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A4eBirmingham
May 14, 2008 Politics.co.uk
A private company that took charge of education and training in eight Kent
prisons has terminated its contract a year early in the face of a hefty
financial loss. The company, A4e, described on its website as a "market
leader in global public service reform" won the three-year contract to
run Offenders' Learning and Skills Services (OLASS) in Kent, starting from
2006. The company was to work in partnership with the eight prisons to
develop tailored education and training for offenders. But it has now made a
shock announcement that it will be unable to run the service for the third
year of its contract (August 2008 to July 2009) because it stands to make a
loss of £892,000. The company has asked the Learning and Skills Council,
which oversees the OLASS programme, for a financial lifeline but is awaiting
a response. A4e has contracts to run offender learning and training at 24
other prisons in the South West, North West and East of England. Sally Hunt,
UCU General Secretary, said: "Running high-quality prison education and
training with professional staff does not come cheap as A4e has found out.
"This sends a strong message to government: bringing in private
providers is not the solution to providing good quality public services.
"Our members are delighted to see the back of this company although the
future for their own employment is not clear. UCU will do its utmost to
protect jobs and terms and conditions for staff."
Altcourse Prison
Group 4 (formerly run by Global Solutions)
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.”
April 28, 2008 BBC
A man accused of raping an 18-year-old woman has died after apparently
hanging himself in his cell. Mathew Le Cras, 21, of Newborough on Anglesey,
was taken to hospital on Thursday from Liverpool's Altcourse jail where he
was being held on remand. Doctors are thought to have switched off his
life-support machine. He had been charged with the rape of the woman near
Gaerwen and had been due at Mold Crown Court for a preliminary hearing on
Friday. A spokesman for GSL, which runs the private jail, confirmed Mr Le
Cras had died. He had been held at Altcourse prison for a week He is thought
to have been found by a prison officer.
April 27, 2008 Daily Post
A 21-YEAR-OLD man accused of raping an 18-year-old woman on Anglesey has
died. Matthew James Lecras, of Church Street, Newborough, was rushed to
hospital early on Thursday, hours before he was due in court. A spokeswoman
for Global Solutions Ltd, the private company which runs Altcourse Prison,
Liverpool, where he was being held, said that Lecras had been found in his
cell by a member of staff during a routine check. Lecras was being held on
remand accused of raping a woman at Gaerwen on April 14. The hearing at Mold
Crown court continued in his absence on Friday after the judge heard he was
seriously ill in hospital.
April 26, 2008 Daily Post
A 21-YEAR-OLD man accused of raping an 18-year-old woman on Anglesey was in a
critical condition last night in hospital. Matthew James Lecras, of Church
Street, Newborough, was rushed to hospital early on Thursday, hours before he
was due in court. A spokeswoman for Global Solutions Ltd, the private company
which runs Altcourse Prison, Liverpool, where he was being held, said that
Lecras had been found in his cell by a member of staff during a routine
check. It is unclear why he had to be taken to hospital. The spokeswoman
said: “He is in a life threatening condition in hospital and an investigation
into the circumstances is underway.”
March 26, 2006 Wales on Sunday
A WOMAN whose husband threatened to kill her then committed suicide in jail,
is fighting his corner for the sake of their young daughter. Vowing to sue
the private prison where her mentally ill ex hanged himself in the days
following their divorce, Karen Crabtree wants justice for their four-year-old
girl "who has lost her daddy". The Llandudno mum-of-one was
devastated last summer when Altcourse Prison in Liverpool told her Lee was
dead. The troubled 32-year-old - who believed Karen was the devil - was found
hanging from a bunk bed by a fellow inmate's shoelaces in July.
March 23, 2006 BBC
An inquest has heard of concerns of a prison officer and a cellmate for
the mental health of a remand prisoner, who was later found hanged in his
cell. Lee Crabtree, 32, from Llandudno, had been placed on suicide watch at
Altcourse Prison, Liverpool, last July. He was seen several times by medical
staff during his time in prison. His cellmate said that he was
"depressed to death". The inquest in Liverpool continues on
Thursday. Mr Crabtree was discovered in a cell on "Beachers Block",
the unit which normally holds remand prisoners and young offenders. The
inquest heard how prisoners on suicide watch are supposed to be placed with
cellmates, but Mr Crabtree was alone on the day he died because his cellmate
was in court. In a statement, his cellmate Raymond Smith said Mr Crabtree was
"depressed to death," and "sick in the head". He added:
"He had said the devil was playing games with him and that he was being
tested."
September 23, 2005 BBC
Ten prisoners who rioted after they claimed guards tried to lock them up
early on New Year's Eve have been sentenced by a court. The men caused damage
costing £17,500 after barricading themselves inside a wing at Altcourse
prison in Liverpool. They staged a sit-in protest after guards attempted to
lock them up for the night on 31 December 2004. Mr Davies said the prisoners
took over the wing for more than four hours before a team of 50 officers,
known as the Tornado Team, took back control. The prison wing had descended
into chaos with inmates smashing windows, destroying pool tables and lighting
fires.
September 2, 2005 BBC
An investigation is under way following the death of a remand prisoner in a
hospital, the Prison Service has said. Robin Spavold, 44, from Llandudno,
North Wales, was held at HMP Altcourse in Liverpool on 18 August after being
charged with criminal damage. He was taken to the prison's health centre
because he was suffering from severe bruising. Mr Spavold was transferred to
the nearby Fazakerley Hospital, and died on Thursday. He suffered a cardiac
arrest.
August 16, 2005 Daily Post
PRIVATELY-RUN Altcourse Prison has been named the most overcrowded in the
country with figures showing that last month it held 50% more inmates than it
was designed to hold. According to Home Office statistics, more than 933 prisoners
were crammed into the Fazakerley jail, which was built to accommodate 614.
The figures show that Altcourse was full beyond even its safe over-crowding
limit of 903. Anything above that limit is considered a serious risk to
"good order and security" Last night Walton MP Peter Kilfoyle, who
has both Altcourse and Walton prisons in his constituency, said: "There
has to be a suspicion that in a private prison such as Altcourse, the more
prisoners they take in, the more money they get.
July
13, 2005 BBC
An inquiry has been launched after two men were found hanged in their cells
at a prison in Liverpool. Lee Jason Crabtree, 32, from Llandudno, Conwy, was
found dead on Monday at HM Prison Altcourse. David Oakes, 25, from
Warrington, Cheshire, was found on Tuesday. The two deaths are not thought to
be linked. The privately-run jail has recently been praised by prison
inspectors for its good environment and work with mentally ill inmates. But
the report, by the Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers, also highlighted
bullying among prisoners and criticised procedures for inmates' first night
in jail.
Ashfield Prison
Serco (formerly known as Premier)
February 16, 2012 The Guardian
A huge increase in the use of force to restrain teenage boys at a privately
run young offender institution has been sharply criticised by the chief
inspector of prisons. Nick Hardwick says the nine-fold rise in the use of
force in the past year at the Serco-run Ashfield young offender institution
from an average of 17 times a month to 150 times a month is "extremely
high". The chief inspector has warned the private prison managers at
Ashfield, near Bristol, that force must only be used as a last resort where
there is an immediate risk to life or limb and not simply to obtain
compliance with staff instructions. But when the prison inspectors went into
Ashfield last October they found that more than 40% of the teenage inmates
had been restrained and the most frequent reason given in five out of the six
preceding months was "failure to obey staff instructions". Penal
reformers said the disclosure has "chilling echoes" of the death of
15-year-old Gareth Myatt, who died while being restrained at a
Northamptonshire young offender institution in 2004. The inspection report on
Ashfield published on Friday also says there are serious problems with the
late delivery of offenders from court despite a new private escort company,
GeoAmey, with inmates delivered from court to Ashfield on one recent occasion
between 11pm and 3am. All new arrivals were also strip-searched even though
few items of contraband were ever found. The inspectors say this practice
should stop.
August 10, 2011 Gazette
Police were also called to Ashfield Young Offenders’ Institution in
Pucklechurch following reports of disturbances there. Prison officers dealt
with a "small scale incident of disobedience" involving several
inmates according to a statement from Serco, the company which runs the unit.
A spokesman said: "Some minor damage has been caused, but the situation
has been contained and the centre is secure," a Serco spokesman said.
Avon Fire and Rescue Service were called out at 7.49pm but were stood down as
they were not required to attend the scene.
August 20, 2009 Public Finance
Children detained in prisons and young offenders institutions are exposed to
such ‘dire conditions’ that they are living in ‘modern day dungeons’,
according to a hard-hitting report by the Howard League for Penal Reform. The
report, published on August 17, paints a picture of ‘extraordinary squalor and
institutional brutality’, with children regularly denied access to showers,
toilets and outside exercise areas. Detained children are also often subject
to strip searches by adult staff and many institutions fail properly to
undertake required assessments, plans and reviews. Frances Crook, director of
the Howard League, said: ‘We keep children smelly and dirty, idle and
frightened, bored with education and cooped up in modern-day dungeons. And we
expect them miraculously to pupate into responsible citizens. In reality,
these young people leave prison more damaged and more dangerous than when
they first went in. It is frankly shocking that we treat children in this way
in the twenty-first century.’ At Ashfield prison in Gloucestershire, which is
run by Serco, children were routinely given bags to urinate in instead of
being allowed toilets on their journey to the prison, the report found. At
Castington jail in Northumberland, children were allowed showers only twice a
week and seven young people suffered broken wrists after being handcuffed. A
Ministry of Justice spokesman said: ‘Work is continuing on raising the
quality of the services provided and developing new initiatives that will
help further ensure positive outcomes for all the young people.’
April 13, 2009 This Is Bristol
The privately-run Ashfield Young Offenders Institution has more attacks
than any other prison in the country, according to latest figures. The
institution, near Pucklechurch, recorded more than 600 attacks on inmates in
one year – the highest number of all the UK's 142 jails. Ashfield also had
126 assaults on prison officers, latest figures released by the National
Offender Management Service show. But Serco, the firm which runs Ashfield,
said the figures to July 2008 were high because it recorded every incident,
including minor skirmishes, while other prisons only recorded the most
serious attacks.
March 19, 2003
Premier's Ashfield "worst" prison in England and Wales.
(News). Plans to extend the role of private providers in prison services
suffered a setback this month when a PFI jail for young offenders was
described as the worst in the country. An inspection found that
conditions at Ashfield, near Bristol, were so bad that many inmates were
frightened to leave their cells. Under pressure staff relied on inmates to
act as "mini-officers" in the reception wing, and escort van
drivers were used as officers on other wings. Staff delegated
responsibility to inmate orderlies to a worrying extent that went as far as "role
reversal". Martin Narey, the director-general of the Prison Service,
described privately run Ashfield as the worst prison in England and Wales
"by some measure". But he added: "The introduction of
the private sector into the running of prisons has brought immense benefits.
My best prison is probably a private-sector prison." Ashfield is a
44m [pounds sterling] prison holding up to 400 sentenced young offenders aged
between 15 and 21. It is run by Premier Custodial Services, a joint venture
company owned 50% by Serco Ltd and 50% by Wackenhut Corrections (UK) Ltd,
under a 25-year PFI contract. The criticism came only days after the
chancellor, Gordon Brown, said there should be "no principled
objection" to further extending the private sector's role in prison
management. The failings in Premier's operation of Ashfield were exposed in
an inspection report by Anne Owers, the chief inspector of prisons.
Describing her report as "depressing" she found that bullying was
rife and that many inmates were "afraid to leave their cells".
A spot-check revealed that nearly half of the inmates remained in their cells
during the day, and less than a quarter were in education. Owers said a
central problem was the poor quality and low morale of staff because of the
inadequate salaries paid by the company. She also criticised the
company for its unwillingness to do anything not in the contract. Speaking on
BBC Radio 4's Today programme on 5 February, Narey said that Premier has lost
around 2m [pounds sterling] in revenues so far. It is the second time
that Premier has been warned over its performance at Ashfield in recent
years. In December 2001, the company was issued with an improvement notice
for noncompliance with the PFI contract. At the time it had the most reported
incidents of self-harm in the 15-17-year age group of any young offenders
establishment in the UK. Under the terms of Premier's contract--and
normal under PFI deals in the prison sector--the banks that financed the
prison's construction decide whether they choose another private operator or
allow the public sector to take over. Local Northavon MP Steve Webb
(Liberal Democrat) said the private sector had failed to deliver on even the
most basic aspects of the contract. "It is time that the Prison Service
took the management of Ashfield back under its control," he said.
February 5, 2003
The reputation of the private sector as a manager of prisons suffered a blow yesterday
when the government's Youth Justice Board announced it was withdrawing all
sentenced juveniles from the first privately run young offenders'
institution. The board announced its
phased withdrawal of 172 young offenders after the chief inspector of prisons
published a scathing report on conditions at the Ashfield young offenders'
institution near Bristol . Anne Owers
said Premier Prison Services, Ashfield's operator, failed to provide
"the minimum requirements of a safe environment". Describing her report as "probably the
most depressing" she has issued in the 18 months she has been in post,
Ms Owers found that bullying was not addressed and that many young people
were "afraid to leave their cells". A spot-check during her inspection
revealed that nearly half of the young inmates remained in their cells during
the core day, and less than a quarter were in education. There was no effective resettlement
strategy. Ms Owers said one of the
main underlying problems at Ashfield was the poor quality and low morale of
staff because of inadequate salaries paid by the operator. Some officers at Ashfield had not undergone
an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau check, which is meant to provide better
protection against pedophiles. The
Prison Officers' Association, which has always been opposed to privatisation,
called for Ashfield to be taken immediately into public ownership. Brian Caton, the union's general secretary,
said Ashfield provided evidence of the "immorality of running private
prisons with the emphasis on making profit rather than running a good service
on behalf of society". Juliet
Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said the "utterly damning
report" raised questions as to why the Prison Service had allowed such a
situation to develop in the first place. (Social Affairs Correspondent)
BBC
Aramark, Serco
August 22, 2011 Daily Mail
ALL the old jokes about the BBC canteen are true – and it’s no laughing matter.
For years the grub provided cheeky material for stars including Ronnie
Corbett, Peter Sellers, Terry Wogan and Les Dawson. Sellers quipped on the
Goon show in 1954: “Lunch is now being served in the BBC canteen. Doctors are
standing by.” And Wogan regularly refers to his Beeb tea as “the evil brew”.
Now, following a Freedom of Information request, the Mirror can reveal things
seems to be as bad as ever. More than 130 staff have moaned about catering at
TV Centre in the last two years. One claimed to have found animal droppings
in a sandwich. He wrote: “I could have been poisoned.” A colleague said he
saw a mouse run across the serving counter at breakfast. He said: “It fair
put me off the scones.” Another wrote: “Fingers crossed that this time I’d find
some meat in the lamb stew. Alas it was not to be.” Gripes about the canteen
and other cafes in the West London centre included “dust-dry” toast,
“undrinkable” coffee and “shameful” service. And there was an outcry when the
Beeb announced it was closing a popular “greasy spoon” van used by workers at
nearby Shepherd’s Bush. Catering firm Aramark, which serves 4,500 meals a
day, said the complaints represented a tiny percentage. Chief executive
Andrew Main insisted: “Most of the feedback we get is entirely positive.”
May 23, 2010 The Daily
Telegraph
Under the scheme, the publicly-funded broadcaster handed over footage to
inmates who earn just £30 a week rather than members of its own 23,000 staff.
Convicts at a privately run Category B jail, the second-highest security
level, transferred tapes of old television shows to computer to save them for
posterity. Senior staff in the BBC’s archives department visited the jail to
watch the work in progress while meetings were held to discuss a landmark
deal for the prisoners to digitise all 1million hours of programmes in its
vaults. Fearful about the controversy the scheme could cause, the BBC never
discussed it publicly and even the broadcasting union, Bectu, was unaware of
it. Details were obtained by this newspaper through a Freedom of Information
request that took more than four months rather than the usual 20 working
days. The BBC insists that it has not given any money to Serco, the private
jail operator, for the secret scheme nor signed any contracts, following the
pilot project last year. However emails disclosed by the corporation show
that it had shown considerable interest in the innovative project proposed by
Serco, which runs four prisons in England. The BBC owns more than 1m hours of
historic content, some of it decades old and at risk of being lost. It
employs 66 people to look after it, at a cost of £5m a year, in its
Information and Archives department. The corporation estimates it would take
10 years to safely copy all 100m items in its collection into longer-lasting
digital formats. In December 2008 it was approached by Serco to become
involved in Artemis – Achieving Rehabilitation Through Establishing a Media
Ingest Service – a new project for prisoners to transfer archive documents to
computers. Serco said it would provide “high-quality employment” and the
chance of an NVQ qualification for inmates and HMP Lowdham Grange, a
628-capacity jail near Nottingham all of whose inmates are serving at least
four years. The firm said this would mean it could provide a “stable work
force”. The BBC was told it would prove a “very cost-effective” way of
digitising its archive, and several meetings were organised to discuss plans.
Managers agreed to hand over 20 hours of old videos, including episodes of
Horizon and Earth Story, so prisoners could transfer them to computer and
also add “meta-data” – typed detailed descriptions of the footage to help
producers search through it more easily. The British Library and National
Archives also provided material for the pilot project. In September last
year, five members of BBC staff visited the jail, where a production workshop
had been built, and were reported to be “pleased” with what they saw of the
prisoners’ work and enthusiasm. However David Crocker, the driving force
behind the scheme at Serco, admitted: “The major concern was around the
potential negative newspaper headlines that the BBC may attract.” The company
did discuss the scheme with one newspaper and one trade magazine but made no
reference to the BBC’s involvement. In November, Mr Crocker told the BBC: “I
can’t thank you enough for finding a project for us to kick-start Artemis.”
He said his staff were drawing up “terms of reference” and would then “cost
the project” of a full-scale digitisation of the BBC’s archive. However no
deals have yet been signed. The BBC said: “The BBC did hold discussions with
Serco about their planned project to digitise archives. As part of this the
BBC, alongside other organisations, provided some material for Serco to use
as part of its feasibility study for the project. “No payment was made to
Serco as part of this, nor was any guarantee or promise of work entered into.
“The BBC has no plans to work with Serco to digitise its programme archive
and has not come to any agreements nor signed any contracts with any firms
about utilising the prison workforce on any project.”
Bicester Detention Center
Oxford, UK
Group 4
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
Group 4
May
13, 2019 theguardian.com
Private jails more violent than public
ones, data analysis shows
HMP Birmingham. G4S was stripped of its contract to run the jail last
month. Private prisons are more violent than public jails, according to data
analysis that raises questions over the government’s plans to pursue its
prisons-for-profit model. In the year to September 2018, there were 156 more
assaults per 1,000 prisoners in private adult prisons in England and Wales
than in their publicly run counterparts. The total number of assaults in
prisons for the year to September 2018 and the average number of prisoners
within each establishment for the same period were provided to the shadow
justice secretary, Richard Burgon, after two parliamentary questions. In 96
publicly run adult jails, there was an average population of 64,905, with
21,420 assaults – or 330 per 1,000 prisoners. But in 14 privately managed
adult prisons, there was an average of 15,930 prisoners and 7,737 assaults –
or 486 per 1,000 prisoners. Despite this, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) plans
to build more prisons for private operation. Two announced sites – HMP Glen
Parva in Leicestershire and HMP Wellingborough in Northamptonshire – are to
be privately run. Work on Wellingborough, which will hold nearly 1,700
inmates, is scheduled to start next month. Further analysis shows that
despite comprising just 14 of the 110 adult prisons, private jails are
disproportionately represented among the most violent prisons. Labour is
calling for an independent inquiry into the privatisation of prisons. Burgon
said: “These figures will further fuel fears that privatisation is leading to
corners being cut as private companies treat our prisons system as a
money-making exercise. “The fiasco with G4S at Birmingham prison should have
been the final nail in the coffin for private prisons. Yet the Tories are set
to carry on regardless, with even more private prisons in the pipeline. “The
government should now halt those plans and establish an independent inquiry
into the dangerous threat posed by privatisation in our prisons system.
“Labour has made it clear that in office, we will scrap privately run
prisons. The Tories should follow Labour’s lead and drop its ideological
obsession with privatisation.” Private sector involvement in the running of
jails is controversial. Last month, the government permanently stripped G4s
of its contract to run HMP Birmingham, after an inspectorate found the jail
to be violent and drug-ridden. However, given Birmingham was still privately
run in the period covered by the data, it is included as a private jail for
the purposes of the following analysis. Three of the 10 most violent adult
jails in the period – or 30% – were privately run. They were Birmingham,
Doncaster and Peterborough. Looking deeper at the data, further evidence that
private prisons are more violent emerges. Local jails house prisoners that
are taken directly from nearby courts, either after sentencing or when on
remand. They are also the most violent, with the greatest number of assaults.
The number of assaults in these prisons in the year to September 2018 was
15,644 – 48% of the total. Within the 14 private prisons, five are male-only
local jails. The private male local prisons had 701 assaults per 1,000
prisoners in the period, compared with 493 per 1,000 prisoners in the 28
publicly run male local prisons. Currently, G4S, Serco and Sodexo run private
prisons in England and Wales, all of which are in the running for the new
jails at Wellingborough and Glen Parva, according to a written answer by the
justice minister, Lucy Frazer. A
number of the private jails have received praise from the prisons
inspectorate, including G4S’s HMP Oakwood, which was described as an “impressive
institution” with “courageous leadership”. John Whitwam, the managing
director of G4S custodial and detention services, said: “G4S has invested
heavily in innovative initiatives to reduce violence in our prisons, such as
peer-led mentoring, family interventions and personalised management plans
for men with complex needs, which are widely praised by independent
inspectors. “HMP Oakwood and HMP Altcourse remain two of the top-performing
prisons in the UK, and we are committed to working with the Ministry of
Justice and other relevant bodies to continue this good work.” Wyn Jones,
Serco’s custodial operations director, said: “Serco runs prisons for the
Ministry of Justice that hold prisoners convicted of serious offences, and to
compare these with the public sector, which includes many lower security and
open prisons, is neither fair, balanced, nor valid as it does not compare
like for like. “We have invested in many technological and cultural
innovations over the last 20 years and our officers work extremely hard to
address violent behaviour in prisons, which is a problem across the country.”
A spokesperson for Sodexo said: “Violence is a well-documented issue across
all prisons and Sodexo prisons are not immune to this. Great care must be
taken when interpreting comparative data – Sodexo run some of the largest,
busiest and most complex prisons in the country, with challenging
populations. “We successfully deliver a full regime at all our prisons, which
provides extensive opportunities for interaction between prisoners and staff,
which is in accordance with our contractual obligations. We constantly review
our activities to respond to the frequently changing factors which drive
violence.” An MoJ spokesperson said: “Tackling violence is a challenge not
just in privately run prisons, but across the entire prison estate, and we
are working together to find solutions. “The Ministry of Justice is spending
an extra £70m to improve safety and security, and has recruited over 4,700
more prison officers since late 2016, when the government announced an annual
increase of £100m in the prisons budget.”
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.
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.
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.”
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.”
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 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.
Bronzefield
Women's Prison
Ashford, West London
Kalyx (Sodexho)
Oct
5, 2019 thetimes.co.uk
Baby dies after mother gives birth alone in cell
Police
are investigating the death of a baby after an inmate gave birth alone in her
prison cell. Staff at HMP Bronzefield
who went to the woman’s cell on Friday morning last week found that the child
was dead. Surrey police were investigating the death, which it said was being
treated as unexplained. South East Coast Ambulance Service confirmed that it
had received a call from the prison, which is privately run by Sodexo Justice
Services, at 8.30am and that one ambulance attended. Police were called
shortly afterwards. Vicky Robinson, prison director, said that a review was
under way and the prison was working with the authorities on the
investigation. “We are supporting the mother through this distressing time,”
she said.
Dec 14, 2018 getsurrey.co.uk
Calls for help went ignored as
Bronzefield prisoner suffered cardiac arrest in cell, inquest rules
An inmate's calls for help
were ignored as she suffered a cardiac arrest in her prison cell at HMP
Bronzefield, an inquest has ruled. Natasha Chin, 39, was found unresponsive
in her cell in July 2016, less than 36 hours after entering the Sodexo-run
prison in Ashford. Following an inquest at Woking Coroner's Court, which
concluded in December, a jury found that neglect and systemic failures by
prison and healthcare providers contributed to her death. Particularly, they
found that the prison's healthcare staff failed to monitor her adequately or
ensure she had essential mediciation. The medical cause of death was given as
cardiac arrest and was related to the effects of vomiting, alongside chronic
alcohol and drug dependence. Ms Chin, an Islington woman with a history of
poor health, told prison staff that she felt unwell upon arrival at HMP
Bronzefield. She was subsequently placed in the prison’s specialist drug and
alcohol wing. On the morning of her death, Ms Chin's condition deteriorated
and she began to vomit profusely for several hours. However, she did not
collect the essential medication that was prescribed to her. Healthcare staff
at the prison failed to follow up to understand why she had not collected her
medication, and did not ensure that she got it. HMP Bronzefield is operated
by Sodexo and is the only purpose-built private prison solely for women in
the UK (Image: TMS) They also failed to respond to a prison officer’s
requests to attend her cell or monitor her vomiting. The inquest heard that
Ms Chin rung her cell bell in an attempt to call for help but received no
response as staff were unaware that the cell bells were faulty. Experts told
the inquest that if Ms Chin's condition had been properly monitored and
responded to, her vomiting would have been less severe. The jury heard that
if she continued to vomit after receiving medication, she would have then
been transferred to hospital and it is likely that she would have survived.
After hearing three weeks of evidence, the jury concluded that her death was
caused “by a systemic failure through poor governance which led to a lack of
basic care” and that the death was “contributed to by neglect”. Marsha Chin
said she was shocked to learn that her sister's death could have been
avoided. “On behalf of Natasha’s family I would like to thank the coroner and
the jury for their thorough and careful consideration of all the evidence
surrounding Natasha’s death and her treatment in HMP Bronzefield," she
said in a statement. "As a family we have been shocked to learn of the
inadequacies of the care provided to her and the fact that prison staff and
management could have prevented her untimely death. "We can only hope
that changes are now made to try to ensure no other family has to lose a
loved one in such circumstances.” Deborah Coles, the director of charity
Inquest, has called for Sodexo to take urgent action to prevent further
deaths in women's prisons. Since Ms Chin's death in 2016, there have been
three further deaths of women found unresponsive in cells at HMP Bronzefield,
which is the only purpose-built private women's prison in the UK. “Sodexo and
the Ministry of Justice must be held to account for their failure to act upon
repeated warnings about unsafe healthcare practices in Bronzefield," Ms
Coles said. "Natasha’s death was a result of this indifference and
neglect. It is shameful that women continue to die such needless deaths in
prison. "Despite this they failed to provide Natasha with even a basic
duty of care. "Urgent action is needed to dismantle failing women’s
prisons and invest this money, not in private companies but in specialist
women’s services to support women in the community.“
Jul
22, 2016 rawstory.com
Private prison inmate dies of an overdose after calling for help for two
hours
An inmate at a private prison in England died after apparently overdosing
on prescription drugs after trying to alert prison authorities for more than
two hours. On Friday, The Guardian
reported that Natasha Chin, a 41-year-old inmate at the Bronzefield female
prison in Surrey, England, was found dead in her cell earlier this week after
prison staff said she had been ringing her alarm bell for two and a half
hours. Prison staff at Bronzefield, which is run by the multinational food
corporation Sodexo attempted CPR, but pronounced Chin dead at 10:40 p.m.
Tuesday. The Guardian notes that Chin
was recovering from surgery, and was taking the prescription medication to
help her recuperate. The inmate was apparently released from prison in April,
but was apparently recalled to Bronzefield three days before her death. There
has been a recent increase in the amount of self-harm incidents involving
female prisoners in the UK, The Guardian wrote: In 2014-15 there were 191
incidents of self-harm per 100 female prisoners, and 30% of women
self-harmed, compared to 10% of men in prison, according to official figures
(pdf). In all there were 7,415 incidents of self-harm by women in prison, an increase
of 11% on the previous year. According to figures from the the UK’s Ministry
of Justice, Bronzefield is the most expensive private female prison in
England and Wales, with the with the ministry paying Sodexo £64,445 [$84,433]
per inmate per year. Deborah Coles, the co-director of the UK-based charity
Inquest, which provides support to the loved ones of prisoners who die in
custody, told The Guardian that “Bronzefield is a private prison, being paid
vast amounts of public money.” She said that the new head of the Ministry of
Justice should visit Bronzefield “and ask questions as to why they are
seemingly incapable of keeping women safe.” According to the Center for Media
and Democracy’s public interest wiki SoureWatch, Sodexo — a multinational
food corporation with headquarters in France — had invested in the private
prison company Corrections Corporations of America from 1994 to 2001, but cut
its ties to the US private prison industry after facing public outcry from
numerous university campuses. SourceWatch notes, however, that Sodexo is
still heavily invested in the private prison industry in Europe. But private
prisons are still a booming industry in the US, having profited off of mass
incarceration rates due to the Drug War, as Raw Story reported in April. The
demonization of marijuana by the Reagan administration led to overcrowding in
state and federal prisons. Between 1980 and 2011, the state and federal
prison population increased from 316,000 to 1.5 million, with another 700,000
in locally run jails. That’s when the largest private prison companies known
as CCA and GEO Group realized there was big money to be made by signing
contracts with states that simply didn’t have the resources to imprison the
influx of non-violent drug offenders. America’s cultural disease of
criminalizing rather than rehabilitating its citizens deepened. Raw Story
noted that private prisons are often funded by taxpayers at the state level,
which allows for their parent companies to become enormously wealthy. Just
last year, the CCA raked in $1.79 in revenue. The controversy surrounding the
private prison industry has even made it into the US general election cycle.
Raw Story reported that in March, Donald Trump, now the GOP’s presidential
nominee, said that the prison system can best be reformed through
privatization. “I do think we can do a lot of privatizations, and private
prisons it seems to work a lot better,” Trump said. The Intercept also wrote
that Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, reportedly cut ties
to private prison lobbyists after activist groups criticized her about
accepting donations from the industry. But as The Intercept noted in June,
Damon Hininger, the CEO of Corrections Corporations of America, told an
investor forum that month that his business will profit regardless of who is
in the White House. “I would say that being around 30 years and being in
operation in many, many states, and also doing work with the federal
government going back to the 1980s, where you had Clinton White House, you
had a Bush White House, you had Obama White House, we’ve done very, very
well,” he said.
September 22, 2009 The Sun
STAFF at a jail blasted for lax security were sent on a training day to learn
how to lock cells and gates. Bronzefield, Britain's largest private female
prison, was fined an estimated £250,000 in the last two years for more than
100 security breaches. The latest saw blueprints for an extension at the
Category A jail in Ashford, Middlesex, floating in the wind after a bin bag
burst. The crisis got so bad, employees were sent on a training course in the
nick - as some of the 465 cons chanted: "You don't know what you're
doing." Internal documents seen by The Sun revealed blunders, including
leaving cells and gates unlocked and escorting the wrong prisoner to court.
Prison director Helga Swidenbank called the level of security breaches
"unacceptably high" in one memo to staff. In another, deputy
director Charlotte Pattison-Rideout told officers: "Failing to secure
gates and doors increases the possibility of staff assaults, hostage
incidents and escapes." Shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve said:
"It is an utter shambles." Kalyx, which runs Bronzefield, said:
"We have strict procedures and training in place to ensure security
measures are followed."
March 6, 2009 Staines News
The 'underhand' expansion of Bronzefield prison in Ashford has angered
neighbours who say they were promised it would never grow any bigger. Cranes
are towering over the women's jail in Woodthorpe Road and prefabricated cells
are being brought in daily as a new block is built to house 77 extra inmates.
But residents who live close to the high-security prison - which has been
home to serial killer Rose West - claim they were told it would never house
more than the 450 prisoners it was built for in 2004. John Hitchins, of
Woodthorpe Road, said: "All we need is another 70-odd Rose Wests across
the road. It was bad enough when they built it in the first place but to be
fed this rubbish that they weren't going to make it any bigger and then see
the prefabricated cells carted past my front door is just a joke. They have
been so sneaky and underhanded." The two-storey block is being built
within the existing perimeter wall, along with a new all weather sports
pitch. Permission for the development was granted in 2007 but residents say
they have no recollection of being told about the proposals. Penny Vincent,
who has lived opposite the prison for more than 15 years, said: "I don't
remember hearing anything about it. It wasn't advertised in the newspapers
and I think we should have had some sort of notification. "I am sure
it's growing faster than ever anticipated. It's not an expansion of their
land but it's still far bigger then they ever said it would be." A
spokesman for Kalyx, the private company that runs Bronzefield, said:
"Additional prisoner accommodation is being built at HMP Bronzefield
which will be within the current prison boundaries.
March 2, 2006 The Sun
A LIVE bullet has been found in the jail holding House of Horrors killer Rose
West. It was the second security scare at all-women Bronzefield Prison in
Ashford, West London, which earlier freed a jailbird by mistake. The jail was
locked down for eight hours after the bullet discovery and all 450 prisoners
were confined to their cells. Explosives experts and sniffer dogs helped to
scour the £200million private prison from top to bottom, but nothing more was
found.
February 27, 2006 The Sun
THE private jail holding serial killer Rose West freed a prisoner by
mistake, it was revealed yesterday. The woman, who was facing drugs charges,
was on the loose for four days after the blunder. Livid Home Office chiefs
have ordered a major probe into the first “escape” from state-of-the-art
Bronzefield women’s prison in Ashford, West London. The £200million jail run
by UKDS opened two years ago. West, 52, moved there from Durham jail last
year. She is locked up forever for the Gloucestershire murders of ten girls,
including her daughter Heather, 16. The freed lag was released after being
told to gather her belongings. A source yesterday said: “This is the first
time a con has escaped from Bronzefield and it was all the prison’s fault.
“It wasn’t a case of mistaken identity. It was either rank incompetence or a
paperwork error. “It would be catastrophic if Rose West was released by
mistake. “She has changed her appearance dramatically by shedding three stone
and ditching her thick specs for contact lenses.” The freed 40-year-old lag,
being held on remand, was returned to Bronzefield earlier this month. UKDS
last night declined to comment.
Brook House
Sussex, UK
Group 4
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.”
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.
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.
Brixton Prison
Securicor
June 11, 2003
Companies like Securicor and Group 4 were first awarded contracts to carry
prisoners between jails and courts 10 years ago. Since then, several of
their charges have escaped either from courts or from vans en route.
(BBC News)
June 10,
2003
Three prisoners are on the run after escaping from a security van during an
armed hijack in south London. Armed men reportedly disguised as postmen
stopped the Securicor van, shooting the driver in the knee and hitting a
guard with a gun. A Prison Service spokesman said: "The driver was
threatened by a man with a shotgun who proceeded to shoot the driver in the
knee through the door of the van. "The other security staff on
board, the passenger, was pistol-whipped. (BBC News)
HMP Bronzefield,
Ashford
Sodexo
Jun 26, 2018 ekklesia.co.uk
Inquest into woman's death in HMP Bronzefield to reopen
The inquest into the death of Natasha Chin will reopen on Wednesday 27
June 2018, after being adjourned unexpectedly last month. Natasha Chin is
described by her family as a lovely person who loved making people laugh. She
was 39 years old when she was found unresponsive in her cell in Sodexo run
HMP Bronzefield, on 19 July 2016. Natasha had been recalled to prison for
missing probation appointments and not residing in the accommodation approved
by probation. She had alcohol and drug dependencies, a history of depression
and poor physical health including asthma and epileptic fits. She had been in
prison for only 36 hours before she died.
Natasha, a black woman from Islington, became unwell after entering
the prison and was noted as suffering from withdrawal. The next day her
condition deteriorated. She was vomiting excessively and was reported to be
perspiring, out of breath and unsteady on her feet. She rang her cell bell
during the evening but this went unanswered due, it would seem, to a problem
with the cell bell system. This problem appears to have been known by some,
but not all staff. It was not known to the night time officer in charge of
Natasha’s wing that night. Around three and a half hours after she rang her
cell bell, a prison officer and a nurse who entered her cell to deliver her
medication found her unresponsive and she could not be saved. Natasha’s
family hope the inquest will address the following issues: The extent to
which the prison’s response to her withdrawal symptoms and ill health
contributed to her death. Marsha Chin, Natasha’s sister said: “I hope the
inquest will thoroughly examine the circumstances of Natasha's death to help
us as a family understand why she died, and whether anything could have been
done to prevent her death.” Deborah Coles, Executive Director of INQUEST
said: “The vulnerability of women in prison is well documented and they are
owed a duty of care. There have been previous concerns raised by coroners and
investigation bodies around the treatment of drug dependency in this private
prison. This inquest must offer proper scrutiny into the circumstances
surrounding Natasha’s death and how she came to die within 36 hours of
entering the prison". Natasha was one of nine women to die at HMP
Bronzefield since 2010. One of these deaths has been classified as
self-inflicted, six as non self-inflicted and two awaiting classification.
Following the death of Sarah Higgins at Bronzefield in 2010, the Prisons and
Probation Ombudsman’s investigation concluded that prisoners undergoing
methadone maintenance programmes should be checked regularly if they report
as unwell. This year marks the 10-year anniversary of the death of Pauline
Campbell, a campaigner who fought to prevent the imprisonment of vulnerable
women and to hold the state to account for preventable deaths. Her work was
pivotal in the setting up of the Corston review after her daughter was one of
the six women to die in Styal prison. On 1 May, INQUEST launched a new
report, Still Dying on the Inside, which calls for urgent action to save the
lives of women in prison. It highlights the lack of action from successive
governments to prevent deaths and puts forward a series of recommendations to
close women’s prisons by redirecting resources from criminal justice to
community-based services.
Castle Crown Court
Global Solutions Limited
August 5, 2004
A WORKINGTON man who admitted a series of sex offences against a teenage girl
slashed his forearm moments later in the cells at Carlisle Crown Court, it
has emerged. But just minutes after the judge presiding over the case
warned the 35-year-old that a prison sentence was inevitable, Carruthers used
a prison razor blade to cut his arm. (News and Star)
Campsfield Immigration Removal Centre
Oxford, England
GEO Group (formerly run by Group 4, Global Solutions)
Feb
6, 2015 OurKingdom
New report from HM Inspectorate of Prisons on Campsfield House, run by
outsourcer Mitie, reveals:
•
16 year old detained ‘by mistake’
•
Torture victims held in defiance of Home Office rules
•
Dirty, overcrowded accommodation
Still
from Standoff Films: Campsfield House: An Immigration Removal Centre' When prisons inspectors paid a surprise
visit to Campsfield House immigration lock-up last August they found asylum
seekers living in dirty, overcrowded conditions and torture survivors locked
up in violation of Home Office rules. And they discovered that a child had
been wrongfully imprisoned for 62 days.
