
to have ignored appeals for assistance from detainees in distress.
Melbourne legal advocate Chandarev Singh said GSL had shown "a pattern
of lethal indifference". GSL's director of public affairs, Tim Hall,
said Mr Singh's "inaccurate and unpleasant personal views" did
not warrant comment.
February
1, 2008 The Western Australian
Police yesterday refused to reveal the results of a post-mortem
examination on the body of an Aboriginal elder who died after he collapsed
in custody while being taken to Kalgoorlie in the back of a van. It is
understood police received the results yesterday. Warburton Aboriginal
elder Ian Ward collapsed in the back of a Global Solutions Limited van on
Sunday after a four-hour trip from Laverton to Kalgoorlie and died a short
time later at Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital. The 46-year-old, who was being
transferred to face a charge of drinkdriving, was found unconscious in the
back of the van in the middle of the afternoon when temperatures outside
exceeded 40 degrees. It is understood the van’s air-conditioning broke down
the previous week and had to be replaced. The van is part of a fleet owned
by the State Government but managed by the private prison management
company. The State Government’s controversial deal with Global Solutions
Limited, the group responsible for prisoner transport, could be tested,
depending on the outcome of the investigation into Mr Ward’s death.
Opposition Leader Troy Buswell said the death in custody raised serious
concerns over the State Government’s “gifting” of the contract to GSL. GSL
was controversially awarded the $70 million prisoner transport, court
custody and security services contract last year when the company bought
out the previous contractor Australian Integrated Management Service.
Letters obtained under Freedom of Information laws revealed the Inspector
for Custodial Services, Richard Harding, told Corrective Services Minister
Margaret Quirk in April that the plan for GSL to take over the contract was
unwise and risky. Despite his advice, Cabinet not only approved the
takeover of the AIMS contract by GSL last July, but days later it extended
the deal by three years without any public tender process. “Depending on
the outcome of the investigation by police and the coroner, the State
Government needs to be examining every aspect of the contract and take
action against GSL if and when it is appropriate,” Mr Buswell said. Ms
Quirk said issues surrounding Mr Ward’s death, including the contract with
GSL, was a matter for the police investigation and the coronial inquest and
it was not appropriate to speculate.
January
31, 2008 News.Com.AU
PRISONER transport contractors for the WA government were warned about
the "parlous state" of their fleet well before an Aboriginal
elder died in a prison van. Ian Ward, 46, of Warburton in the Goldfields,
died during a Global Solutions Ltd transfer from Laverton to Kalgoorlie in
hot conditions on January 27. It is unclear if the airconditioning was off,
or faulty. Drivers of the van took Mr Ward, who had been picked up for
drink driving on Australia Day, to Kalgoorlie Regional Hospital after they
found him collapsed. He died a short time later. WA Custodial Services
Inspector Richard Harding wrote to GSL last year outlining six concerns,
including 'GSL's capacity to cope with the logistical challenge of running
a transport service across such huge distances as are involved with Western
Australia''. "The parlous state'' of the government-owned fleet upon
which GSL would have to rely was among Mr Harding's concerns. GSL is
contracted by the WA government to provide prisoner transport services and
by the federal government to run immigration detention camps and transport
immigration detainees and prisoners. Project SafeCom spokesman Jack Smit
said there had been other transportation issues under the watch of GSL,
formerly US-owned but bought last month by European security consortium
Group 4 Securitas. "This is an ongoing issue partly because it's an
out-of-Australia company ... you no longer have people employed who are
directly responsible, by contract, to the minister,'' Mr Smit said. A 2005
federal government inquiry found GSL failed to provide medical assessments
and treatments for injured detainees who were being transferred to the
Baxter detention centre in South Australia from Maribyrnong in 2004. The
probe found the van used to transport detainees was "unsafe and
inhumane'' with airconditioning design faults. The five were sent an apology
and compensated by the immigration department. WA major crime squad
detectives are investigating the latest death amid calls from human rights
groups for an independent investigation. WA Deaths in Custody watch
committee spokesman Marc Newhouse said Mr Ward's death should not have
happened. "Clearly the government has already been warned about the
state of that fleet, which is government-owned,'' Mr Newhouse said.
January
22, 2008 St Petersburg Times
If you’re guarding a nuclear power plant, your gun better work. That’s
the message federal regulators sent Tuesday to Florida Power & Light.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission proposed a $208,000 fine for four
security violations at the utility’s Turkey Point nuclear plant, including
security workers who deliberately broke the firing pins on their weapons.
