Prison Privatisation Report
International
No. 49, August/September 2002
Published by the Public
Services International Research Unit (PSIRU)
www.psiru.org/justice
This publication is
supported by a grant from the Foundation Open Society Institute.
IN
THIS ISSUE
THE GROUP 4/WACKENHUT ACQUISITION
Group 4 proposals to go ahead
A proposal to replace
Once cabinet has discussed the
proposal, parliament will have to approve it and also pass enabling
legislation. However, since the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) has 79 of
the 80 parliamentary seats, the proposal is expected to proceed smoothly.
Group 4's original proposal
was to finance, design, build and operate a 3,500 bed private prison at
Mounting opposition to
privatisation
There is mounting opposition to the proposed contract
between the government of Cost Rica and Management & Training Corporation
(MTC) for a privately financed, designed, built and operated prison (see PPRI
#48,47,46 &42). It is still not clear whether the
project will go ahead.
The president has stated
publicly that the 15 year contract is not affordable. MTC is proposing to
charge $29 per prisoner per day and would have to receive $27,840 per day,
amounting to more than half of the government’s $16.6 million annual budget for
the country’s entire prison system. Prisoners currently cost the government
between $20 and $22 each per day.
The government has until 19 October
to finalise terms with MTC, whose lawyer in
MTC was chosen as preferred
bidder by the previous administration over a Colombian consortium known as
Corrections Corporation Latin America (CCLA). CCLA failed in its appeal to
alter the government’s decision to negotiate with MTC.
nMonica Nagel, the former minister of justice
who implemented
Four private prisons are being commissioned by the
State of
Previously, the State’s
director of prisons said that the authority will maintain prison security while
the industry, maintenance and other non-custodial services will be privatised.
Officials have visited semi-private prisons in
Although the State of
Riot at MTC managed facility
in Ontario
A riot at Central North Correctional Centre, the
MTC stated that the riot
started after prisoners refused to return to their cells. According to the
police, prisoners were also armed with makeshift weapons and crude gas masks as
they attempted to storm the facility. The 1,200‑bed facility was
subsequently in lock down as OPP and corrections officials carried out an
investigation into the incident.
n Staff at the Central North Correctional Centre
have voted to join the Ontario Public Service Employees
Union (OPSEU) in a bid to improve wages and working conditions. OPSEU currently
represents the 5,000 correctional officers working in the province’s publicly
run prisons.
Announcing the outcome of a
vote by MTC staff on
OPSEU had hoped to sign the
full complement of 258 correctional officers, clerical, maintenance and
programming workers. On MTC’s insistence, however,
the union will only represent the correctional officers.
Sid Brown, a correctional
officer at the jail “For almost a year, we have tried to address with the
employer issues such as staffing levels and workload to no avail. Our people do
an excellent job, but the pressures are enormous. Now we can work to solve
these problems as a united group, with the resources of a union familiar with
the work we do.” OPSEU will eventually begin a collective bargaining process
with MTC.
Scottish prison figures reveal
poor performance
Premier Prison Services-run Kilmarnock prison has the
worst disciplinary record of all
In 2000/01 and 2001/02
/Kilmarnock outstripped other prisons in the number of prisoners caught in
possession of unauthorised articles and had the most incidents of arson with 24
in 2001/02. Meanwhile, at 142,
Disciplinary offences at
Total Offences
|
Prison |
1999‑2000 |
2000‑01 |
2001‑02 |
% increase 1999‑2002 |
|
Barlinnie |
1511 |
1509 |
1738 |
15% |
|
|
1020 |
1017 |
921 |
-10% |
|
|
1245 |
1154 |
1262 |
1% |
|
Glenochil 1 |
2238 |
1381 |
1695 |
-32% |
|
Glenochil 2 |
929 |
859 |
650 |
-42% |
|
|
410 |
741 |
524 |
28% |
|
|
322 |
328 |
316 |
-2% |
|
|
1682 |
1669 |
2159 |
28% |
|
|
2685 |
3499 |
3634 |
35% |
The increase comes largely from the items set out in
the tables below:
Unauthorised absence from or presence in any part of
the establishment
|
Prison |
1999‑2000 |
2000‑01 |
2001‑02 |
|
Barlinnie |
18 |
11 |
13 |
|
|
30 |
32 |
22 |
|
|
39 |
44 |
26 |
|
Glenochil 1 |
6 |
1 |
3 |
|
Glenochil 2 |
15 |
18 |
22 |
|
|
4 |
2 |
7 |
|
|
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
|
125 |
63 |
108 |
|
|
172 |
1370 |
1545 |
Possession of an unauthorised article or quantity of
an article
|
Prison |
1999‑2000 |
2000‑01 |
2001‑02 |
|
Barlinnie |
109 |
149 |
111 |
|
|
111 |
86 |
66 |
|
|
143 |
139 |
218 |
|
Glenochil 1 |
72 |
32 |
38 |
|
Glenochil 2 |
40 |
29 |
28 |
|
|
162 |
162 |
121 |
|
|
35 |
46 |
50 |
|
|
116 |
89 |
102 |
|
|
134 |
196 |
273 |
Arson
|
Prison |
1999‑2000 |
2000‑01 |
2001‑02 |
|
Barlinnie |
3 |
5 |
10 |
|
|
7 |
0 |
8 |
|
|
7 |
5 |
8 |
|
Glenochil 1 |
6 |
6 |
3 |
|
Glenochil 2 |
12 |
6 |
4 |
|
|
0 |
3 |
3 |
|
|
1 |
1 |
1 |
|
|
13 |
3 |
11 |
|
|
12 |
7 |
24 |
Possession of an unauthorised article or quantity of
an article
|
Prison |
1999‑2000 |
2000‑01 |
2001‑02 |
|
Barlinnie |
109 |
149 |
111 |
|
|
111 |
86 |
66 |
|
|
143 |
139 |
218 |
|
Glenochil 1 |
72 |
32 |
38 |
|
Glenochil 2 |
40 |
29 |
28 |
|
|
162 |
162 |
121 |
|
|
35 |
46 |
50 |
|
|
116 |
89 |
102 |
|
|
134 |
196 |
273 |
Destroys or damages property
|
Prison |
1999‑2000 |
2000‑01 |
2001‑02 |
|
Barlinnie |
77 |
78 |
50 |
|
|
85 |
40 |
37 |
|
|
164 |
134 |
107 |
|
Glenochil 1 |
86 |
69 |
45 |
|
Glenochil 2 |
128 |
65 |
78 |
|
|
32 |
32 |
29 |
|
|
44 |
40 |
49 |
|
|
95 |
69 |
62 |
|
|
118 |
82 |
142 |
Source:
Scottish Parliamentary Reference Centre Document, bib.