Still,
their report on Campsfield, which is run by the outsourcer Mitie, concludes
that “overall this was a very positive inspection”, giving some indication of
the standards expected of the Home Office’s commercial contractors. In their
report, published this week, the inspectors noted that three children were
held at Campsfield between 2012 and 2013 in contravention of government
policy. One boy was assessed by social services as being an adult and held
for 62 days. He was released only after he obtained legal representation and
his solicitor threatened the social services department with a judicial
review. Social workers then made a second assessment and concluded that the
boy was 16 years old. The inspectors said that he “was held by mistake and
should never have been detained”. They said Mitie’s policy on safeguarding
children was “up to date and comprehensive”, but there was no named member of
staff who took the lead on safeguarding children. Mitie told the inspectors
that some staff had “taken an e-learning package” in child safeguarding, but
the company was “unable to provide exact figures”. The inspectors noted: “A
member of staff was to attend training with Oxfordshire’s local safeguarding
children board after our inspection.” Overcrowding was a problem. “Too many
detainees lived in cramped conditions, with four sharing accommodation
designed for two,” the inspectors wrote. What’s more: “The dining area was
not big enough for the number of detainees using it and hygiene in the
kitchen required improvement … The laundry was not big enough for the population.
During our inspection two washing machines did not work and detainees said
this was a regular occurrence.” Ironically, given that Mitie is best known as
a cleaning company, the report recommended: “Toilets and showers in all
residential units should be deep cleaned … some toilets and showers were very
dirty and needed maintenance ... bed linen was in poor condition and we saw
soiled pillows and mattresses.” Perhaps these problems arose in part from the
fact that Mitie is paying the detainees just £1 per hour to do these jobs.
The inspectors found 24 detainees worked in the dirty kitchen, and in total
“Seventy-four job roles, totalling 1265 hours of paid work per week, were
offered ... Opportunities included cleaning, kitchen and laundry work”. The inspectors
found that asylum-seekers who had suffered torture were being locked up at
Campsfield, in defiance of Home Office rules. Rule 35 of the Detention Centre
Rules (a statutory instrument) requires doctors working in detention centres
to inform the detaining authority of persons who may have been victims of
torture. On receipt of such evidence (in what’s known as a Rule 35 report),
the responsible official is required to consider this information and release
the person. But at Campsfield the screening process “failed adequately to
safeguard the most vulnerable detainees, including those who had been
tortured.” The inspectors found that doctors’ reports were incomplete, and
“did not provide adequate clinical judgements to inform caseworkers’
decisions”. “In two separate cases, a
doctor stated that a detainee might have been the victim of torture but
caseworkers maintained they should remain in detention stating that this
would not impact on the detainee’s health; the impact on their health was
irrelevant as Home Office policy is not to detain torture survivors. In
another case, a caseworker maintained that a person should remain in
detention because he ‘did not mention being tortured during your screening
interview ….” Healthcare at Campsfield is provided by The Practice, a private
medical company that last year agreed a “significant financial settlement”
with the mother of Brian Dalrymple, an American tourist with mental health
problems who had claimed asylum after landing in Britain. An inquest jury found
that “medical neglect” had contributed to his death. The inspectors found
evidence of short-staffing at Campsfield: “Only one member of staff was
available at night which was not compliant with current healthcare
guidelines”, said the inspectors. And some staff cut corners. “Nurses had
labelled items supplied from stock inadequately, which could have posed a
risk to patients,” the inspectors said. “A nurse was observed giving a
detainee a dose of ibuprofen without referring to his notes for contraindications,
which was potentially unsafe.” None of the Mitie custody staff had been
trained to use the defibrillator, a life-saving piece of equipment if
detainees have heart attacks, which happens from time to time on the
‘detention estate’. The inspectors reported that legal support for detainees
in Campsfield was insufficient: “Too many detainees who required an
immigration lawyer did not have one.” The half-hour legal aid sessions were
“oversubscribed”, and there was not enough advice about bail. Perhaps inevitably
then, inspectors found: “Some detainees were detained for unreasonable
periods of time. Home Office caseworkers sometimes failed to act with
reasonable diligence and expedition.” It took the Home Office more than seven
months before they even interviewed one detainee about his asylum claim. One
undocumented Iranian man had been held for almost ten months, although the
Home Office had no clear plans to obtain the paperwork needed to deport him
to Tehran. The inspectors concluded: “There was little prospect of this case
being resolved within a reasonable period and ongoing detention therefore
appeared illegitimate.” For all that, Nick Hardwick, the chief inspector,
concluded: “Overall, this was a very positive inspection. Staff and managers
at Campsfield House should be congratulated in dealing professionally and
sensitively with detainees who were going through what, for many, was a
difficult and unhappy time.” Among problems the report neglects to mention
are the fire at Campsfield in October 2013 that spread thanks to an absence
of sprinklers causing 180 people to be evacuated. The mass hunger-strikes by
detainees, most recently in May 2014, just months before the inspection, are
also absent. The inspectors did not attribute blame to Mitie, focusing instead
on reforms needed at the national level by the Home Office.
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”.
October 5, 2011 Oxford Mail
EFFORTS to improve conditions for detainees at Campsfield House
immigration removal centre have stalled, according to inspectors. Chief
Inspector of Prisons Nick Hardwick said not enough had been done to deal with
problems – particularly in healthcare and education – raised by his
predecessor Dame Anne Owers after an inspection of the UK Borders Agency
centre in Kidlington two years ago. His officials made an unannounced
three-day inspection in May, shortly before operation of the centre – which
houses about 200 people – passed from Geo Group to Mitie on May 30. The
inspectors praised the way newly-arrived detainees were supported, said
detainees felt safe and there was little bullying or use of force, noted
relationships between staff and detainees were satisfactory, work placement
arrangements had improved and access to phones and email was good. But they
said there were “significant weaknesses in healthcare services”, education
provision had not improved, decisions to place detainees in the separation
unit were not always properly authorised and better interpreting services
were needed, along with more notices in foreign languages.
August 5, 2011 The Guardian
Separate investigations into three deaths in immigration removal centres
(IRC) in the past month have been launched by the police, amid growing
concern about the treatment of detainees. The spate of deaths has caused
alarm among critics of the government's detention policy, who warn that the
system is at "breaking point" with poor healthcare putting people's
lives at risk. Two men died from suspected heart attacks at Colnbrook near
Heathrow airport and the third killed himself at the Campsfield House
detention centre in Oxfordshire on Tuesday. John McDonnell, Labour MP for
Hayes and Harlington, who has two detention centres including Colnbrook in
his constituency, said he feared there would be more deaths as the system
struggled to cope with the number of people being detained. "The
government is now detaining people on such a scale that the existing services
are swamped," he said. "It is inevitable if we put the services
under such relentless strain that there will be more deaths as a result … we
are dealing with people who are extremely stressed and extremely vulnerable
and the services are not able to cope and not able to guarantee their
safety." The first man who died was Muhammad Shukat, 47, a Pakistani
immigration detainee who collapsed at around 6am on 2 July. His roommate
Abdul Khan says that in the hours before he died Shukat was groaning in
agony, had very bad chest pains and was sweating profusely. Khan, 19, from
Afghanistan, said he began raising the alarm around 6am and pressed the
emergency button in the room 10 times in a frantic effort to get help. Khan
claimed that on three occasions members of the centre's nursing team entered
the room and found Shukat on the floor where he had collapsed. Khan said they
put him back into bed, took his temperature and some medicine was
administered, but did not call emergency assistance immediately. According to
Khan, the nurses initially said that Shukat could go to see the centre's
doctor at 8am. According to the London Ambulance Service, Colnbrook staff
called an ambulance just before 7.20am. Attempts were made to resuscitate
Shukat, but he was pronounced dead on arrival at Hillingdon Hospital. A
postmortem found the provisional cause of death to be coronary heart disease.
Shukat's body has been returned to Pakistan and his family are understood to
have no concerns about the medical treatment he received. The second man to
die at Colnbrook has not yet been named. According to the Metropolitan police
he was 35 and was found dead in his cell at 10.30am last Sunday. London
Ambulance Service officials pronounced him dead at the scene. "A postmortem
held on 1 August found the cause of death to be a ruptured aorta. The death
is being treated as unexplained," said a police spokesman. Colnbrook IRC
is managed by Serco. In a statement to detainees about Shukat's death, deputy
director at Colnbrook, Jenni Halliday, described her "deep regret"
and extended her condolences. In a statement to detainees about the second
Colnbrook death, Serco's contract manager, Michael Guy, informed detainees
that a resident in the short-term holding facility had died and that the
death was thought to be from natural causes. On Tuesday, a 35-year-old man
hanged himself in the toilet block at Campsfield House detention centre in
Oxfordshire. A fellow detainee, who refused to give his name, said the man
had been hours away from being deported and had become very anxious. "He
was normally a very quiet person … but the pressure is too much for people in
here." It is understood the man had only been at the centre for a few
days before he died. The Home Office refused to give any more details saying
his extended family had yet to be informed. Emma Ginn, from the campaign
group Medical Justice, said the deaths had heightened concern about the poor
healthcare on offer to those being kept in UK detention centres. "Based
on medical evidence from many hundreds of detainees, Medical Justice has
documented the disturbingly inadequate healthcare provision that often
vulnerable immigration detainees are subjected to in Colnbrook and other
immigration removal centres... [this] combined with the perilous and
frightening conditions of detention, is a lethal cocktail, a disaster waiting
to happen." The UK Border Agency declined to comment on the specific
circumstances of each case. It said the police and the Prisons and Probation
Ombudsman always investigated deaths in immigration detention centres and it
would be inappropriate to comment until these were complete. David Wood,
director of criminality and detention at the UK Border Agency, said all
detainees at immigration removal centres have access to health services seven
days a week. "All detainees are seen by a nurse within two hours of
arrival and are given an opportunity to see a GP within 24 hours," he
added. "The health of all detainees is monitored closely, and the
healthcare professionals are required to report cases where it is considered
that a person's health is being affected by continued detention. "The UK
takes its responsibilities seriously, which is why we consider every case on
its individual merits and will continue to offer protection to those who need
it. However, detention is an essential part of our controls on immigration in
the UK." A groundbreaking ruling -- A man with severe mental illness was
unlawfully locked up in a UK detention centre for five months and subjected
to inhuman or degrading treatment, according to a high court ruling. The man,
a 34-year-old Indian national, was detained in Harmondsworth immigration
removal centre between April and September last year. On Friday a judge ruled
that his treatment amounted to a breach of article 3 of the European
convention human rights. The man's lawyer said the ruling – thought to be the
first of its kind – raised wider questions about how the government treats
people with mental illnesses in the immigration and detention system. "The
court's decision that my client suffered inhuman or degrading treatment at a
UK detention facility sends a very loud and clear message to the
authorities," said. "We would urge the minister to conduct a
fundamental review into how people suffering from mental illness are treated
in the immigration detention estate." The man, referred to as
"S" in the ruling, had a history of serious ill treatment and abuse
before arriving in the UK. He served time in prison for wounding and assault
before being transferred to a secure psychiatric hospital until his discharge
in April 2010. Following his release the UK Border Agency said there was
"no evidence" he was mentally ill and he was detained in
Harmondsworth where his health deteriorated and he began to have psychotic
episodes and self harm. The high court intervened and he was released on
bail. His lawyers said he had been living with his family since then and had
fully complied with the conditions of bail set by the court. In the ruling
judge David Elvin said: "S's pre-existing mental condition was both
triggered and exacerbated by detention and that involved both a debasement
and humiliation of S since it showed a serious lack of respect for his human
dignity. It created a state in S's mind of real anguish and fear, through his
hallucinations, which led him to self-harm frequently and to behave in a
manner which was humiliating…" A UK Border Agency spokesperson said:
"We regularly review our detention policies and will look at the
findings in this case to ensure lessons are learned. Detention is an
essential part of our immigration control but we recognise the importance of
ensuring it remains appropriate on a case by case basis."
August 3, 2011 BBC
A man has died whilst being held at the Campsfield House Immigration Removal
Centre in Oxfordshire. The BBC received a call from a fellow detainee
claiming an Asian man had hanged himself in the showers on 2 August. A
spokesperson from the UK Border Agency confirmed a man had died at the
privately run centre and was in the process of contacting his family. The
Police and Prisons and Probation Ombudsman are investigating the death.
August 3, 2010 Daily Mail Reporter
More than 100 men being held at an immigration centre are on hunger strike
today. The detainees last night refused their evening meal at the Campsfield
House immigration removal centre in Kidlington, Oxfordshire. Officials at the
UK Border Agency confirmed they were 'monitoring' the situation. Jonathan
Sedgwick, UKBA deputy chief executive, said: 'We can confirm 108 detainees
have refused prepared meals from staff yesterday evening. 'However they still
have access to food from the on-site shop and vending machines. 'Staff are
monitoring the situation closely and listening to the detainees' concerns.
'All detainees have access to legal representation and 24-hour medical care.'
Earlier this year a report by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers found
that the average lengths of stay for detainees at Campsfield appeared to be
increasing. It also found that some detainees were effectively being held
indefinitely because there was little prospect of removal, while education
provision was poor, particularly for the significant numbers of long-stay
detainees and those with little English. Campsfield is 'a long-term centre
where detainees are accommodated, pending their case resolutions and
subsequent removal from the United Kingdom.' The site has 216 beds for male
detainees and is run by contractor The GEO Group Ltd.
March 10, 2010 BBC
Some detainees held at Campsfield House immigration centre in Oxfordshire
are being detained for "excessive periods", according to an
inspector's report. Dame Anne Owers, HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (HMCIP),
said the centre near Kidlington was making progress. But the inspector
expressed concern that average lengths of stay appeared to be increasing and
a lack of data obscured the scale of the problem. The UK Borders Agency
(UKBA) said it reviewed detention frequently. Campsfield House, run by GEO
Group Ltd, has had an unsettled recent history, with a number of high-profile
incidents and escapes.
May 18, 2009 Oxford Mail
DISTURBANCES at Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre could be
reduced if detainees were given more to do, an independent body has claimed.
Campsfield’s Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) has just published its 2008
annual report on the controversial Kidlington centre, which has a history of
escape attempts and violent incidents. IMB chairman Lieutenant Colonel
Freddie Cantrell said: “We believe that activities and education should be
increased to fully occupy the detainees. “There is nothing worse than boredom
with a detainee who really doesn’t know what his future is going to be. “This
can cause stress, and stress can lead to trouble and disturbances.” Lt Col Cantrell
— one of 10 IMB volunteers who check on treatment of inmates at the centre —
said detainees currently had 30 hours of formal education a week, including
lessons in English, art and computing, which was insufficient.] He
recommended the UK Border Agency review its contract for education provision
at the centre, which holds up to 216 detainees. The 61-page report also shed
new light on two major incidents which occured within days of each other in
June last year. On June 16, friends of a Jamaican man who was due to be
deported started fires in an education block, detainees’ rooms and in a
fitness suite. The education block was destroyed and a shop was looted. Three
days later, seven detainees escaped through a ground-floor window. Three of
those who went on the run are still at large. Referring to the escape, Lt Col
Cantrell said: “Of course it shouldn’t happen. “It means there is a weakness
in the security. Of course that has been rectified.” But he added: I don’t
think any establishment in the world is completely secure.” Other findings
included a plan to put televisions in each detainee’s room within months, and
the fact that paid work for inmates had doubled since the 2007 report was
published. The report said force was used by staff 34 times in 2008, up from
31 in 2007, but the occupancy was higher and as such there was a reduction in
the proportion of incidents where force was used. Handcuffs were used 11
times in 2008, the lowest level at the centre since 2005. The IMB also
recommended ensuring detainees’ property travelled with them when they were
transferred from police custody to the centre, and reviewing the way racial
complaints were investigated. A UK Border Agency spokesman said detainees had
access to a range of activities, and added the agency awaited recommendations
from a review of education provision. No-one at GEO Group UK Ltd, which runs
the centre, was available for comment.
December 3, 2008 Oxford Mail
Failed asylum seekers at Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre used
the Internet to access “inappropriate content” on the web, it has emerged. A
report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) revealed the centre’s
200 plus detainees were accessing the worldwide web for up to an hour a day,
but “despite controls, arrangements to block access to inappropriate content
were not always effective”. Last night, a spokesman for HMIP could not detail
the nature of the inappropriate content, and chief inspector of prisons Anne
Owers was unavailable for interview. However, Ms Owers released a statement
which read: “Email and Internet access is an important, and cheap, way for
detainees to keep in contact with the outside world and relatives overseas.
It is, however, important to ensure that access is controlled. “The point of
the comment in the report is that there was a system of visual and spot
checks at Campsfield, but the most effective way of ensuring that access is
consistently controlled, which we have observed in other centres, is either
to have a filtering system, or for staff to have a monitoring screen on which
they can see exactly what all detainees are accessing.” Detainees first began
surfing the web in December last year and there were plans to create an
Internet cafe, HMIP revealed. Inspectors compiled the report after an unannounced
four-day inspection of Campsfield House, near Kidlington, in May this year.
The centre had “returned to normal” following a series of “major
disturbances” in 2007, which included two riots and a breakout by 26
detainees, the report said. However, the inspection took place a month before
another outbreak of violence and the escape of seven more detainees, and
those incidents were not mentioned. Inspectors also found detainees were
given pay-as-you go mobile phones on arrival at the centre, which the Home
Office said were returned whenever a detainee was removed. The report found
there was little evidence of bullying. The report also showed that the
average length of detention had more than tripled, from 14 days in December
2006 to 46 days. Bill McKeith, of the Campaign to Close Campsfield, said:
“The overall flavour of the report is quite critical. The Government claim it
is a removal centre. A removal centre is a place where people are placed
briefly before they are removed — and 46 days is not a brief stay.” A
spokesman for the UK Border Agency would not be drawn on Mr McKeith’s claims,
and did not issue a reaction to the report. Nobody was available for comment
at GEO Group UK Ltd, which runs the centre. The inspectors also recommended
an investigation as to why there had been a 37 per cent turnover of custody
officers in 12 months. The report also gave a detailed breakdown of the
nationalities and ages of the 202 detainees.
August 14, 2008 BBC
Thirteen Iraqi Kurds began fasting on Saturday in protest against
deportation and reports an Iraqi man killed himself after being deported from
the UK. The Home Office said the situation was "under control" and
no-one had collapsed from lack of food. The BBC has learned about 46 people
refused their evening meal on Wednesday. Some of the hunger-strikers are also
protesting against conditions at the centre. Earlier, Algerian detainee and
Aston University student, Redouane Messaoudi, 32, told BBC News he would
starve for as long as it took. He said he came to the UK nearly 10 years ago
and is married to a British woman, and lives with her and two young children
in Birmingham. "I am at university, I've paid so much money, I have been
working so hard to manage my life between the family and studies," he
said. Dashty Jamal, general secretary of the International Federation of
Iraqi Refugees, said the detainees were "victims of war and
violence" in Iraq. "They are not a criminal, they are
civilians," he said. "They arrived in this country because they
didn't have any other choice." Campsfield House, which holds some 200
asylum seekers and foreign prisoners, has been the subject of a campaign to
close it. The Campaign to Close Campsfield group said other detainees joined
the strike in protest over conditions at the centre, where they said they
were being "treated like animals". The GEO Group, which runs the
site for the government, declined to comment.
June 19, 2008 Telegraph
Four detainees are on the run after escaping from a controversial
immigration centre that has been the scene of much unrest. Seven people
initially broke out of the facility although three were recaptured by police
shortly after the alarm was raised at 4 am. The break-out happened just five
days after a fire at the Campsfield immigration detention centre in
Oxfordshire. The blaze was in a communal room at the centre on Saturday
afternoon and around 20 detainees staged a rooftop protest. At the time,
detainees said tensions began simmering among Jamaican inmates at the 215-man
detention centre when staff brought dogs into their accommodation. In August
last year 26 detainees escaped from the centre in a mass break-out. A Thames
Valley police spokesman said that officers remained on the scene supporting
the Home Office in their efforts to bring the situation under control.
Superintendent Howard Stone said police were also working with the GEO Group
UK Ltd, which controls the privately run centre on behalf of the Immigration
and Nationality Directorate. "We are working with GEO as well as the UK
Border Agency to ensure everything is done to locate the missing detainees as
quickly as possible," he said. "However, I would ask that if
members of the public see anyone acting suspiciously and believes they may
have been involved in this incident to contact the police immediately."
GEO signed a three year contract with the Home Office to run the centre in
March 2006 with an option to extend it until 2011. A GEO spokesman said:
"Yes, it is correct there has been another outbreak at the detention
centre. We know who the escaped detainees are and the police are now working
to recapture them."
June 14, 2008 Daily Mail
A special prison service riot unit known as the Tornado Team was sent into a
controversial detention centre yesterday to quell a violent stand-off between
staff and illegal immigrants awaiting deportation. The 50 elite officers –
dressed in Robocop-style black boiler suits and helmets and carrying batons
and shields – marched into the Campsfield centre near Kidlington,
Oxfordshire, after an initial disturbance when several fires were started.
Crews from 15 fire engines tackled the blazes which caused thick black smoke
to billow from one of the detention buildings. The Tornado Team was supported
by about 50 police officers – some, equipped with riot gear and dogs, entered
the camp while others secured the perimeter as a police helicopter hovered
overhead. All the 200 inmates were herded into the camp’s exercise yard while
fire crews took two hours to put out the blazes and make the area safe. But
the detainees, all men, then refused to return to their buildings – creating
another stand-off. At one point the illegal immigrants could be heard
violently hammering on the 25ft high steel fence that surrounds the yard. A
senior prison officer said outside: ‘No one in there is going anywhere.’ The
Home Office said last night: ‘The UK Border Agency asked police for
assistance and officers have secured the perimeter, which has not been
breached. 'Specially trained prison officers known as a Tornado Team have
been sent to the site in riot gear.’ Last August, 26 detainees escaped from
Campsfield after a fire was started. But last night all the men were believed
to have been accounted for. Tornado Team members are picked from serving
prison officers and undergo four months of specialist training. Their boiler
suits are fire-resistant, as are their padded gloves and steel-capped
Army-style boots. Extra protection comes from plastic protectors on their
forearms and shins. Every officer carries an American-style PR-24 sidearms
baton. It can be used for defence, held along the forearm, or to attack by
using a protruding metal attachment which can be spun round in confined
spaces such as cells or corridors to keep assailants at bay. As an additional
precaution, squad members wear face protectors to stop flames spreading under
their protective suit. They use personal radios to contact their head at the
scene, who is known as Silver Commander. He in turn takes orders from a Gold
Commander, in charge of the overall operation and based at the Prison Service
headquarters in London. Campsfield has been dogged with controversy since it
was converted from a youth detention centre to handle illegal immigrants in
1993. Last year alone, there were two other disturbances not including the breakout.
It is run by the UK subsidiary of American company the GEO Group, which
signed a five-year contract in March, 2006. The Home Office said all the
detainees were being escorted back to their accommodation blocks by 7.30pm. A
spokesman added: ‘The situation has calmed down. There has been no resistance
from the detainees to going back to their rooms. The operation is being wound
down at the site.’ A GEO spokesman was unavailable for comment last night.
June 14, 2008 The Times
Inmate disturbances and fires broke out this afternoon at a troubled
immigrant detention centre that has previously suffered riots, blazes and
escapes. Two plumes of smoke rose from the centre in Kidlington, Oxfordshire.
The problems at Campsfield House detention centre, which holds more than 200
foreign criminals and illegal immigrants, have prompted calls for its
closure. Thames Valley police were called in this afternoon to help the
security teams at the privately-run centre. A police helicopter hovered above
the centre, and the riot squad was put on standby. More than a dozen fire
engines have been attending the fire, and one detainee is said to have been
hospitalised with smoke inhalation. There have been no other injuries
reported at this stage. Campsfield House is managed by the Reading-based GEO
Group UK Ltd, on behalf of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. It
has been beset with problems since it opened, and detainees rioted twice last
year. In March, fires were started and CCTV cameras smashed, after a detainee
was removed for deportation. Seven staff and two inmates were injured. A fire
in August allowed 26 inmates to escape - eight of them were still at large at
last report. All the escapees were foreign criminals, awaiting deportation.
In December, staff were forced to evacuate a block, again after a detainee
was removed. Other inmates wrongly believed that the man, Davis Osagie from
Benin in West Africa, had been murdered by prison officers. Authorities moved
128 inmates to other detention centres after December’s riot. David Pitman,
who lives down the street from Campsfield, said he saw smoke coming from the
detention centre and heard the inmates shouting. “This seems to happen more
and more often,” he said. “Last time there was trouble and the police hadn’t
arrived on the scene so I had to chase one of the escapees with a torch. “I
have a young daughter and I worry for her safety with these criminals running
around free. Something needs to be done about the security in there.” The
centre’s independent monitoring board criticised GEO for failing to prevent
the rioting, despite being warned after the first clash that the rioting
could happen again. An audit report this year, commissioned by the Border and
Immigration Agency, disclosed racism and tension in some of the country’s 10
immigration detention centres. It found that officers at several centres had
taunted detainees - describing them as “black bastards” in one case - and
found “turbulent” atmosphere in some units. At Campsfield, it said, there was
a “tense” environment atmosphere where staff were afraid of detainees. One
member of staff said: “If this was white British people in here we would be a
lot stricter, it is because they are black people that we are afraid.”
November 26, 2007 Oxford Mail
Detainees at an immigration detention centre near Oxford have warned the
atmosphere is on a knife-edge as campaigners marked its 14th anniversary.
While protesters rallied outside Campsfield House, detainees spoke of a tense
atmosphere and warned of a new riot. Speaking to the Oxford Mail from inside
the centre in Kidlington, detainee Michael Sinclair said: "People are
not getting any justice in here. They have been talking about a riot.
"People have been plotting. I am frightened because you never know what
will happen - it is very dangerous." Father-of-five Mr Sinclair, whose
mother lives in Blackbird Leys, came to Oxford from Jamaica in 1999. He met
his wife, who lives in East Oxford with three of his children, in 2003 but
was unsuccessful in securing a spouse's visa and returned to Jamaica to
re-apply. His visa was refused again, and desperate to see his wife and
children, he returned to Britain on a false passport but was caught and
jailed in March. The 41-year-old has been detained in Campsfield House since
October and is currently facing deportation. Fellow detainee Rohan Walker,
27, said: "People are not getting any justice." When asked if he
thought another riot was likely, he said: "People have been talking
about that. You never know when it could happen." Around 50
demonstrators from the Campaign to Close Campsfield staged a two hour protest
outside the centre on Saturday afternoon. The group chanted and listened to
speeches. Member Bob Hughes, 60, said the centre was on the verge of serious
unrest. The university lecturer, from St Clements, Oxford, said: "It is
continuously on the boil. As far as we know the conditions are
dreadful." Mr Hughes said the anniversary of the centre, which opened on
November 23, 1993, made the current situation particularly troubling. Neither
The GEO Group UK, which runs the centre, or the Home Office, were available
for comment.
August 7, 2007 The Times
Ministers were warned less than two weeks ago that an immigration centre from
which 14 men are on the run was unsuitable for holding them. They were also
told that the policy of putting foreign prisoners in immigration centres
“bursting at the seams” presented a high risk that could trigger disorder.
Fourteen foreign prisoners are on the run after fleeing from Campsfield House
immigration removal centre during the second outbreak of rioting on the
premises in five months. The convicted prisoners, who were among 26 who
escaped from the centre run by GEO Group UK, had served sentences in jails
but were being held in the centre near Oxford while awaiting deportation. It
emerged yesterday that officials from the Home Office had met detainees at
the centre last Wednesday and Friday to discuss their grievances, including
overcrowded and squalid conditions, a high rejection rate for bail applications
and delays in repatriating migrants who wish to go home. But at 10.30pm on
Saturday a fire broke out in a portable building at the centre where food is
prepared. The detainees took advantage of the disorder to break out of the
centre but 12 were recaptured soon afterwards, including a Bangladeshi who
approached the home of a prison officer and asked to be hidden. Explaining
that the search for the missing men has been scaled down, a Thames Valley
Police spokesman said: “We have not got large numbers of officers on the
ground searching for them any more. [But] we are still looking for them and
their identities have been circulated to all forces.” A report into the
earlier disturbance at the centre highlighted the risk that the Home Office
was running by placing prisoners in immigration centres, which have much
lower security than prisons. “The impact of foreign national prisoners is the
biggest external issue affecting Campsfield House. It is putting the centre
under great strain,” the report by Bob Whalley, a former Home Office senior
civil servant, said. At the end of May more than 50 per cent of the 198
detainees in the centre were foreign prisoners. The inquiry report cautioned:
“The fabric is not suitable for foreign national prisoners. It has none of the
strength of a prison, nor does it offer any flexibility for dealing with
difficult incidents or detainees.” Staff had complained of the large influx
of foreign prisoners, “many with serious criminal backgrounds and
‘streetwise’ in their experience of prison”, the report said. It added that
little was known about many foreign prisoners who arrived at immigration
centres. After serving time in jail many of the prisoners found the more
relaxed regime at Campsfield House disorientating. The report said that some
became manipulative or bullying. It cautioned: “Some will find the dual
pressure of further time in custody and uncertain date of release
frustrating, to the extent that, ‘with nothing to lose’, the temptation to
join in gratuitous disorder may prove too much. A concentration of
discontented detainees may prove so volatile that an otherwise innocuous
event may prove a trigger point for concerted disturbance.” The report said:
“There are several groups of foreign national prisoners presenting high risk
in terms of potential for disorder. There is little to inhibit them if an
opportunity to engage in wanton disorder presents itself. The greater their
frustration at the position, the greater the risk of disorder.” Damian Green,
the Tory immigration spokesman, attacked the Government for putting foreign
prisoners who were awaiting deportation into immigration removal centres. “We
need immigration detention centres as part of the process of removing people
who have no right to be here, but what we shouldn’t be doing is mixing up
immigration offenders with other criminals, and that’s where the big failure
lies.” Lin Homer, chief executive of the Border and Immigration Agency, said:
“We have recently looked at the regime in Campsfield and we are putting in place
a number of improvements with the centre operator.” Troublespot -- 1993
Campsfield centre opens
1997 50 detainees take part in disturbance
2001 90 go on hunger strike
2002 David Blunkett, then Home Secretary,
announces its closure
2003
Decision reversed after riot at another detention centre
2004 Local council rejects plans to expand
Campsfield to hold 300
2006
GEO Group wins five-year contract to run Campsfield
March 2007 Disturbance as staff try to remove
Algerian for deportation. Sixty detainees transferred out because of the
damage
August
2007 Disturbances and 26 detainees flee. Twelve recaptured and 14 still on
the run Source: Times database
August 3, 2007 BBC
Detainees at an Oxfordshire detention centre are suspending their ongoing
hunger strike while they wait for a response from the Home Office. More than
150 detainees at Campsfield House Immigration Centre near Kidlington in
Oxford have been refusing to eat since Tuesday night. They have complained to
officials about the overcrowded conditions and claimed they are being held
illegally. The Home Office said it would respond to concerns by Friday
afternoon. Campsfield was rife with scabies, but only staff were issued with
gloves. Campaign to Close Campsfield -- In a statement, the Campaign to Close
Campsfield also said the centre "is a health hazard with 70% of people
infected with flu". "Paracetamol is the only medicine made
available and two weeks ago even this ran out. "Campsfield was rife with
scabies, but only staff were issued with gloves. "Although detainees are
held as civil detainees, not convicted prisoners or prisoners on remand,
food, toilets and showers are a lot worse than in prisons." It said some
detainees were being held even though they had won appeals against deportation
or had agreed to go back to their countries of origin. Troubled history -- On
Wednesday, the Home Office promised it would respond to the concerns within
48 hours. Formerly a Young Offenders Institute, Campsfield was converted into
an immigration detention centre in 1993 amid a storm of protest from local
residents. Run by the American company GEO, which specialises in operating
detention facilities, Campsfield holds up to 200 male asylum seekers at a
time. Within six months of opening the centre experienced a major problem
when six asylum seekers escaped following a rooftop protest. A number of
low-level disturbances inside the centre and regular public protests outside
its gates has since occurred at Campsfield.
April 3, 2007 The Guardian
A private prison was criticised by its staff and a judge yesterday
following the collapse of a manslaughter trial over the death of a prisoner
on suicide watch. Four officers from Rye Hill prison, near Rugby, run by
Global Solutions Ltd, were cleared of all charges in connection with the
death of Michael Bailey, from Birmingham, who was serving a four year
sentence for cocaine dealing. He was found in March 2005 hanged by his
shoelace from the door to his cell in the segregation block. Daniel Daymond,
23, of Rugby, Paul Smith, 39, of Warrington, and Samantha Prime, 29, also of
Rugby, were acquitted at Northampton crown court of charges of manslaughter
by gross negligence in connection with Bailey's death. Ben King, 21, of
Southbrook, Daventry, along with Mr Daymond, was cleared of perverting the
course of justice by doctoring log books for suicide watches. All were
cleared on the direction of the judge, Mr Justice Grigson. He said: "No
one who has heard the evidence in this court can have any doubt that the
death of Michael Bailey was a tragedy, not least because it was
avoidable." Outside the court Bailey's mother, Caroline, said:
"This case clearly shows there were failures in Rye Hill prison and GSL
... I hope the outcome of this case brings changes." Paul Smith, manager
of the segregation unit where Mr Bailey killed himself, resigned from GSL
before the court case. He said after his acquittal. "Straight from the
start I had expressed concern about the level of support and training. I told
senior management about it and they didn't do anything." In a statement
released through his solicitor, Mr Daymond said: "[Michael Bailey's]
death was a tragedy that was wholly avoidable. I hope that today's decision
will focus attention on the way in which Rye Hill Prison is run." A
spokesman for GSL said: "This whole matter will be looked at very
carefully. Self-harm is an issue that prisons work very hard to avoid."
The jail was the subject of criticism by the chief inspector of prisons, Anne
Owers, who found the staff were inexperienced.
March 16, 2007 Oxford Mail
Staff are counting up the costs at Campsfield House immigration detention
centre after detainees ran riot and started a fire. About 60 detainees were
moved to other detention centres, including Yarl's Wood in Bedfordshire, on
Wednesday night. Anti-Campsfield campaigners claim the revolt at the centre,
in Kidlington, was sparked when an Algerian detainee was removed from his
room for deportation. Police are investigating the fire as suspected arson. A
former member of staff, in his 20s, who asked not to be named, praised former
colleagues who he said tried to tackle the fire at the centre at 6.30am on
Wednesday, before firefighters arrived. He said: "They kicked windows
out and tried to tackle the fire themselves. "I spoke to one of the
seven members of staff who needed hospital treatment and he told me that
there has been serious damage to blue block and yellow block and the library
has been destroyed. "Only about 30 detainees kicked off, but it will
cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to put the damage right. "The
ironic thing is that the GEO group that runs the site has been getting
detainees to paint internal areas and blue block has only just been
painted." The former worker claimed that more than 190 detainees were
housed in an area which mean for 130 and that it was not 'fit for purpose'.
Oxford West and Abingdon MP Evan Harris said: "There will need to be an
investigation of why there has been yet another serious disturbance at
Campsfield House, which has been a subject of a number of critical reports by
successive chief inspectors of prisons." Dr Harris, a member of the
House of Commons select committee on human rights, added: "My select
committee is already conducting an inquiry into detention of failed asylum seekers,
following concerns about physical abuse during removals. "The Home
Secretary himself a few years ago declared that Campsfield House was not
appropriate for the 21st century, but then of course the Government decided
to keep it open anyway. They will need to look at that question again."
March 14, 2007 BBC
Seven staff and two inmates have been injured in a fire after a riot
broke out at an immigration removal centre. Emergency services were called to
deal with the incident at Campsfield removal centre near Kidlington, in
Oxfordshire, early on Wednesday. A BBC reporter saw a dozen riot officers
carrying shields enter the centre to join about 35 police officers who were
dealing with the incident. The nine injured people are thought to be
suffering from smoke inhalation. The seven immigration staff at the centre
and two detainees have been taken to hospital. A Home Office spokesman said
the riot teams were working to get the centre completely under control as
soon as possible. "The perimeter of Campsfield has not been breached and
all detainees have been accounted for," he added. They used force to
drag the person from the bed and after that everything kicked off. Campsfield
detainee: In a statement Thames Valley Police said: "The detainees were
evacuated and nine people have been taken to hospital suffering from smoke
inhalation. No serious injuries have been reported. "The fire has now
been extinguished. Five fire engines and 30 firefighters attended the
incident. The fire was relatively small and mainly generated a lot of
smoke." 'Fighting stopped': A detainee, who did not want to be named,
told BBC News 24: "This place is falling apart - computers are getting
smashed. "They've stopped fighting now but they're destroying every bit
of equipment they can find - computers getting smashed, shops are getting
broken into, they're stealing everything." "They used force to drag
the person from the bed and after that everything kicked off," he said.
Sarah Cutler from Bail for Immigration Detainees, which provides workshops at
Campsfield offering legal advice to detainees, said she was not surprised by
the disturbance. "There are big problems at the moment," she said,
adding that many people were being held for months. Riot gear: Those included
"people who want to go back to their country of origin, have told the
Home Office they want to go back, but are still detained because they can't
get it together to remove them". A Home Office spokeswoman said the
continuing incident began at 0630 GMT. BBC reporter Rajesh Mirchandani,
speaking outside the centre, said he had seen members of a prison service
fast response team enter the site. "They're riot trained and they went
in carrying riot gear." He said he could see a helicopter hovering
overhead and police dog units and mounted police were now patrolling the
perimeter of the centre. The Home Office spokeswoman said: "Police, fire
and ambulance teams are on the scene and a number of Tornado units from the
Prison Service have been deployed to the centre." Campsfield can hold 196
adult male detainees, but it is not known how many are currently being held
there.
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)
Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre
Colnbrook, UK
Mitie Care and Custody
Apr
8, 2017 theguardian.com
Man denies beating to death fellow detainee at immigration centre
An Iraqi man has denied beating to death a fellow detainee at an
immigration facility. Zana Assad Yusif, 31, allegedly killed the Bangladeshi
national Tarek Chowdhury in a cell at Colnbrook immigration removal centre on
1 December last year. Chowdhury, 64, was pronounced dead at a hospital where
he was taken after a violent attack at the centre in Harmondsworth, west
London. Yusif appeared at the Old Bailey in London via video link from
prison. He spoke to confirm his name and plead not guilty to murder. A
two-week trial is due to begin on 8 May and a further hearing is scheduled
for 27 April. Colnbrook can hold up to 396 men and 27 women. The centre is
next to Heathrow airport and is operated by Mitie Care and Custody, which won
the contract to run the centre in 2014 after Serco ran it from its opening in
2004.
Jun
16, 2015 theguardian.com
UK:
Gov must release critical private prison reports
Potentially
damaging reports into the running of two immigration detention centres by
private contractors must be released by the Home Office within weeks, the
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has said. The documents will give
detailed breakdowns and insight into the running of Harmondsworth, Britain’s
largest immigration detention centre, and Colnbrook, both near Heathrow in
west London. It is believed that this is the first time the reports, which
are prepared for Home Office officials each month by the contractors that run
Britain’s immigration detention facilities, will come to light. The Home
Office fought to prevent their release for more than 10 months after the
research group Corporate Watch lodged a freedom of information request.