The violations occurred in 2004 and 2005, according to the commission. The
commission, a federal agency that oversees the safety of the U.S. nuclear
industry, also faulted the Juno Beach utility for failing to promptly
report the violations. Three of the four employees involved worked for
Wackenhut, and none of the four work at the plant now, said FP&L
spokeswoman April Schilpp. Wackenhut still provides security, and the
utility has improved training, she said. The utility has 30 days to appeal
the fine, but has no plans to, she said. “The NRC confirms that at no time
was plant security compromised,” Schilpp said. “That’s the important
thing.”
January
9, 2008 NBC TV6
The CEO of Wackenhut Security, a South Florida company that has been
surrounded by controversy, is stepping down. A representative with the
company declined to say why Gary Sanders made the decision to quit pending
a formal announcement on Wednesday. The change at the top came at a time
when Wackenhut Security was facing mounting criticism in various cities,
including some in South Florida where its Miami-Dade County operation is
the target of a criminal probe. The county audit, which was detailed in an
NBC 6 investigation of Wackenhut billing practices, is examining whether
Wackenhut overcharged taxpayers millions of dollars. Sanders had been with
Wackenhut for more than 25 years.
December
18, 2007 Yahoo Business Wire
Cognetas, an independent mid-market pan-European private equity firm
specialising in complex deals, today announces the sale of Global Solutions
(GSL) for £355 million to G4S. The sale, subject to EU merger clearance and
South African competition commission clearance, is expected to complete in
2008. GSL is a leading provider of outsourced support services to public
authorities and corporate organisations worldwide. Services are typically
provided under long-term contracts (5 to 30 years) either directly to the
end customer or through joint ventures and Public Private Partnerships with
government and corporates. GSL has operations in the UK, South Africa and
Australia. Its service offering covers three areas: Custodial services,
including prison management, escorting, immigration, custody and training;
Public Services, for example healthcare, education and Local Authority
services; and Business services, comprising utilities, office accommodation
and other managed services. Cognetas backed the original MBO of GSL in 2004
in a £207 million (€309 million) transaction. At the time, Cognetas underwrote
equity and debt to facilitate certainty for the vendor with an initial
commitment of £105 million (€158 million) on behalf of Cognetas Fund I.
This was reduced within two months to £54 million (€81 million) by
introducing senior debt. The balance of the funding was provided by
Englefield Capital on behalf of the Englefield Funds. Since then Cognetas
has supported management in the implementation of a growth plan that has
seen revenues increase from £291 million in 2004 to over £400 million in
2007 through organic growth, in fill acquisition and expansion of services
in its sectors over three continents with the number of staff employed
increasing by over 25% to more than 9,500. Nigel McConnell, Managing
Partner of Cognetas commented: “We are delighted to be associated with the
success of GSL over the past three years and we are pleased to see that the
dynamic management team has built the business into a worldwide quality
provider of outsourced services. We leave the business on extremely sound
and robust grounds which will help sustain its continued growth. I am
confident that being part of a larger global business like G4S will take
this business forward to a new level and I wish them well”.
December
10, 2007 NBC TV6
Miami-Dade and federal investigators raided the headquarters Friday
night of one of the county's largest government contractors. NBC 6 was the
first to report in May that Wackenhut Security is under a criminal
investigation for overbilling taxpayers millions of dollars, money for work
on transit and the downtown juvenile center. NBC 6 camera's filmed public
corruption investigators and police removing boxes filled with documents
from Wackenhut's Miami-Dade headquarters on Blue Lagoon Drive.
Investigators were there for several hours and were being assisted by top
Wackenhut executives. Wackenhut has repeatedly declined to be interviewed,
but said in a statement that the company was cooperating with authorities.
"The Wackenhut Corporation ('Wackenhut') continues to cooperate with
Miami-Dade County ('MDC'), and voluntarily provided MDC additional records
and documents yesterday to assist and facilitate MDC’s investigation and
audit of Wackenhut’s performance under its security contract with the Miami
Dade Transit Authority," said Drew Levine, president of the Security
Services Division. "Wackenhut is proud of its service and performance
under its contracts with Miami-Dade County and is very confident that after
a thorough investigation the County will conclude that Wackenhut acted
properly and performed its responsibilities under the contract in a highly
professional and responsible manner." The company has previously
denied overbilling taxpayers. Miami-Dade County is nearing completion of an
audit of Wackenhut's billing practices. The preliminary audit found serious
discrepancies.
