This is what Serco says of itself at www.serco.com:
Tuesday, 2 April 2019
Serco operated high security prison in Queensland found to be one of two privately run gaols at risk of significant corruption
This is what Serco says of itself at www.serco.com:
Serco is trusted by governments and
organisations around the world to transform and deliver essential services.
Employing over 50,000 people, we operate across more than 20 countries in
Justice, Immigration, Health, Transport, Defence, and Citizen Services.
Serco provides essential
justice services in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, from the safe and secure
operation of prisons, young adult, and escorting services, to managing the
reintegration of ex-offenders into society. We help governments deliver a more
efficient and effective justice system, by employing the best people, getting
the basics right, championing service innovations, and forming community
partnerships.
By taking a
rehabilitative approach to justice, we help to make it less likely that people
will return to the criminal justice system, help to rebuild lives, and reduce
the financial and wider costs of crime to the public…….
Serco has been operating
correctional services in Australia for almost 15 years. As a prison operator,
safety and security is always our first priority. The new Clarence Correctional
Centre is our most recent contract, which will begin operations in 2020. Once
completed, this 1,700-bed state-of-the-art facility will be the largest
correctional centre in Australia.
The Clarence
Correctional Centre is being delivered by the NSW Government in
partnership with the Northern Pathways Consortium. To learn more about the
project visit northernpathways.com.au.
This is the
current reality in Australia…..
Sydney
Criminal Lawyers,
28 March 2019:
The Queensland
Government has announced that it will spend $111million over the next four
years, returning two privately run prisons to state management.
The Arthur Gorrie
Correctional Centre and the Southern Queensland Correctional Centre (SQCC), two
high-security prisons, are currently run by private operators.
However the
Government will now take over these contracts in response to recommendations
from the Crime and Corruption Commission’s Taskforce Flaxton, which last year
conducted an investigation into the entire Queensland prison system.
The post-investigation
report was scathing as a whole, finding a string of systemic issues, that put
prisons ‘at risk of significant corruption.’
These included
over-crowding, excessive use of force, misuse of authority, introduction of
contraband and inappropriate relationships all within prison walls. The report
also found that the number of assaults on staff was higher at privately run
facilities, due to lower staff numbers and therefore less supervision.
The South East
Queensland Correctional Centre is run by Serco.....
Serco
came under fire in 2017 after the release of the Paradise Papers which
detailed that Serco’s UK lawyers expressed written concerns that their client
had been engaging in fraud, covering up the abuse of detainees at Australian
detention centres, and even mishandling radioactive waste. The firm described
Serco as a “high-risk” organisation with a “history of problems, failures,
fatal errors and overcharging”.
Internationally, the
company runs prisons in the UK and New Zealand. In Australia it has been
operating for more than 15 years, managing prisons in Western Australia and
Queensland as well as 11 immigration centres. It also holds several defence
contracts and is currently building a mega-correctional facility near Grafton
in New South Wales.
The Clarence
Correctional Centre roughly 12 km from Grafton, NSW is due to open in June 2020.
Hopefully UK
based Serco Group Pty Ltd through
its subsidiary Serco Australia Pty
Limited will by then have addressed all
the issues in its chequered past.
Labels:
Australian society,
NSW prisons
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