Government officials argued that the documents were confidential and would
harm the commercial interests of the contractors Serco and GEO Group if they
became public knowledge. The Home Office also said their release would make
it more difficult to negotiate deals with contractors in future. However, in
a decision Corporate Watch described as landmark, the ICO said that, while it
agreed that the commercial interests of the firms would be harmed, the public
interest in transparency was more important, and gave the Home Office until
13 July to release the reports. It said their release would cause no
significant damage to the Home Office’s bargaining position with potential
contractors, knocking down an exemption to the Freedom of Information Act
often relied upon by government departments. Phil Miller, a researcher for
Corporate Watch, said the ICO’s decision sent “a strong signal to government
to be far more transparent on outsourced contracts. Home Office bureaucrats
should not shield private security companies from public scrutiny”. In a
document detailing the reasons for its ruling, the ICO said the operation of
immigration removal centres (IRCs) in general is an issue that has been the
subject of scrutiny and concern. It said it had taken into account media
coverage suggesting that the operation of the centres “has been a problematic
area generally” and that the HM chief inspector of prisons’ reports were “to
varying degrees of severity, critical” of the running of Harmondsworth and
Colnbrook. The document added: “The introduction to the report on
Harmondsworth refers to ‘inadequate focus on the needs of the most vulnerable
detainees’, ‘shocking cases where a sense of humanity was lost’ and to the
centre as ‘dirty and bleak’ and ‘in a state of drift’.” It noted that the
Colnbrook report was also negative, although to a lesser degree. The ICO
said: “Given this publicly available criticism of the operation of these
centres, the commissioner’s view is that there is in general a very strong
public interest in other information about their operation.” It said that
because the two self-audits now due to be released post-date the HMIP
reports, “there is a strong public interest in favour of disclosure in order
to reveal whether, according to the contractors’ own accounts, the operations
of these IRCs improved”. The commissioner added: “It is also highly relevant
that the contractors are paid with public money to operate these IRCs. The
disclosure of the self-audit reports would add to public knowledge on the
extent to which a value-for-money service is being provided to the taxpayer,
which is also in the public interest. Furthermore, all of the factors in
favour of disclosure are made more acute by the vulnerable nature of people
held within IRCs.” The number of reports of serious self-harm at
Harmondsworth have increased almost fourfold since 2012, according to figures
obtained by Channel 4 News. There were at least 16 cases in 2012 and at least
62 incidents in 2014. Across all UK immigration detention centres, it
reported that the number of incidents of self-harm requiring medical
attention more than doubled between 2012 and 2014 from 150 to at least 306.
The two reports that the Home Office has been ordered to publish date from
May 2014, when more than 100 detainees reportedly went on hunger strike at
Harmondsworth. At that time, it was being run by the American company GEO
Group. Responsibility for Harmondsworth’s operation has now passed to Mitie
after it won the contract. Colnbrook is still run by Serco. The government
can appeal, but has not confirmed whether it will do so. A Home Office
spokesman said: “We have noted the Information Commissioner’s decision and
are considering whether or not to appeal. It would be inappropriate to
comment further at this stage.” Serco declined to comment, saying it was a
matter for the Home Office. GEO Group has not responded to a request for
comment.
Mar
1, 2015 rt.com UK
A
whistleblower who worked at a Serco-run immigration detention center alleges
the firm turned a blind eye to corruption in the jail, despite evidence staff
were smuggling hard drugs into the facility and making a handsome profit in
the process. Former detention custody officer Mark Blake stands accused of
conspiring to commit misconduct when he worked at Colnbrook immigration
removal center. However, he maintains his innocence – insisting that stories
he leaked to the Sun newspaper were justified and in the public interest. The
ex-Colebrook officer’s case began at the Old Bailey in central London on
Wednesday. Sun journalist Tom Wells, who also faces allegations of
misconduct, is also on trial. During the proceedings, it emerged Blake’s
concerns about practices in Colebrook prompted him to forge a connection with
Wells. The court heard Blake subsequently leaked a number of controversial stories
about Colnbrook to the Sun reporter, and was offered almost £8,000 in return.
The tipoffs evolved into 10 separate stories in the tabloid newspaper.
Prosecutor Jonathon Rees QC, who is representing Serco, told the court Blake
had received training at Colnbrook about not speaking with the press.
However, when the detention custody officer was arrested on suspicion of
misconduct in March 2013, he told police his actions had been entirely in the
“public interest.” Blake said at the time he reached out to the Sun because
he knew what was happening at the detention center was illegal. He insisted
he did not expect any form of payment. Following his arrest, he informed
officers of “widespread drug abuse” and violence between inmates. The
ex-Colnbrook employee maintained Serco was aware prison staff were smuggling
hard drugs into the facility, and that some had bought luxury cars from the
proceeds. The defendant also said female prison staff engaged in sexual
activity with inmates. He added when the transgressions were discovered by
Serco, the firm “merely turned a blind eye and marched the officers off the
premises.” Throughout the proceedings, it emerged Blake was told to “man up”
and focus on his job when he raised concerns about the detention center. Blake
also told police that Serco bribed inmates with coveted items to silence them
and avoid potential financial penalties, jurors heard. Rees told the jury
that Serco does not accept Blake’s claim that he raised concerns internally
before approaching the Sun. Blake, 43, from Slough, denies all allegations of
misconduct in public office. Sun reporter Tom Wells, who lives in southeast
London, also denies allegations of misconduct. In January, another Serco
immigration detention center in Bedfordshire, southern England came under
fire. Read more -- Yarl’s Wood asylum seekers ‘sexually abused by staff’ and
‘denied privacy’ – charity A damning report, conducted by Women for Refugee
Women, found that female immigrants detained there are often denied privacy
and dignity. The refugee charity said female asylum seekers held at the
facility are routinely degraded by male staff, who monitor them while they
are naked. It also uncovered claims of sexual misconduct carried out by
Yarl’s Wood staff. Nevertheless, the Home Office has maintained full faith in
outsourcing giant Serco. The firm was recently offered a £70 million contract
by the Home Office to manage Yarl’s Wood for a further eight years. Thousands
of people are currently being detained in high security immigration jails
across Britain. Many are vulnerable asylum seekers whose requests for UK
residency have been rejected or are in process. They are often deeply
traumatized by difficult circumstances in their homeland and fearful they
may be forcibly returned.
August 5, 2011 The Guardian
Separate investigations into three deaths in immigration removal centres
(IRC) in the past month have been launched by the police, amid growing
concern about the treatment of detainees. The spate of deaths has caused
alarm among critics of the government's detention policy, who warn that the
system is at "breaking point" with poor healthcare putting people's
lives at risk. Two men died from suspected heart attacks at Colnbrook near
Heathrow airport and the third killed himself at the Campsfield House
detention centre in Oxfordshire on Tuesday. John McDonnell, Labour MP for
Hayes and Harlington, who has two detention centres including Colnbrook in
his constituency, said he feared there would be more deaths as the system
struggled to cope with the number of people being detained. "The
government is now detaining people on such a scale that the existing services
are swamped," he said. "It is inevitable if we put the services
under such relentless strain that there will be more deaths as a result … we
are dealing with people who are extremely stressed and extremely vulnerable
and the services are not able to cope and not able to guarantee their
safety." The first man who died was Muhammad Shukat, 47, a Pakistani
immigration detainee who collapsed at around 6am on 2 July. His roommate
Abdul Khan says that in the hours before he died Shukat was groaning in
agony, had very bad chest pains and was sweating profusely. Khan, 19, from
Afghanistan, said he began raising the alarm around 6am and pressed the
emergency button in the room 10 times in a frantic effort to get help. Khan
claimed that on three occasions members of the centre's nursing team entered
the room and found Shukat on the floor where he had collapsed. Khan said they
put him back into bed, took his temperature and some medicine was
administered, but did not call emergency assistance immediately. According to
Khan, the nurses initially said that Shukat could go to see the centre's
doctor at 8am. According to the London Ambulance Service, Colnbrook staff
called an ambulance just before 7.20am. Attempts were made to resuscitate
Shukat, but he was pronounced dead on arrival at Hillingdon Hospital. A
postmortem found the provisional cause of death to be coronary heart disease.
Shukat's body has been returned to Pakistan and his family are understood to
have no concerns about the medical treatment he received. The second man to
die at Colnbrook has not yet been named. According to the Metropolitan police
he was 35 and was found dead in his cell at 10.30am last Sunday. London
Ambulance Service officials pronounced him dead at the scene. "A
postmortem held on 1 August found the cause of death to be a ruptured aorta.
The death is being treated as unexplained," said a police spokesman. Colnbrook
IRC is managed by Serco. In a statement to detainees about Shukat's death,
deputy director at Colnbrook, Jenni Halliday, described her "deep
regret" and extended her condolences. In a statement to detainees about
the second Colnbrook death, Serco's contract manager, Michael Guy, informed
detainees that a resident in the short-term holding facility had died and
that the death was thought to be from natural causes. On Tuesday, a
35-year-old man hanged himself in the toilet block at Campsfield House
detention centre in Oxfordshire. A fellow detainee, who refused to give his
name, said the man had been hours away from being deported and had become
very anxious. "He was normally a very quiet person … but the pressure is
too much for people in here." It is understood the man had only been at
the centre for a few days before he died. The Home Office refused to give any
more details saying his extended family had yet to be informed. Emma Ginn,
from the campaign group Medical Justice, said the deaths had heightened concern
about the poor healthcare on offer to those being kept in UK detention
centres. "Based on medical evidence from many hundreds of detainees,
Medical Justice has documented the disturbingly inadequate healthcare
provision that often vulnerable immigration detainees are subjected to in
Colnbrook and other immigration removal centres... [this] combined with the
perilous and frightening conditions of detention, is a lethal cocktail, a
disaster waiting to happen." The UK Border Agency declined to comment on
the specific circumstances of each case. It said the police and the Prisons
and Probation Ombudsman always investigated deaths in immigration detention
centres and it would be inappropriate to comment until these were complete.
David Wood, director of criminality and detention at the UK Border Agency,
said all detainees at immigration removal centres have access to health
services seven days a week. "All detainees are seen by a nurse within
two hours of arrival and are given an opportunity to see a GP within 24
hours," he added. "The health of all detainees is monitored
closely, and the healthcare professionals are required to report cases where
it is considered that a person's health is being affected by continued
detention. "The UK takes its responsibilities seriously, which is why we
consider every case on its individual merits and will continue to offer
protection to those who need it. However, detention is an essential part of
our controls on immigration in the UK." A groundbreaking ruling -- A man
with severe mental illness was unlawfully locked up in a UK detention centre
for five months and subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment, according to
a high court ruling. The man, a 34-year-old Indian national, was detained in
Harmondsworth immigration removal centre between April and September last
year. On Friday a judge ruled that his treatment amounted to a breach of
article 3 of the European convention human rights. The man's lawyer said the
ruling – thought to be the first of its kind – raised wider questions about
how the government treats people with mental illnesses in the immigration and
detention system. "The court's decision that my client suffered inhuman
or degrading treatment at a UK detention facility sends a very loud and clear
message to the authorities," said. "We would urge the minister to
conduct a fundamental review into how people suffering from mental illness
are treated in the immigration detention estate." The man, referred to
as "S" in the ruling, had a history of serious ill treatment and
abuse before arriving in the UK. He served time in prison for wounding and
assault before being transferred to a secure psychiatric hospital until his
discharge in April 2010. Following his release the UK Border Agency said
there was "no evidence" he was mentally ill and he was detained in
Harmondsworth where his health deteriorated and he began to have psychotic
episodes and self harm. The high court intervened and he was released on
bail. His lawyers said he had been living with his family since then and had
fully complied with the conditions of bail set by the court. In the ruling
judge David Elvin said: "S's pre-existing mental condition was both
triggered and exacerbated by detention and that involved both a debasement
and humiliation of S since it showed a serious lack of respect for his human
dignity. It created a state in S's mind of real anguish and fear, through his
hallucinations, which led him to self-harm frequently and to behave in a
manner which was humiliating…" A UK Border Agency spokesperson said:
"We regularly review our detention policies and will look at the
findings in this case to ensure lessons are learned. Detention is an
essential part of our immigration control but we recognise the importance of
ensuring it remains appropriate on a case by case basis."
June 22, 2009 Thaindian
The news that foreign criminals, including rapists and terrorists, are
being treated to lavish cuisine as they wait to be deported, has not gone
down with the taxpayers in Britain. There is an outrage among residents over
money being spent on the preparation of mouthwatering dishes for 383 inmates,
who are currently staying at a luxurious 47 million pounds Colnbrook
Immigration Removal Centre in Berkshire. The menu that these detainees are
being offered includes oriental poached fish parcels, beef goulash and mint
lamb stew. Each detainee is offered four choices for lunch and dinner, plus
three vegetable options and a dessert. “The idea that these people should
enjoy hotel-style standards of service and food is preposterous. Given the
recession we’re living in, most people will think this type of arrangement is
outrageous,” the Sun quoted Matthew Elliott, a local resident, as saying.
Other delicacies offered to them include chicken chasseur, fish gumbo and beef
and onion pie. They are handed a menu at the start of the week and asked to
mark their choices for the next seven days - with food cooked to order. “Some
of the dishes are so exotic they put Gordon Ramsay to shame. The grub’s
certainly better than the local hotels. Now every foreign con wants to come
here because the food is so good,” an official said. The scandal is the
latest to hit the Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre in Berkshire, which is
run by a private firm ‘Serco’. Earlier it was reported how the detainees had
access to Nintendo Wiis and plasma TVs.
June 2, 2009 The Independent
Allegations that asylum seekers are being bullied by immigration staff
are not being properly investigated, a report into Britain's flagship
immigration removal centre has found. The use of reasonable force to control
detainees at Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre, near Heathrow Airport, had
increased and was not always well managed, Anne Owers, the Chief Inspector of
Prisons also found in a report published today. In the three months before
the inspection, there had been 179 complaints ranging from bullying to poor
food. Dame Anne said: "...we found little improvement at Colnbrook since
our last visit... there was evidence of the centre taking inappropriate steps
to manage some of the challenges; there were examples of separation being
misused and the vulnerable persons unit was not fit for purpose." The
centre, run by Serco, holds male detainees in the most secure facility in the
detention estate. Dame Anne said: "A significant number of complaints,
including allegations of staff bullying, were not adequately investigated and
replies lacked detail." Dave Woods, head of criminality and detention at
the UK Border Agency, said: "In the six months since HMCIP visited,
safety, security and purposeful activity for detainees have improved
significantly."
January 16, 2007 IC Coventry
Conditions in holding centres for immigration offenders awaiting
deportation still need to be improved, the jails watchdog has said. Chief
Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers published reports on four immigration
short-term holding facilities at Colnbrook near Heathrow Airport, Sandford
House in Solihull, and Liverpool's Reliance House and John Lennon Airport.
Inspectors found that detainees at Colnbrook spent unacceptably long periods
locked in single rooms, and there was a lack of information and independent
advice for people facing removal. But it had avoided some of the problems
seen in other facilities because it was managed by the Immigration Removal
Centre, offering access to healthcare facilities, welfare and race relations
support, Ms Owers said. Staff at the three centres in Liverpool and Solihull
- all run by Group 4 Securicor - needed more training in the care and
protection of children, her report found. The facilities also required
reorganising for a mixed population, it added. Ms Owers said:
"Accommodation still remains inadequate in many centres and the needs of
detainees in relation to healthcare, information and advice, and preparations
for release are not yet sufficiently met." Home Office Minister Liam
Byrne said: "I take very seriously the recommendations, and action plans
responding in detail are currently being drawn up to ensure further
improvements are made. "It is important to remember that non-residential
short-term holding facilities are intended to accommodate people for very
brief periods of time." Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Nick
Clegg said: "The inspector's report confirms what has been apparent for
some time: that, for the Government, these people are out of sight and out of
mind. "Any society should be ashamed when people are treated like this
just because they are to be deported."
Docklands Light Railway
London, England
Serco
May 13, 2010 London Evening Standard
Docklands Light Railway operator Serco has been fined £450,000 after it
failed to stop a train which hit and killed a man who had fallen off a
platform. Robert Carter, 34, stumbled on to the lines at All Saints station
following a late-night argument with another passenger, Paul Green. Mr Green
telephoned police to say Mr Carter had a knife and had fallen on to the
track. Officers asked the DLR control room to check if someone was on the
lines, but this was treated as an “informal request” rather than an actual
report, Southwark Crown Court was told. A control room operator failed to see
Mr Carter on the track and did not halt the trains, which are automatic and
do not have an actual driver. Shortly afterwards another member of the
control room staff saw a police officer on All Saints station's CCTV waving
his arms above his head. This operator immediately pressed an emergency
plunger to halt an oncoming train but it was too late. The wheels struck Mr
Carter, who suffered serious injuries and died in hospital. Serco was also
ordered to pay £43,773 costs. It was found guilty last month, under health
and safety regulations, of failing to ensure its automatic trains did not hit
people who were on the tracks. Judge Deborah Taylor, passing sentence
yesterday, said: “Serco fell considerably below what was required of it.”
Procedures were “not robust or comprehensive enough” in dealing with
incidents of human error. But the judge said it was clear that Serco “took
safety seriously “ and there was “no suggestion profit was put before
safety”. David Travers, QC, prosecuting for the Office of Rail Regulation,
said Mr Carter was involved in an altercation with another passenger at All
Saints. “After he fell, it would appear that Mr Carter was unable or
unwilling to move — whether through injuries from the fall, intoxication or
for some other reason is unknown,” said Mr Travers. “DLR staff looked at the
station on their CCTV monitors, which are not suitable for seeing if anyone
is on the track, and failed to see Mr Carter. The train which killed Mr
Carter could have been stopped before reaching the station.” Jurors were
played a recording of the British Transport Police call to the DLR control
centre, in which line controller Paul Day was heard to say: “There's
certainly no one on the track.” Stephen Moody, for Serco, said it had made
several changes since the incident and improved safety procedures. It denied
one count of failing to comply with its health and safety duties.
Doncaster
Prison
South Yorkshire, UK
Serco (formerly known as Premier)
Oct
21, 2017 ekklesia.co.uk
Jury finds prison failings 'causative' of prisoner's death
Following a five day inquest at Doncaster Coroner’s Court, a jury found
that the failures of Serco and Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust to deal
with bullying, violence and substance abuse at HMP Doncaster were causative
of the death of Gerard Scahill on 22 April 2016. Gerry was a vulnerable man
with a long history of mental health issues and substance abuse, who was
serving a nine year sentence at HMP Doncaster. On his entry to HMP Doncaster
in October 2015, prison and healthcare staff were made aware of threats to
Gerard Scahill by prison gangs, and during his stay became aware of his use
of ‘spice’ and his history of mental health issues. During his stay,
Scahill raised concerns about his
welfare to prison staff. On three occasions, in the period leading to his
death, he reported to the prison staff that he was under threat and scared
for his safety. On one occasion, he had to be returned to his wing under
prison escort and he subsequently refused to leave his cell for two days.
Notwithstanding his reports, there was no record that prison staff conducted
any investigation, or put in place any safeguards for him. The jury heard new
psychoactive substances (NPS) known as ‘spice’ are currently rife in prison.
Studies suggest that ‘spice’ and other NPS exacerbate mental health
conditions such as depression and anxiety and can lead to self-harm, and
debt. On 23 March 2016 staff found Scahill under the influence of ‘spice’. He
also reported to healthcare staff that he was taking NPS on most days, and as
much as he could “get hold of”. Despite this, he was never referred to the
substance misuse team, who were able to offer psychotherapy treatment for NPS
use. On 22 April 2016, Gerard Scahill was found hanged in his cell. Though
both Prison Officers and paramedics attempted to revive him they were
unsuccessful. In a narrative conclusion critical of the prison, the jury
found, that: Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust did not adequately and
effectively manage Gerard Scahill's use of ‘spice’ and this was causative of
his death. Serco prison staff did not adequately and effectively manage the
threats and bullying that Scahill reported, and this was also causative of
death. Non causative failures regarding training on the unlock procedure. The
jury could not be certain that Scahill intended to kill himself. Gerard
Scahill's family are understandably devastated by his death but are pleased
that the jury identified the failings that led to hid death. They hope that
HMP Doncaster, private prison providers and contractors, and the wide prison
service will now implement changes to ensure that incidents like this are not
repeated. Jenny Fraser, solicitor for the family, said, “Sadly this is yet
another death at a private prison, and it’s welcome that the jury have
clearly identified the significant failings of both Serco and Nottinghamshire
Healthcare NHS Trust towards the people in their custody”.
Mar 9, 2016 independent.co.uk
Violence, hostage taking and gang attacks rife in private prison, report
finds
Staff shortages at one of Britain’s most modern jails run by the
private-sector Serco has left wardens overwhelmed by high levels of violence,
hostage-taking and gang assaults on its wings, an inspection report reveals
today. Conditions at Doncaster prison – one of five run by the company which
has a £3.5bn turnover – were so poor that inspectors spotted mice,
cockroaches, missing window panes and exposed wires at the purpose-built
prison. Inspectors said that violence was unacceptably high despite prison
numbers being cut by 100 to try to deal with the deep-seated problems. Three
inmates killed themselves in the past 18 months The Government has focused on
problems within Victorian prisons. But campaigners said that conditions at
Doncaster – one of 14 run privately – highlighted the extent of problems at
new jails blighted by staff shortages and lack of investment. “Today’s report
emphasises how misleading it is to blame the prison system’s failings on
Victorian jails,” said Frances Crook, of the Howard League for Penal Reform.
“If old buildings were the problem, we would be tearing down Oxbridge.
Doncaster is a big, new, private prison, opened in 1994, but it is already infested
with vermin. Prisons with too many prisoners and too few staff will fail, no
matter how old they are.” The problems at Doncaster represent a case study of
Prime Minister David Cameron’s complaint last month about the shameful level
of prison violence, drug-taking and self-harm as he announced a shake-up of
prisons and the treatment of inmates. Serco was awarded a new 15-year £250m
contract from 2011 to run the prison, which holds more than 1,000 inmates,
and said that it would “continue to ensure that it is a safe, secure, decent,
efficient and responsible establishment”. But inspectors highlighted a raft
of failures at the prison including attacks by gangs of men, persistent
bullying and at least three hostage incidents. Nearly half of inmates thought
it was easy to get drugs. Some prisoners said they were too frightened to
leave their cells. Last year a convicted burglar, Keiron Simpson, killed a
man with a single punch in an apparently motiveless attack in the prison.
“The lack of staff was a critical problem,” the report said. Hospital
appointments for sick inmates had to be cancelled because of a lack of escort
staff to take them there. One prisoner, in a wheelchair, said he had not had
a shower for more than two years because the necessary alterations had not
been made. Juliet Lyon, director of the prison Reform Trust, said: “Since its
opening, Doncaster has been better known for its institutional meanness and
overcrowding than for the efficiency and innovation promised, but not always
delivered, by the private sector.” Serco’s record has been mixed. Inspectors
said that one of its institutions for sex offenders was very good, while
violence at others was assessed to be too high. Julia Rogers, of Serco, said:
“We are continuing to address the issues raised in this inspection and safety
has improved, violence is gradually reducing and the house blocks have been
refurbished.” A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We will be investing
£1.3bn to transform the prison estate over the next five years, to better
support rehabilitation and tackle bullying, violence and drugs.”
May 29, 2015 independent.co.uk
Violent robber ‘walks out door’ of
Serco-run private prison
A “violent” robber managed to escape from a
high-security prison run by the outsourcing giant Serco by walking out with a
group of people who were visiting him, The Independent has learnt. Haroon
Ahmed, 26, is being sought by police after escaping from HMP Dovegate in
Staffordshire on Wednesday. He had been in jail since 2008, after being convicted
of robbing a garage armed with a knife. Sources close to the prison, which
has been run by the private company Serco since it opened in 2001, said Ahmed
had managed to slip away unnoticed during visiting hours despite being on the
prison’s “watch list”. The extraordinary escape came just hours before the
publication of a report by the Government’s prisons watchdog which raised
concerns about “very tight” staffing levels at Dovegate. Inspectors said
that, on some occasions, entire wings of the prison had been left unstaffed
while inmates were out of their cells. Dovegate is a Category B jail,
designed to accommodate prisoners who are considered highly likely to attempt
escape. It currently holds more than 900 male inmates, most of whom have been
convicted of serious violent offences. One former member of staff at the
prison, who did not want to be named, told The Independent that Ahmed should
have had to pass through at least three locked doors to escape. “He left the
visits hall with his visitors and just walked out, basically, which is
shocking for a Cat B establishment,” they said. “He never even used violence
[to make his escape], and it’s very rare for this to happen.” Haroon Ahmed,
26, is being sought by police after escaping from HMP Dovegate in Staffordshire
Haroon Ahmed, 26, is being sought by police after escaping from HMP Dovegate
in Staffordshire. Agreeing with inspectors that staffing levels at the prison
were too low, the source added: “The situation at the moment is really bad –
that’s why I feel it needs to be put out there. The Ministry of Justice needs
to do something about it.” The source also claimed that corruption among
prison staff was “rife”, with guards earning money by smuggling items such as
iPhones to prisoners, and that reports detailing potential security problems
at the jail often went unread. Staffordshire Police said Ahmed, who is
described as Asian, 6ft tall with a thin build and short black hair in a crew
cut, had escaped from the prison at around 4.15pm on Wednesday wearing jeans
and a grey T-shirt. He is believed to be staying in the Derby area where he
has “numerous connections”. A spokesman for the force said: “Officers
involved in the search for him [on Thursday] arrested his brother, Majeed
Ahmed, 25, of Derby, and have charged him with assisting a prisoner in
escaping from prison. He has been released on bail to appear before
magistrates on 25 June. “A black Volkswagen Golf was also recovered as part
of the investigation and will be subject to a detailed forensic examination.
Due to [Haroon Ahmed’s] conviction for a violent robbery we advise members of
the public not to approach him.” Michael Guy, Serco’s director at Dovegate,
said: “We are taking this extremely seriously and I have commissioned an
investigation into the circumstances of the escape. We are working closely
with the police to identify what went wrong and to address any failings.” A
spokesperson for the Prison Service said it was “working closely” with
police, adding: “Escapes from prison custody are extremely rare but we take
each one incredibly seriously. Public protection is our top priority.” When
prison inspectors visited the jail in January this year, they found high
levels of violence, bullying, unjustified segregation and poor visiting
arrangements. The Chief Inspector of Prisons, Nick Hardwick, said the jail’s
performance “had dipped” since the inspectors’ last visit, with a new
management team struggling to cope with an influx of violent inmates.
“Prisoners were left feeling … insecure because staffing on units was often
insufficient: we observed short periods when no staff were present on the
units, even though a number of prisoners were unlocked,” he wrote in his
report, published the day after Ahmed escaped. Inspectors praised the
prison’s good living conditions and its resettlement work, but recommended
that staffing levels on residential wings should be raised “to reassure
prisoners about their safety”. It is understood that the jail’s staffing
arrangements were already being reviewed by Serco before inspectors visited.
READ MORE: SERCO SHARES PLUNGE AFTER ISSUING FOURTH PROFIT WARNING POLICE
DROPS INVESTIGATION INTO SERCO'S PRISONER TRANSPORT CONTRACT SERCO GIVEN
YARL’S WOOD CONTRACT DESPITE ‘VAST FAILINGS’
SELF-HARMING AND ABUSE PREVALENT IN PRIVATE PRISONS G4S YOUTH PRISON
SLAMMED BY OFSTED REPORT Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League
for Penal Reform, said: “Dovegate is an overcrowded and understaffed private
prison that has struggled to tackle serious problems. Levels of violence and
self-harm are high, and illicit drugs are easy to obtain. “When inspectors
visited, there were occasions when they found no staff on the wings. This is
particularly worrying in a prison where four people took their own lives in
2013.” Responding to Mr Hardwick’s report, Mr Guy said: “HMP Dovegate has
recently faced a number of significant challenges including an influx of
category-B prisoners, many of whom have been convicted of serious violent
offences and a large number of whom have mental health issues. “We are
pleased that the report recognises that we are focused on these challenges,
that we have already made a number of improvements and that we have realistic
plans for the future. We fully accept the recommendations… We know we have
more to do.” Case file: Robber on the run Haroon Ahmed was only 19 when in
January 2008 he robbed a garage in Derby at knifepoint. Shaun King, 20, was
his accomplice.Derby Crown Court heard that the pair had their faces covered
when they burst into the service station. “One of the men jumped on the
counter with the knife,” cashier Kulan Sakthy recalled later. “He shoved me
on to the counter and put the knife on my neck and said ‘Open the till’. I
said, ‘What do you want me to do? Just don’t do anything to me’. It was terrifying.”
The men made off with £500, cigarettes and mobile phones, but were arrested.
Private prisons: previous scandals
* This month a report into Rainsbrook Secure Training
Centre in Northamptonshire found that children had been subjected to
“degrading treatment” and “racist comments” from staff under the influence of
illegal drugs. Six members of staff at the G4S-run jail were sacked.
* Teenagers at a Serco-run Young Offender Institution
near Bristol were “exposed to unacceptable levels of violence” by staff,
inspectors said in 2013. HMP Ashfield is now an adult prison, but is still
managed by Serco.
* Inspectors found a prisoner had been held in a
“squalid” segregation cell for more than five years, at the women-only
in 2013. Sodexo said that due to her
complex needs “no other option” was available.
A DISGRACED prison officer who was
handed a suicide note by an inmate put it in his manager's 'in tray' to be
dealt with the next morning. By that time Shaun Flanagan, aged 26, was dead -
just three days after being locked-up on a charge of driving while
disqualified. An inquest at Doncaster Coroner's Court was told prison officer
Russell Calladine admitted he was too frightened to enter the cell where Mr
Flanagan hanged himself in June 2006. Instead, he waited until colleagues at
HMP Doncaster arrived a few minutes later before helping to cut the
prisoner's noose. It has taken more than four years for evidence about Mr
Flanagan's last hours to be heard in public, by a jury of four women and
three men. Mr Flanagan, of South Street, Highfields, was supposed to be
checked in his cell every 30 minutes because he was detoxifying from drug
addiction. But questions have been raised about the checks carried out by Mr
Calladine, who has since been sacked.
July 23, 2010 The Star
PRISONER-on-prisoner violence has more than doubled in Doncaster Prison last
year after bosses put all the young offenders together. The figures for
assaults reported at the Marshgate jail soared to 412 in 2009, compared to
192 in 2008. The figure was more than three time the 2007 figure of 127. The
revelation comes as figures obtained by The Star under the Freedom of
Information Act revealed there were 1,149 attacks on prisoners by other
inmates over the last three years. Lindholme Prison saw the fewest, with 156
over three years, with 47 in 2009, 57 in 2008 and 52 in 2007. Moorland
recorded 262, with 85 last year, 86 in 2008 and 91 in 2007. A Ministry of
Justice Spokesman said: "The rise on prisoner-on-prisoner assaults
recorded at HMP Doncaster in 2009 was due to restructuring in the prison
whereby its young offender population was relocated to a single block, rather
than dispersed among the adult population. This resulted in a temporary spike
in assaults and particularly fights among young offenders.
April 23, 2006 24 DASH
Prison officers are calling for all jail wardens to be better armed claiming
they should be given metal batons in order to defend themselves from assault.
The Prison Officers Association (POA) conference next month will vote on
whether the extendable baton should be allowed in many more prisons. The
union's national general secretary Brian Caton said he supported the
proposals and predicted the motions would be passed. Currently, staff at
private prisons such as Doncaster do not carry batons. "We would say
that's wrong," Mr Caton said. "Prisoners in private prisons are no
less violent, they're no less difficult. "You are twice as likely to be
attacked in a private prison as in a public prison." Last July the Chief
Inspector of Prisons warned that staff at a privately-run prison were being
bullied by inmates. Anne Owers demanded urgent action after discovering
unsafe conditions at Rye Hill jail, near Rugby in Warwickshire, which is run
by GSL UK Ltd. Inexperienced officers were ignoring misbehaviour and evidence
of contraband in order to "survive" on the wings, the report said.
April 12, 2006 Politics.Co.UK
The government has been forced to defend its use of private contractors
to run Britain's prisons in the wake of a critical report from the chief
inspector. Anne Owers says that while Doncaster is "by no means a bad
local prison", where relationships with staff and inmates are generally
good, physical conditions are "sometimes squalid". Many prisoners
lack basics such as pillows, toilet seats and working televisions, some cells
are dirty and covered in graffiti, and she highlights "institutional
meanness" in making prisoners pay to change their account number which
allows them to call home. In her report, Ms Owers notes the prison has good
points, in particular in its resettlement of offenders and community re-entry
facilities, but warns the problems were all in areas "not specifically
mandated by the contract under which the prison is run". "There
remains a concern that, in focusing on meeting their contractual obligations,
prison managers had allowed important areas to slip below what was safe and
decent; and indeed may have sought savings in precisely those areas,"
she said. Frances Crook, director of the Howard League for Penal Reform,
seized upon today's report as an example of the "manifest failings of
private prisons". "It exposes the fallacy promulgated by the Home
Office that private prisons have helped to improve prison conditions, raised
standards or fostered advances in the decent treatment of prisoners and
staff. Doncaster shows that this is not the case," she said.
"Unsurprisingly, the chief inspector draws attention to the fact that
those areas in which the prison is failing are those in which it was not contractually
obliged by the Home Office to meet particular standards."
April 12, 2006 The Mirror
DONCASTER prison has been described as "squalid" and showing
signs of "institutional meanness" in a damning report by the jails'
watchdog. Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers expressed concern that prison
chiefs had let standards slip at the 800-inmate jail and made savings to meet
Home Office contract targets. She claims the medium security jail, which is
run by private company Serco - formerly known as Premier Prison Services -
had deteriorated since it was last inspected in 2003. Her report said one
example of "meanness" was charging inmates 50 pence to change
family telephone numbers on the automated phone system, which was branded
"particularly unfair" because of the shortage of paying jobs in the
jail. The chief inspector said: "Respect was seriously undermined by the
physical conditions in which many prisoners lived, which in some cases were
squalid. Many prisoners lacked pillows, adequate mattresses, toilet seats,
working televisions, notice-boards and places to store belongings. "Some
cells, especially on the young prisoners' wing, were dirty and festooned with
graffiti." First night cells were "squalid" with no hot water,
"lumps of foam" as mattresses and "dirty" bedding, said
the report. In other areas, bedding was "heavily soiled". Ms Owers
also pointed out bullying problems were not properly addressed at the prison
and only 29 per cent of young ethnic minority prisoners reported that staff
treated them well. In 2003, Ms Owers said Doncaster was a good jail which
needed to increase the amount of purposeful activities available - such as
work or education - and improve first night facilities. On her return last
November, she found it had not tackled these problems and had slipped back in
a number of other areas. But, overall, she said Doncaster was "by no
means a bad prison". Making 156 recommendations for improvement, Ms
Owers said: "Our main concern was not only that managers had failed to
tackle problems we pointed out in our last inspection, but that the prison
had deteriorated in some important respects - all in areas not mandated in
the prison's contract. Yorkshire and Humberside regional offender manager,
Paul Wilson, said: "I am satisfied that Serco has responded quickly and
appropriately to the inspectorate's recommendations and that the director and
his staff are committed to continuous improvement of standards of offender
management."
May 6, 2005 The Mirror
VALENTINE'S Day killer Paul Dyson slit his wrists and scrawled
"Sorry" on his jail cell wall before admitting responsibility for
his girlfriend Joanne Nelson's death. The former bouncer, charged earlier
this week, smuggled a small blade into his prison. A guard found him slumped
on the floor of his cell in the early hours. Doncaster Prison, where Dyson is
being held, opened nine years ago and was Britain's first private jail. It is
run by Premier Prisons, which is partly American owned. The jail has been hit
by controversy in the past, with allegations of bullying and high numbers of
suicides.
August
14, 2010 The Sun
ONE of Damilola Taylor's killers is claiming £100,000 from prison bosses for
failing to stop a lag from slicing off one of his ears. Evil Ricky Preddie,
23, was lured into his attacker's cell and hacked with a home-made knife
after a row over a game of pool. Doctors could not sew the lug back on.
Preddie is suing private firm Serco, which runs Dovecote Prison, Staffs. Last
night Damilola's dad called the claim "outrageous". Richard, 62,
said: "He doesn't deserve a penny. Ricky was attacked in prison because
he remains as arrogant as ever. "If he had been sentenced properly - and
by that I mean the death penalty - then he could only launch his claim in hell."
A Serco spokesman said: "Mr Preddie made a complaint that we believe has
no substance and have refuted."
January
26, 2010 Derby Telegraph
A FORMER prison officer has appeared in court accused of helping an inmate to
escape from a Derbyshire jail. Andrea Clarke is also charged with harbouring
an escaped prisoner and leaving a prohibited article for importation into
prison. Clarke had been employed at the privately-run Dovegate Prison. But
the charges relate to the escape of an inmate from Sudbury Prison, three
miles away. The 36-year-old, of Burton, appeared at Southern Derbyshire
Magistrates' Court yesterday but entered no plea. The case was committed to
Derby Crown Court. Dovegate Prison, in Marchington, near Uttoxeter, is a
category B prison run by Serco. A spokesman for HMP Dovegate said: "The
individual concerned no longer works for Serco. We continue to fully
co-operate with the police."
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.
December
8, 2009 Yorkshire Post
A JUDGE has urged a thorough investigation into how a dangerous criminal
was able to use a mobile phone in prison to organise the punishment shooting
of another man who might now lose a leg. Leyon Randall was in Dovegate
Prison, Staffordshire, serving an indeterminate jail sentence for robbery,
kidnap and firearms offences, at the time he arranged the shooting of Geovannie
Meade in Leeds in May this year. Yesterday Randall and his brother Lloyd were
both jailed for life at Leeds Crown Court after being convicted by a jury of
conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent to Mr Meade. Judge Scott
Wolstenholme said: "It is a very serious situation." It appeared
Leyon Randall was able not only to communicate regularly via a mobile phone
but to organise the "ruthless shooting from the comfort of his jail cell
using a mobile phone he had had for weeks if not months". It was also
suggested during the case that had been done with the connivance of officers
at the jail. "That may be an outrageous lie but it is something I would
have thought needs thoroughly investigating," the judge added. He said
the shooting was carried out by Lloyd Randall because his brother believed Mr
Meade was spending too much time with his girlfriend Amy Farnhill. The fact
he was prepared to arrange such lethal violence to settle "petty
scores" confirmed the view he was dangerous. It also showed a mobile
phone in the wrong hands in prison could be a very dangerous weapon.
Sentencing both to life, the judge ordered Leyon Randall, 29, to serve a
minimum of eight years and Lloyd Randall, 29 of Recreation Street, Holbeck,
Leeds to a minimum of seven years in jail. Both denied any involvement in the
shooting. Susanna Holdsworth, 26, a care assistant, found guilty by the jury
of perverting the course of justice, was jailed for two years. She gave Lloyd
Randall an alibi for the time of the shooting. Farnhill, 18, was cleared of
conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. The jury heard from David Dixon,
prosecuting, that on May 9 Mr Meade was invited to Farnhill's address in
Lingfield Gate, Moortown, Leeds, but as he arrived in the early hours he was
approached by Lloyd Randall and another man, and was shot in the leg by
Randall. He had surgery in hospital and further operations since but may
still lose his leg. A spokesman for Serco which operates HMP Dovegate said
they had worked with West Yorkshire Police in the case: "HMP Dovegate
has a leading reputation for reducing and preventing the use of illicit
mobile phones. This year alone we have confiscated 46 illegal phones from
prisoners or visitors."