November
29, 2007 The Telegraph
Group4Securicor is in talks to buy Global Solutions, a company it used to
own, for around £350m. Earlier this year, private equity firm Cognetas
appointed investment bank UBS to carry out a strategic review of Global
Solutions, which runs a number of Britain's prisons and detention centres.
However, the credit crunch forced Cognetas to put the review of Global
Solutions on hold. Since then, the company has received a number of
approaches, including one from Group4Securicor. Cognetas bought Global
Solutions, which also manages hospitals, schools and tourist offices, from
Danish security firm Group 4 Falk for about £200m three years ago.
Group4Securicor is now understood to be carrying out due diligence on the
business. However, it is not the only company bidding. Sources said US
group GEO and several private equity firms have also made approaches for
the company. Global Solutions has previously come under the spotlight for
the way it runs its prisons and detention centres, following the
Government's privatisation of the sector. Earlier this year, there was a
Panorama investigation by an undercover BBC reporter, who worked as a
custody officer, in one of Global Solutions' prisons at Rye Hill. None of
the parties involved would comment.
November
20, 2007 This Is Hampshire
A SECURITY firm employee who was heavily in debt stole £25,000 following an
extraordinary blunder by two colleagues, a court heard. The cash had been
collected from the London Road branch of Nat West in Southampton - and left
overnight at the depot. The following day, Paul Dean spotted the bag and
stole it, dropping it off at home before continuing with his deliveries.
Police carried out a major investigation during which Dean and a co-driver
were suspended from their jobs with Group 4 Securicor. Seven months after
the theft last November, they executed a warrant at Dean's home and
recovered more than £10,000. Some of the proceeds had been spent on a large
slim line television, Mr Anderson added. Southampton Crown Court heard the
two men who had left the cash behind were fired and Dean's colleague,
though exonerated, had resigned. Dean, 51, of Maclean Road, Bournemouth,
admitted theft and was jailed for 12 months. In mitigation, Christopher
Gair said Dean lost his wife in a road accident in 1994 and had debts of
£24,000. A month before the theft, he had been given two county court
judgments against him. "In a moment of madness he took advantage of
the money left there," said Mr Gair.
November
1, 2007 This Is Leicestershire
An "inside man" involved in a plot to steal £1 million from a
Securicor van has been jailed for four years. Ex-soldier Neil Colbourne,
from Hinckley, worked for the firm in the lead-up to the robbery bid, which
would have involved kidnapping a driver's wife. He was among six gang
members who were jailed in connection with the case. A court heard how the
plan involved two kidnappers seizing a driver's wife at her home in
Swanscombe, Kent, and holding her hostage while others raided her husband's
security van at gunpoint. But the plan to target a depot in Dartford, Kent,
was foiled when a seventh member of the gang, brothel keeper Vincent
Calleja, turned himself in to police. Police swooped on the gang's
headquarters the night before the heist last June and found two guns and
ammunition, balaclavas, and cable ties. They also found keys to a stolen
Renault Espace. Four of the men were found guilty on June 29 of conspiracy
to rob and were sentenced on Monday at Guildford Crown Court. Ashley
O'Driscoll (21), from Eaton Grove, in Mitcham, Surrey, Billy French (22),
from Steers Mead, Mitcham, and Michael Cloherty (41), of no fixed address,
were each sentenced to 15 years. The father of Billy French, unemployed
Clive Tedder (42), from Spencer Roady, Mitcham, received 18 years.
Colbourne, now 34, who had an address in Hinckley and Orpington, Kent, had
worked as a guard for Group 4 Securicor and was sentenced to four years,
while 33-year-old Wayne McKenna-Bruce, from Chislehurst, Kent, was
sentenced to three years in prison. The pair's conspiracy to steal pleas
were accepted after a court heard they had not known about the full scale
of the plot. The seventh member, Vincent Calleja (45), from Tadworth, has
pleaded guilty to conspiracy to rob and seven unrelated human trafficking
and prostitution charges, and is to be sentenced.