September
11, 2009 Burton Mail
A PRIVATE prison near Burton says it has taken action on failings surrounding
the death of a prisoner last year. The inquest of Simon Coutts, who was found
hanged in his cell at HMP Dovegate, in Marchington, in June last year,
concluded yesterday at Stafford Coroner’s Court. The 29-year-old, originally
from Manchester, was discovered by prison officers with a ligature around his
neck, days after receiving a ‘dear John’ letter from his wife ending their
relationship. Details of Coutts’ conviction or how long he was serving were
not disclosed at the hearing. The inquest heard from DC Dave Johnstone, the
investigating officer from Burton police, that Coutts used a sheet and a
towel, wrapped together using electric cable as a ligature. This was fixed to
a ligature point — consisting of a hook attached to a small wooden block
stuck to the wall using a powerful adhesive glue — with shoe laces. DC
Johnstone told the hearing that as well as the hook on the cell wall, there
were also makeshift shelves attached, and a bird cage holding a budgerigar,
which was permitted in the ‘therapeutic community’ (TC) which houses 200 of
the prison’s 700 inmates. Eric Pearson, the investigating officer for prison
owner Serco, had told the hearing the previous day that there had been
‘failings’ by prison staff, whom he believed had not carried out cell checks
on the night of Coutts’ death. He said both the ligature point and toilet
roll used to block the cell door’s glass window should have been spotted and
removed if correct checks had been performed.
September
4, 2003
Staff at a private jail were so inexperienced they were unwilling or unable
to confront inmates, the chief inspector of prisons said today. Faults
at Dovegate prison in Staffordshire included a "cumbersome" system
to deal with insubordination, which allowed prisoners to "exploit the
situation" and avoid punishment, Anne Owers said. Operator Premier
Custodial Group was also accused of maintaining a "policy facade"
disguising a lack of effective systems. The report, though praising the
jail for its facilities and innovations, was seized on by prison reformers
and trades unionists who have long claimed privatised jails were inadequately
staffed. The 800-inmate category B jail near Uttoxeter held
sophisticated offenders who were "capable of exploiting any weaknesses
or naivety in the staff who supervise them," said Ms Owers.
"There was a worrying lack of experience and confidence among a young,
locally recruited staff, few of whom had any previous prison experience and
who were operating with low staffing levels and high staff turnover,"
the report said. "We observed an inability or unwillingness to
confront prisoners appropriately." Few prisoners had privileges taken
away even if they misbehaved, leading to the whole system being
"seriously undermined". Inspectors said in their report:
"Drug use appeared prevalent, yet drug reduction measures were given low
priority." They also found that a so-called "personal
officer" scheme designed to build a personal relationship between staff
and inmates existed "in name only". A survey by Ms Owers'
team found that 17 per cent of inmates reported being kicked, punched or
assaulted by another prisoner. But there was reluctance to stop
bullying even though an anti-bullying strategy had supposedly been put in place.
Premier has a 15-year contract with the Home Office to run Dovegate, which
opened in July 2001, although how much it is paid remains secret.
(Birmingham Post)
September
3, 2003
Homemade weapons and illicit hooch have been found at a privately run prison
where staff were so inexperienced that they were unable to confront the
inmates, according to a report by the chief inspector of prisons. The
inspection at the 800-inmate Dovegate prison, near Uttoxeter, Staffordshire,
was carried out in April and found that in contrast to the staff, the
prisoners were so sophisticated that they were able to exploit any weakness
among the staff. Anne Owers, the chief inspector of prisons, said
Dovegate, with its young staff recruited locally, provided further evidence
for the critics of the private prison sector. The company, Premier Custodial
Group, operated the prison with low staffing levels and a high
turnover. But she said the prison, which opened in July 2001, also
provided evidence of good relations between staff and prisoners. The prison
was praised for its cleanliness and the time spent out of cell by inmates in
useful activities. It was to the credit of the prison that the
potentially dangerous mix of sophisticated inmates and inexperienced staff had
resulted in a mostly safe prison based on mutual respect, Ms Owers said. But
she criticised the "cumbersome" system for dealing with
insubordination which allowed prisoners to avoid punishment. A search
carried out the week before the inspection uncovered the weapons and alcohol,
suggesting that regular cell searches were not thorough. Kevin Rogers,
Dovegate's director, defended the prison's staffing policies and said it
managed with fewer staff than most state-run prisons because of the
"open minds of the new recruits" and union agreements which allowed
it to run a more flexible working system. (The Guardian)
Dovegate Prison,
Staffordshire
Sep 8, 2018 derbytelegraph.co.uk
Female HMP Dovegate prison officer accused of
inappropriate relationships with inmates
A female prison officer has become the fourth worker in
nine months to be arrested for alleged 'inappropriate relationships' with
inmates at HMP Dovegate. It is understood the latest suspect has resigned and
been banned from working in prisons. Prison campaigners say the number of
alleged misconduct cases at the Category B jail is 'a cause for concern'.
Andrew Neilson, Director of Campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform,
said: "There will always be a risk of staff forming inappropriate relationships
with prisoners, although the fact Dovegate has seen a number of (suspected)
cases of late should be a cause for concern. "The reason why this might
have happened is harder to pin down without more information. Several staff
members have faced misconduct allegations in the last year. "In general, both public and private prisons have seen an influx of
new, inexperienced staff in recent times, and there is a risk that newer
recruits are more susceptible to being drawn into misconduct with
prisoners." Dovegate, which counts murderers and sex offenders among its
1,147 inmates, is run by private firm Serco on a Government contract. Since
November last year, four workers have faced police action for alleged
inappropriate relationships with prisoners. One arrested last year was
accused of relationships with 'more than one prisoner' and 'trafficking
illicit items' into the facility. It is thought the prison, which is just
outside Marchington, is now tightening up its recruitment process. A Serco
spokesman said: "We can confirm there is an ongoing investigation into
this matter, but do not wish to comment further." A Staffordshire Police
spokesman said: "Officers from Staffordshire Police arrested a
38-year-old woman from Cannock at Dovegate Prison on Thursday, August 23, on
suspicion of misconduct in public office. "She has been released under
investigation pending further enquiries." It comes months after prison
officer Adrian Kedzierski, 50, of Craven Street, Burton, was jailed for 40
months for smuggling mobile phones and Class B drugs into Dovegate. Prison
carpentry teacher Andrew Julian, 32, of Main Street, Bradbourne, was jailed
last month after cannabis valued at nearly £60,000 was found in his locker. A
Staffordshire Police spokesman said: "On November 25, 2017, a
28-year-old woman from Newcastle-under-Lyme was arrested on suspicion of
misconduct in a public office. "She was subsequently released under
investigation and as the investigation is ongoing, there is no further update
at this time. "On January 26, a 25-year-old woman from
Newcastle-under-Lyme was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in a public
office. "She was subsequently released under investigation and, as the
investigation is on-going, there is no update at this time. "On January
30, a 21-year-old woman from Burton was arrested on suspicion of misconduct
in a public office and conveying an article into a prison. She was
subsequently released under investigation and as the investigation is
on-going, there is no update at this time." One of the workers arrested
was a prison officer, one was a nurse contracted to Care UK and the role of
the third staff member is unknown. The Burton Mail and Uttoxeter Advertiser
have contacted Staffordshire Police for updates on their cases, but have yet
to receive a response. The latest Ministry of Justice (MoJ) stats show HMP
Dovegate is just 13 prisoners shy of its 1,160-inmate limit. That means it is
running at 99 per cent of its capacity and way over the 1,064-inmate limit
the MoJ earmarks for a "good, decent standard of accommodation".
Jan 8, 2017 dailystar.co.uk
Jail racket busted: Tennis balls used to smuggle drugs
into Staffordshire prison
BUSTED: Eight drug packages were smuggled into HMP
Dovegate inside of tennis balls. The eight packages had been served up over a perimeter fence early on
Christmas Eve. Officers at HMP Dovegate in Staffordshire found them outside
the jail’s L wing after getting a tip off. Each ball had been opened, packed
with drugs and sewn together again. They were then hurled over the fence from
the public side of the category B unit. “Everybody was walking around
shouting ‘balls please’”. “It’s one of the
more unusual techniques used to smuggle drugs. “But a tennis ball is the
ideal object to throw long distances and is pretty inconspicuous. “The theory
is an inmate was waiting for the delivery but officers got there first.” The
consignment was mainly made up of so-called “legal highs” including Spice.
The discovery was made at the private jail, run by Serco, at 8am on December
24.Staff also found a white iPhone during a search. Staffordshire police have
now launched their own investigation. Glyn Travis, from the Prison Officers
Association, said: “Criminals will use all means to smuggle contraband. “This
haul of drugs and mobiles was stopped because of the professional action of
staff. “But, because of cuts and lower staff numbers, it is harder to stop
smuggling.” Dovegate, near Uttoxeter, opened in 2001 and has room for 1,060
inmates.
Feb 13, 2016 bbc.com
Legal highs may have sparked HMP Dovegate riot
Serco said it was "working extremely hard" to address the
issues at HMP Dovegate. So-called legal highs could have sparked a riot at Dovegate Prison in
Staffordshire, a report has found. Six prisoners took over a residential wing
last March. A "catastrophic failure of basic security procedure"
allowed a convicted robber to escape in May, independent inspectors said. The
use of so-called legal highs led to widespread debt, bullying and violence
among inmates, inspectors found. Serco said the report recognised challenges
of psychoactive substances. The Independent Monitoring Board annual report
said: "Assaults and weapon finds still give rise for concern." In
the nine months to the end of September 2015 there were 38 assaults on staff
by prisoners and 106 assaults between inmates. There were 45 fights and 136
weapon finds, the report said. New psychoactive substances "could well
have been a major contributing factor" for the events of 26 March, said
the report. Six prisoners caused "significant interruption to the prison
regime" and the National Offender Management service's riot unit, known
as the Tornado team, was called in to restore order.
Dover Asylum Screening Centre
London City Airport
Group 4 (formerly run by Global Solutions)
September 12, 2005 BBC
Immigration detainees have been forced to sleep on tables or plastic chairs
because of sub-standard provisions, the prisons watchdog has revealed.
Facilities at Gatwick Airport, London City Airport and Dover Asylum Centre
were inappropriate for overnight stays, the chief inspector of prisons said.
City Airport was "unsuitable" for holding children, the report
said. The government said it takes detainees' welfare seriously but that
facilities may need independent monitoring. Holding centres at ports and
airports hold foreign travellers whose permission to be in the country needs
to be examined by immigration officers. But none of the centres inspected,
all run by private company GSL UK Limited, had adequate child protection
arrangements, according to the report. Inspectors found detainees were
sleeping in inadequate conditions, there were no regular healthcare visits
and suicide-prevention measures were not good enough.
August
16, 2005 BBC
Facilities at four short-term immigrant holding centres have been condemned
as "inadequate" by the prisons watchdog. Dover Asylum Screening
Centre, a centre at London City Airport and two at Gatwick Airport are not
suitable for overnight stays, its report says. Detainees were found to have slept on
tables or plastic chairs, it adds. Immigrants are only
supposed to be detained for a few hours, but Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne
Owers said people were sometimes held overnight, and occasionally for up to
36 hours. Ms Owers said none of the centres had
adequate child protection arrangements. A
spokesman for GSL UK Limited, which was in charge of the centres at the time
of the inspections, said it was inappropriate to comment as the company no
longer ran them. The
centres have since been taken over by Group 4 Securicor.
Downview Women's
Prison
Banstead, UK
Aramark
March 27, 2007 IC Surrey
REPLACING prison food with over-priced outside catering fare is a recipe for disaster
in a women's jail. This is the opinion of prison visitors whose latest report
says inmates much preferred 'porridge' the way it is. Aramark, the company
which has taken over the canteen at Downview Women's Prison, is typical of
the caterers who have taken over the food at many jails. And the report by
the Independent Monitoring Board claims the new system is not being welcomed
anywhere. The report says: "We were warned in advance by other
independent monitoring boards who had experienced a similar change to expect
a disastrous transfer - and it has been. "The decision to privatise the
canteen may bring cash benefit to the Treasury but the introduction of
Aramark to run the prison canteen has so far been a disaster. "For
prisoners the canteen is one of the most important facets of their lives but
prices have risen sharply,the inventory has shrunk, revisions take ages to
implement and the administration is poor. "In contrast the old
prison-run canteen at least understood the needs of the prisoners and charged
prices that matched their wages. "It worked and this seems to be the
same story repeated throughout as prison after prison has lost control of its
canteens." In a report which praises "committed and dedicated"
staff, the board said all the faults it found with Downview were beyond their
control.
Dungavel
Detention Centre
Lanarkshire, Britain
GEO Group
Jul 31, 2018 theferret.scot
Vulnerable women at risk in Dungavel detention centre, says report
Women are at risk of exploitation in Dungavel House immigration removal
centre and more than 200 detainees were on watch for self harm in 2017,
according to a new report. The Home Office has also been told that a secure
unit at the detention centre was “wholly unsuitable” for people with mental
health conditions and that health facilities were “not clean”. The report by
Stephen Shaw, a former prison ombudsman for England and Wales, on the
privately run facility in South Lanarkshire has also raised concerns over the
time staff took to section people with serious mental health issues. Dungavel
House is run by The Geo Group UK Limited, a subsidiary of US company Geo
Group, which runs immigration detention centres in the US. Dungavel House can
hold a maximum of 249 people. Shaw’s report – a follow-up to his review in
January 2016 on the UK’s immigration removal centres – highlights a number of
issues after an inspection he conducted in November 2017. Regarding female
detainees, he said: “While men and women’s accommodation were separate, women
were allowed to mix with men in communal areas if they chose to do so. Women
were able to access all services outside the times that men used them, but it
was unclear how this worked in practice. “I am concerned that there is risk
of exploitation, or of vulnerable women being left without access to services
and facilities, due to their shared use by men.” The report also reveals that
206 detainees were at risk of self harm last year and that 10 people were
returned to the detention centre after being sectioned. There were 42 complaints
received at Dungavel in 2017. Shaw also said the centre’s secure unit was
“bleak and excessively bare”. He added: “I was concerned to learn that the
current Secure Unit was last used two weeks before my visit for a man with
very poor mental health as it had taken a number of days for him to be
sectioned. This was not unusual; I was told that the unit had held three very
serious cases recently, the worst in the manager’s 16 years’ experience.” In
reply The Geo Group UK Limited said: “Stephen Shaw acknowledged that Dungavel
IRC has a good reputation and he said it was where he heard the most
consistently positive comments from detainees about staff. “In a
comprehensive inspection of the centre, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of
Prisons found that it maintained a good and supportive environment for
detainees and has done excellent work to mitigate the stresses of detention.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The Home Secretary made clear this week his
goal to ensure our immigration system, including our approach to immigration
detention, is fair and humane. “Detention is an important part of the
immigration system – but it must be fair, dignified and protect the most
vulnerable. The Shaw Review confirms that we are on the right track with our
reforms but it is also made clear we can go further. “That is why the Home
Secretary has called for the pace of reform to be increased and is determined
to see a new drive on dignity and improved support for vulnerable detainees.”
May
8, 2016 bbc.com
Hundreds join Dungavel detention centre protest
Hundreds of campaigners have joined a protest outside a detention centre
calling for it to be shut down. Pressure group, We Will Rise, organised the
demonstration and members branded Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre
"racist and inhumane". Protesters, including former detainees,
asylum seekers and refugees, surrounded the centre near Strathaven in South
Lanarkshire. The Home Office said detention was part of a "firm but
fair" system. They chanted "shut down Dungavel" and held up
banners reading "no one is illegal". Former Dungavel detainee,
Sally Martinez, told the crowd: "We believe we can end detention in
Scotland. To see so many people here is really inspiring. The costs of
detention are too great - it has a human cost, a financial cost and a moral
cost. Dungavel's time is up." Sonny Adisa, also a former detainee,
added: "Not only is the system racist and inhumane, but it's illogical
too. Scotland needs immigration, yet it's spending public money on locking people
up that could contribute to society." A Home Office statement said:
"Detention is an important part of a firm but fair immigration system,
helping to ensure that those with no right to remain in the UK are returned
to their home country if they will not leave voluntarily. "Decisions to
detain individuals are reviewed regularly to ensure they remain justified and
reasonable and, if necessary, they can be challenged through the courts.
"We are committed to treating all detainees with dignity and respect and
take the welfare of detainees very seriously." Dungavel House, which
opened in 2001, holds up to 249 detainees and is the only such centre in
Scotland. It is operated under contract to the Home Office by GEO Group Ltd.
The protest was part of a Europe-wide day of action against detention
centres.
Jul
7, 2015 commonspace.scot
Prisons
inspector criticises Dungavel Detention Centre for treatment of rape and
torture victims
THE
TREATMENT of vulnerable asylum seekers at Dungavel detention centre, some who
may have been victims of rape and torture, has been criticised in a report by
the UK’s chief prison inspector. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP)
found that vulnerable individuals were being detained in contravention of
rules designed to protect vulnerable people from detention. However, it did
state that Dungavel was a “safe place” for detainees. The report was from a
visit made between 9-20 February this year and has only been made available
now. According to the report, in some cases evidence of torture was
“compelling but detention had been maintained”. One reply to a detainee’s
report of trauma said “you may have been a victim of torture. However, it has
been decided that you will remain in detention”. Another case is highlighted
where a traumatised women, who reported being the victim of rape, was held in
detention too long. Despite the centre’s health team saying that the women
was “very traumatised”, “unsuitable for detention” and advising that she
“should be released”, the woman was transported to Yarl’s Wood detention
centre in England. She was eventually moved back to Dungavel before being
released to social services, a total of nine days after the Home Office was
alerted to her trauma. “We see people in detention deteriorate before our
very eyes.” Kate Alexander, Scottish Detainee Visitors Kate Alexander from
Scottish Detainee Visitors said that the report backs up the findings of a
parliamentary enquiry into detention. “The biggest problems are that people
are detained too long and vulnerable people are detained,” she said. “We
frequently see people who are vulnerable and often their mental health
problems are a result of long term detention. We see people in detention
deteriorate before our very eyes. “There are problems at Dungavel, but the
key problem remains the system of detention itself.” The legislation that
governs Dungavel, 2001 Detention Centre Rules, requires a report be sent to
the Home Office if a person’s physical or mental health is likely be affected
by detention, including if they have been tortured. "You may have been a
victim of torture. However, it has been decided that you will remain in
detention" Response to Dungavel detainee. According to HMIP, the
qualities of these “Rule 35” reports was “variable”. “Some were very clear,
detailed and persuasive, while others were short and lacked diagnostic
findings. Two of the 10 reports we looked at had led to release, but in other
compelling cases detention had been maintained,” said the report. The report
is also critical of the “unreasonable” length of time that detainees spend in
Dungavel. An Iranian man is reported to have spent over 2 and a half years in
the centre and the report blames Home Office delays in processing asylum
claims for prolonging periods of detention. The UK is the only country in the
EU which has no cap on how long people can be detained under immigration
powers. In April, the Home Office refused a request from a delegation of
political and religious leaders to visit Dungavel detention centre. This
followed a hunger-strike from detainees inside the centre, which was reported
on CommonSpace (click here to read more). The centre is run by American
multinational GEO Group which operates prisons in the United States as well
as a migrant operations centre in Guantanamo Bay. The HMIP report is critical
of the fact that detainees are transported to and from Dungavel over night
and are refused comfort breaks, even on long journeys. It said that too many
detainees were unnecessarily handcuffed during external appointments, with 49
of 50 risk assessments studied leading to the handcuffing. Meanwhile also
documented is the controversial practise of paying detainees only £1 an hour
for work undertaken in detention. In
addition, the vast majority of detainees (67 per cent) said that they had not
received any visits from family or friends at the centre. In a statement, the
Home Office said: ”Detention and removal are essential parts of effective
immigration controls, helping to ensure that those with no right to remain in
the UK are returned to their home country if they will not leave voluntarily.
“We take our responsibilities towards detainees' welfare extremely seriously.
That is why the Home Secretary has commissioned an independent review of
detainees' welfare to be conducted by the former prisons ombudsman Stephen
Shaw. This is expected to be completed in the autumn.”
September 21, 2003
Campaigners have reacted angrily to reports that the Dungavel asylum centre's
capacity is to be increased . The Home Office has confirmed that it is
looking at a £3m project to increase capacity by a quarter to 194. This would
involve new pre-fabricated buildings with bars on the windows being built at
the centre in south Lanarkshire. The Scottish National Party accused the
Scottish Executive of "dishonesty" and of hiding the plans. This is
one of a number of plans to increase the size of detention of state Home
Office spokesman MSPs have clashed over who is responsible for Dungavel as
the UK Government is currently in charge of immigration and asylum, but
education in Scotland is a devolved matter. An executive spokesman said again
on Sunday that immigration and the operation of Dungavel is reserved to
Westminster and the Home Office. Collusion claim A Home Office spokesman
said: "This is one of a number of plans to increase the size of
detention of state. "If it goes ahead the capacity will increase to 194.
But the extra space will not be used for families and instead will house
single males." Linda Fabiani, SNP MSP for Central Scotland, accused the
executive of colluding with the Home Office. She said: "Ministers are
being very dishonest about this. They should be deeply ashamed at what they
are allowing the Home Office to do. "They're going to have to take
notice of the people in Scotland who know that they are breaching human
rights." The MSP claimed the plans were prove that Dungavel was being
used like a prison. She said: "They (the executive) have chosen to make
this place a prison and are actually building prison facilities with bars on
the windows. "They are locking children up in that environment."
Labour MSP Elaine Smith, the member for Coatbridge and Chryston, said the
plans should have been revealed months ago. Labour MP Michael Connarty, a
campaigner against the detention of children at the centre, said he was
concerned. He said: "We need to move away from this type of facility.
"I'm concerned we seem to be consolidating Dungavel's role. It is a
prison establishment and unsuitable for children." (BBC News)
September 11, 2003
Westminster has effectively ruled out educating children held at the Dungavel
asylum centre in local schools. Immigration Minister Beverley Hughes
said she wanted the "best possible education" provided for children
inside the centre. In a special debate in the Scottish Parliament,
Scottish National Party leader John Swinney appealed to MSPs to follow their
consciences and end the policy of detaining children. The privately-run
centre in South Lanarkshire, which can hold up to 150 asylum seekers, has
caused controversy by holding children in the former prison for long periods
with their parents. An SNP motion in parliament called for "an end
to the detention of children" at the Dungavel Immigration and Removal
centre. It also sought an end to "a system of detention of children
at Dungavel which denies them access to social contact and to educational and
other services in the local community". In an impassioned speech,
Scottish Socialist MSP Rosie Kane made clear her opposition to
Dungavel. She said: "Detention of innocent people is wrong.
Dungavel and other detention centres all over the UK are wrong. (BBC
News)
September 6, 2003
About a thousand people have joined a human rights demonstration outside the
controversial Dungavel Detention Centre in Lanarkshire. The event was
planned to coincide with the second anniversary of the centre's
opening. Organisers the Scottish Trades Unions Congress (STUC) said the
protest reflected growing public concern over the treatment of asylum seekers
there. A spokesman said it was outrageous that asylum seekers and their
families had been detained in Scotland over the past two years, having
committed no crime and with no charges against them. (BBC News)
August 15, 2003
The long-term detention of children in immigration removal centres should
stop, the chief inspector of prisons has said. Anne Owers' call is made
in a report on the Dungavel detention centre in Lanarkshire, the only such
centre in Britain where children are regularly held for long periods.
Opposition politicians and churches in Scotland have demanded the closure of
the 62-bed family unit at Dungavel. The privately-run centre holds up
to 148 failed asylum seekers and other immigration detainees. (BBC
News)
Elmley Prison
Kent, UK
Serco
May 24, 2010 Kent News
Four people, including a prison guard, have been sentenced for conspiracy to
supply drugs and mobile phones to convicts. The drugs had a prison ‘street
value’ of around £17,000 in HMP Elmley prison, and the judge described the
crimes as "very serious offences, as drugs and mobile phones are a form
of currency within prisons which can destroy prison life". Prisoner
Darren Byrne, 30, of HMP Elmley, received eight years imprisonment for his
role as ringleader in the conspiracy. At Maidstone Crown Court Judge Gold said:
"You were at the hub of this conspiracy, orchestrating it all from
within the prison walls". The court heard how officers had found a
mobile phone and Sim card in Byrne's cell and the phone revealed a series of
text messages between him and Carly Morris revealing key information about
the smuggling operation. Morris, 25, from Dover, formerly a Serco court
security employee working at Canterbury Crown Court, was given a total of
five years imprisonment for her role in the conspiracy. Judge Gold said
Morris "had a responsibility to transport and guard prisoners and that
she had abused her position of trust" by passing over drugs and mobile
phones to prisoners to smuggle back into HMP Elmley.
June 3, 2009 Little Hampton Gazette
A former prison worker has been remanded on bail after appearing in court
charged with trying to smuggle drugs into a Kent prison. Carly Joanne Morris,
24, who has left her post at Serco, was charged with conspiracy to supply
drugs into Elmley Prison on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, along with three
other people. Prison inmate Darren Paul Byrne, 29, Dino Lewis Gillet, 37,
unemployed, of Canterbury Road, Westgate-on-Sea, and his wife, Sahra Naomi
Gillet, 35, also unemployed and of the same address, also appeared at Medway
Magistrates' Court for a preliminary hearing. All four are also charged with
conveying prohibited articles into the prison. Morris, from Dover, and Mrs
Gillet were remanded on bail. Mr Gillet and Byrne were remanded in custody
until their next appearance at Maidstone Crown Court on June 15. Officers
from the serious and organised crime unit within Kent Police's specialist
operations directorate made the arrests following a joint investigation
between Kent Police and HMP Elmley security department. More than 18 police
officers were involved in the investigation and arrests and properties in
Grange Road, Ramsgate, and Canterbury Road, Westgate-on-Sea, were searched.
The arrests come after another former Serco worker was charged with trying to
smuggle drugs into the jail last month.
May 14, 2009 BBC
A former prison worker has been charged with trying to smuggle drugs into
a Kent jail. Kent Police charged Zoe Spenser-Campbell, 25, with conspiracy to
supply controlled drugs into Elmley Prison on the Isle of Sheppey. The former
Serco employee was charged alongside labourer Jason Howsam, 26, who lives at
the same address in High Street, Herne Bay. A second man who was also
arrested on Tuesday was released without charge. The arrests followed a joint
investigation between the serious and organised crime unit within Kent
Police's specialist operations directorate and HMP Elmley security
department.
Forest
Bank Prison
Agecroft, UK
Sodexho (Kalyx)
Feb
24, 2019 mirror.co.uk
Mum's
heartache as son becomes fifth inmate to die at private prison in a year
Michael
McDonagh, 27, was pronounced dead after he was found unresponsive in his cell
at HMP Forest Bank
A
devastated mum has told of her grief and her pursuit of answers after her son
became the fifth inmate to die at a private prison in a year. Michael
McDonagh, 27, was pronounced dead after he was found unresponsive in his cell
at HMP Forest Bank on February 19. The dad-of-one had been returned to
custody at the Category B prison, run by Sodexo on behalf of the Ministry of
Justice, following a serious driving offence last year. His mum, Margaret
McDonagh, said he suffered from mental health problems, telling the Manchester
Evening News he should not have been moved from a wing for vulnerable
prisoners. Prison bosses are investigating Michael's death at the Salford
prison, and said the cause is not yet known. His mum, from Failsworth,
Oldham, said: “He had paranoid schizophrenia - he was not well. “I pleaded
for him to be moved. He never should have been in prison. I asked for him to
be sectioned. “If they had moved him from that kennel he may still be alive.”
Margaret has criticised prison bosses and is demanding answers as an internal
investigation and a probe by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman are carried
out. An inquest is expected to take place within months. Margaret claims her
son was unhappy at HMP Forest Bank, where he was jailed following an incident
in July last year. Michael was on licence, having served half a seven-year
sentence for aggravated burglary, when he took an overdose before rowing with
his ex-girlfriend and stealing her car - which he then crashed and torched,
the Manchester Evening News reported last month. Margaret said he was being
held in a vulnerable prisoners' wing but was moved to a general population
wing. She added: “He said he didn’t like it. He told me ‘it’s bad, mum’. “As
a mum to have your child in a zoo, because that’s what it is, is awful. He
kept asking me day in and day out get him out. He said ‘I need to get out
mum, I need to get out. “He would have been out in 18 months. “(Everyone in
the prison) they have all done stuff but they are human and that’s my baby.
How many deaths will happen in that jail before anyone listens? “I would
never wish this pain on any other mother.” Margaret blasted the prison over
its handling of the case and claims she has struggled to get information
about how her son died. Related video: Shocking footage shows inmate pass
drugs from his body. She claims the news of her son's death was delivered
over the phone because she wasn't home when two prison officials knocked on
her door. Margaret said: “I had a phone call the morning he died saying ‘Is
this Margaret McDonagh? We need to speak to you. We’re at your house'. “I
told them not to go in the house because my children were in there. I was
saying ‘what’s wrong, what’s happened?’ They said Michael had been found that
morning deceased. “I was on the phone in my car. I was screaming.” She added:
“They have not given me any explanation. I don’t know what happened to him.
“They said it looked like he had fallen asleep watching TV.” Margaret claims
she called the prison chaplain for comfort, but her call was not returned,
and she was only allowed to see her son's body through glass when she visited
the mortuary. She added: “I’ve not been able to kiss him or touch him. I just
want him home. I saw him but I couldn’t go near him. He was so beautiful.
Such a beautiful son. “He was a fun-loving, loveable, beautiful, warm hearted
boy.” It is understood the prison director and a family liaison officer
visited Margaret at home the day her son died, the Manchester Evening News
reports. HMP Forest Bank is run by Sodexo for the Ministry of Justice. A
spokesperson said: “We can confirm that a prisoner died on Tuesday 19
February at HMP Forest Bank. “Our thoughts are with the family and we
continue to provide them with support through our family liaison officer. “As
with all deaths in custody, there will be an investigation by the police and
the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman and therefore we are unable
to comment further at this stage.”
September 30, 2011 Manchester
Evening News
A prison manager demoted over the dramatic escape of a gangster has been
found hanged at his home. Tony Purslow was part of an escort taking criminal
Michael O'Donnell to hospital in an ambulance when it was subjected to a
'terrifying' attack by a gang of bat-wielding masked men in Salford.
O'Donnell, who had been awaiting sentence for conspiracy to rob and commit
burglary, was sprung by the gang and spent nearly a month at large. Mr
Purslow – who worked at Forest Bank in Salford - was hauled before a
disciplinary committee and demoted to the rank of senior custody officer,
cutting his salary by £10,000 a year. Three other prison officers who were in
the ambulance at the time of the escape were sacked. Mr Purslow, 50, was
found dead at his home in Leigh last Thursday. He was immaculately dressed in
a suit and had a picture of his family in his top pocket.
February 11, 2011 BBC
A former prison nurse who smuggled a mobile phone into a Salford jail could
have put people's lives at risk, police have said. Leanne Cartledge, 23, of
Miles Platting, hid the mobile phone in her clothing and gave it to a
prisoner she was in a relationship with. She admitted taking a prohibited
article into the privately-run HMP Forest Bank prison last year. On Thursday,
she was jailed for four months at Minshull Street Crown Court. Det Con Phil
Marsh, of Greater Manchester Police, said: "Cartledge was employed in a
position of a trust - a position she abused when she smuggled a prohibited
item into the prison and our investigations revealed her actions had serious and
far-reaching implications. "Any time a mobile phone is illegally handed
to someone who is in prison, it can give that offender a lifeline to continue
their criminality in the outside world which has a knock-on effect for many
people, potentially putting them at risk. "It can also lead to fights
between other inmates, bullying and witness intimidation so clearly her
actions were both foolish and dangerous." A spokeswoman for Kalyx, which
runs HMP Forest Bank, said they were not able to comment on individual cases.
November 9, 2010 Manchester Evening
News
Young prisoners are being tied up in bed linen and beaten by other inmates, a
report said today. The practice, known as "sheeting", is seen as
horseplay by some staff at Forest Bank prison, in Salford, Greater Manchester,
but the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Nick Hardwick, condemned it as
"serious bullying" which needs to be stopped. "A very
vulnerable young man who spoke to us described it as him being tied up inside
a duvet cover and 'battered' every night," he said. "A number of
prisoners talked to us about 'sheeting' and these were incidents that the
prison had recorded on a number of occasions. "A prison officer on a
wing described it to us as horseplay. Prison management had limited knowledge
of it. We are satisfied this does occur and needs to be stopped." Forest
Bank, a category B local prison for adult and young adult men, was operating
under its full operational capacity of 1,424 prisoners at the time of the
inspection between June 29 and July 9, the report said. The report found that
the prison is making improvements in cutting out drug abuse - with only one
in ten prisoners failing a random drugs test in 2009 compared with four in
ten in 2005. About half of the prison's 110 young adults were held on the A1
landing, where most of the incidents of sheeting took place and inmates there
identified "serious concerns about their safety", the inspectors
said. "A prisoner was forcibly put inside a duvet cover and the opening
knotted so that he could not release himself while perpetrators carried out
random acts of violence," Mr Hardwick said. "Prisoners told us that
it was common and we met a number of young people who had clearly been
victimised in this way." He added: "We were concerned that for a
small minority of prisoners, it was not at all safe and in some cases, prison
officers on the wings had a passive attitude to bullying and unexplained
injuries - however good the policies."
May 28, 2010 BBC
A prisoner who cut off part of his ear so he could escape from an
ambulance in Greater Manchester has been arrested. Michael O'Donnell, 29, was
on remand at HMP Forest Bank in Salford when he took a razor to his ear while
in his cell. He was taken to hospital on 2 May, but on the way the ambulance
was held up by masked men and O'Donnell escaped. He was arrested at Pontin's
in Southport, Merseyside, on Friday on suspicion of escaping from lawful
custody. Two other men, aged 24 and 52, were also arrested on suspicion of
conspiracy in assisting an offender to escape from lawful custody. O'Donnell
was sharing a cell with his brother when the incident happened. He was being
taken to Hope Hospital when a stolen BMW pulled in front of it, forcing it to
stop on Agecroft Road. Four masked men then attacked the vehicle with baseball
bats and bolt cutters and O'Donnell, who was escorted by three prison guards,
escaped. The BMW, which had been stolen in a burglary on 30 April in
Levenshulme, was later found abandoned near to Lumbs Lane. O'Donnell was due
to be sentenced at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on Friday for
conspiracy to convert criminal property, in relation to a car cloning crime
ring.
May 4, 2010 Manchester Evening News
A prison has launched an inquiry after a dangerous robber was sprung by a
masked gang as he was taken to hospital. Michael O’Donnell is believed to
have used a razor blade to slice off part of his own ear to set up his
escape. The gang stopped the ambulance taking him to hospital from Forest
Bank prison in Salford early on Sunday before forcing guards to free him.
They then fled in a stolen BMW. His escape was the third in five years from
the privately-run jail. In 2006, robber Michael Halligan, then 26, from
Salford, gave two Forest Bank guards the slip as he waited for a minor
operation in hospital. The year before, car-jacker Neil Brennan was sprung.
He deliberately injured his hand and made a phone call from inside the prison
to tip-off his hijackers. Forest Bank opened in 2000 at a cost of £46m and is
run by Kalyx, which runs four prisons in England and Scotland. The prison
will consider how the gang appeared to know precisely when the ambulance was
due out of the prison and whether mobile phones may have played a part in the
operation. Colin Moses, chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association, said:
“Prisons should not be for profit. “It lowers standards and lowers wages. As
a result, you get incidents like this. We are in an election when there’s a
lot of talk about getting rid of the public sector. If this is how the
private sector runs a prison, it’s not very good. “Here we have a prison
given over to a group of profiteers and they cannot even keep people in
custody.” A spokesman for Kalyx said: “We refute any allegations that our
security measures would be compromised for any reason. “We have strict
security procedures in place and security training for prison officers is in
accordance with MOJ standards.” Detectives from the Major Incident Team of
Greater Manchester Police have searched addresses in Stockport and south
Manchester for O’Donnell, who has links to the travelling community and had
been awaiting sentence for conspiracy to rob. Assistant Chief Constable Ian
Hopkins said: “Given the timing and the nature of the attack, there’s clearly
a degree of planning gone into it.”
April 29, 2008 Manchester.com
The inquiry into why a man wrongly released from Forest Bank jail in
Salford was able to murder a man on a double-decker bus has criticised the
criminal justice system. Anthony Joseph was released from the private prison
in Agecroft despite an outstanding warrant for his immediate arrest from
Liverpool crown court over a burglary offence. Anthony Joseph, 23, stabbed
Richard Whelan several times on the top deck of a bus in London in July 2005
only hours after he was released. The report, which was commissioned by the
Home Office last December, criticises the "lackadaisical" and
"nonchalant approach" of the criminal justice system when it comes
to some offenders. Officials at Forest Bank jail in Manchester have said they
were not aware there was an outstanding arrest warrant for Mr Joseph. The
report also criticises the lack of communication between law enforcement
bodies. Earlier this month, government figures revealed that a tenth of the
prison drug finds in England and Wales during 2007 were in Forest Bank. But
the prison governor claims this reflects the jail's high detection rate.
August 14, 2006 BBC
A prison officer from a private jail has been arrested over claims he
made nuisance calls to inmates' relatives. The 41-year-old man, who works at
Forest Bank Prison, in Salford, Greater Manchester, was arrested after
prisoners and families complained. The officer was held on 2 August and later
bailed until 30 August. A Greater Manchester Police spokeswoman said a man
had been arrested on suspicion of misuse of telecommunications systems.
Forest Bank, which opened in 2000, is run by United Kingdom Detention
Services (UKDS). A spokesman for UKDS said it had nothing to add to the
police statement.
December 21, 2005 The Guardian
Inmates threw a bucket of excrement over prison staff as government
inspectors toured a privately-run jail, it emerged today. The chief inspector
of prisons, Anne Owers, revealed the incident - known in jail lingo as
"potting" - as she raised concerns about falling safety standards
at Forest Bank jail, Greater Manchester. The 800-inmate men's jail, which is
run by UK Detention Services, suffered 25 prisoner assaults a month and there
had been 2,500 disciplinary hearings in just six months, she said. Drugs were
"rife" with four out of 10 compulsory drug tests coming back
positive, her inspection team found. The director of the Prison Reform Trust
charity, Juliet Lyon said: "This damning report reveals a prison that
has become all too comfortable with violence, drugs and bullying. When a
bucket of excrement is thrown at staff, during the inspection itself, you
have to ask whether anyone is in control at Forest Bank. "This is the
latest in a series of worrying reports suggesting that high staff turnover and
lack of control in some private prisons is creating a 'Lord of the Flies'
environment that is dangerous for prisoners and staff, and almost guaranteed
to increase the chances of re-offending on release."