November
1, 2007 PR News
The Wackenhut Corporation ("Wackenhut" or "the
Company") today filed a civil action against the Service Employees
International Union ("SEIU" or "the Union"). The
lawsuit is in response to the SEIU's malicious, four-year, international corporate
campaign to force Wackenhut to recognize the Union as the employees'
bargaining representative while denying the employees their federal rights
to free choice and a secret ballot election. The SEIU's top-down,
wholesale, organizing attack also would compromise the quality of
Wackenhut's services by forcing the Company to deal with a union that also
represents workers other than guards which federal law specifically
prohibits as an appropriate unit for representation and bargaining. Filed
in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the
lawsuit alleges violations of the federal Racketeering Influenced
Corporations Act, 18 U.S.C. section 1961 et seq., and seeks injunctive
relief, treble compensatory damages and costs.
September
14, 2007 BBC
A security worker has been jailed for stealing almost £130,000 in coins
from parking meters on Teesside. Bryn Lynas, 47, of Ormesby, Middlesbrough,
was employed to empty the machines in Redcar and Cleveland. At Teesside
Crown Court, the former Group 4 Securicor Cash Services employee pleaded
guilty to the theft of £128,301 from January 2004 to May 2006. Jailing him
for 21 months, Judge Tony Briggs told Lynas he had grossly abused a
position of trust. Group 4 was contracted by Redcar and Cleveland Council
to empty parking meters. An audit revealed tens of thousands of pounds was
missing and when Lynas was arrested last year he told police: "I've
got a bag full of money on my back seat." He was interviewed and
admitted taking cash from the machines, but said he had been doing it for
only 10 months The court was shown footage from a camera covertly placed by
police in Lynas' van, in which he repeatedly attempts to prise open cash
boxes with a screwdriver. He also admitted money laundering between June
2004 and last May, but disputed stealing £40,000 of the total, claiming
that he was not employed on some of the days stated in the case. But Judge
Briggs said "the loss of at least £80,000-£90,000" and
"dishonesty of this magnitude" required a significant sentence.
September
14, 2007 24 Dash
A security worker who stole nearly £130,000 in coins from parking
meters he was employed to empty is facing jail. Bryn Lynas, 47, plundered
the machines in Cleveland for two years before his bungled get-rich-quick
scheme was uncovered by his bosses. When Lynas was arrested in May last
year, after an audit revealed tens of thousands of pounds were missing, he
told police: "I\'ve got a bag full of money on my back seat."
Officers searched his vehicle and found a bag containing more than £500
stuffed in the footwell of the Renault Megane. Lynas was interviewed and
admitted taking cash from the machines, but said he had been doing it for
only 10 months. Police inquiries revealed that his partner, Susan Shaw,
also 47, had received £23,655 in her bank account from Lynas. She was
arrested for a money laundering offence, but had the charges dropped by
prosecutors at Teesside Crown Court in August. Lynas, of Ormesby,
Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty at Teesside Crown Court on August 8 to the
theft of £128,301 between January 2004 and May last year, and money
laundering between June 2004 and last May. His case was adjourned until
today for reports. Lynas was employed by Group 4 Securicor Cash Services,
which was contracted by the borough council to empty parking meters. Redcar
and Cleveland Borough Council said it was pleased Lynas had been brought to
justice but added the cash collecting contract was re-tendered last year
and given to a different company.
September
6, 2007 News Shopper
A FORMER soldier has been jailed for four years for his part in a plot
to steal more than £1m from security vans - including his own. Neil
Colbourne had worked for Securicor for two years when he was the
"victim" of an armed robbery outside the HSBC bank in Sydenham.
But he was an accomplice and slipped the money box containing £25,000 out
of the back of his van to a waiting vehicle before calling the police
claiming he had been robbed. Prosecutor Maria Kariaskos told Guildford
Crown Court the 33-year-old later changed his story, saying there was no
gun involved. He also failed to pick out the real "robbers" in an
identification parade. Officers arrested him after studying CCTV footage of
the incident on May 16 last year. He could be seen waiting for a
minute-and-a-half until the vehicle being used by the "robbers"
arrived. Colbourne, of Station Square, Petts Wood, admitted a charge of
conspiracy to steal. He also pleaded guilty to another count of conspiracy
to steal for helping a gang to plot a £1m theft from another van. The cash
handler and his old Army friend Wayne McKenna-Bruce, aged 33, gave the gang
the van driver's name and the registration numbers of his car and of two
Securicor vehicles. This enabled them to follow their intended target to
his house and plan their attack. McKenna-Bruce, from Sevenoaks, pleaded
guilty to one charge of conspiracy to steal and was sentenced to three
years in jail. James Scobie, representing McKenna-Bruce, said the two
defendants thought the driver in the second incident was in on the plot and
|