December 21, 2005 The Times
A PRIVATELY run jail is out of control, with high levels of assaults and a
culture on the wings of drug abuse, according to a highly critical report
published today. Prison officers were covered with a bucket of excrement by
inmates at Forest Bank jail as inspectors toured the building. The incident
known in prison slang as "potting" was the latest in a number of
similar attacks on prison staff. Anne Owers, the Chief Inspector of Prisons,
criticised the culture at the jail which was "steeped in serious drug
abuse". In one month alone, more than 2kg of cannabis, 60g of heroin and
4.6g of cocaine were found at the jail, run by United Kingdom Detention
Services. Ms Owers was so alarmed by the prison in Salford, Greater
Manchester, that she immediately alerted senior Prison Service officials to
the extent of the failings. "There had been a significant deterioration
in safety so that urgent management attention and remedial action was
required to rebuild staff confidence and properly regain control of the
prison," the inspection report said. A surprise inspection in July at
the jail, run by UKDS, a subsidiary of Sodexho Alliance which runs three
prisons, found routine intimidation of staff, prisoner assaults on other
prisoners running at 25 a month and staff turnover of 25 per cent a year. There
had been 2,500 prisoner discipline hearings in six months and 40 per cent of
compulsory drug tests were positive. Ms Owers said: "There were a series
of assaults against staff, including one unsavoury incident when a bucket of
excrement was thrown into an office and over two staff who were there, while
we were at the prison. This was by no means the first such 'potting' incident
in the prison's recent history. We were told there were two or three others
in the previous couple of months." The report depicts a prison where
drugs are rife and that a high level of staff turnover meant custody officers
were unable to tackle problems. It is the second report in less than six
months in which Ms Owers has found serious problems of control at a privately
run jail. In July she found that staff at Rye Hill jail near Rugby had little
confidence in controlling prisoners and the premises were "almost out of
control". Staff turnover at the prison, operated by GSL, formerly part
of the Group 4, was running at 40 per cent a year. Private sector involvement
in the prison system has helped to spur the public sector to improve its
performance and introduced innovation into the jail system. But staff
turnover at private jails is higher than State-run jails - reflecting lower pay
for officers compared with those in State prisons. It is also difficult to
get information about what goes on in private jails with "commercial
confidentiality" used as a reason not to disclose details. One prison
watchdog said: "The private sector do not like anyone knowing too much
about what goes on in their prisons. If they could get away with giving out
no information at all, they would."
March 3, 2005 BBC
Police are searching for a "dangerous" prisoner who escaped
while he was being taken to hospital in a taxi. Convicted robber Neil
Brennan, 21, was handcuffed to two prison officers as they travelled from HMP
Forest Bank to Hope Hospital, Salford, on Wednesday. The taxi was stopped by
two men who threatened the guards with a gun, forcing them to unlock the
handcuffs. Brennan escaped with the men. Greater Manchester Police said
Brennan "may pose a danger to the public". Det Ch Insp Sam Hawarth
said the hijacking had been well-planned and that he believed Brennan may
have injured himself deliberately as part of the plot. He said he expected
the Prison Service to review its means of transporting prisoners in the wake
of the escape. "It would appear that using taxis in this manner is a
regular practice, but it is not one we were aware of," he said. The prison
guards who were taking Brennan from the privately-run HMP Forest Bank were
not injured but were left "shocked".
August 18, 2004
A GREATER Manchester prison is at breaking point - according to an officer
who has admitted trying to smuggle drugs into it. Norman Edgerton, 40,
appeared at Manchester Crown Court last week after pleading guilty to
possession of heroin with intent to supply. Now the contents of a letter the
former prison officer wrote to the judge, Recorder Cross, have been revealed.
In it, Edgerton criticises management at the prison, which is privately run
by UK Detention Services (UKDS). The company has rejected the allegations.
"It's not good enough to give officers keys, a badge and no radio, and
expect two of them to unlock 86 inmates, run the wing, and hope all goes
well. "If officers are to have any chance of doing their job effectively
and within company regulations, they need and deserve the support and back-up
systems that are there on paper only." He claims that officers ring in
sick and quit their jobs because they feel "helpless, stressed and can
no longer cope". He also alleges that inmates are becoming stressed at
the lack of organisation on the wings. In February, up to seven prison staff
suffered memory blackouts after their drinks were spiked during a night out.
Last year, there was a security alert after allegations that an officer
supplied mobile phones to inmates; and in 2002, an early Christmas party for
prison officers ended in a brawl with police being called. (Manchester)
Glasgow
Royal Infirmary
Glasgow, England
Sodexho
January 25, 2002
THESE
were the shocking scenes inside Glasgow's largest hospital this week. A joint
management and union inspection team found filthy conditions throughout
Glasgow Royal Infirmary in areas used by patients and staff. Now unions at the hospital are
demanding Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm sack the private cleaning
contractor Sodexho for failing to deliver decent services. Bloody surgical "scrubs" from
an operating theatre are dumped in a lift used to carry patients' meals.
Staff say the area is infested with cockroaches. DANGER MOVE: A porter moves bags of
contaminated material, but is wearing no protective clothing. Workers say tunnels below the Victorian-built
hospital have been turned into firetraps by piles of waste. And staff have to wash themselves in a
stinking bathroom among damaged brickwork that could harbour germs. There are
more piles of filth on the floor. Despite this chief
executive Maggie Boyle slammed our investigation and promised: "The
cleaning contract for the hospital is routinely monitored and any problems
identified are addressed." However, North Glasgow
Unison secretary Carolyn Leckie today called for Sodexho's contract to be
terminated. She said: "What we found is the
result of years of under-funding. This is made worse by private firms milking
profits and potentially putting patients at risk." Staff shortages are so severe two men
have to shift 10tonnes of linen a day, a job previously done by eight people.
Ms Leckie said: "We want to an end
to privatisation. The Trust can't solve this problem on
its own. We desperately need extra resources from the Scottish
Executive." (John McCann)
Global Solutions Limited (now Group 4)
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.
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.
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 . 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.
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 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.
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.”
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."
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.
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.
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 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."
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."
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.
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.
12 October 2012 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 10, 2012 POGO
Shortly after the security breach at Y-12 National Security Complex on July
28, the Independent Oversight Program at the Department of Energy (DOE)
headquarters sent a team to Y-12 to conduct performance tests on the
effectiveness of the Wackenhut Services Inc Oak Ridge guard force, according
to a POGO source at the DOE. Two days ago, The Nuclear Weapons &
Materials Monitor reported that a federal inspector discovered copies of
questions and answers from the written portion of the performance test in a
guard force vehicle. The newest security director of Y-12, John Garrity, who
took over the position after the break-in a month ago, has now been
administratively re-assigned. This incident of cheating on a performance test
at Y-12 is nothing new for Wackenhut. Prior to the break in at Y-12, POGO had
received an anonymous tip voicing concerns about cheating on security tests
that sounded credible. We could not verify the allegation so were not able to
release it at the time. But after another source contacted POGO and the
latest revelation about guards with test questions and answers, there is
certainly justification to do so now. The source stated that “Wackenhut has a
history of cheating on performance tests at Y12 and other locations. All of
the in house testing that is scheduled to occur is relayed in advance to the
security personnel so they always do a great job. All drills and tests done
for the occasional outside agency are relayed ahead of time as to what they
will be. There is no honest testing taking place. The security force cannot
do any response without practicing and rehearsing ahead of time as they
almost always do. Even though Wackenhut was caught cheating during an IG
investigation in 2004, they were allowed to not only keep their contract,
they were allowed to continue testing themselves. This is clearly a conflict
on [sic] interest as it has been and it continiues [sic] to go on.” And in
June 2003, a test using four different force-on-force scenarios was conducted
at Y-12 to determine the effectiveness of the guard force. It turned out that
the guard force performed too well on all four scenarios. An Inspector
General (IG) investigation of the 2003 incident found that the tests had been
compromised when leaders of the guard force gained access to the attackers’
plans: Several individuals told us, for example, that controlled
(test-sensitive) information was shared with SPOs [Security Police Officers]
prior to their participation in a given performance test. These concerns
paralleled our findings regarding the June 2003 performance test. When
queried as to the nature of the information that had been shared with SPOs in
prior years, they provided a number of examples, including the following:
•The specific building and wall to be attacked by the test adversary; •The
specific target of the test adversary; and •Whether or not a diversionary
tactic would be employed by the test adversary. In a memorandum attached to
the IG report, Inspector General Gregory Friedman said, “We found that
shortly before the test, two protective force personnel were inappropriately
permitted to view the computer simulations of the four scenarios. This action
compromised controlled (test-sensitive) information. As a consequence, the
test results were, in our judgment, tainted and unreliable.” Additionally,
the 2003 IG review stated that inspectors were provided with information that
inappropriate actions had occurred going back to the mid-1980s in connection
with performance tests at the department’s Oak Ridge Complex. In the last
month, dozens of officials at Y-12 have either been transferred or allowed to
retire as a result of both the break-in and the cheating debacle. This is
nothing short of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Merely firing a
single low-level guard, Kirk Garland, is hardly enough to address the larger
issue of Wackenhut cutting corners on security. Garland was like a canary in
a coal mine—in a real attack he would have been the first victim. His bravery
was rewarded with a termination letter while those truly responsible for the
break-in and cheating remain gainfully employed. Each performance test costs
the better part of $100,000. Wackenhut has now been caught cheating twice and
there are additional reports of cheating from sources like our anonymous
whistleblower. How many more times will DOE allow Wackenhut to waste taxpayer
money on tainted and unreliable tests before it terminates the security
contract and provides adequate security that is tried-and-true?
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 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.
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 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 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".
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.
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.
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."
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 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 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 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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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 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."
January 25, 2008 WSMV
The I-Team has uncovered a cozy relationship between a Metro employee and
the security contractor he oversees. Bill Kostrub said he doesn't want
to talk about it, but part of his job with Metro government is approving
payments to Wackenhut Security, a company for which he used to work.
Wackenhut is now under investigation for billing irregularities at the
election commission. “I appreciate your coming out, but all the questions go
through Velvet,” he said. He referred reporter Nancy Amons to Velvet Hunter,
who is second in command at Metro General Services, where he works. Kostrub's
job at General Services includes reviewing the bills for security guards
submitted by Wackenhut. Kostrub was a salesman at Wackenhut until October
2006. During the time, Wackenhut was negotiating the contract with Metro to
provide security for all of its buildings. In December 2006, while contract
negotiations were still going on, Kostrub went to work for Metro. Now he has
the power to OK Wackenhut's invoices. Amons shared the findings with
Councilman Jim Gotto. "It doesn't sound good. It doesn't look good,” he
said. Channel 4 obtained a stack of invoices under the Open Records Act that
shows 67 times in the last three months, Kostrub signed off on security guard
bills submitted by Wackenhut. The bills cover the months when Metro auditors
said Wackenhut appeared to be billing Metro for ghost employees. Metro said
guards were supposed to be patrolling the Howard Office Building every
Saturday. Tax dollars paid for it, but Metro said there's no evidence the
guards were there. At least five of the Saturday bills were approved by
Kostrub. “I'm really interested that you used to work for Wackenhut and now
you approve their invoices,” said Amons. “And I can appreciate that. Talk to
Velvet about it. You guys have a good day,” Kostrub said. "There's
nothing wrong with this gentleman working for Metro, but he certainly doesn't
need to be working for Metro on this particular contract,” Gotto said. Hunter
said late Friday that Kostrup was hired through an open and competitive
process and that Metro did not have a problem with his former employment.
Channel 4 and the I-Team are not implying that Kostrup did anything wrong;
they are just asking if it creates an ethics issue.
January 17, 2008 AP
Seven guards have been caught sleeping at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant in
Oak Ridge since 2000, a federal spokesman said Wednesday. Three were fired
and the rest were disciplined, said Steven Wyatt, spokesman for the National
Nuclear Security Administration, a Department of Energy unit that oversees
the Y-12 complex. The administration reported Monday only two guards had
fallen asleep at their posts in four years at the high-security plant, about
20 miles west of Knoxville. But Wyatt said Wednesday that did not cover the
full extent of Wackenhut Services Inc.'s Oak Ridge security contract, which
began in January 2000. Six cases of guard-napping involving seven officers
were found during the seven-year period. Y-12, a potential terrorist target containing
the key ingredients for a "dirty bomb," makes uranium parts for
every warhead in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. It also dismantles old weapons and
is the nation's primary storehouse for bomb-grade uranium. Wackenhut
Services' napping-guard record in Oak Ridge came up for questioning after its
parent company, The Wackenhut Corp., recently lost a security contract for 10
nuclear power plants after sleeping guards were found at a Pennsylvania
station. However, Florida-based Wackenhut Services Inc. is considered an
independent subsidiary of The Wackenhut Corp., and has its own board of
directors. "Given how serious NNSA considers our responsibility of
safeguarding our nuclear facilities, we feel it is important to provide you
with a complete accounting of inattention incidents involving security police
officers found sleeping on the job at Y-12," Wyatt explained. Three
officers were found "intentionally sleeping on duty" and were
terminated -- two guards in 2000 and one in 2002. The other cases were less
blatant, with discipline ranging up to three weeks' suspension without pay
and 12-month probation for all of them.
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
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.
August 26, 2007 The Observer
A possible sale or flotation of Global Solutions, which runs a number of
Britain's prisons and detention centres, has been shelved by private equity
owner Cognetas, according to City sources. UBS, the investment bank that was
appointed last month to undertake a strategic review of the prisons group, is
understood to have advised Cognetas against a move while global credit and
stock markets are still on tenterhooks. 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. The company has
stoked occasional controversy, most recently after the BBC's Panorama
programme looked into the way Global Solutions ran Rye Hill prison, near
Rugby, Warwickshire. The jail was the subject of a report by the chief
inspector of prisons, Anne Owers, who found the staff were inexperienced.
There has also been criticism of the way it runs asylum centres - last year,
a prisons inspectorate inquiry was ordered into Yarl's Wood, an immigration
removal centre in Bedfordshire that was formerly run by Global.
June 14, 2007 The Telegraph
Global Solutions, a company that runs some of Britain's prisons and
detention centres, may be about to change hands for around £400m. Private equity
firm Cognetas, which owns Global Solutions, has appointed investment bank UBS
to carry out a strategic review of the business, according to sources
familiar with the matter. It is understood that the review is likely to
examine a float, sale, refinancing and possible future acquisition for the
business. Sources stressed that the strategic review might not necessarily
lead to an imminent sale of Global Solutions, which Cognetas bought in 2004
from Danish security firm Group 4 Falck for around £207m. The move comes as
Global Solutions - which also builds and manages hospitals, schools and
tourist offices for several public organisations around the world - has come
under the public 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.
Global Solutions' detention centres for asylum seekers have also been
criticised. Last year, a prison inspectorate inquiry was ordered after two
refugees had to go to hospital following prolonged detention in Yarl's Wood,
an immigration removal centre formerly run by Global Solutions. Cognetas declined
to comment.
February 16, 2006 BBC
A councillor has called for an urgent review of security after two
prisoners escaped from Derby Crown Court in the space of a week. Derby city
councillor Richard Smalley said one of the prisoners was on remand for allegedly
being involved in a post-office robbery in his ward. Kabbar Kamara, 25, from
Liverpool made his escape after being refused bail. He appeared in a court on
the top floor before getting away in a manner likened to the fictional
character Spiderman. Unsuccessful search. He punched his way through the
dock, ran from the court and into a toilet. He squeezed through a window,
climbed onto a roof, jumped down to another level and dropped 12 feet to the
ground. Police used a helicopter and dogs to search for him but without
success. Previously Fabian Wilson, 23, from Derby absconded after appearing
in court charged with breaching a community service order. Mr Smalley, deputy
Conservative leader on the city council, said: "I think it's of
paramount importance that the way offenders or alleged offenders are handled
within the court is looked at and tightened up." Security at the court
is handled by GLS, formerly Group 4. A spokesman said a review would be
conducted to identify any lessons that could be learned from the escapes.
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”.
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 violence would not be threatened or used.
August 26, 2007 Sunday Mail
A SECURITY van driver who claimed he was robbed by gunmen wearing fake
Mexican moustaches has admitted lying to steal more than £300,000. Ian Watt,
44, made up the far-fetched tale about how his Group 4 van was robbed at
gunpoint because he was desperate for cash. Watt even went to the trouble of
driving himself to a forest outside Edinburgh and bound his own hands to make
it look as if he had been assaulted and robbed. Police issued an appeal for
witnesses through TV and newspapers and quizzed 500 drivers close to where
the alleged robbery was meant to have happened. But they later found CCTV
footage of Watt sitting in his vehicle at a time he said he was being beaten,
bound and blindfolded by the desperado gang. Then they checked the tracking
system on his van and found it did not match his story. Detectives confronted
the ex-soldier, who admitted he had buried the load in a nearby wood. Last
week he was jailed for 16 months for stealing £271,963.94 in cash, £41,928.72
in cheques and £236.61 in euros. He also confessed to wasting police time.
Watt claimed he took the money to help bail out his new girlfriend, who was
going through an expensive divorce. A police insider said: "This is one
of the most bizarre cases we have ever dealt with. "The guy went to extreme
measures to look convincing and on the face of it this was a very serious
robbery. "The guys working on the case were incredulous when the truth
emerged." Watt had been working for Group 4 security for more than 20
years when he faked the robbery in May.
March 23, 2007 The Telegraph
Ministers have been forced to act after receiving disturbing evidence of
equipment failures and doctored record-keeping within Group 4 Securicor
Justice Services, which operates 60 per cent of tags for offenders released
early under the Home Detention Curfew scheme. A 130-page dossier obtained by
a BBC journalist, who worked undercover for five months in the security
company's Nottingham operations centre, includes the following allegations: A
manager secretly taped saying that three paedophiles were not being
monitored. A prisoner incorrectly returned to jail for seven weeks because of
a blunder by the security company. A violent offender breached his bail
conditions by going into a pub 10 minutes after removing his tag the night before
his court appearance. An employee mocked Victor Bates, a campaigner against
tagging whose wife Marian was shot dead in their jewellery shop after the
gunman's accomplice had ripped off his tag. A prisoner convicted of indecent
assault on home leave was unmonitored for several days because his tagging
equipment failed. The revelations will further undermine confidence in
tagging after figures revealed that inmates let out under the system
committed more than 1,000 violent crimes including four manslaughters, one
murder, 56 woundings and more than 700 assaults since it was introduced in
1999. The investigation also discovered evidence of staff fabricating records
to save money. G4S is paid around £45 million a year by the Home Office to
administer the curfew system. After being confronted with the evidence G4S,
which has admitted there was faulty equipment, has been forced to apologise
and has suspended five employees in Nottingham. A spokesman for the Home
Office said: "Public protection is the Government's first priority. The
findings of this programme are of concern. We are reviewing the contract and
will be asking G4S urgent questions to ensure that these allegations are
thoroughly investigated and issues arising are addressed." The
investigation by a team from BBC Inside Out East Midlands disclosed that the
monitoring boxes in tagged offenders homes, which relay information about
their movements, routinely broke down. One factor in the failure of the
system could be that G4S, which has admitted there was a batch of faulty
equipment in Nottingham, uses the mobile telephone network technology rather
than fixed lines. Steve Green, the Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire, said
the Home Office had to establish whether the Nottingham problems were
nationwide. "I want to urgently know if is this a Nottingham problem or
a G4S problem. If it is a G4S problem and this is the way company is run then
that puts a huge responsibility on the Home Office to tackle and address
because that is not acceptable," he said. Ian Ridgely, chief operations
officer at G4S, said: "We believe in a small number of cases that we may
not have been monitoring to the level that we would expect to, we apologise
for that, we accept that. From that point of view we recognise that the Home
Office requires us to work to a very high standard and of course we are sorry
that in some minor number of instances, we may not have operated to those
standards."
February 20, 2007 Great Yarmouth
Mercury
An opportunist thief stole a Securicor van containing more than £35,000
after a guard left the keys in the ignition and the engine running, a court
heard yesterday. The Securicor guard had just collected the cash from Norwich
city centre car parks leaving his security van unlocked, when Martin Chapman,
31, saw his chance and stole the van containing the cash, Norwich Crown Court
heard. Duncan O'Donnell, prosecuting, said the van was later found abandoned
at Swanton Road travellers site in Norwich and Chapman was later arrested and
£26,000 of the cash was recovered. However Mr O'Donnell said the security
guard responsible for leaving the van unattended had since lost his job.
Chapman, of Rosedale Gardens, Belton, near Yarmouth, admitted taking a
Securicor van and stealing £9,239.50 on October 18. He was given a 12-month
jail sentence suspended for a year and ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work.
Guy Ayers, mitigating, said it was an unusual set of circumstances. “It was
purely opportunistic. He saw the van left in this way and thought it was
careless and took advantage of that particular driver's way of working.” He
said Chapman was genuinely sorry that the guard had lost his job. Chapman who
was of previous good character was unlikely to re-offending, Mr Ayers added.
August 12, 2006 Daily Telegraph
INDIA'S biggest private airline Jet Airways would suspend a British
employee arrested in London over an alleged plot to blow up US airliners, it
said today. "(Asmin) Tariq is being suspended pending a full
investigation, having not reported for duty for the past couple of days,"
an airline statement said. Tariq, a Jet security employee, was among 24
people arrested in Britain earlier this week over the alleged plot to use
suicide bombers with explosives to blow US airliners out of the sky. One
person was later freed. Jet said Tariq, who holds a British passport, was
transferred to Jet in March from global security group G4S - previously
called Securicor - after the airline ended its contract with the company.
Jet, which flies to London and other international destinations as well as
serving Indian domestic routes, said under British employment law, it had
been obliged to take on employees working for G4S before the contract ended.
July 15, 2006 Preston Today
Police have launched a manhunt after a rapist from Preston prison escaped
on his way to court. Mustafa Ismail, 35, was being taken from HMP Preston to
the Manchester Asylum and Immigration Tribunal Court when he escaped from the
Group 4 Securicor vehicle. Detectives are appealing to the public for
information about Ismail but warning not to approach him. The Somalian was at
the end of a five year sentence for rape. He was on remand at HMP Preston
pending a decision over his deportation. The hearing he was due to attend was
to hear his application for asylum in the UK. Police have described him as a
black man with black hair and brown eyes, about 6ft (1.8m) tall and of slim
build. He was travelling in an escort van when he escaped near the Asylum and
Immigration Tribunal Court in Manchester's Piccadilly, at about 11.30am on Thursday.
It is believed he was being handcuffed when he pushed over one of the guards
and fled on foot. A Home Office spokeswoman said: "We can confirm that
on 13 July, at approximately 11.15am, an immigration detainee escaped from
our care at Manchester Asylum and Tribunal Court. "Greater Manchester
Police were informed and we are working closely with them to ensure the
apprehension of the detainee. "The incident will be fully investigated
and any necessary action will be taken in conjunction with the Home Office."
Group 4 guards were trying to handcuff Ismail when he fled. They took chase
but were unable to catch him. Nobody was injured. CCTV footage from the van
is now being examined, as well as cameras from the local vicinity.
May 23, 2006 The Mirror
IN THE latest major Home Office blunder, 2,700 innocent people were branded
as criminals. They were labelled robbers, thieves and sex offenders because
their names and dates of birth matched those of convicted criminals. As a
result, many were refused jobs, turned down for university or threatened with
the sack. The shambles was the fault of the Home Office Criminal Records
Bureau, which is managed by private-sector IT firm Capita. Unions say the
increasing involvement of private firms in government departments will lead
to more mistakes. A Unison spokesman said yesterday: "So many different
parts of our public services are in disarray, and privatisation has played a
big part in this. "There's a conflict between the motivations of private
companies and their clients, the government. For private firms there's a
pressing need to be competitive and deliver profits to the shareholder.
Prison security COMPANY: Group 4 RESPONSIBLE for a catalogue of blunders,
including allowing seven prisoners to escape while ferrying them between
prison and court in the East Midlands and Yorkshire in 1993. In the same
year, a prisoner fled Group 4 custody at a Hull court. Two years ago, killer
Gordon Topen escaped from HMP Rye Hill. Now known as Group 4 Securicor, it
detains and escorts asylum seekers, and made a profit of £254million last
year.
May 19, 2006 The Mirror
A WHISTLEBLOWER last night claimed the UK's deportation system is a
shambolic failure that does nothing to ease our spiralling immigration
crisis. The Group 4 Securicor officer, who escorts deportees back to their
home country, insists an amazing 6 in 10 efforts end in failure. He says many
manage to get sent back to UK detention centres by harming themselves or
their children on the way to the airport. Others cause such uproar on the
plane that pilots insist they are removed. In the worst cases private jets
allegedly have to be charted at vast expense to get them home. And the
officer claims it will take 23 years to clear out huge backlog of illegal
immigrants. He said: "It's about time people knew what a state the
system is in. We have a 60 percent cancellation rate on deportations and it's
getting worse. "The deportees will use every trick in the book to avoid
getting kicked out. The men will kick and spit and scream that they have HIV.
The officer said many corrupt officials in foreign countries refuse to let
the deportees in - unless they get a large backhander. He said: "We are
often going to banana republics where the authorities will say they don't
have the right paperwork or deny the deportee is from their country. Then
they ask us for bribes." The officer claimed he and his colleagues often
have no choice but to pay the backhander with company cash or credit cards
that are supposed to be used for expenses. He added: "Although it's not
our money, we try and keep the price down as we resent paying bribes."
The whistleblower is a Detention Custody Officer with Group 4 Securicor,
which has the Home Office contract to run detention centres and escort failed
asylum seekers. He is from the West Midlands but works at Group 4's Overseas
Escorting headquarters in Crawley, West Sussex. His duties include collecting
failed asylum seekers from UK detention centres and escorting them home. He
claims that for high-profile or troublesome deportees, Group 4 Securicor
charters a private jet to fly them home - at a rate of up to £1,500-an-hour.
The officer said: "It's a shocking waste of taxpayers' money. But the
bosses say it's the only way." According to a 2005 National Audit Office
report, the average cost of deporting an illegal immigrant is £11,000 per
person. Group 4 Securicor last night denied company money was used to pay
bribes. A spokesman said: "We provide credit cards and petty cash to
cover incidental expenses. We deny paying bribes." The company said the
whistleblower's claims of a 60 percent failure rate were false, saying
"Less than one per cent of our removals result in immigration detainees
being returned to the UK." The firm refused to reveal how many deportees
fail to leave the UK. The Home Office admitted chartering flights "when
economical and efficient to do so". The spokesman added: "We
strongly refute these allegations and do not recognise the figures being
quoted."
July
9, 2005
Here is a story about your taxes at work. It concerns a company called GSL
(Australia) Pty Ltd, previously known as Group 4 Correction Services, a
wholly owned subsidiary of the British security company Group 4 Securitas,
whose core business includes running prisons. GSL's parent has merged twice
in the past five years. The second time was a year ago, with a British-based
multinational called Securicor to create "one of the largest security
companies in the world, with 340,000 employees in 108 countries",
according to GSL's website. On July 13, 2004, GSL was sold, for $500
million, as a stand-alone company to "two of Europe's leading private
equity companies, Englefield Capital and Electra Partners Europe". The
GSL website says GSL has 8000 employees globally, including 1064 in Australia.
A year earlier, on August 27, 2003, GSL signed a contract with the Australian
Government's Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous
Affairs to take over the operation of all its mainland "immigration
detention facilities". The contract runs for four years, with a
government option for another three years. The cost to taxpayers: $90
million a year. That is, $90 million "not including overheads and
contract administration", according to the Auditor-General, whose office
has just investigated the Immigration Department's management of the GSL
contract. What do taxpayers get for their $90 million? Well, the first
thing they get is a bill for another $30 million, which is what the Audit
Office found it now costs the department in annual overheads to administer
the contract. These costs have gone up at the same time as the number of
detainees has gone down. In 2003-04 administration costs totalled $20
million, while in the year just ended June 30 they were "projected to
reach $30 million". The number of detainees, as at June 29, was
844. Do your sums on a total cost of $120 million and you'll find the
detention of each and every detainee cost taxpayers an average $142,000
throughout 2004-05. Perhaps this is why GSL Australia's managing director, Peter
Olszak, is quoted on the company website as "expressing confidence 'we
will continue to go from strength to strength'." The Audit
Office, in its report released this week, says the Immigration Department
stated it funded $120.5 million in 2004-05 to provide "lawful,
appropriate, humane and efficient detention of unlawful non-citizens".
It also found the department's "internal monitoring and reporting
arrangements" neither defined nor measured "lawful, appropriate,
humane or efficient detention". The report's overall conclusion,
in part: "The contract does not establish clear expectations for the
level and quality of services delivered, mechanisms to protect the
Commonwealth's interests are not clear, and there is insufficient information
about the quality of services and their costs to allow a value-for-money
calculation." All of which means what? Labor's Sharon
Grierson, deputy chairwoman of Parliament's public accounts and audit
committee, was the only MP to respond to the Audit Office report. Grierson
said in a statement on Thursday: "The department has no idea what is
going on inside detention centres. The last thing we should do is assume
anything about these centres, given the culture of complacency and the lack
of proper review. The ANAO report makes it clear there is simply no way of
knowing whether the Commonwealth is receiving value for money or, more
importantly, whether the needs of detainees are being met. The department
simply shuts its eyes and hopes for the best. DIMIA has absolutely no idea if
(or to what extent) it is insured for incidents at detention centres, why the
cost of detention is rising even while the number of detainees is falling, or
even what assets and equipment it owns in these centres." A lot of
"don't knows" for $120 million.
June
30, 2005 The Statesman
Britain’s asylum policy came under renewed scrutiny on Monday as dozens of Zimbabweans
staged a hunger strike in protest at their imminent deportation and Kurdish
Turks mourned a teenage detainee who has killed himself. The Archbishop of
Canterbury and former Labour leader Lord Kinnock joined protests over the
decision to send failed asylum-seekers back to Robert Mugabe’s regime. Dr
Rowan Williams said it would be “deeply immoral” to send failed claimants
back to a country where they could face persecution and torture. Lord Kinnock
said it would be better to let “a couple of dozen” unjustified claimants
remain in Britain than risk sending back people who needed protection.
Zimbabweans at the Campsfield detention centre in Oxfordshire said they had
been told the Government has delayed further deportations for two weeks,
which would forestall the embarrassing prospect of Tony Blair hosting the G8
summit that will focus on the plight of Africa while dozens of Africans are
in Britain on hunger strike at his government’s policy.
May 30, 2005 Financial Times
The government is reviewing the future role of the private sector in the
Prison Service, while putting on hold further building under the private
finance initiative. The rethink was signalled last week when Charles Clarke,
home secretary, decided to postpone until the autumn plans to privatise the
first cluster of three state-run prisons. Although the private sector has
built and run prisons under PFI, these would have been the first group of
older prisons to be taken over by independent companies. The decision is part
of a deal reached with the Prison Officers' Association and commits the union
to helping to improve standards at the three prisons on the Isle of Sheppey,
Kent, which together hold 2,000 men. The prisons - Elmley, Standford Hill and
Swaleside - were earmarked in March for "market testing", under
which private companies were to be invited to compete with the public sector
to run them. Group 4, one of the bigger companies involved in the prison
sector, said it was "disappointed" by last week's decision. The
company suspects that the decision reflects an unresolved process of change
within the sector following the creation last year of the National Offender
Management Service to run prison and probation services. According to a
report published last January by the Prison Reform Trust, despite the
dramatic increase in the role of the private sector in the Prison Service,
private companies are no better at running prisons than are their public
sector counterparts. An estimated 10 per cent of the record prison population
in England and Wales of 76,035 are held in private prisons, making the UK the
most privatised prison system in Europe. Of the 139 prisons, nine have been
built and are being run by private companies under PFI contracts.
April 9, 2005 The Guardian
Security firms involved in the deportation of failed asylum seekers are
facing more and more claims of intimidation and assault. Group 4/Global
Solutions Ltd (GSL) topped the league table of complaints by asylum seekers
and their lawyers. Campaigners who studied 35 complaints now being pursued by
lawyers revealed GSL was involved in 30% of cases. GSL, which deals with by
far the majority of deportees in Britain, recently won a 10-year Home Office
contract to run Bicester Accommodation Centre for asylum seekers. The firm was
criticised last month after the broadcast of the BBC documentary Asylum
Undercover, which contained claims of abuse by GSL guards. Most of the
alleged assaults analysed involve incidents on the way to or at airports.
Most concern incidents resulting in cuts, bruises and swelling, although
deportees have complained of head injuries, damaged nerves, and sexual
assault.
March 31, 2005 IRR News
Recent unannounced inspections of centres used to hold asylum seekers in
transit to detention centres and to ports for deportation have found that no
centre meets the minimum requirements in relation to child protection.
Officials carried out their first (unannounced) inspections into 'holding'
centres for asylum seekers between June and October 2004. The holding centres,
all run by private company GSL Ltd, (formerly Group 4) were: Communications
House (Old Street, London), Lunar House (Croydon), Electric House (Croydon)
and Dallas Court (Manchester). The report states that 'all four holding
centres had inadequate provision for childcare and child protection. None had
a child protection policy in place, and staff likely to be in contact with
children had not undergone enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks.' At
Lunar House the inspection team reported that they 'spoke to one woman
detainee with a two-year-old child during the mid-afternoon. She and the
child had been in other areas of the building since 8am that morning. Neither
she nor her child had been offered anything to eat during that time and had
to wait for relocation to a residential centre that evening.' They found that
this was 'unacceptable'. At Dallas Court, the team found that 'a weekend
shift recently complained when they discovered a young woman in the holding
room who had miscarried a few days previously. She had been collected from a
hospital following psychiatric referral, had not eaten for three days and had
to be helped to and from the van. She was subject to a live F2052SH self-harm
monitoring form because she kept asking for her baby and said she wanted to
die. Having been delivered to the holding room in the morning, she was not
due to be collected by another vehicle until more than six hours later.' For
the first time it emerged that other private contractors (unnamed in this
report) are being used to move asylum seekers - though GSL Ltd remains
responsible for the four holding centres inspected here. The inspection teams
also found a worrying 'absence of operational or independent oversight,
compared to other immigration detention facilities. There was no Independent
Monitoring Board, and no on-site monitor to provide daily oversight of
service provision, as there is in immigration removal centres (IRCs). Senior
Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) staff visited only
occasionally, and, with the exception of Dallas Court, had little involvement
with the centres.'
January 13, 2005 PR
Newswire
The Wackenhut Corporation, the U.S.-based division of the large U.K. and
European security contractor, Group 4 Securicor, has apparently persuaded the
U.S. National Labor Relations Board ["NLRB"] to pursue allies of
Protects USA. Late last week, the NLRB notified Protects USA ally at the
non-profit Prewitt Organizing Fund ["POF"] a formal investigation
was under way. "They are requesting private information on activists,
allies and funding. It's clearly a continuation of G4-Wackenhut's witch hunt
for scapegoats," says Protects USA spokesperson Adam Wilson.
"Protects USA and POF are not parties in any matter before the NLRB. We
will notify the NLRB that the request will be taken under advisement as it
comes in tandem with the intimidation lawsuit G4/Wackenhut filed last month
to silence Protects USA," said Wilson. Since last summer, Protects USA
and similar groups [Denver PROTECTS, New York/New Jersey PROTECTS, California
PROOFERS, Albuquerque-based BOCAS] have conducted more than 200 peaceful
public information events in 14 states, aimed at educating the public about
the current condition of homeland security. U.K.-based G4/Wackenhut filed a
lawsuit in federal court on December 6 to silence its U.S.-based critics and
stop public advocacy conducted by Protects USA. Protects USA, a citizen-based
homeland security advocacy project, seeks to educate the public on the perils
of handing over the security of our most sensitive sites to private
profiteers with spotty records or worse.
April 25, 2004
Police may charge private security company Group 4 tens of thousands of
pounds after an 11-day hunt to recapture a dangerous escaped murderer.
Gordon Topen, who was 12 years into a life sentence for killing a
businessman, broke free from two Group 4 security officer sat Walsgrave
Hospital, Coventry, on Good Friday. West Midlands Police launched a
huge manhunt for the murderer - who had been in hospital for a blood
transfusion - involving officers, sniffer dogs and helicopters but he evaded
capture. More than 20 Coventry detectives spent 11 days in a nationwide
operation to catch the killer who, it was feared, could try to hunt down the
Midland ex-girlfriend whose evidence put him behind bars. He was
finally snared when officers in London discovered Topen holed up in a
friend’s house following a tip-off. Now the Sunday Mercury understands
that West Midlands Police may hit Group 4 with a bill for the costs of the
manhunt if it believes the security firm was negligent in the
escape. (Sunday Mercury)
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)
September 16, 2003
THE man charged with bringing about a dramatic improvement at Liverpool
Prison has left to join the private sector. John Smith was governor at
the troubled Walton jail for just six months and has now joined the board of
directors at Premier Prisons. After he quit on Thursday, Prison Service
chiefs moved quickly to replace Mr Smith with Liverpool Prison's first female
governor. Catherine James took up her new post yesterday and is now
charged with providing a much improved service at the jail which faces being
privatised after it was branded as a "failing" operation earlier
this year. Ms James has previously been employed at Liverpool Prison
(Walton) in a role as governor with responsibility for health care before
leaving to take up a post at Stoke Heath Young Offenders Institute.
When John Smith became governor in April he pledged to stave off
privatisation. Last night, one prison officer told the Daily Post:
"The first we knew about the governor leaving was when we were called
into a meeting on Friday. "We were all stunned because we hadn't
heard anything beforehand. "The fact that he was allowed to leave
with immediate effect and there was already someone ready to come in and
replace him seems a bit strange though. "It is all a bit ironic
because when he took the job Smith told us that he was desperate to keep
Liverpool, and all prisons, out of the private sector and yet he has now gone
to work for Premier Prisons which has just opened a new private sector prison
in Peterborough." A spokesman for Premier Prisons said: "John
Smith is a very able governor and prison manager and since we are looking to
strengthen our corporate office he comes as an excellent addition to our
team. "We have been strengthening from within but we have also
been looking to bring someone in with outside experience. John gave his
notice in to the Prison Service and we are delighted he has decided to join
us." Last night the Home Office was keeping tight-lipped about the
reasons for Mr Smith leaving only to stress that his departure had nothing to
do with an impending report on the prison's performance. Four Prison
Service troubleshooters have been based at Walton for the last six months and
are due to report back to the Home Office next Monday on how the regime meets
security and safety targets and how offenders are resettled in the community
after release. If the report says the prison is still failing it could
be contracted out, without an in-house bid, in which case management of the
jail would pass to the private sector. A spokesman for the Home Office
said: "I can confirm that John Smith has left Liverpool Prison with
immediate effect. "He has been replaced by Catherine James who has
already taken up her position. The performance report is due to be presented
next week but this is not connected to Mr Smith's departure in any
way." Liverpool Prison has the largest prison population in
Europe. It houses 1,450 inmates - 260 more that it is supposed to and only 30
short of its capacity. It is understood more than 200 prisoners are
being kept two to a single cell and inmates are only being let out of their
cells for six hours a week. GIVEN SIX MONTHS TO IMPROVE LIVERPOOL
Prison began a performance testing process in April after it was branded a
"failing centre" and was given six months to improve or be sold off
to the private sector. In May, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Ann
Owers, said the regime was "unacceptable" and found cockroach
infestations, broken windows and poor hygiene. At the time, the
prison's new management team, led by trouble-shooting governor John Smith,
was given until September 22 to put together a recovery plan. Mr Smith
(pictured), who had the reputation of being a reformer, keen on the positive
social modelling of prisoners, was brought in from Manchester's tough
Strangeways jail where he cracked down on drug abuse and unlocked cells for
12 hours a day. The married father-of-two pledged to spend 80pc of his
time creating a programme to improve standards at the Victorian prison which
houses almost 1,500 inmates. Day-to-day running of the jail was placed
in the hands of his deputy governor, Clive Chatterton, with a series of
instant changes made for the prisoners including more time out of the cells,
a bigger range of education and rehabilitation programmes and more sport and
physical exercise. The success of these changes will be judged shortly
with the prison due to be inspected again in October and a decision on the
jail's future will be made in December. (Cheshire Online)
Hassockfield Secure Training Centre
Doncaster, England
Group 4 (formerly Serco, formerly run by Wackenhut)
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'.
April 25, 2011 The Independent
Juveniles in private prisons are at risk of serious injury or death through
the use of illegal restraints, according to research by the penal reform
charity the Howard League. Some privately run Secure Training Centres (STC)
are using unlawful restraints which have resulted in bruising, broken bones
and a number of deaths of under 18s in penal custody, according to
researchers. The report from Howard League lawyers documents the daily violence
the juveniles have faced while they have been in custody. A 15-year-old boy
in a STC said in evidence given to a Howard League lawyer: "I had
bruised shoulders from when one of the staff dragged me across the room and
shoved me into the wall. I had bruising on my back from where I was slammed
into the wall in my cell." The report reveals that there were 142
injuries to children recorded as a result of the restraint of boys in prisons
between April 2008 and March 2009. Lord Carlile of Berriew QC is holding a
series of public hearings in the House of Lords into the policies and
practices of using force on children in custody. In an independent inquiry
into the use of physical restraint in 2006, Lord Carlile recommended that it
should never be used as punishment or to secure compliance. He added that the
infliction of pain was not acceptable and may be unlawful. The report,
Twisted: the Use of Force on Children in Custody, comes after the death of
14-year-old Adam Rickwood who was found hanging in his cell in 2004 after
being restrained by staff at Hassockfield STC in County Durham. At a second
inquest into his death, held at Easington earlier this year, a jury found
that the unlawful use of force by staff had contributed to it. A secret
manual published by the Ministry of Justice that was publicly disclosed after
legal action in 2010 shows that staff were authorised to use pain-inflicting
distraction techniques on the thumbs, ribs and noses of children. According
to the Youth Justice Board, 6,904 incidents of restraint were reported
between 2009-10 in England and Wales, 257 of which resulted in injury.
However, the report highlights that statistics are likely to underestimate
the extent to which physical restraint is used, as not all incidents are
recorded. Frances Crook, director of the Howard League, said: "These
shadowy private companies who profit from children being locked up have
disguised their methods of painful holds on children for years. It is time we
revealed what is really happening."
February 15, 2011 The Guardian
A high court challenge has been launched over the Ministry of Justice's
refusal to identify hundreds of children who have been unlawfully restrained
in privately run child jails using techniques that have since been banned.
The Children's Rights Alliance for England (Crae) has applied for a judicial
review of the refusal by the justice secretary, Ken Clarke, to identify and
contact children who may have been unlawfully restrained in the privately run
secure training centres. The legal battle follows the second inquest two
weeks ago into the death of 14-year-old Adam Rickwood, found hanging in his
room at Hassockfield secure training centre where he was on remand in 2006.
The inquest concluded that there was a serious system failure which gave rise
to an unlawful regime at the jail. The use of several "distraction''
restraint techniques, which involve inflicting pain with a severe blow to the
nose or ribs, or by pulling back a child's thumb, were first suspended in
2007 before being banned in 2008. The use of physical restraint to control
teenagers in child jails for the purposes of "good order and
discipline" was also ruled to be unlawful by the court of appeal in the
same year. Carolyne Willow of Crae said she believed that there may be hundreds,
if not thousands, of children who have been unlawfully restrained in secure
training centres since they first opened in 1998.
January 11, 2011 Evening-Chronicle
GUARDS at a privately-run young people’s unit acted illegally leading up to a
teenager’s prison cell suicide, an inquest heard. Tragic Adam Rickwood was
found hanging just hours after he was mistreated by warders. His mother Carol
Pounder, told jurors she would be “locked up” if she had behaved towards her
son the way authorities had in the moments leading up to his death. At a
second hearing into the tragedy, following a High Court appeal, Durham’s
Assistant Deputy Coroner Jeremy Freedman revealed previous jurors were not
informed prison staff had used unorthodox methods to restrain Adam and were
acting “unlawfully and illegally” on the evening of his death on August 9,
2004. The 14-year-old, from Burnley, was found hanged by his shoelaces in his
cell by staff at the Serco-run Hassockfield secure training centre in
Consett, while on remand for an alleged wounding charge. Hours before his
death, at 6pm, he was involved in an altercation with staff who ordered him
to return to his cell from the social area he was in. The order came after a
note was passed to him by another inmate which contained “unflattering
remarks” about a female member of staff. When Adam refused to go back to his
cell and instead sat on the floor in the communal area, back-up was called
and he was physically removed. Four officers restrained him – two holding his
arms, one holding his head and one holding his legs. Adam was placed in his
cell face down and, because the officer holding his head feared Adam was
trying to bite his fingers, he employed a “nose distraction method” to
control Adam’s behaviour – a painful manoeuvre which left his nose swollen
and bruised. Mr Freedman, who is leading the second inquest into his death,
said the previous jury had not been told “three important things”. He said:
“When they removed Adam from the free association area, in these
circumstances, it was unlawful and illegal. “Second, they weren’t told that
the use of Physical Control in Care in taking him into his cell in these
circumstances was, too, unlawful. “And thirdly, they weren’t told that the
use of the nose distraction technique was in any circumstances unlawful and
illegal.”
July 18, 2010 AP
Brutal techniques to restrain children held in private prisons have been made
public after mounting pressure from children's rights groups. The Observer
disclosed details of the techniques used to train staff in restraining young
offenders in the country's four privately-run secure training centres. The
secret manual, Physical Control in Care, was created by the HM Prison Service
and approved by the Department of Justice in 2005. The government's Youth
Justice Board (YJB) had initially fought the Information Commissioner's order
to hand over the documents. When the Children's Rights Alliance (CRAE) called
on the Justice Secretary to hold an independent judicial inquiry, YJB finally
relented. The Observer revealed that control measures authorised for staff to
use include "an inverted knuckle into the trainee's sternum and drive
inward and upward," "alternate elbow strikes to the young person's
ribs until a release is achieved," and "drive straight fingers into
the young person's face, and then quickly drive the straightened fingers of
the same hand downwards into the young person's groin area." The manual
went so far as to warn staff that some techniques risk a "fracture to
the skull" and "temporary or permanent blindness caused by rupture
to eyeball or detached retina." One passage states in regard to
administering a head-hold that "if breathing is compromised the
situation ceases to be a restraint and becomes a medical emergency."
Carolyne Willow, CRAE's national co-ordinator stated, "Until now, we've
seen a compulsive reliance on secrecy and an absolute failure to face up
publicly to the disgraceful and unlawful treatment of children the State
officially describes as vulnerable." The campaign to make the information
public came after the deaths of two children, Gareth Myatt, 15, and Adam
Rickwood, 14, who died in the custody of Rainsbrook and Hassockfield secure
training centres in 2004.
March 8, 2008 The Northern Echo
BRUTAL restraint techniques used before the suicide of a 14-year-old boy at a
North-East secure unit are illegal and must be banned, MPs and peers will
demand today. In a damning report, the Joint Human Rights Committee condemns
the "state sanctioned infliction of pain against children" as young
as 12, who misbehave in private prisons. The restraint techniques include
hitting a child's nose from underneath - the restraint method used on Adam
Rickwood by staff at the Serco-run Hassockfield Secure Training Centre, near
Consett, County Durham. Six hours later, on August 9, 2004, Adam, from
Burnley, Lancashire, became the youngest person to die in custody in Britain
when he hanged himself from a curtain rail, using his shoelaces. Last night,
Adam's mother, Carol Pounder, welcomed the report and said the treatment her
son received should never have been allowed to take place. She said:
"Sometimes you need to restrain a child to protect them from themselves,
but there is a difference between restraining a child and beating a child.
"What gives them the right to do these things to our children? If I had
punched Adam in the nose and caused pain and bleeding at home, I would be
taken to court. But because it happens behind closed doors nobody knows.
"The best thing this Government could do is withdraw this distraction
technique, not just put a suspension on it." Describing the so-called
distraction techniques as unlawful under international human rights laws, the
committee warns they have had "tragic results". Andrew Dismore, the
committee's Labour chairman, said: "What is, in effect, state-sanctioned
infliction of pain against children to ensure good order and discipline
should not continue. "It must be absolutely clear that inflicting pain
on children is never justified and the use of force is an absolute last
resort, for use only when all alternatives have been demonstrably
exhausted." The committee also condemns the Government for refusing to
release the staff manual for restraining children, which means the full
details of the hold techniques remain secret. As well as "nose
distraction" - the upward chop to the septum used against Adam - the
techniques include the "double basket", where the arms are crossed
and held behind the back. In December, the Government agreed to suspend the use
of both techniques after medical advice. Today's report demands their
permanent removal from the manual. The report includes an extract from a note
found in Adam's room after his death. The 14-year-old wrote: "When I
calmed down, I asked them why they hit me in the nose and jumped on me.
"They said it was because I wouldn't go in my room, so I said what gives
them the right to hit a 14-year-old child in the nose, and they said it was
restraint." The inquest into his death returned a verdict of suicide. It
heard the officer who used the nose distraction technique on the boy later
noticed it had drawn blood. The director of the Howard League for Penal
Reform, Francis Crook, said last night he was very pleased with the
committee's opposition to the use of painful restraint. He said:
"Treatment that would see a parent or teacher in front of social
services is not only allowed in these child jails but positively encouraged
by recent rule changes." A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Justice said:
"Force is only ever used as a last resort. "However, some young
people in secure training centres can be very violent and staff need
appropriate and effective methods to contain and resolve dangerous
situations. "The Youth Justice Board's Code of Practice on behaviour
management makes it explicit that restrictive physical interventions must
only be used as a last resort." Serco, which runs the centre, declined
to comment.
A flagship "jail" for young
boys faces closure after The Mirror revealed it has been rocked by violence,
vandalism and vicious attacks on staff. Offenders as young as 12 are running
riot. There are three serious incidents a day and more than 150 last month
alone, with staff in riot gear deployed on several occasions. Now the Home
Office has drawn up plans to close Hassockfield secure training centre in
Consett, Co Durham, after more than half the staff quit for fear of attack.
Premier Prison Services, the private firm running it, is set to lose fulfill
its contract. (The Mirror)
June 6, 2002
TWO
OF the world's biggest security companies could find themselves in court in a
row over their joint venture to run privatised prisons and immigration
centres. UK-based Serco wants to buy out the half of Premier Custodial Group
owned by America's Wackenhut Corrections Corporation. But the US company
refuses to sell and is ready to go to court to defend the right to retain its
50 per cent stake in PCG. The row illustrates the
growing demand for prisons run by private companies, despite the controversy
they attract. PCG manages four jails, including
Doncaster, one combined prison and youth offenders' institution and a centre
for asylum seekers near Glasgow. Serco has wanted control of
the business since rival Group4 Falck took a 57 per cent stake in WCC, listed
on the New York Stock Exchange, last month.
Group4
is a strong rival to Serco in this country, running three prisons and three
immigration centres, including Yarl's Wood, Bedfordshire, which was badly
damaged by fire this year. (The Express)
Hardy House
Isle of Portland, Dorset
January 29, 2003
A FORMER naval barracks was badly damaged by fire minutes after the end of an
angry public meeting to oppose plans to use it to hold up to 750
asylum-seekers. Hardy House, a derelict, ten-story block on the Isle of
Portland, Dorset, suffered extensive damage to one floor. The attack
followed a warning by David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, that whipping up
fears about asylum-seekers could lead to a breakdown in community
relations. The building is now owned by a property company, Comer Homes,
which bought it from the Ministry of Defense for 30 million. The
company recently applied for planning permission to convert it to 350 luxury
flats. Portland has been in uproar since it was disclosed ten days ago
that the Home Office is in negotiations with t he developers to use the
building as a centre for up to 750-asylum-seekers who would be housed there
while their applications to stay in Britain are processed. (Times
Online)
Harmondsworth
Detention Centre, London, England
GEO Group (formerly run by Kalyx, UK Detention Services, AKA Sodexho)
Oct
21, 2015 opendemocracy.net
Alois
Dvorzak inquest: Doctor repeatedly warned that 84 year old was not fit to be
detained
Detention
centre healthcare, by commercial contrator Primecare, was “extremely basic”
and unsafe, court hears. A doctor told an inquest jury yesterday how she
repeatedly warned immigration officials that a frail and elderly Canadian man
was not fit to be detained. Dr Farrah Jarral told the jury at West London
Coroner’s court that she had worked as a locum GP at Harmondsworth
immigration removal centre (a stone’s throw from Heathrow Airport) in January
2013. Harmondsworth’s healthcare wing, run by private medical company
Primecare, was “extremely basic, staffing wise and facility wise”, said Dr
Jarral. She witnessed several “alarming” incidents. “It feels like a prison,”
she said. She felt Harmondsworth was so unsafe that she stopped working
there. Dr Jarral was particularly concerned when she saw 84 year old Alois
Dvorzak in the detention centre on 30 January 2013. She warned the Home
Office that it was “entirely inappropriate for an elderly frail man like that
to be in detention”. Dvorzak died on 10 February 2013. When Dr Jarral read
about his death in the media, she was “devastated”. Alois Dvorzak had been
travelling from Canada to visit his daughter to Slovenia. He stopped over in
London, where immigration officers refused him entry and were concerned about
his health. They took him to East Surrey Hospital where doctors said he was
fit enough to be repatriated. The Home Office put Dvorzak in Harmondsworth
detention centre, run by the Geo Group, until a flight back to Canada could
be arranged. Nursing staff at Harmondsworth told Dr Jarral that they “were
very concerned about a frail man who had dementia”. She was “very surprised”
that East Surrey had assessed him as “fit to fly”. East Surrey Hospital had
obtained a list of Dvorzak’s medication from his care home in Canada. He was
on at least 13 different drugs, including olanzapine, citalopram, and
lorazepam. Dr Jarral said that this “significant information” about Dvorzak’s
health “was not available to me at the time”. Senior Coroner Chinyere Inyama
asked Dr Jarral: “When you see medication prescribed like that does this
indicate a major mental illness?” Dr Jarral replied: “Absolutely.” The
coroner asked Dr Jarral what she would have thought had she known that
Dvorzak was taking those medicines. She said: “I would have been worried if
he had self capacity to make decisions. He was on a major tranquilliser and
anti-depressant ...There should have been a full mental health assessment by
a psychiatric doctor, not by nursing staff. For a patient to be on a
combination of these three drugs would indicate significant mental health
concerns.” Dvorzak had also been prescribed blood thinners, which Jarral said
would have been “relevant to a patient who had previous heart failure or a
stroke”. Dr Jarral told the jury: “When I went to see him he was lying on a
bed and was very withdrawn. He was very frail. He had a blank facial
expression that’s common with dementia. ... Having established that this
patient was not talking much and was very frail it was clear to me that this
man was not suitable to be in detention.” She was told to fill out a form
alerting the Home Office that Dvorzak was not suitable for detention. Jarral
completed and submitted the form, called a Rule 35 report, but she had little
confidence in the system. “I thought the piece of paper . . . was going to
get lost,” she said. “It was not a system I could feel confident in. I wanted
to speak to a person.” She relayed her concerns to a Home Office worker and
reiterated that it was “really inappropriate for him to be in detention”. Dr
Jarral asked if any attempts had been made to contact his family. She said
the Home Office told her that they “could not confirm or deny if this had
happened and said it was none of our business”. (The jury has heard from
other witnesses that more medical information about Alois Dvorzak had already
been obtained from healthcare workers in Canada and the Home Office was in
contact with the Canadian authorities.) Dr Jarral was told to fill out more
paperwork. She did that, and “documented in medical notes that I felt he was
unsuitable for detention”. After leaving Harmondsworth on 30 January 2013 Dr
Jarral was still “so concerned”. Having received an email from an NGO worker
with whom she had raised her concerns, she decided to call the Canadian High
Commission. She told the jury that at the time she had been very worried
about breaking patient confidentiality but “in hindsight I could have gone
further”. She said diplomatic staff recorded her concerns that a Canadian
citizen in Harmondsworth was “vulnerable and very at risk”. “The next thing I
knew was an article in the Guardian reporting his death. I was devastated,”
Dr Jarral said. Dr Jarral told the jury that she “went into that situation
with very little information” because facts about Dvorzak’s health had not
been given to her, or there were “some major factual inaccuracies” in the
Home Office’s emails. “There were occasions where it seems the message has
completely been lost. There was no mention of mental health even though he
had been on these drugs.” Dr Jarral said it was “worrying” that the Home
Office were “cutting off medical information from doctors”. She said this was
“not a safe way to practice”. She said she had been made to feel “silly
calling the Canadian High Commission when they were fully aware” of
Dvorzak’s predicament. Dr Jarral said she already had concerns from previous
visits. She told the jury: “There where a few incidents that alarmed me about
healthcare at Harmondsworth. It was not really set up for delivering
healthcare. It was very sparsely equipped and staffed.” She was scathing
about the absence of electronic medical records and recalled how she was
given paper notes that may have a name misspelt. It was not possible to get
rapid test results like it was in a hospital, even though detained patients
might be on medicines such as anticoagulants, whose use requires careful
monitoring. The doctors were often locums, agency staff who turned up for a
day and then went away, Dr Jarral said. The coroner asked her what training
new doctors were given at Harmondsworth. Jarral said “I was given brief
verbal sign posting. This is pretty concerning. In a situation where people
are in prison or detention there are higher incidents of mental health and
trauma. Doctors need training because there are issues that are more in focus
than outside and accidents could lead to someone being harmed.” She had
particular concerns about the reporting process that is supposed to keep
people safe. Rule 35 of the Detention Centre Rules (a statutory instrument)
requires doctors working in detention centres to inform the Home Office about
detainees who have experienced torture before coming to the UK or who are
otherwise unfit to detain. Officials are required to consider this
information and release the person. Dr Jarral said that there were “very huge
consequences” when doctors failed to submit adequate Rule 35 medical reports.
She said: “The consequences of not filling that in properly could be people
sent back to their country and killed, if you hadn’t had that training and
experience to detect serious torture.” Dr Jarral, who had worked at other
custodial facilities, including Wormwood Scrubs prison, said she decided that
it “was not safe to continue at Harmondsworth because my actions could lead
to someone being harmed”. Mr Hilton, representing the Home Office, reminded
Dr Jarral that the jury had been told that East Surrey Hospital staff
had found Dvorzak was “stable. Fit to be released from our care. Does not
need medication from us. Has capacity to make decisions”. Dr Jarral replied:
“I have much doubt that he would have had capacity. He said there were
‘demons tormenting him’.” She said: “He needed to be on an elderly care ward
for several weeks.” Hilton asked if that was “not a viable option because he
was not a UK citizen?” Jarral said non-citizens could be admitted to acute
emergency care. She said doctors at Harmondsworth needed more training
because it can be “critical to someone’s life”.
Aug 27, 2015 morningstaronline.co.uk
Controversial
private firms running migrant detention centres have been allowed to ‘monitor’
their own behaviour without anyone watching over them, writes STEVEN WALKER
THE
government’s system for monitoring companies it pays to run migrant detention
centres has been called into question after a year-long freedom of
information battle won disclosure of confidential “self-audits.” The
documents reveal how contractors are paid according to their own monthly
performance reports. The Home Office has refused to say if it scrutinises the
data submitted by the companies. The Home Office was forced to hand over the
files to the campaigning group Corporate Watch after the Information
Commissioner decided there was “a very strong public interest” in doing so.
The majority of Britain’s immigration detention centres are run by private
companies under multimillion-pound outsourcing deals. The firms are required
to send monthly “self-audit” reports to the Home Office, detailing any
contractual failings and penalties incurred. Despite the importance of such
documents in measuring compliance they have never been made public. The
performance reports, from May 2014, raise serious questions about the
integrity of a “self-audit” system. The government’s confidence in large
outsourcing companies, particularly Serco, has been challenged by a series of
scandals. Serco is being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office for
overcharging the government on an electronic tagging contract. In another
widely publicised failing, the company recorded prisoners as being delivered
to court in time for hearings when they were not. Recently the Chief
Inspector of Prisons reported that some vulnerable female asylum-seekers
detained at the infamous Yarl’s Wood centre were treated “like animals” and
that their experiences had left them with anxiety, depression, disturbed
sleep and mental health problems (M Star August 19). The company in charge of
Harmondsworth, Britain’s largest detention centre, was penalised for a
“failure to make available full healthcare service” and delays with legal
visits. At Colnbrook detention centre, contractor Serco failed to “observe
key/lock security procedures” four times in 10 days. In one case, a “door
leading from the gate house into the sterile yard was discovered in an
unsecured state.” Another penalty related to a detainee being “incorrectly
discharged from the centre.” On one weekend that month, Serco failed to
provide the minimum number of staff. Data about the exact size of penalties
incurred by the companies for these failures has been redacted, after
government lawyers lodged an appeal with the information tribunal to permit
the “withholding of sensitive contractual information.” The case is due to be
heard later this year. Contractors can provide significantly different levels
of detail to the Home Office, because there is no standard template for the
self-audit. The report lengths are arbitrary, with one contractor’s audit
more than half the length than that of their rival. The GEO Group, which
operated Harmondsworth, simply left blank a section titled “details of
accepted failures” in their “monthly contract review tool.” The Home Office
has refused to explain what follow-up action it takes after receiving
self-audit reports, raising concerns that the monitoring system lacks any
integrity. The Home Office says: “Self-audit reports are part of a range of
measures, including regular independent inspections, to ensure our
contractors continue to provide safe and secure accommodation for detainees.”
However, Serco’s self-audit should have caused the Home Office alarm. Under
the contract, Serco was required to provide full medical screening to all new
arrivals. However, the figures show that 686 people in one month, or 72 per
cent of arrivals, signed disclaimers to not see a doctor. The Home Office has
failed to challenge Serco about this high number of disclaimers. Serco said
that “this is fairly normal. All detainees see a nurse on arrival at the
centre and are asked if they want to see a doctor the next day. It was not
uncommon for a large number to say that they were fine, did not want to see a
doctor and sign a disclaimer. Obviously residents are able to request to see
healthcare at any point while in detention.” But disclaimers enable the
company to escape its contractual requirement to give a “full medical
screening” by a doctor, and means that almost three-quarters of people in its
custody and therefore under its duty of care were not fully checked on
arrival for undiagnosed medical problems. A protest inside Harmondsworth in
May 2014 was 10 times larger than the GEO Group, its operator, told journalists.
The self-audit report for that month shows that the centre manager knew the
demonstration involved “up to 300 detainees,” nearly half of all inmates. The
company had told the media that “a short and entirely passive protest took
place at Harmondsworth involving between 30 and 40 detainees.” GEO said that
it did not “consciously” make a false statement to the media. The protest was
against the fast-track asylum system. The unrest quickly spread to three
other detention centres across the country. Months later, the High Court
found that fast track carried “an unacceptably high risk of unfairness” and
was unlawful. The system has now been suspended. Cuts to legal aid have meant
that detainees have very little access to lawyers. Serco noted that “solicitor
demand continues but many [detainees] are becoming more and more frustrated
due to lack of funding and options available to them.” The Home Office
arranges specially chartered flights for deportations to particular
countries, such as Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The self-audits reveal
that people are being rounded up on the basis of their nationality, rather
than their individual immigration cases. The Harmondsworth centre manager
admitted that “figures rising and falling can often be attributed to the
amount of charter operations in progress by DEPMU (Detainee Estate Population
Management Unit) and other pick-up operations in effect from the Home Office
enforcement teams. In certain circumstances these two departments may work
together to focus on a specific nationality to fill a charter which will
reflect on the amount of arrivals and first night in detention and will also
affect the amount of departures.” Days after that report was written, a
leaked Home Office intelligence dossier emerged which showed immigration
snatch squads were targeting nationalities in specific industries, such as
Nigerians working in barber shops. Rounding up people based on their
nationality in order to fill a mass deportation flight to that country would
amount to a collective expulsion — contrary to European laws. After fighting
for a year to keep these self-audits secret, the Home Office has shown that
the system it uses to monitor companies paid to run detention centres is
deeply flawed. The companies only declared a handful of failures at their
centres and the Home Office does not effectively scrutinise the reports,
giving the companies carte blanche to under-report issues. This leaves people
in their custody vulnerable. But the arrangement is mutually beneficial to the
Home Office and its contractors — the payments keep coming, and the
government can turn a blind eye.
Jun 16, 2015 theguardian.com
UK:
Gov must release critical private prison reports
Potentially
damaging reports into the running of two immigration detention centres by
private contractors must be released by the Home Office within weeks, the
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has said. The documents will give
detailed breakdowns and insight into the running of Harmondsworth, Britain’s
largest immigration detention centre, and Colnbrook, both near Heathrow in
west London. It is believed that this is the first time the reports, which
are prepared for Home Office officials each month by the contractors that run
Britain’s immigration detention facilities, will come to light. The Home
Office fought to prevent their release for more than 10 months after the
research group Corporate Watch lodged a freedom of information request.
Government officials argued that the documents were confidential and would
harm the commercial interests of the contractors Serco and GEO Group if they
became public knowledge. The Home Office also said their release would make
it more difficult to negotiate deals with contractors in future. However, in
a decision Corporate Watch described as landmark, the ICO said that, while it
agreed that the commercial interests of the firms would be harmed, the public
interest in transparency was more important, and gave the Home Office until
13 July to release the reports. It said their release would cause no
significant damage to the Home Office’s bargaining position with potential
contractors, knocking down an exemption to the Freedom of Information Act
often relied upon by government departments. Phil Miller, a researcher for
Corporate Watch, said the ICO’s decision sent “a strong signal to government
to be far more transparent on outsourced contracts. Home Office bureaucrats
should not shield private security companies from public scrutiny”. In a
document detailing the reasons for its ruling, the ICO said the operation of
immigration removal centres (IRCs) in general is an issue that has been the
subject of scrutiny and concern. It said it had taken into account media
coverage suggesting that the operation of the centres “has been a problematic
area generally” and that the HM chief inspector of prisons’ reports were “to
varying degrees of severity, critical” of the running of Harmondsworth and
Colnbrook. The document added: “The introduction to the report on
Harmondsworth refers to ‘inadequate focus on the needs of the most vulnerable
detainees’, ‘shocking cases where a sense of humanity was lost’ and to the
centre as ‘dirty and bleak’ and ‘in a state of drift’.” It noted that the
Colnbrook report was also negative, although to a lesser degree. The ICO
said: “Given this publicly available criticism of the operation of these
centres, the commissioner’s view is that there is in general a very strong
public interest in other information about their operation.” It said that
because the two self-audits now due to be released post-date the HMIP
reports, “there is a strong public interest in favour of disclosure in order
to reveal whether, according to the contractors’ own accounts, the operations
of these IRCs improved”. The commissioner added: “It is also highly relevant
that the contractors are paid with public money to operate these IRCs. The
disclosure of the self-audit reports would add to public knowledge on the
extent to which a value-for-money service is being provided to the taxpayer,
which is also in the public interest. Furthermore, all of the factors in
favour of disclosure are made more acute by the vulnerable nature of people
held within IRCs.” The number of reports of serious self-harm at
Harmondsworth have increased almost fourfold since 2012, according to figures
obtained by Channel 4 News. There were at least 16 cases in 2012 and at least
62 incidents in 2014. Across all UK immigration detention centres, it
reported that the number of incidents of self-harm requiring medical
attention more than doubled between 2012 and 2014 from 150 to at least 306.
The two reports that the Home Office has been ordered to publish date from
May 2014, when more than 100 detainees reportedly went on hunger strike at
Harmondsworth. At that time, it was being run by the American company GEO
Group. Responsibility for Harmondsworth’s operation has now passed to Mitie
after it won the contract. Colnbrook is still run by Serco. The government
can appeal, but has not confirmed whether it will do so. A Home Office spokesman
said: “We have noted the Information Commissioner’s decision and are
considering whether or not to appeal. It would be inappropriate to comment
further at this stage.” Serco declined to comment, saying it was a matter for
the Home Office. GEO Group has not responded to a request for comment.
June
27, 2014 Our Kingdom
Mar
13, 2015 corpwatch.org
U.K.
asylum seekers have gone on hunger strike to protest living conditions at
Harmondsworth immigration detention centre, which is run by Mitie, a British
outsourcing company. The protests come months after Mitie took over from the
Geo Group whose contract was canceled after prison authorities found repeated
problems. Mitie (which stands for Management Incentive Through Investment
Equity) was awarded a £180 million ($270 million) eight year contract by the
UK Home Office last year to manage the 615-bed Harmondsworth facility and
merge it with the Colnbrook detention centre which is situated next door. The
company won the bid despite the fact that it had almost no previous
experience managing such facilities, apart from a 20111 contract to run the
Campsfield site in Oxfordshire, where a major fire, multiple suicides and
three mass hunger strikes took place under the company's watch. Last week Corporate Watch,* a U.K. research
organization, released undercover footage shot at Harmondsworth, that
illustrated some of the detainee's complaints. Paul Morrison, the Mitie
officer in charge of Harmondsworth, was filmed telling a group of men that
they will being locked away for an extra two hours a day. “We've only got 'X'
number of staff”;” Morrison says. “The only way we can realistically
(deliver) is a little bit of an earlier lock up.” The researchers also
reported that Mitie staff were being forced to work 13.5 hours a day. Other
footage released by Corporate Watch showed a detainee who had apparently
collapsed from epileptic fits twice within a fortnight. The organization also
reported that another “very depressed” detainee set fire to his cell. “It’s
just gonna break. There’s only so much people can take,” a Mitie employee was
filmed saying on undercover footage. The company denies that they have
problems. “The centre is not at breaking point,” a Mitie spokesperson told
the Independent newspaper. “We have implemented new working practices and
shift patterns to meet the demands of the new contract. During the six-month
mobilisation period prior to the contract transferring to Mitie we undertook
extensive on-site consultation with all existing members of staff at the centre.”
Days after Channel Four screened the Corporate Watch footage, an estimated
240 asylum seekers went on hunger strike at Harmondsworth. “The staff tell us
that if we don’t stop our strike and disperse, we will end up in jail,” Abbas
Haider, a spokesman for the hunger strikers told the Independent. “But all
the guys say in one language, in one sound: ‘We are already in prison.’ We
don’t have any human rights left here.” Harmondsworth has often been the site
of mass protests over abusive conditions. In 2006, riot police were brought
in to quell disturbances. Last May when the center was still under control of
the Geo Group, some 300 detainees also went on hunger strike. “The food is
disgusting and our freedom has been taken away. We all feel we are going crazy,”
a detainee told Vice magazine at the time. “We feel alone and isolated like
we have been left in the middle of the bush.” And Geo Group and Mitie are not
the only controversial companies that have contracts to manage UK detention
centers. Serco runs Colnbrook while G4S runs Brook House. Both companies have
been subject of complaints regarding the treatment of detainees. (see
Privatizing Asylum Housing: Serco and G4S Get UK Contracts and Family Sues
G4S For Killing Angolan Deportee) Many detainees now say that they would
rather be deported than stay at Harmondsworth. "I'm tired, I don't want
to die here,” one detainee was filmed saying to his lawyer. "I beg you.
I want freedom, I got detained, three years now I've spent my life behind
doors. Why?" “Detention is only ever used as a last resort after all
attempts to encourage individuals to leave voluntarily have failed,” a UK
Home Office spokesperson told the Independent. “Detention and removal are
essential parts of effective immigration controls.” * Corporate Watch is a UK
charity that is not affiliated with CorpWatch, which is based in the U.S. The
two organizations were founded independently but share similar missions and
visions.
Man,
84, dies handcuffed in hospital: UK border control by the GEO Group
A
shocking report on Harmondsworth, the British immigration lock-up run by GEO,
America's second biggest prisons contractor. Who are the GEO Group and what
do they stand for? At Gatwick Airport last year, on Wednesday 23 January,
British immigration officials detained an elderly Canadian man. He was taken
to hospital. Then he was locked up at Harmondsworth Immigration Removal
Centre. A doctor examined him, reporting to the authorities that he was
"frail, 84 years old, has Alzheimer's disease . . .demented". The
doctor marked his papers: "UNFIT for detention or deportation. Requires
social care." The British Home Office chose to ignore the medical advice
and continued to detain him. On 8 February he was taken to hospital in
handcuffs, then returned to his cell. Two days later he was taken back to
hospital and kept in handcuffs for five long hours. His condition worsened.
The cuffs stayed on. His heart stopped. Medical staff tried and failed to
resuscitate him. The handcuffs were removed. His name was Alois Dvorzac. In
November 2012, another dying man had been taken in handcuffs from his
Harmondsworth cell for treatment in hospital. He stayed cuffed while sedated,
stayed cuffed while undergoing an angioplasty. Eventually the handcuffs were
removed. Seven hours later he was dead. Both cases are revealed today by the
Chief Inspector of Prisons, Nick Hardwick, in a shocking report on
Harmondsworth, the immigration centre near Heathrow Airport that holds about
600 men awaiting removal from Britain. They are detained for the
"shortest possible period". That's the official line. In real life,
many are detained indefinitely. The inspectors, who dropped in unannounced
last Summer, found one man who had spent two and a half years locked up at
Harmondsworth. They said he seemed unlikely ever to be released since the
Home Office had failed for years to obtain travel documentation for him.
Harmondsworth guards routinely subjected detainees to long periods of
solitary confinement without reason, the inspectors reported. Muslims were
more likely than others to be isolated. Hunger strikers were monitored
excessively, and for reasons that had nothing to do with their medical needs.
Some were held regardless of clear medical grounds for release. According to
Home Office rules, victims of torture should not be detained. Inspectors
found that Harmondsworth's medical reports on alleged victims of torture were
often poorly done, putting victims at risk of continued detention — a
complaint raised repeatedly over years by the prisons inspectorate and, over
years, ignored by the Home Office. Detainees claiming to be under 18 were
held at Harmondsworth for too long while their age was determined. Sometimes
Home Office staff alone made age assessments, in contravention of the rules.
In one chilling insight into the department's moral standards and modus
operandi, the inspectors said that a charity volunteer who had visited
detainees to offer support and advice had been tapped for information by the
Home Office. Among numerous examples of neglect and disrespect, the
inspectors noted dirty food trolleys, beds without pillows, excessively hot
showers, three men held in double cells, long waits in locked vans after
overnight drives from other facilities .
Who
runs Harmondsworth?
Reckoned
to be Britain's most horrible immigration lock-up, Harmondsworth is run for
the British government by the GEO Group, America's second biggest prisons
company. In the UK, GEO also runs Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre (in
South Lanarkshire) and escorts prisoners and detainees in partnership with
the British outsourcing company, Amey.
Who
are the GEO Group? What are they like?
Industry
insiders speak of the international security industry as one big family.
Here's a little family history. The GEO Group was spawned by The Wackenhut
Corporation, founded by George R Wackenhut. A former FBI agent, Wackenhut
started a three-man detective agency in Miami in 1954, providing security
services to stay afloat, according to his 2005 obituary in the New York
Times. To impress commercial clients, Wackenhut dressed his guards in helmets
and paratrooper boots. He recruited former members of the CIA, the FBI and
elite military forces to join his management team and the company's board,
the New York Times reported. The Wackenhut Corporation gathered intelligence
on individuals, "both to run background checks for their clients and as
an outgrowth of George Wackenhut’s anti-communist views", according to
the New York University Digital Archive that holds some of those papers. By
1971 Wackenhut held files on 2.5 million individuals. The company recruited
ex-FBI chief Clarence M. Kelley, ex-Secret Service James J. Rowley, Frank C.
Carlucci, former defense secretary and former CIA deputy director, according
to the New York Times. William J. Casey was Wackenhut's outside legal counsel
before Ronald Reagan appointed him director of central intelligence. Such
connections "fuelled speculation that the company was working with the
CIA, a relationship that Mr. Wackenhut denied". Well, he would. In 2002,
on George Wackenhut's retirement, Group 4 Falck bought The Wackenhut
Corporation, including a majority stake in its prisons business (the
Wackenhut Corrections Corporation). The following year, the prisons business,
headed by George Zoley, bought its shares back from Group 4 Falck, and
relaunched itself as the GEO Group. The Wackenhut Corporation remained in
Group 4 Falke's hands as Group 4 merged with Securicor, creating G4S. In 2010
G4S dropped the Wackenhut name (it wasn't helpful). And The Wackenhut
Corporation was born again — as G4S Secure Solutions (USA) Inc. The GEO Group
continues to invest heavily in political lobbying. A 2011 research report
(PDF here) by the Washington-based Justice Policy Institute demonstrated how
GEO, among other private prison companies, buys influence, promoting policies
that lead to higher rates of incarceration. Two years ago, as if by magic,
GEO became a 'real estate investment trust'. Why would a prisons company call
itself a real estate trust? Tax avoidance is the primary motive. GEO
celebrated its reincarnation by paying shareholders a special dividend of
$350 million. (PDF here). George Zoley, GEO's chairman and chief executive
officer, took $6 million in pay and perks in 2012, according to Bloomberg. His
retirement agreement (here) lands him a $7 million lump sum if he goes this
year, aged 64. If he holds out until 71, there's $9 million coming his way.
His shares in GEO Group alone (170,200 of them) are valued, by today's price,
at around $6 million. Government contracting is, demonstrably, a good thing
for GEO Group shareholders and executives. What about prisoners, detainees
and the public purse? A Bloomberg report on private prisons last year ('Gangs
ruled prison as for-profit model put blood on the floor') focussed on
Mississippi's Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility, run by GEO Group from
August 2010 until July 2012. Journalists Margaret Newkirk and William Selway
reported: "Staff shortages, mismanagement and lax oversight had long
turned it into a cauldron of violence, where female employees had sex with
inmates, pitted them against each other, gave them weapons and joined their
gangs, according to court records, interviews and a U.S. Justice Department
report."
Responding
to criticism, GEO spokesman Pablo Paez said that focusing on troubled
institutions such as Walnut Grove “yields an unfair, unbalanced, and
inaccurate portrayal of the totality of our industry’s and our company’s long
standing record of quality operations and services which have delivered
significant savings for taxpayers". The reporters noted: "No
national data tracks whether the facilities are run as well as public ones,
and private-prison lobbyists for years have successfully fought efforts to
bring them under federal open-records law." Here in Britain, one thing
today's report from the Prisons Inspectorate doesn't mention is the case of
Prince Kwabena Fosu, a 31 year old Ghanaian man who died at Harmondsworth on
30 October 2012. Fellow detainees claimed that GEO guards beat him, stripped
him and abandoned him naked in an unheated room. Police said the death was
being treated as "non-suspicious".Liked this piece? Please donate
to OurKingdom here to help keep us producing independent journalism. Thank
you.
Jan
16, 2014 Our Kingdom
A
shocking report on Harmondsworth, the British immigration lock-up run by GEO,
America's second biggest prisons contractor. Who are the GEO Group and what
do they stand for? At Gatwick Airport last year, on Wednesday 23 January,
British immigration officials detained an elderly Canadian man. He was taken
to hospital. Then he was locked up at Harmondsworth Immigration Removal
Centre. A doctor examined him, reporting to the authorities that he was
"frail, 84 years old, has Alzheimer's disease . . .demented". The
doctor marked his papers: "UNFIT for detention or deportation. Requires
social care." The British Home Office chose to ignore the medical advice
and continued to detain him. On 8 February he was taken to hospital in
handcuffs, then returned to his cell. Two days later he was taken back to
hospital and kept in handcuffs for five long hours. His condition worsened.
The cuffs stayed on. His heart stopped. Medical staff tried and failed to
resuscitate him. The handcuffs were removed. His name was Alois Dvorzac. In
November 2012, another dying man had been taken in handcuffs from his
Harmondsworth cell for treatment in hospital. He stayed cuffed while sedated,
stayed cuffed while undergoing an angioplasty. Eventually the handcuffs were
removed. Seven hours later he was dead. Both cases are revealed today by the
Chief Inspector of Prisons, Nick Hardwick, in a shocking report on
Harmondsworth, the immigration centre near Heathrow Airport that holds about
600 men awaiting removal from Britain. They are detained for the
"shortest possible period". That's the official line. In real life,
many are detained indefinitely. The inspectors, who dropped in unannounced
last Summer, found one man who had spent two and a half years locked up at
Harmondsworth. They said he seemed unlikely ever to be released since the
Home Office had failed for years to obtain travel documentation for him.
Harmondsworth guards routinely subjected detainees to long periods of
solitary confinement without reason, the inspectors reported. Muslims were
more likely than others to be isolated. Hunger strikers were monitored
excessively, and for reasons that had nothing to do with their medical needs.
Some were held regardless of clear medical grounds for release. According to
Home Office rules, victims of torture should not be detained. Inspectors
found that Harmondsworth's medical reports on alleged victims of torture were
often poorly done, putting victims at risk of continued detention — a
complaint raised repeatedly over years by the prisons inspectorate and, over
years, ignored by the Home Office. Detainees claiming to be under 18 were
held at Harmondsworth for too long while their age was determined. Sometimes
Home Office staff alone made age assessments, in contravention of the rules.
In one chilling insight into the department's moral standards and modus
operandi, the inspectors said that a charity volunteer who had visited
detainees to offer support and advice had been tapped for information by the
Home Office. Among numerous examples of neglect and disrespect, the
inspectors noted dirty food trolleys, beds without pillows, excessively hot
showers, three men held in double cells, long waits in locked vans after
overnight drives from other facilities . . . Who runs Harmondsworth? Reckoned
to be Britain's most horrible immigration lock-up, Harmondsworth is run for
the British government by the GEO Group, America's second biggest prisons
company. In the UK, GEO also runs Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre (in
South Lanarkshire) and escorts prisoners and detainees in partnership with
the British outsourcing company, Amey. Who are the GEO Group? What are they
like? Industry insiders speak of the international security industry as one
big family. Here's a little family history. The GEO Group was spawned by The
Wackenhut Corporation, founded by George R Wackenhut. A former FBI agent,
Wackenhut started a three-man detective agency in Miami in 1954, providing
security services to stay afloat, according to his 2005 obituary in the New
York Times. To impress commercial clients, Wackenhut dressed his guards in
helmets and paratrooper boots. He recruited former members of the CIA, the
FBI and elite military forces to join his management team and the company's
board, the New York Times reported. The Wackenhut Corporation gathered
intelligence on individuals, "both to run background checks for their
clients and as an outgrowth of George Wackenhut’s anti-communist views",
according to the New York University Digital Archive that holds some of those
papers. By 1971 Wackenhut held files on 2.5 million individuals. The company
recruited ex-FBI chief Clarence M. Kelley, ex-Secret Service James J. Rowley,
Frank C. Carlucci, former defense secretary and former CIA deputy director,
according to the New York Times. William J. Casey was Wackenhut's outside
legal counsel before Ronald Reagan appointed him director of central
intelligence. Such connections "fuelled speculation that the company was
working with the CIA, a relationship that Mr. Wackenhut denied". Well,
he would. In 2002, on George Wackenhut's retirement, Group 4 Falck bought The
Wackenhut Corporation, including a majority stake in its prisons business
(the Wackenhut Corrections Corporation). The following year, the prisons
business, headed by George Zoley, bought its shares back from Group 4 Falck,
and relaunched itself as the GEO Group. The Wackenhut Corporation remained in
Group 4 Falke's hands as Group 4 merged with Securicor, creating G4S. In 2010
G4S dropped the Wackenhut name (it wasn't helpful). And The Wackenhut
Corporation was born again — as G4S Secure Solutions (USA) Inc. The GEO Group
continues to invest heavily in political lobbying. A 2011 research report
(PDF here) by the Washington-based Justice Policy Institute demonstrated how
GEO, among other private prison companies, buys influence, promoting policies
that lead to higher rates of incarceration. Two years ago, as if by magic,
GEO became a 'real estate investment trust'. Why would a prisons company call
itself a real estate trust? Tax avoidance is the primary motive. GEO
celebrated its reincarnation by paying shareholders a special dividend of
$350 million. (PDF here). George Zoley, GEO's chairman and chief executive
officer, took $6 million in pay and perks in 2012, according to Bloomberg.
His retirement agreement (here) lands him a $7 million lump sum if he goes
this year, aged 64. If he holds out until 71, there's $9 million coming his
way. His shares in GEO Group alone (170,200 of them) are valued, by today's
price, at around $6 million. Government
contracting is, demonstrably, a good thing for GEO Group shareholders and
executives. What about prisoners, detainees and the public purse? A Bloomberg
report on private prisons last year ('Gangs ruled prison as for-profit model
put blood on the floor') focussed on Mississippi's Walnut Grove Youth
Correctional Facility, run by GEO Group from August 2010 until July 2012.
Journalists Margaret Newkirk and William Selway reported: "Staff
shortages, mismanagement and lax oversight had long turned it into a cauldron
of violence, where female employees had sex with inmates, pitted them against
each other, gave them weapons and joined their gangs, according to court
records, interviews and a U.S. Justice Department report." Responding to
criticism, GEO spokesman Pablo Paez said that focusing on troubled
institutions such as Walnut Grove “yields an unfair, unbalanced, and
inaccurate portrayal of the totality of our industry’s and our company’s long
standing record of quality operations and services which have delivered
significant savings for taxpayers". The reporters noted: "No
national data tracks whether the facilities are run as well as public ones,
and private-prison lobbyists for years have successfully fought efforts to
bring them under federal open-records law." Here in Britain, one thing
today's report from the Prisons Inspectorate doesn't mention is the case of
Prince Kwabena Fosu, a 31 year old Ghanaian man who died at Harmondsworth on
30 October 2012. Fellow detainees claimed that GEO guards beat him, stripped
him and abandoned him naked in an unheated room. Police said the death was
being treated as "non-suspicious".
August 5, 2011 The Guardian
Separate investigations into three deaths in immigration removal centres
(IRC) in the past month have been launched by the police, amid growing
concern about the treatment of detainees. The spate of deaths has caused
alarm among critics of the government's detention policy, who warn that the
system is at "breaking point" with poor healthcare putting people's
lives at risk. Two men died from suspected heart attacks at Colnbrook near
Heathrow airport and the third killed himself at the Campsfield House detention
centre in Oxfordshire on Tuesday. John McDonnell, Labour MP for Hayes and
Harlington, who has two detention centres including Colnbrook in his
constituency, said he feared there would be more deaths as the system
struggled to cope with the number of people being detained. "The
government is now detaining people on such a scale that the existing services
are swamped," he said. "It is inevitable if we put the services
under such relentless strain that there will be more deaths as a result … we
are dealing with people who are extremely stressed and extremely vulnerable
and the services are not able to cope and not able to guarantee their
safety." The first man who died was Muhammad Shukat, 47, a Pakistani
immigration detainee who collapsed at around 6am on 2 July. His roommate
Abdul Khan says that in the hours before he died Shukat was groaning in
agony, had very bad chest pains and was sweating profusely. Khan, 19, from
Afghanistan, said he began raising the alarm around 6am and pressed the
emergency button in the room 10 times in a frantic effort to get help. Khan
claimed that on three occasions members of the centre's nursing team entered
the room and found Shukat on the floor where he had collapsed. Khan said they
put him back into bed, took his temperature and some medicine was
administered, but did not call emergency assistance immediately. According to
Khan, the nurses initially said that Shukat could go to see the centre's
doctor at 8am. According to the London Ambulance Service, Colnbrook staff
called an ambulance just before 7.20am. Attempts were made to resuscitate
Shukat, but he was pronounced dead on arrival at Hillingdon Hospital. A
postmortem found the provisional cause of death to be coronary heart disease.
Shukat's body has been returned to Pakistan and his family are understood to
have no concerns about the medical treatment he received. The second man to
die at Colnbrook has not yet been named. According to the Metropolitan police
he was 35 and was found dead in his cell at 10.30am last Sunday. London
Ambulance Service officials pronounced him dead at the scene. "A
postmortem held on 1 August found the cause of death to be a ruptured aorta.
The death is being treated as unexplained," said a police spokesman.
Colnbrook IRC is managed by Serco. In a statement to detainees about Shukat's
death, deputy director at Colnbrook, Jenni Halliday, described her "deep
regret" and extended her condolences. In a statement to detainees about
the second Colnbrook death, Serco's contract manager, Michael Guy, informed
detainees that a resident in the short-term holding facility had died and
that the death was thought to be from natural causes. On Tuesday, a
35-year-old man hanged himself in the toilet block at Campsfield House
detention centre in Oxfordshire. A fellow detainee, who refused to give his
name, said the man had been hours away from being deported and had become
very anxious. "He was normally a very quiet person … but the pressure is
too much for people in here." It is understood the man had only been at
the centre for a few days before he died. The Home Office refused to give any
more details saying his extended family had yet to be informed. Emma Ginn,
from the campaign group Medical Justice, said the deaths had heightened
concern about the poor healthcare on offer to those being kept in UK
detention centres. "Based on medical evidence from many hundreds of
detainees, Medical Justice has documented the disturbingly inadequate
healthcare provision that often vulnerable immigration detainees are subjected
to in Colnbrook and other immigration removal centres... [this] combined with
the perilous and frightening conditions of detention, is a lethal cocktail, a
disaster waiting to happen." The UK Border Agency declined to comment on
the specific circumstances of each case. It said the police and the Prisons
and Probation Ombudsman always investigated deaths in immigration detention
centres and it would be inappropriate to comment until these were complete.
David Wood, director of criminality and detention at the UK Border Agency,
said all detainees at immigration removal centres have access to health
services seven days a week. "All detainees are seen by a nurse within
two hours of arrival and are given an opportunity to see a GP within 24
hours," he added. "The health of all detainees is monitored
closely, and the healthcare professionals are required to report cases where
it is considered that a person's health is being affected by continued
detention. "The UK takes its responsibilities seriously, which is why we
consider every case on its individual merits and will continue to offer
protection to those who need it. However, detention is an essential part of
our controls on immigration in the UK." A groundbreaking ruling -- A man
with severe mental illness was unlawfully locked up in a UK detention centre
for five months and subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment, according to
a high court ruling. The man, a 34-year-old Indian national, was detained in
Harmondsworth immigration removal centre between April and September last
year. On Friday a judge ruled that his treatment amounted to a breach of
article 3 of the European convention human rights. The man's lawyer said the
ruling – thought to be the first of its kind – raised wider questions about
how the government treats people with mental illnesses in the immigration and
detention system. "The court's decision that my client suffered inhuman
or degrading treatment at a UK detention facility sends a very loud and clear
message to the authorities," said. "We would urge the minister to
conduct a fundamental review into how people suffering from mental illness
are treated in the immigration detention estate." The man, referred to
as "S" in the ruling, had a history of serious ill treatment and abuse
before arriving in the UK. He served time in prison for wounding and assault
before being transferred to a secure psychiatric hospital until his discharge
in April 2010. Following his release the UK Border Agency said there was
"no evidence" he was mentally ill and he was detained in
Harmondsworth where his health deteriorated and he began to have psychotic
episodes and self harm. The high court intervened and he was released on
bail. His lawyers said he had been living with his family since then and had
fully complied with the conditions of bail set by the court. In the ruling
judge David Elvin said: "S's pre-existing mental condition was both
triggered and exacerbated by detention and that involved both a debasement
and humiliation of S since it showed a serious lack of respect for his human
dignity. It created a state in S's mind of real anguish and fear, through his
hallucinations, which led him to self-harm frequently and to behave in a
manner which was humiliating…" A UK Border Agency spokesperson said: "We
regularly review our detention policies and will look at the findings in this
case to ensure lessons are learned. Detention is an essential part of our
immigration control but we recognise the importance of ensuring it remains
appropriate on a case by case basis."
April 4, 2011 The Sun
BRITISH workers at a deportation centre are to be sacked and replaced by
inmates on just £1 an hour. Staff are in uproar at the unit, which cages
failed asylum seekers and foreign prisoners awaiting the boot from the UK. Up
to 20 full-time kitchen workers, who earn £300 a week, are to be made
redundant under the plan. Inmates who take over their jobs at Harmondsworth,
near London's Heathrow airport, will earn nothing like the £5.93-an-hour
national minimum wage. One worker at the unit said: "It's a disgrace.
They're doing things on the cheap in a scandalous way. Where are these 20
sacked British staff going to find jobs in the current climate? "Surely
we should be giving priority to British workers in these troubled times."
Another worker added: "Apart from the sackings, it is wrong to use the
inmates as virtual slave labour." Privately-run Harmondsworth
Immigration Removal Centre is the biggest deportation unit in Europe, with
615 inmates. Original contractors Kalyx were replaced in 2009 by the American
private security company, GEO Group. Jonathan Sedgwick, acting Chief
Executive of the Home Office's UK Border Agency, said: "Detainees
working in cleaning and catering roles is common in our detention centres.
"It allows us to keep detainees occupied while arrangements are made to
return them. This is nothing new and has been praised by HM Inspector of
Prisons and independent monitoring boards."
July 31, 2009 Daily Star
BRITISH workers facing the sack at an immigration detention centre say their
jobs are being taken by “illegals” who are being held there. The detainees,
who have no legal rights to work in the UK, have been handed £15-a-week
cleaning jobs. But the real cleaners are among up to 74 workers expected to
be made redundant this month at the Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre
near Heathrow Airport. The Home Office denied that the cleaners are being
replaced by detainees at a fraction of the cost. But one cleaner said she
thought the Government’s British Jobs for British Workers claim was “a joke”.
She added: “Not only are foreign workers exploiting British employment
opportunities, but now it seems that even failed asylum seekers in detention
centres are taking our jobs.” The Harmondsworth centre was taken over by GEO
Group last month. It houses immigrants who are awaiting deportation, some of
whom are failed asylum seekers or those who have overstayed their visas. The
Home Office confirmed none of them would have a legal right to work in the
UK. A GEO Group spokesman said six cleaners were to be made redundant but
declined to comment further. Lin Homer, chief executive of the UK Border
Agency, said: “No staff facing redundancy at the centre will be replaced by
an immigration detainee.” But she said a recent report had said detainees
should be able to do more paid work.
June 29, 2009 News Ticker
The GEO Group, Inc. (NYSE: GEO) ("GEO") announced today that
its wholly owned U.K. subsidiary, GEO UK Ltd., has assumed management
functions at the 256-bed Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre (the
"Centre”) located in London, England. GEO U.K. will manage the Centre
under contract with the United Kingdom Border Agency. The contract for the
management and operation of the Centre will have a term of three years and is
expected to generate approximately $14.0 million in annual revenues for GEO.
Additionally, the Centre will be expanded by 364 beds bringing its capacity
to 620 beds when the expansion is completed in June 2010. Upon completion of
the expansion, GEO’s management contract is expected to generate
approximately $19.5 million in annual revenues.
March 17, 2009 Worthing Herald
The Government was wrong not to order an independent inquiry into
allegations of mistreatment at Harmondsworth immigration detention centre in
west London 2006, the Court of Appeal has ruled. But the appeal judges held
it was now too late to hold an effective investigation and the question of
whether the state had breached the human rights of detainees fell to be
decided by way of pending civil damages claims. Human rights group Liberty
brought the case against the Home Office and the managers of the centre,
Kalyx Ltd, on behalf of three detainees who claimed they were subjected to
"inhuman or degrading treatment" during disturbances caused by
other detainees at the centre near Heathrow Airport on November 28 2006.
Referred to only as "AM and others", the detainees allege they were
denied food and water for up to 40 hours; locked in overcrowded, pitch-black
rooms flooded with water for more than 24 hours; forced to urinate and
defecate in front of each other; and strip searched in front of several
officers. Their appeal, in which lawyers argued that their alleged treatment
was sufficient to trigger the UK's legal obligation to hold an official
investigation, was upheld by Lord Justices Sedley and Elias, with Lord
Justice Longmore dissenting. Anna Fairclough, legal officer at Liberty, said
after the judgment: "With so many people languishing in immigration
detention, it is shameful that the Home Secretary refused to investigate
these very serious allegations of mistreatment. "The judgment leaves the
Government nowhere to hide should anything of this nature happen again."
July 26, 2007 The Daily Mail
Rioting foreign criminals and failed asylum seekers were fed McDonald's
takeaway meals by prison staff during a £60million orgy of destruction which
wrecked an immigration detention centre. Fearful that the human rights of
inmates would be breached, staff ferried sackfuls of Big Mac meals with fries
and soft drinks from a nearby branch of the fast-food chain. The revelation
came in a damning official report into the riot at Harmondsworth Immigration
Removal Centre near Heathrow Airport last November. More than 500 inmates
awaiting deportation wrecked and burned down much of the site, and it took
riot squads almost two days to regain control. The report also reveals: •
Walls and doors in the centre were so flimsy that inmates kicked them down
with ease, especially after they were soaked by the sprinkler system; • The fire
brigade got lost because there were no signposts to the centre; • CCTV
cameras were easy for rioters to destroy - meaning control room staff had no
idea what was going on; • Increasingly desperate calls to the Prison Service
headquarters begging for help were ignored for an hour. The official Home
Office investigation blames the riot partly on the huge pressure on the
centre after last summer's foreign prisoners scandal. Hundreds of foreign
national criminals were rounded up after being released from Britain's jails
without being considered for deportation. Of the 501 men in the detention
centre at the time 177 were foreign prisoners awaiting deportation - a
volatile group who had 'nothing to lose'. The riot was triggered by inmates
watching a TV news bulletin reporting criticisms of Harmondsworth from prison
watchdogs. Fires were started and inmates began smashing CCTV cameras and
attacking staff, who were unable to contain the violence. As control room
managers lost their grip, staff were ordered to retreat and seal the gates,
as police arrived to guard the perimeter. Thirteen riot squads entered the
centre next morning but took more than 24 hours to regain control. During the
day a row broke out between senior officials over whether to send food in for
rioters. Those who favoured starving inmates into submission were overruled,
as managers ordered that 'minimum needs of food and drink' must be supplied.
"In the early stages food came from McDonald's," according to the
report by senior civil servant Robert Whalley. Yesterday the Daily Mail
tracked down a worker at the West Drayton branch of McDonald's who recalled
Harmondsworth staff placing a huge order for £3.59 burger meals. He said:
"I remember prison officers turning up and ordering around 100 Big Mac
meals with fries and fizzy drinks. For a couple of hours they kept turning up
with big bags, filling them up with meals and then ferrying them off in
Securicor vans and then they'd return for more." The Home Office was
last night unable to provide details of the cost of the emergency supplies.
The cost of dealing with the riot and rebuilding large parts of Harmondsworth
is expected to top £65million. Tory immigration spokesman Damian Green said:
"This situation required a fast response, and all they got was fast
food. "We now know that this dangerous incident happened because the
Government was forced to mix foreign prisoners with failed asylum seekers.
Because of prison overcrowding, this is still going on."
May 20, 2007 Observer
Hunger strikes, rioting and self-harm are now endemic in Britain's
biggest detention centres as detainees become increasingly desperate about
living in what they claim are deteriorating conditions. At Yarl's Wood in
Bedfordshire, more than 100 women are refusing to eat, and there have been
recent reports of major disturbances at Lindholme, South Yorkshire, and at
Colnbrook in Middlesex. Self-harm is particularly acute at Yarl's Wood, which
reopened in September 2003 after half of it was gutted by fire during rioting
in February 2002. It now houses hundreds of women, many of whom have
attempted to claim asylum in Britain after fleeing war zones. Amid growing
concern over Britain's overstretched asylum system, the campaign group
Liberty will call tomorrow for the Home Secretary, John Reid, to order a
public inquiry into the large-scale riot at Harmondsworth detention centre in
west London last November. If Reid refuses, the group says that it intends to
seek a judicial review of his decision on behalf of seven detainees it is
representing - an unprecedented move that would see Britain's immigration
system placed under scrutiny in the courts. 'Well-documented abuses at
Harmondsworth detention centre sparked the disturbance in November,' said
Liberty's legal officer, Alex Gask. 'These men deserve a public inquiry into
the ill-treatment they faced; anything less could result in legal action.'
The deteriorating situation in the detention centres has sparked a surge in
self-harm, according to campaigners. Every other day detainees harm themselves
to such a serious degree that they require medical treatment, according to
the National Coalition of Anti Deportation Campaigns. Between April 2006 and
March 2007 there were 199 attempts to self-harm that required medical
treatment. An investigation last year into conditions at Yarl's Wood found 70
per cent of women at the centre had reported rape, nearly half had been
detained for more than three months and 57 per cent had no legal
representation. Conditions have not improved, according to campaigners.
Assaults are said to be commonplace. One woman was stripped and thrown naked
into a van taking her to the airport for deportation only for the pilot to
refuse to allow her to fly as she had no clothes. The women also allege staff
regularly refer to them as 'black monkey', 'nigger' and 'bitch'. They claim
vital faxes from solicitors are going missing and information on basic legal
rights is being withheld. Detainees also complain they are given days-old
reheated food in which they have found hair, dirt and maggots. Campaigners
are also concerned about conditions at Harmondsworth, where detainees rioted
after being banned from watching news coverage of a damning report on the
centre. The Liberty report, to be published tomorrow, contains a clutch of
testimonies from detainees about the conditions in Harmondsworth before the
riots. One man interviewed for the study told how he was taken to the
centre's medical clinic suffering from a bad back. 'They just abandoned me,'
the man said. 'There was no doctor and, when I asked where the doctor was,
the detention officers laughed at me ... One of them stepped on the hem of my
trousers to make me fall over. He then started laughing and called me a
"fucking negro".' Solitary confinement as a punishment for speaking
out at Harmondsworth is common, according to Liberty. 'If we made a complaint
we would be given a warning,' one man known as 'K' told Liberty. 'If we were
given three warnings, we would be put in an isolated cell. We were scared of
making complaints against officers because we expected to be treated badly if
we did. We were treated like pigs and very unfairly, as if we were serious
criminals.' A spokesman for Kalyx, which runs Harmondsworth, declined to
comment. Serco, which took over Yarl's Wood on 26 April, denied conditions
had deteriorated and said that many of the detainees' original concerns had
been addressed. A Serco spokesman said staff had been praised by the prisons
inspector for their good relationship with detainees. 'We take any complaints
seriously,' he said.
December 10, 2006 The Guardian
The company running the detention centre at which hundreds of asylum
seekers rioted last month is to be forced to pay the government more than £5m
for a series of performance failures. The huge amount, believed to be a
record sum for a private contractor to have to return to the public coffers,
is likely to be seized upon by critics of Britain's asylum system, who have
long campaigned for better conditions at the Harmondsworth detention centre,
near Heathrow. The payout comes soon after a damning report by the chief
inspector of prisons slated conditions at the detention centre. Anne Owers
said her report was the 'poorest' she had ever delivered on an immigration
centre. It highlighted a number of areas where there were causes for concern,
including the poor relations between staff and detainees and the fact that
staff were unable to recognise torture victims. Over 60 per cent of detainees
said they had felt unsafe, while 44 per cent said they had been victimised by
staff. The news that Kalyx, the US security and services giant that runs a
number of private prisons in the UK, is to return £5,096,000 to the
government was revealed in a House of Lords debate last week by the Home
Office minister, Baroness Scotland. Neither Kalyx nor the Home Office would
be drawn on why the company has had to pay such a sizeable sum. But Scotland
suggested it was at least partly to do with the company's failure to manage
the centre properly. She told the Lords that 'rigorous attempts to manage the
situation in Harmondsworth' had now been put in place. 'That was the basis of
the concerns expressed and of the disagreement... between management,'
Scotland said. The payout is a significant blow to the reputation of Kalyx.
Last month, in an attempt to improve its image, the controversial company
changed its name from UK Detention Services. The company claims on its
website that it provides 'nationally recognised standards of service,
delivered by high-calibre staff' and provides 'protection and care associated
with the growth of the individual and strength'. It makes no reference to the
recent Owers report. There have been three suicides at Harmondsworth. The
latest was Bereket Yohannes, 26, who was found hanging in January. Since
Owers' damning report, a new centre manager has been introduced and the
government has pledged to act on its recommendations. Nicholas Hopkins, a
spokesman for Kalyx, said he would 'not be drawn' into commenting on the
matter. A Home Office spokeswoman confirmed Kalyx would soon be paying out.
'The Immigration and Nationality Directorate has been in dispute with HDSL (a
subsidiary of Kalyx) over its contractual performance at Harmondsworth,' the
spokeswoman said. 'The dispute reached mediation point in summer 2006 and
reached an agreed settlement; the details of this are being finalised by
lawyers with full completion anticipated by the end of this month.' The
impending payout comes as the government fears it could lose a crucial
Commons vote tomorrow over plans to introduce more competition into the
prisons and probation sector. Prisons Minister Gerry Sutcliffe is so worried
he has taken the highly unusual step of emailing Conservative MPs offering
them a private briefing in a last-ditch attempt to get them onside. The move
has inflamed Labour MPs, between 25 and 30 of whom have signalled that they
will vote against the bill.
November 29, 2006 BBC
A mutiny inside the UK's largest immigration centre has been contained,
the Home Office has said. Detainees at the 500-capacity Harmondsworth centre
in west London staged a protest about living conditions in the early hours.
Fires were started and about 50 asylum seekers spelt out "help" and
"SOS" with bed sheets in the courtyard. The Home office said the situation
was contained but some of the detainees would be moved from Harmondsworth.
Lin Homer, head of the immigration and nationality directorate, said:
"The perimeter remains secure, and no-one has escaped. There has been no
risk to the public. No injuries to staff or detainees have been
reported." Repeated disturbances: She said 150 immigration offenders at
centres across the UK would be bailed to make space for the detainees that
were moved from Harmondsworth. "These are people who have been detained
in order to better enforce their removal. We will priorities the cases
according to risk. No foreign national prisoners will be released," Ms
Homer added. The disturbance erupted following the publication of a prisons'
watchdog report which criticised the centre's regime after repeated
disturbances there.
November 28, 2006 BBC
An immigration detention centre with a violent history including a death
and repeated disturbances is getting worse, the prisons watchdog has warned.
Chief inspector of prisons Anne Owers said Harmondsworth in west London was
hard to run - but her report was the poorest ever on a removal centre.
Detainees said they feared bullying, and staff were unaware of a special plan
to prevent suicides. The Home Office said it would draw up a plan to improve
the centre. The centre near Heathrow Airport is the largest in the country,
handling thousands of people facing deportation every year. In 2004 a
detainee committed suicide, sparking a major disturbance that led to its
temporary closure. Since then, Harmondsworth has been at the centre of
ongoing campaigns against detention of failed asylum seekers. In 2005, some
50 Zimbabweans held at the centre launched a hunger strike to try to force
their cases back into the courts, saying they had been unfairly treated. In
their July inspection, inspectors found: More than 60% of detainees felt
unsafe Almost half (44%) said they had been victimised by staff Detainees
described custody officers as aggressive, intimidating and unhelpful The
report also criticised the management's over-emphasis on physical security
and their strict control of all movements. These measures went as far as
banning detainees from keeping nail clippers. At the same time, actions to
prevent self-harm and suicide were weak, despite the commitment of one co-ordinator.
July 31, 2004
Campaigners against the detention of asylum seekers have begun a series of
protests around the country. The demonstrations came after two apparent
suicides in removal centres, one of which led to disturbances.
Organisations backing the protests say they want to see an end to detention
of people who have not been convicted of any crimes. The demonstrations
are taking place outside five institutions which have been used to hold
asylum seekers. On Monday 19 July, a Ukrainian asylum seeker was found
hanged at Harmondsworth Removal centre, near Heathrow Airport. The man had
been waiting a date for deportation. The death sparked significant
disturbances in the centre which detainees protesting against
conditions. (BBC)
July 21, 2004
The authorities finally regained full control of a detention centre today
where a “significant disturbance” was sparked by the death of a
detainee. Up to 100 asylum seekers at Harmondsworth, near Heathrow,
surrendered rather than face the power of specialist “tornado” teams of
trained prison officers. Fires were set and windows broken as trouble
erupted at 11pm yesterday, just hours after a 31-year-old detainee was found
hanged. Harmondsworth was expected to be empty by later this evening as
the detainees were moved to other immigration sites and prisons. In a
report last September, Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers said it was
“failing to provide a safe and stable environment” for detainees.
(Scotsman)
July 20, 2004
Hundreds of detainees at an asylum centre, where a man's death sparked a
serious disturbance are to be moved. The trouble at Harmondsworth
Detention Centre, which included fires being lit, started after the man was
found hanging at 2000 BST on Monday. The situation has "quietened
right down" but a number of detainees are yet to be brought under
control. Earlier, staff had to leave for their own safety. In September
last year Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers said thecentre was an unsafe
place for staff and detainees, despite hard work by staff. And in May,
at least 20 detainees staged a five-day hunger strike in protest against
alleged abuses, including the physical treatment of those facing deportation,
according to BBC sources. (BBC)
October 11, 2003
A report issued by the chief inspector of prisons in England and Wales into
conditions at the Harmondsworth Detention Centre in 2002 has called for a
police investigation into reports of detainees being beaten by staff. Several
detainees are alleged to have been assaulted during transfers in and out of
the centre, often as they are sent for deportation. On several occasions
during detainee transfers, prison service Tactical Intervention Squads—armed
with riot gear—have been called in to assist the private security guards that
man the centre. The author of the report, Anne Owers, met one
asylum-seeker who had required hospitalisation for injuries sustained during
an attempt to deport him and others who had suffered serious assaults at the
hands of guards. She acknowledged that allegations by detainees of assault
were “common” but that few were referred to the police. “It is
extremely important,” Owers said, “that such claims should be fully
investigated and, if necessary, prosecuted, but we are told that police and
prosecutors were reluctant to act. If so, this is unacceptable.” Of the
nine assaults against detainees reported to the police in the past year all
were dismissed as unsubstantiated. The report also criticises the
centre as being an “essentially unsafe place for detainees and staff.” There
were “increasing levels of disorder” in the facility and a
detainee-on-detainee assault rate of approximately seven attacks per week.
There is an average of one self-harm incident a week officially recorded by
the centre, a figure likely to be far higher in reality. Despite this the
inspectorate found that “suicide, self-harm and anti-bullying procedures were
not efficiently managed.” There was also found to be insufficient mental
health support for detainees held in the centre’s medical unit. Owers
claimed that Harmondsworth was “frightening and potentially dangerous” and
“not well equipped to ensure detainees’ protection.” Levels of desperation
among detainees at the centre are understandably high, with many having been
resident in one or more detention centre for months. Harmondsworth is
situated next to London’s Heathrow Airport and serves as the last port of
call for thousands of asylum-seekers before their forced removal from
Britain. The report criticised staff shortages and poor health and
safety protection. It pointed out that a number of small fires at the centre
had “severely tested the fire response capability” there. Like the Yarl’s
Wood Detention Centre that was ravaged by fire in 2002, Harmondsworth is not
fitted with a sprinkler system. During the blaze at Yarl’s Wood staff were
unable to cope, leaving the panicked detainees to their own fate. Conditions
in Harmondsworth are directly comparable to those that existed in Yarl’s Wood
prior to its near destruction—an event that could have claimed the lives of
scores of detainees and staff. Harmondsworth has a family unit capable
of holding dozens of families with children. There were 25 children held at
the centre at the time of the inspection. Owers found that the educational,
recreational and developmental requirements of young people at the centre
were being inadequately provided for. Furthermore, the lack of personal
security for detainees and the presence of many traumatised adult
asylum-seekers created an environment wholly unsuitable for children. “Given
the inherent insecurity of the centre as a whole, we remain of the view that,
as in other centres in England, children should only exceptionally be
detained in Harmondsworth, and not for any period longer than seven days,”
the report stated. The children of asylum-seekers, whether at a single
centre or cumulatively by being moved from one centre to another, often spend
large portions of their childhood in these grim and dangerous facilities
prior to being deported. The report comments that many of the problems
at Harmondsworth are common to all the asylum centres: “Many of the
systematic problems that detainees experienced at Harmondsworth have already
been covered in the Inspectorate’s six previous reports.” These include:
“the inability of the Immigration Service to progress cases efficiently or
communicate effectively with detainees; the absence of sufficient competent
legal advice and representation; the need for independent welfare advice to
assist detainees to deal with practical problems during detention and on
removal; and the need for more activities for detainees, including the
ability to work.” It is not the first official report to criticise
Burns International, the private security firm contracted by the Home Office
to run Harmondsworth until earlier this year. In April this year a Home
Office report—only published following pressure from the human rights group
Liberty—on an investigation into the suicide in 2000 of Lithuanian
asylum-seeker Robertus Grabys exposed some of the conditions facing
vulnerable asylum-seekers in Harmondsworth. The Home Office concluded that
there had been insufficient care for Mr. Grabys who was known to be suffering
from severe depression. Found hanging in his cell on the day he was to be
deported, he had been dead for over an hour. Burns International had not
placed him on a suicide watch, and the centre was found to have no formal
policy to prevent suicides. In February Burns International—a division
of the Swedish-based multinational security company Securitas—was outbid for
the Harmondsworth contract by Premier Detention Services Ltd., which
currently runs the much criticised regime at the Dungavel asylum centre in
Scotland. (www.wsws.org)
September
26, 2002
A private company that runs the
Harmonsworth detention centre for asylum seekers and provides services to
many NHS health trusts warned yesterday that "serious errors of
management" in part of its British business would blow a near pounds 20m
in profits. Shares in French-based Sodexho Alliance plunged 30% on the
Paris stock market, sending in a shockwave across the support services sector
that dragged rival Compass down 10% in London. Sodexho had dismissed a
number of top executives from its UK food and management business and accused
its auditors, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, of being "insufficiently
vigilant". Sian Herbert-Jones, chief financial officer at Sodexho
Alliance, said there was no evidence of fraud and she was confident the
problems would be solved by restructuring. Sodexho would tighten up
management of food and personnel costs, renegotiate some contracts and reduce
overheads. About 85 staff are to lose their jobs and there would be
tighter controls on wages, but Ms. Herbert-Jones insisted that key services should
not be hit. But the latest profit warning is the third year and
investors are wary of all unexpected announcements in a jittery stock market
enviroment. "A company can't afford this kind of news in this kind
of market," said one trader. The Harmonsworth centre in west
London, which was hit by an embarassing breakout by nine asylum seekers
earlier this year, is run by Sodexho's UK Detention Centre Services, which
has its own management seperate from the food and management group.
(NWOM-news)
Harrow Crown Court
London, UK
Serco
January 20, 2012 UKPA
A former Harrow Crown Court prison guard has been jailed for four years for
trying to smuggle heroin. Dean Nelder, 28, was caught taking a package
containing cannabis and heroin into the court in April last year. Police were
alerted to the plan after a note was left in a cell at Wormwood Scrubs prison
tipping them off. Passing sentence at the Old Bailey, the Recorder of London
Peter Beaumont QC said: "You've let yourself down, you've let your
family down, and those who care for you, and you've made it very difficult to
get a responsible job in the future." Nelder was jailed for four years
for conspiracy to supply class A drugs, two years for conspiracy to commit
misconduct in public office and three years for possession of a class A drug
with intent to supply, to run concurrently.
Heathrow Airport
England
Group 4 (formerly run by Sodexho/UK Detention Services)
April 15, 2009 The Independent
Thousands of foreign visitors and refugees who are detained at Heathrow
airport each year are forced to endure degrading living conditions and
"deep-seated" negative attitudes about their welfare, an
independent report concludes today. The findings will add to growing concerns
about the treatment of foreign people held in detention in the UK before they
are granted entry clearance or sent home. The report by the Independent
Monitoring Board (IMB) makes note of cockroaches in Terminal 4 kitchens and
the absence of proper washing facilities for detainees held overnight. The
monitors were so angered by one case, the comprehensive failure to care for
the needs of a disabled visitor who was travelling to the UK with her young
son, that they sought personal apologies from the staff concerned. Some of
the visitors held at Heathrow are incoming passengers detained for
questioning or refused entry to the UK. Others are brought to Heathrow from
immigration removal centres, prisons or police stations to be deported. The
authors said: "The generic term 'detainee' casts no light on the humanity
of the men, women and children to whom it is applied. The IMB perceives a
deep-seated negative attitude towards their wellbeing while in detention at
the airport, at both policy and operational levels." Other language
which the report said reflected these views included the use of the phrase
"these people" to describe visitors held in what staff
inappropriately referred to as "pens". Between 2008 and 2009,
33,100 people were detained at the airport, of whom 22,000 were detained in
holding rooms and 11,100 in Queen's Buildings, which is mostly used for
holding failed asylum-seekers before they are returned to their own
countries. The UK Border Agency has hired G4 Securicor to staff the
short-term detention facilities but the report makes it clear that the IBM
thought the Government had "failed repeatedly to supervise its staff in
key areas, all impacting on detainees' welfare." The IMB called on G4
Securicor to address these issues urgently. It said: "We urge the [UK
Border Agency] to take necessary steps, whether in terms of their own
processes, or the performance of G4S as escort contractor, to drive down the
length of time many are detained. Action is overdue."
June 15, 2008 Sunday Mail
SUSPECTED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
ARE BEING HELD IN "HOLDING rooms" at UK airports and ports
without regular independent
scrutiny of their welfare and human rights, three years after the prisons
watchdog recommended in a report to the home secretary that detainees should
be monitored. The situation is affecting thousands of people detained each
year over visa and other document irregularities by the UK Border Agency at
three non-residential facilities run by Group 4 Securicor at Edinburgh and
Glasgow airports, and Scotland's immigration reporting centre at Festival
Court in Glasgow. Anne Owers, the chief inspector of prisons in England and
Wales - who has responsibility for inspections because immigration is
reserved to Westminster, - recommended monitoring of the facilities after spot checks on Glasgow airport and Festival Court in 2005. Heathrow, which has holding facilities at
each of its five terminals, is the only UK airport which has set up
Independent Monitoring Board (IMD) committees - members of the public who
visit the facilities every week. The UK justice department has not even begun talks with its Scottish
counterpart, which must approve the proposal, and it is feared it could take
another year to set up. One insider said: "It's shocking they have been
allowed to get away with this at a time when the Border Agency is targeting
more people coming into regional airports. "This is as big a political
hot potato as dawn raids. Even if these people are only detained for a matter
of hours before their cases are rejected and they are put on planes home,
they are still entitled to basic human rights, which includes access to full
legal representation. "There would have been an outcry had this happened
at Dungavel detention centre, which does have independent monitoring."
John Wilkes, chief executive of the Scottish Refugee Council, said: "In
2005, the chief inspector of prisons had many reservations about the holding
facilities in Glasgow airport. She found people were not being given adequate
information in their own language about their reason for detention.
Crucially, people were not offered information on their legal rights and, as
they had no access to phones, email or fax, legal or other assistance was
impossible. "In this report, three years ago, she strongly recommended
the need for independent monitoring, but this has not yet happened in
Glasgow. This must happen as a matter of necessity." Asylum lawyer
Fraser Latta said: "It's not uncommon for claimants to be detained on a
Friday and spend several hours in one of these places, and it must be
extremely frustrating if they can't get access to legal help." Latta
said it was an example of the breakdown of Westminster-Holyrood relations
following former first minister Jack McConnell's failure to win a separate
asylum protocol for Scotland. There has also been a sharp rise in the number
of people being held at the Glasgow facilities. Between January
and the end of March 2005, 34 people were detained. This year, over the same
period, 242 people were held, including some at Edinburgh airport. Most were
held for less than eight hours, but one person was held in Edinburgh for more
than eight hours but less than 12, according to the UK Border Agency. The
August 2005 report claimed legal information for detainees was
"deficient"; childcare and child protection provision was
inadequate; and staff had not undergone enhanced Criminal Records Bureau checks. Those held in
Glasgow were not routinely seen by a health professional, there were
"insufficient" activities to relieve boredom and there was no hot
food available. Glasgow airport did not even have a television. The inspectors could also see no evidence of notices or leaflets "designed
to inform detainees about legal rights or how to get immigration
advice". At the airport, accessing legal advice was
"impossible" as no free phone calls were automatically offered.
Neil Powrie, head of the Association of Prison Visiting Committees in
Scotland, which hopes to help the IMB find volunteers, revealed he has only
recently been sent an email by the organisation asking him for "a
chat" about the plans. "When people are being detained there are
always concerns if their conditions are not being monitored," he said.
"The fact the chief inspector made the recommendation three years ago
and nothing has been done since is down to the Home Office. It would be a lot
smoother if these issues were devolved." Norman McLean, head of the IMB
Secretariat, said: "We are rolling out the
programme gradually and it is a major exercise. I don't want
to be seen as intruding in Scotland and that's why we must have approval from
the executive." Tayside Police chief constable John Vine, who has been
appointed the first chief inspector of the UK Border Agency, said: "I am
very conscious of the fact we are dealing with human beings who in many cases
have a legitimate right to come to Britain and seek a better life. Although I
will principally be reporting to Westminster, I will have to establish good
relations with the devolved government as well." A UK Border Agency
spokesman welcomed monitoring of the facilities and added that Edinburgh
airport's holding facility is currently being refurbished.
January 16, 2007 IC Coventry
Conditions in holding centres for immigration offenders awaiting
deportation still need to be improved, the jails watchdog has said. Chief
Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers published reports on four immigration
short-term holding facilities at Colnbrook near Heathrow Airport, Sandford
House in Solihull, and Liverpool's Reliance House and John Lennon Airport.
Inspectors found that detainees at Colnbrook spent unacceptably long periods
locked in single rooms, and there was a lack of information and independent
advice for people facing removal. But it had avoided some of the problems
seen in other facilities because it was managed by the Immigration Removal
Centre, offering access to healthcare facilities, welfare and race relations
support, Ms Owers said. Staff at the three centres in Liverpool and Solihull
- all run by Group 4 Securicor - needed more training in the care and
protection of children, her report found. The facilities also required
reorganising for a mixed population, it added. Ms Owers said:
"Accommodation still remains inadequate in many centres and the needs of
detainees in relation to healthcare, information and advice, and preparations
for release are not yet sufficiently met." Home Office Minister Liam
Byrne said: "I take very seriously the recommendations, and action plans
responding in detail are currently being drawn up to ensure further
improvements are made. "It is important to remember that non-residential
short-term holding facilities are intended to accommodate people for very
brief periods of time." Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Nick
Clegg said: "The inspector's report confirms what has been apparent for
some time: that, for the Government, these people are out of sight and out of
mind. "Any society should be ashamed when people are treated like this
just because they are to be deported."
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.
September 1, 2001
Britain's policy on asylum seekers was engulfed in fresh controversy last
night after a French company behind a new detention centre was set to be
given the go-ahead to pay refugees 34p an hour for cleaning and
cooking. In a move branded 'inhumane' and akin to forced labour camps
in Communist China, the Government plans to grant the company a unique
opt-out to save staff costs by paying refugees at the centre less than
one-tenth of the minimum wage. Confidential Home Office documents obtained
by The Observer reveal that UK Detention Services, a subsidiary of the French
catering conglomerate Sodexho, has been waived the legal obligation to pay
the minimum wage to refugees at a detention camp which will hold 500 people
near Heathrow airport when it opens later this month. Norman Baker MP
said that if asylum seekers were allowed to work they should be paid the
minimum wage. 'It is a disgrace that the Government is prepared to pay
millions to a company that is prepared to exploit asylum seekers in such a
cruel manner.' (The Guardian)
HMP Frankland
Sep 22, 2018 hroniclelive.co.uk
Whistleblowers raise concerns over health care at 'Monster Mansion' HMP
Frankland
Healthcare staff at HMP Frankland were so concerned about the care of
prisoners that they blew the whistle to the authorities. And Care Quality
Commission (CQC) inspectors found that healthcare at the high security jail
was not well managed and that patients were not involved in making decisions
about their care and treatment. The prison, near the village of Brasside in
County Durham, counts serial killers, rapists, murderers and terrorists among
its list of inmates. It’s now so notorious that it’s dubbed ‘Monster
Mansion’, the same nickname given to HMP Wakefield, the home of Charles Bronson
and Roy Whiting. G4S provides healthcare at the prison and CQC inspectors
found that risks to patients were not adequately assessed by staff.
Inspectors said in a report: “Managers did not demonstrate they had the
experience, capability and skills to deliver a high-quality and sustainable
healthcare service. “They did not always work effectively with front-line
staff to provide consistent leadership.” The inspectors found the service was
short staffed with seven vacancies in the team when they visited the jail in
May. They also found there were sometimes delays in getting stock of medical
supplies into the prison due to security arrangements, and policies around
prisoners holding medicines for themselves weren’t always followed. The CQC
told G4S to improve the governance and management of the service and to
involve prisoners more in decision making about their care. Sue Clements,
G4S’ health services North East prisons director, said: “G4S Health Services
delivers quality healthcare in centres and establishments across the UK and
inspectors found that our staff at HMP Frankland treat patients with
kindness, respect and compassion. “We take the concerns raised around
recording and monitoring practices very seriously and have taken prompt
actions to ensure that we are compliant with those requirements, including
bringing in a new head of healthcare with over 20 years’ experience in the
field and a strong track record of delivering quality healthcare in prisons.”
Home Office
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”.
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.
Feb 20, 2018 theguardian.com
Observer analysis of inspection reports shows two in
five jails are unsafe and inadequate conditions prevail in over two-thirds
The scale of the crisis engulfing Britain’s prisons can
be revealed, after an Observer investigation found that two-thirds are
providing inmates with inadequate conditions or unacceptable treatment. An
analysis of hundreds of inspections covering 118 institutions found that a
staggering 68% are now providing unsatisfactory standards in at least one
respect, with two in five jails deemed to be unacceptably unsafe. Rory
Stewart, the prisons minister, described the state of some jails as “deeply
disturbing”. Writing in the Observer, he concedes that prisons are rife with
psychoactive drugs, and see “increasing levels of violence committed by
prisoners, and horrifying rates of self-harm”. Speaking to the Observer, Lord
Woolf, the former lord chief justice – who oversaw an inquiry after the
notorious Strangeways riot in 1990, in which two people died – warned that
there was a real risk of such an outbreak happening again. “[If] you ask me
whether we have gone back to where we were pre-Strangeways, I think we are
there in that sort of territory,” said Woolf. “It is not confined to one of
our prison establishments. It is across the board. There has been a complete
breakdown in recognising the fact that serious action is needed, and
recognising that the only way to do it is to have a long-term plan, with somebody
in charge of it throughout the term.” All prisons are tested to see if they
satisfy basic standards for safety, respect for prisoners, access to
purposeful activities and help when they leave the institution. In each area,
they are deemed as being good, reasonably good, insufficient or poor. The
Observer investigation found that in the most recent inspections of adult
prisons in England and Wales, 80 out of the 118 jails examined were providing
insufficient or poor standards in at least one area. Only 7% of prisons –
just eight – received a “good” rating across all four categories. An alarming
44% were providing poor or insufficient safety, and almost half (47%) offered
insufficient or poor access to meaningful activities – often leaving
prisoners locked in cells for very long periods. Two in five prisons were
providing inadequate assistance to prisoners as they left – a major problem
in tackling reoffending. As many prisons were deteriorating as improving,
with conditions worsening in 41% since their last inspection. The
worst-performing prisons, such as Bristol, Guys Marsh, Liverpool, Nottingham
and Wormwood Scrubs, were also overcrowded. The government is attempting to
reduce the prison population by exploiting an underused scheme to release
thousands more prisoners early. Governors have been told to review cases of
inmates refused release under a home detention scheme, allowing them to stay
at home under curfew and with an electronic tag. The latest official figures
show that self-harm and assaults in prison are at a record high, with critics
blaming cramped cells, a shortage of staff and prisoners spending too long
locked up in poor conditions. The chaos has seen self-harm reach a record
high of 42,837 incidents in the 12 months to September 2017, up 12% from the
previous year. Assaults have reached a high of 28,165 incidents over the same
period. Serious assaults are up by 10%. Of these, 7,828 assaults were on
staff. The judiciary, MPs and campaigners are calling for a wholesale rethink
of what is expected of the prison system. Bob Neill, Tory chairman of the
justice select committee, said: “This shows the system is in a state of
crisis. We really need to have a serious conversation about what we use
prison for. Society has to think about that. “The immediate issue is that
we’re failing to provide decent conditions in too many of our establishments,
[and] as many are getting worse as have improved.” He said too much money had
been taken out of the prisons service under the coalition government. While a
plan to recruit an extra 2,500 prison officers was announced at the end of
2016, the measure only partially made up for the 30% cut in numbers suffered
since 2010. Frances Crook, the chief executive of the Howard League for Penal
Reform, a charity that campaigns for change in prisons, said that the
revolving door of political leadership for prisons was a big part of the
problem. “We’ve had six secretaries of state in seven years,” she said. “No
wonder the system is in chaos.” Woolf said that overcrowding urgently needed
to be tackled. “I’m afraid we’ve got to have a complete reassessment of the
situation,” he said. “Whenever there is a particularly nasty crime, what
parliament wants to do is have a new offence and put sentences up – and so we
go on.” Stewart, who was appointed prisons minister last month, writes that
he wants to tackle the flow of drugs into prisons and improve basic
cleanliness. “Criminal gangs have become ever more skilled at pouring new
psychoactive drugs into prisons,” he writes. “And partly as a result of these
drugs, there are increasing levels of violence committed by prisoners, and
horrifying rates of self-harm. Half of prisoners reoffend within a year of
leaving custody – costing billions to the economy – and, more importantly, ruining
the lives of tens of thousands of victims. “But I strongly believe we can
improve our prisons and that we can make progress at pace.”
CAROLYNE WILLOW 24
June 2015
The sex abusers guarding Britain’s most vulnerable children
“They look at you like you’re a
dog, making you strip is bang out of order.” The final shocking extract
from Children Behind Bars. At
Teesside Crown Court in May 2013 a man called John Cornwell was found guilty of four
charges of sexual assault of children, four charges of indecent assault of
children, and two charges of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a
child. The offences dated back to the 1990s. Sentencing Cornwell to six
years’ imprisonment, the judge said: “It is quite clear from the
victims’ statements that untold misery has been caused. The effect will no
doubt remain in their minds.” After his conviction, Cornwell, aged 53, was
sacked from his job. He was a support worker at Northallerton young offender
institution in North Yorkshire a prison that had detained children until
1998. How might a man so thoroughly unsuitable have been employed by the
prison service for so long? Was John Cornwell a one-off? For some years now I
have been trying to gather information on prison officers and governors who
have been convicted of sexual offences. Knowing the risks of closed
institutions, and the opportunities for abuse inherent in prison culture, I
wanted to find out who among them had worked with locked up children. I asked
the Ministry of Justice. My enquiries were not productive. Data protection
exclusions in the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 stopped me from
finding out the names of prisons in which convicted sex offenders had worked
prior to conviction. Officers frequently transfer between prisons as their
career progresses, and cross-deployment on split sites is common. It is
reasonable to assume that many (if not all) of the following individuals
worked at least some of the time with child prisoners. John Maber had been a prison officer
for 18 years when the Crown Prosecution Service announced in July 2012 that
he had been handed a life sentence “after pleading guilty to 27 offences of
child sexual abuse including the rape of a baby girl aged just four months”.
The police investigation found he was at the centre of a paedophile ring.
After evidence was found on his laptop, hard drive and mobile phone, 15 more
arrests were made. At the time of his arrest, Maber was a senior officer at
the adult prison Pentonville. Acting prison governor Russell
Thorne was jailed in July 2011 for five years for misconduct
in a public office between 2006 and 2010 after coercing a young prisoner to
engage in sexual acts with him at Downview women’s prison in
Surrey. Allegations of sexual abuse were made about other prison
officers at Downview, which had a dedicated unit for girls, and a prison service review was established in 2012.
Surrey police established a special investigation, called Operation Daimler. More than 200 past and
present prisoners were interviewed. I asked the force how many girls were
seen during this investigation and was appalled to learn that not a single
child was interviewed. After being instructed by the Information
Commissioner to release the information, the Ministry of Justice confirmed in
May 2014 that four officers working at Downview prison had been suspended,
dismissed or convicted between January 2009 and October 2013 “as a result of
a sexually inappropriate behaviour with women prisoners or a young
offender”. This was seven months after a request was first lodged for
separate data on the number of prison officers disciplined or convicted as a
result of sexually inappropriate behavior with women prisoners and with girls
in this Surrey prison. The oblique language avoids public acknowledgement of
child sexual abuse (whether there is private recognition is impossible to
assess). The Information Commissioner did not support disclosure
of the report from the internal prison service investigation, stating it
“could potentially cause unnecessary and unjustified distress” to the prison
officers discussed within it. The report remains buried. A separate FOI
request I made to Surrey County Council revealed that “less than 10” girls in
Downview prison made sexual abuse allegations against staff in the five years
to March 2013. I was told that these, and other allegations from girls, were
either investigated internally by the prison, or no further action was
taken. Had a statutory child protection investigation been undertaken by
the local authority following any of the sexual abuse referrals, one obvious
consideration would have been the role of strip-searching in facilitating
abuse. It is hard to imagine children
more vulnerable than those in prison. These are children who have suffered
enormous deprivations and grave violations in their early lives, many
disabled and/or formerly looked after by local authorities, locked up tens
and hundreds of miles away from home. The ordinary practices of penal
institutions feature in past institutional child abuse investigations.
Removal of children’s clothes, the infliction of pain as restraint, petty
rules and summary justice, as well as denial of fresh air and punishments for
making complaints – all these, and more, are part of the murky history of
children’s homes run by the state, religious bodies and the large children’s
charities. Take a look at the inquiries more than 20 years ago into the abuse
of children in care in Leicestershire and Staffordshire for the stark
parallels with penal custody today. Children then were also deeply aware that
they were society’s undesirables and unlikely to be believed if they ever
reported abuse. Regimes were tolerated because they were seen to be
successful in controlling wayward children. The power that officers
wield is immense. Until very recently, thousands of children entering and
leaving young offender institutions every year were systematically forced to
take off their underwear and endure additional ‘random’ searches. The former
head of the Youth Justice Board, John Drew, told me that when strip-searching
was rife, the implicit message to children was: “You’re mine, I can do
anything I like with you.” Risk assessments as a pre-requisite of
strip-searching have been required only very recently — since 2011 in
secure training centres and since 2014 in young offender institutions. Only
close monitoring could determine whether such assessments are being properly
carried out. Under any circumstances, being strip-searched is a
demeaning experience. At its least ugly, children are made to stand in front
of officers, exposing the top and then the bottom half of their naked bodies,
while handing over their underwear for inspection. It gets worse
than that. During autumn 2013, prisons inspectors uncovered “at least four
incidents of young people being strip-searched under restraint and not as a
last resort” in Werrington young offender institution. That inspection report
recommends the cessation of strip-searching under restraint, although it
fails to question the legality of the officers’ actions. [PDF here] In 2005, as a member of the
expert panel of Lord Carlile’s independent inquiry into the use of
physical restraint, solitary confinement and forcible
strip-searching of children in penal custody, I encouraged child prisoners to
talk about their experiences of being strip-searched. One 16-year-old girl
told me: “For people who’ve been abused it’s not very nice.” Another
16-year-old girl in a different secure training centre told me: “The more you
do, the less embarrassing it gets.” She was to be released in two weeks’
time and wondered if she should ask for one of the six staff who had already
seen her naked to undertake her final strip-search: “I could ask for one of
them. It’s not nice for the whole centre to see you in the nudeAt Durham
Crown Court in June 2011 prison governor Barry Cummings was given a four-year
custodial sentence after being convicted of three charges of sexually
touching a girl under the age of 13 some years previously. Cummings had
worked at Low Newton prison, which formerly detained children, and at prison establishments around the North-East.
At Newcastle-upon-Tyne Crown Court in May 2011 retired prison officer Christopher Pearce was
given a 12-year custodial sentence for raping and indecently assaulting a
young girl over a period of five to six years. The child was six when Pearce
first began indecently assaulting her, and 10 when he started raping her. The
court heard Pearce had raped the young child up to 200 times. The offences
were committed around 20 years previously. Acklington prison in
Northumberland was one of the institutions Pearce had worked in. It had a
dedicated wing for children until 1986 and specialised in the incarceration
of sex offenders. Durham Crown Court sent Leslie Winnard to prison for two years
in November 2010 for possessing and distributing indecent images of children.
Winnard had been a prison officer for more than 30 years. Of the 1,567 indecent images stored on his computer,
11 were level five (child sexual abuse involving an animal) and 257 were
level four. Winnard may have had regular sight of children’s naked bodies as
a routine part of his employment. The same could be said of retired prison
officer Andrew Burns, convicted of possessing
indecent images of children, including seven of the most serious
type. At York Crown Court in August 2010 Burns
was given a three-year community order and banned from having any
unsupervised contact with a child aged under 16. William John Payne, a former Royal
Marine and prison officer at Warren Hill young offender institution, was sent
to custody for three years in May 2010 after sexually abusing a 17-year-old
prisoner, both inside the prison and after release. The boy was being treated
for depression. Prosecuting counsel told the courtthat Payne
was “a prison officer who had care of this young man and groomed him to a
point where he was able to sexually abuse him at every opportunity”. Payne
would have also been able, as part of his official role, to conduct
strip-searches of his 17-year-old victim as well as other children. He had
been a prison officer for 30 years. At Bournemouth Crown Court in February
2010, Francis Hart was sent to prison for 14
months for possessing and distributing indecent images of children. Hart pleaded
guilty to possessing 245 level-four indecent images (depicting penetrative
sexual activity involving a child or children, or both children and adults)
and more than 1,000 level-one to level-three images. Having served in
the army for 15 years, Hart worked as a prison officer in Portland young
offender institution at the time of his arrest in 2007. It is possible he
would have undertaken strip-searches of children. David George Lamb was a 53-year-old
prison officer working at Deerbolt young offender institution, near Barnard Castle,
County Durham, when he downloaded images of child pornography and distributed
them to paedophiles around the world. He boasted to online acquaintances that
he had had sex with two girls, aged seven and 10, and that he had sexually
assaulted a four-year-old girl. In December 2009, Lamb was jailed for two years. As well as
admitting he distributed images to paedophiles, Lamb pleaded guilty to making
indecent photographs and having 565 indecent images on his camera at home.
Deerbolt young offender institution had a dedicated juvenile unit in the
1990s, and was formerly a borstal. In 2012, The Guardian newspaper reported the
case of Neville Husband, a prison officer who managed to get away with
abusing boys in penal institutions for decades. This included a period at
Deerbolt young offender institution, a posting he requested. The Guardian
reports that the police charged Husband with importing sado-masochistic images involving
teenage boys in 1969 (these charges were later dropped) and, when he worked
at Medomsley detention centre in the 1980s, pornographic material and sex
aids were found in his drawers and locker. After 27 years as a prison
officer, the prison service discharged Husband on medical grounds in 1990.
Thirteen years later, he was convicted of sexual offences against nine child
prisoners, four of whom came forward after media reporting of the initial
trial. Ronald Hollier was convicted of child
rape and sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment at Guildford Crown Court in
August 2006. He had been a prison officer at Feltham young offender
institution, which holds juveniles as well as young adults. .jpgPrison
officer John David Hall was given a life
sentence in May 2006 for sexual offences against girls and young women in
West Yorkshire. He was found to have indecently assaulted two girls aged 12
and 13 and tried to attack three others aged 13, 14 and 15. Hall wore
his uniform off duty, pretending to be a police officer before kidnapping his
victims. He had been a prison officer for 15 years; one of his workplaces was
Wetherby young offender institution, where his job would have probably
included strip-searching children. In November 2002, the Lancaster Guardian reported that “a
long-serving prison officer in Lancaster” had been cautioned for internet
child pornography after information was passed from US investigators.
Lancaster Farms young offender institution held children from April 2000
until 2008/09. The prison service would have been aware of many of these
cases (and presumably others not reported by the media) when, in 2007, it
began eliminating routine strip-searching in women’s prisons but decided to
leave the policy intact for children, when it rejected the European
anti-torture committee’s recommendation the following year, and when
the Youth Justice Board finally lobbied for change in
2009. The policy document issued in May 2014 still empowers governors to
introduce routine strip-searching across whole prisons for designated
periods, and routine strip-searching remains mandatory for child prisoners
assessed to be a serious security risk. Assessments of risk and
decision-making about strip-searching are made entirely within the walls of
the prison, with no independent, external oversight. The barbaric practice of
cutting off children’s clothes under restraint is still allowed, even within
the new, supposedly child-centred, behaviour management system: “The
option of cutting off the clothing using safety scissors must be considered
only where necessary and must be balanced against the risk of prolonged use
of restraint and the consequent psychological impact on the young person and
staff. (The cost of replacement clothing is irrelevant in such
circumstances.) The young person must be provided with alternative clothing during
the search.” While recent policy changes should continue to reduce the
frequency of strip-searching, the abusive practice of forcing an isolated and
powerless child to undergo bodily and underwear inspection
survives. There is no formal recognition of the safeguarding risks of
strip-searching in the main or addendum policies. For that we have to look to
the National Crime Agency’s report on institutional child sexual abuse
published in the aftermath of the Savile case. It includes a case study of
the abuse of children in a locked setting (not a penal institution) and
carries this warning: “Poor procedures can facilitate abuse ...
creating supposedly legitimate reasons for offenders to conduct strip
searches.” [PDF here] In that scenario, men had
been authorised to strip-search girls, although the lessons are as plain as
day for boys as well. In August 2012, the Ministry of Justice agreed to pay
compensation to a former child prisoner who had been sexually assaulted on
more than one occasion by a prison officer while detained at a young offender
institution in Oxfordshire two years previously. The Youth Justice
Board routinely publishes data on the injuries children suffer as a
consequence of restraint. Yet the public is not told how many incarcerated
children allege sexual abuse, whether these allegations are independently
investigated and how many prison officers are disciplined and/or convicted as
a consequence. Even parliamentarians have been snubbed in their attempts to
obtain such information. An FOI request I made, which was initially refused,
elicited some indicative data for the period April 2009 to the end of
December 2013. Before handing over the data, the National Offender Management
Service told me: “We have removed any cases that have been
withdrawn, ‘auto closed’ as no outcome received, or employee
resigned.” After all these caveats, I was informed 62 prison officers
working in juvenile prisons had been disciplined for child abuse. Six prison
officers were listed as having “an inappropriate relationship with a
prisoner/ex-prisoner”. This is prison service speak for sexual abuse. This
data, of course, does not tell us how many children these 62 officers abused.
A safeguarding
report jointly published by inspection bodies in 2008 had
this to say: “While all inspected youth [sic] offender institutions were
checking new staff, the HM Prison Service (HMPS) did not require the checking
of existing staff and only one establishment was carrying out retrospective
checks. Only six out of the 14 establishments had 90% or more of their staff
CRB [Criminal Records Bureau] cleared for working with young people. Three
establishments only had around half of their staff CRB cleared. This is of
particular concern in closed institutions where staff who may not have been
vetted are permitted to carry out procedures such as strip-searching...” Let’s
reflect on that. Closed institution. Vulnerable child. Staff who haven’t been
vetted. Strip-search. The Youth Justice Board and the Office of
Children’s Commissioner for England commissioned research into children’s
experiences in prison. Their report was published in 2011 as Young People’s
Views on Safeguarding in the Secure Estate. [PDF here] Asked about the experience of
being strip-searched, one imprisoned girl said: “They look at you like you’re
a dog, making you strip is bang out of order, it proper makes me angry, it
really does.” A boy expressed similar feelings: “I was angry, I didn’t want
to strip in front of two men.” Another girl said: “I think it’s quite like
rape.”
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.
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.
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.”
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.”
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'.
November 13, 2011 The Guardian
The privatisation of public services has been branded a scandal by unions who
say that leaked tender documents reveal that the opening-up of the prison
system to competition is "heavily biased" in favour of private
firms. The Ministry of Justice has introduced competitive tendering for five
jails as ministers seek to expand the role of the private sector. They claim
that competition will result in more efficient services and a better deal for
the taxpayer, but unions fear that it will result in widespread redundancies,
poorer working conditions and reduced pensions for workers. Prison governors
warn that expanding the private sector's role in the custodial system will create
a profit-maximising culture that favours incarceration and cutbacks to
rehabilitation. Internal documents seen by the Observer show that the
in-house public sector teams seeking to run the first five prisons subjected
to the new competition process were forced to increase the total cost of
their bids by more than 21%. An earlier document, in 2009, forced an increase
of only 13%. Unions claim the substantial "add-ons" rendered the
public sector bids uncompetitive compared with those put forward by their private
sector rivals. The Principles Of Competition document, updated in August
2010, applies to Birmingham, Buckley Hall, Doncaster, Featherstone II and
Wellingborough prisons. The document's terms have prompted claims that Tory
ministers are seeking to outsource the entire prison system to the private
sector. Currently in the UK, there are 13 private prisons holding 15% of the
incarcerated population. "Prison privatisation is no longer based on
efficiency, it's now ideological," said Harry Fletcher, assistant
general secretary of the probation union, Napo. "It's extraordinary that
the public sector is forced to take into account huge additional costs. It
puts public prisons at a total disadvantage. If this continues, there will be
no state-run prisons in five years."
August 5, 2011 The Guardian
Separate investigations into three deaths in immigration removal centres
(IRC) in the past month have been launched by the police, amid growing
concern about the treatment of detainees. The spate of deaths has caused
alarm among critics of the government's detention policy, who warn that the
system is at "breaking point" with poor healthcare putting people's
lives at risk. Two men died from suspected heart attacks at Colnbrook near
Heathrow airport and the third killed himself at the Campsfield House
detention centre in Oxfordshire on Tuesday. John McDonnell, Labour MP for
Hayes and Harlington, who has two detention centres including Colnbrook in
his constituency, said he feared there would be more deaths as the system
struggled to cope with the number of people being detained. "The
government is now detaining people on such a scale that the existing services
are swamped," he said. "It is inevitable if we put the services
under such relentless strain that there will be more deaths as a result … we
are dealing with people who are extremely stressed and extremely vulnerable
and the services are not able to cope and not able to guarantee their
safety." The first man who died was Muhammad Shukat, 47, a Pakistani
immigration detainee who collapsed at around 6am on 2 July. His roommate
Abdul Khan says that in the hours before he died Shukat was groaning in
agony, had very bad chest pains and was sweating profusely. Khan, 19, from
Afghanistan, said he began raising the alarm around 6am and pressed the
emergency button in the room 10 times in a frantic effort to get help. Khan
claimed that on three occasions members of the centre's nursing team entered
the room and found Shukat on the floor where he had collapsed. Khan said they
put him back into bed, took his temperature and some medicine was
administered, but did not call emergency assistance immediately. According to
Khan, the nurses initially said that Shukat could go to see the centre's
doctor at 8am. According to the London Ambulance Service, Colnbrook staff
called an ambulance just before 7.20am. Attempts were made to resuscitate
Shukat, but he was pronounced dead on arrival at Hillingdon Hospital. A
postmortem found the provisional cause of death to be coronary heart disease.
Shukat's body has been returned to Pakistan and his family are understood to
have no concerns about the medical treatment he received. The second man to
die at Colnbrook has not yet been named. According to the Metropolitan police
he was 35 and was found dead in his cell at 10.30am last Sunday. London
Ambulance Service officials pronounced him dead at the scene. "A
postmortem held on 1 August found the cause of death to be a ruptured aorta.
The death is being treated as unexplained," said a police spokesman.
Colnbrook IRC is managed by Serco. In a statement to detainees about Shukat's
death, deputy director at Colnbrook, Jenni Halliday, described her "deep
regret" and extended her condolences. In a statement to detainees about
the second Colnbrook death, Serco's contract manager, Michael Guy, informed
detainees that a resident in the short-term holding facility had died and
that the death was thought to be from natural causes. On Tuesday, a
35-year-old man hanged himself in the toilet block at Campsfield House
detention centre in Oxfordshire. A fellow detainee, who refused to give his
name, said the man had been hours away from being deported and had become
very anxious. "He was normally a very quiet person … but the pressure is
too much for people in here." It is understood the man had only been at
the centre for a few days before he died. The Home Office refused to give any
more details saying his extended family had yet to be informed. Emma Ginn,
from the campaign group Medical Justice, said the deaths had heightened
concern about the poor healthcare on offer to those being kept in UK
detention centres. "Based on medical evidence from many hundreds of
detainees, Medical Justice has documented the disturbingly inadequate
healthcare provision that often vulnerable immigration detainees are
subjected to in Colnbrook and other immigration removal centres... [this]
combined with the perilous and frightening conditions of detention, is a
lethal cocktail, a disaster waiting to happen." The UK Border Agency declined
to comment on the specific circumstances of each case. It said the police and
the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman always investigated deaths in immigration
detention centres and it would be inappropriate to comment until these were
complete. David Wood, director of criminality and detention at the UK Border
Agency, said all detainees at immigration removal centres have access to
health services seven days a week. "All detainees are seen by a nurse
within two hours of arrival and are given an opportunity to see a GP within
24 hours," he added. "The health of all detainees is monitored
closely, and the healthcare professionals are required to report cases where
it is considered that a person's health is being affected by continued
detention. "The UK takes its responsibilities seriously, which is why we
consider every case on its individual merits and will continue to offer
protection to those who need it. However, detention is an essential part of
our controls on immigration in the UK." A groundbreaking ruling -- A man
with severe mental illness was unlawfully locked up in a UK detention centre
for five months and subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment, according to
a high court ruling. The man, a 34-year-old Indian national, was detained in
Harmondsworth immigration removal centre between April and September last
year. On Friday a judge ruled that his treatment amounted to a breach of
article 3 of the European convention human rights. The man's lawyer said the
ruling – thought to be the first of its kind – raised wider questions about
how the government treats people with mental illnesses in the immigration and
detention system. "The court's decision that my client suffered inhuman
or degrading treatment at a UK detention facility sends a very loud and clear
message to the authorities," said. "We would urge the minister to
conduct a fundamental review into how people suffering from mental illness
are treated in the immigration detention estate." The man, referred to
as "S" in the ruling, had a history of serious ill treatment and
abuse before arriving in the UK. He served time in prison for wounding and
assault before being transferred to a secure psychiatric hospital until his
discharge in April 2010. Following his release the UK Border Agency said
there was "no evidence" he was mentally ill and he was detained in
Harmondsworth where his health deteriorated and he began to have psychotic
episodes and self harm. The high court intervened and he was released on
bail. His lawyers said he had been living with his family since then and had
fully complied with the conditions of bail set by the court. In the ruling
judge David Elvin said: "S's pre-existing mental condition was both
triggered and exacerbated by detention and that involved both a debasement
and humiliation of S since it showed a serious lack of respect for his human
dignity. It created a state in S's mind of real anguish and fear, through his
hallucinations, which led him to self-harm frequently and to behave in a
manner which was humiliating…" A UK Border Agency spokesperson said:
"We regularly review our detention policies and will look at the
findings in this case to ensure lessons are learned. Detention is an
essential part of our immigration control but we recognise the importance of
ensuring it remains appropriate on a case by case basis."
May 23, 2011 Daily Mirror
PRIVATE jail bosses paid from the public purse are putting profits
offshore to avoid tax, MPs will be told this week. Firms making millions out
of the privatisation of British justice are not paying their due, says a
Prison Officers’ Association report. Taxpayers pick up the bills for land and
buildings of these jails. But the people running them have parent companies
which the POA has traced to tax havens such as Jersey and investment banks.
The report says: “Billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money is being diverted
from essential public service provision that could benefit society as a
whole. “Often those that benefit most are registered in tax havens.” POA
general secretary Steve Gillan said it was “a national scandal”. Justice
Secretary Ken Clarke recently announced plans to let contractors run large
prisons in Birmingham and Doncaster plus ¬a new one near Wolverhampton. They
will join 11 jails in England and Wales and four young offender units which
are run privately. The report says: “Making a profit out of incarceration is
morally repugnant. Companies have a vested interest in keeping the prison
population high to maximise profits.” It says firms have no incentive to go
along with Mr Clarke’s “rehab¬¬ilitation revolution” – aimed at cutting the
¬crippling expense of ¬prisons by ¬reducing the number of inmates. The POA
paper, being sent to all MPs, says the true costs to the nation are “hidden
behind a -smokescreen of ¬commercial secrecy”. The report demands an inquiry
into private prison finances. The Ministry of Justice said: “Contracts to run
prisons have been awarded through open competition to deliver best value for
the taxpayer without ¬affecting standards.”
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.
July 18, 2010 AP
Brutal techniques to restrain children held in private prisons have been made
public after mounting pressure from children's rights groups. The Observer
disclosed details of the techniques used to train staff in restraining young
offenders in the country's four privately-run secure training centres. The
secret manual, Physical Control in Care, was created by the HM Prison Service
and approved by the Department of Justice in 2005. The government's Youth
Justice Board (YJB) had initially fought the Information Commissioner's order
to hand over the documents. When the Children's Rights Alliance (CRAE) called
on the Justice Secretary to hold an independent judicial inquiry, YJB finally
relented. The Observer revealed that control measures authorised for staff to
use include "an inverted knuckle into the trainee's sternum and drive
inward and upward," "alternate elbow strikes to the young person's
ribs until a release is achieved," and "drive straight fingers into
the young person's face, and then quickly drive the straightened fingers of
the same hand downwards into the young person's groin area." The manual
went so far as to warn staff that some techniques risk a "fracture to
the skull" and "temporary or permanent blindness caused by rupture
to eyeball or detached retina." One passage states in regard to administering
a head-hold that "if breathing is compromised the situation ceases to be
a restraint and becomes a medical emergency." Carolyne Willow, CRAE's
national co-ordinator stated, "Until now, we've seen a compulsive
reliance on secrecy and an absolute failure to face up publicly to the
disgraceful and unlawful treatment of children the State officially describes
as vulnerable." The campaign to make the information public came after
the deaths of two children, Gareth Myatt, 15, and Adam Rickwood, 14, who died
in the custody of Rainsbrook and Hassockfield secure training centres in
2004.
September 4, 2009 Morning Star
Leaders of the prison officers' union have accused the government of
"corruption at the highest levels" for colluding with privateers to
sell off Britain's jails. Prison Officers Association (POA) general secretary
Brian Caton made the damning accusation as he exposed exclusively to the
Morning Star the defection to security privateer Serco of the head of a
public-sector bid to run Buckley Hall jail near Rochdale. Former prison
governor Steve Hall, who had been appointed by the National Offender
Management Service (NOMS) to lead the bid, was revealed to have taken up a
position with the huge multinational despite government rules insisting that civil
servants must "put the obligations of public service above your own
personal interests." Mr Caton declared that the government "wants
to auction off the prison service and is fully aware that civil servants like
Steve Hall take the information that they have gathered and defect to the
private sector. "This is corruption at the highest levels," he
stressed. "This is not first time this has happened and it comes despite
Justice Minister Jack Straw giving us an absolute assurance that it would not
happen again," Mr Caton added. The Civil Service code explicitly states
that government workers "must not misuse your official position, for
example by using information required in the course of your official duties
to further your private interests." But Mr Caton insisted that NOMS
director of human resources Robin Wilkinson had admitted that Mr Hall, who
was appointed by the head of the government's public-service bids unit Colin
McConnell, had done exactly that. Calling on NOMS director Phil Wheatley, Mr
Wilkinson and Mr McConnell to all resign, Mr Caton said that "the POA
believes that this affair represents a conspiracy to act in a corrupt manner
and we will be demanding that an independent inquiry should be conducted by
the police - that's how serious this is." The revelation comes just days
after the POA announced that its members had voted by a crushing four to one
to strike against the government's drive to sell off the Prison Service and
hand jails over to private security firms such as Serco. Mr Caton pointed out
that Buckley Hall prison had to be renationalised after its previous
experience with privatisation proved a failure. "Of 11 private prisons
in Britain, 10 are in the bottom quarter of the government's prison
performance league - that's how bad they are," he asserted.
"Privatisation is about driving down standards and paying prison
officers less because all these companies care about is profits," Mr
Caton added. "It is an insult to our members at Buckley Hall, who gave
information to Steve Hall to support the bid to keep the jail in the public
sector, that he has now stuffed that information into a briefcase and taken
it to Serco." Mike Nolan, president of Civil Service union PCS prison
service group, emphasised that such a breach of the Civil Service code was
"undoubtably immoral. "This has happened a few times, but what is
worse is that prison managers are actually being targeted by the
private-sector companies that want to take over prisons - and Serco in
particular is now riddled with them," he added. Serco and the Ministry
of Justice had not responded to requests for information as the Morning Star
went to press.
June 29, 2009 Independent
Figures obtained by More4 show four of Britain's 10 private prisons
received the second-lowest rating in Government tests. Britain's private
prisons are performing worse than those run by the state, according to data
obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The findings, based on the
overall performances of 132 prisons in England and Wales, appear to undermine
claims by ministers that the greater use of private jails is raising
standards for the accommodation of more than 83,000 prisoners held across
both sectors. Separate figures, also released under the right-to-know law,
show that nearly twice as many prisoner complaints are upheld in private
prisons as they are in state-run institutions. The Government is committed to
building five more private prisons to accommodate the growing prison
population, which is predicted to rise to 96,000 by 2014. But the poor
performance ratings among 40 per cent of private prisons in England and Wales
throw into question the cost savings and other benefits of using outside
businesses to tackle the prison crisis. The data obtained by More4 News shows
that four of the 10 private prisons scored the second lowest rating of 2,
"requiring development", and only one above an assessment of
"serious concern." The Ministry of Justice introduced the Prison
Performance Assessment Tool (PPAT) last year, providing the first direct
comparison between public and private prisons. It ranks the prisons out of
four gradings using a wide range of measurements, including escapes, assaults
and rehabilitation. In the second quarter of last year, the average overall
score for prisons in the private sector was 2.7. For the 123 public sector
prisons the average was 2.83. In the following quarter this gap had widened
to 2.6 and 2.85. This is a difference of almost 10 per cent. No private
prison attained the top mark of 4, defined as "exceptional performance."
There were also disparities in the number of complaints upheld in private and
state-run prisons. Rye Hill Prison, a private prison run by G4S, which has
been a focus of particular criticism since it opened in 2001, saw a total of
22 complaints, well above the average in both the public and private sectors.
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.
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 imp |