no. 23024.
Note:
Glenlochil 2 denotes the Young Offenders Institution.
A new private prison is to be commissioned for the
central belt of
However, the minister has
challenged the Scottish Prison Service to compete for the contract for a second
new prison. The minister said: “I want the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) and
the trades unions to show that they have the chance to bridge the gap between
the private and the public sector on competitiveness. If they can produce for
me a robust and credible plan for the second new prison, one which is
competitive, offers value for money and delivers the places we need on time, I
am prepared to take that project forward in the public sector or as a privately‑built,
publicly‑operated prison.”
He also announced a £110
million programme over the next three years to upgrade existing public prisons.
Overall, the plans will create 1,100 new or refurbished prison places in the
public sector,700 new places in the private sector and
a further 700 at the second prison.
Private absences are secret
In a parliamentary question Andrew Turner MP asked the
home secretary for the level of staff absence through short term and long term
sickness in each prison in
Premier’s Ashfield criticised
again
As the prison service continues to manage the privately
financed, designed, built and - until 23 May 2002 - operated young offenders
institution in south west England, the Howard League for Penal Reform has
produced a critical report on the facility (see PPRI #47). Based on
visits in October 2001 and May 2002 and interviews with ten boys who had
recently been released from the facility, the organisation noted:
n the lack of staffing;
n high staff turnover;
n an unsafe
environment;
n the lack of training
and experience amongst staff group;
n there is no personal officer scheme;
n no offending
behaviour courses;
n insufficient places
in education and training;
n poor reception
facilities.
In a statement accompanying
publication of the report, the Howard League accused the operator, Premier
Prisons, of “putting profit before the welfare and safety of young people”. The
organisation claims that the inability to recruit and retain staff because of
the poor pay and conditions is at the root of Ashfield’s problems. Wing officers at Ashfield start on £15,250 rising
to £16,250 whereas officers in public sector jails start on £17,129 increasing
to a maximum of £24,497.
The Howard League also noted
that the resources which local authority secure units have at their disposal
vastly outstrip those available to the prison service and stated that the
report was a criticism of “a system which allows such inequalities to exist.”
Children in Prison, provision
and practice at Ashfield, Howard League for Penal Reform, August 2002.
n The number of assaults on staff, prisoners and
others expressed as a proportion of the population at Ashfield was 74.1 per
cent for the year 2001/2, according to the Prison Service Annual Report and
Accounts. The 279 assaults recorded meant that Ashfield had the worst
record of the four male juvenile prisons. The prison service spent £14.43
million on Ashfield during the year at a cost per prisoner place of £35,447 and
cost per prisoner of £38,318.
Sodexho’s accounting disaster
Shares in Sodexho Alliance,
whose subsidiary UK Detention Services Ltd runs prisons and immigration
detention centres in
Sodexho has dismissed senior
executives from its
Money go
round
Accounts for eight months ended 31 August 2001 - the
most recent published in the UK - show that UK Detention Services Ltd (UKDS)
had revenues of £17.96 million (£23.1m for the full year 2000) and made a loss
of £241,300 (profit of £1.28m for the year 2000). The directors noted that the
company’s contracts for Blakenhurst and Forest Bank
prisons performed satisfactorily although the contract for Blakenhurst
ended on
Directors’ fees for the period
amounted to £260,858 and, on average, the company
employed 15 management staff, 671 prison/detention officers, 83 administrators
and 27 maintenance staff. The company had made a provision of £170,000 relating
to a claim brought by a former employee but the accounts noted that the case
had been settled satisfactorily after the accounting period.
During the period the company
had financial transactions with Agecroft Prison Management Ltd (in respect of
Forest Bank) and Harmondsworth Detention Services
Ltd. The company’s immediate parent, Sodexho Alliance
SA, has a 50 per cent and 51 per cent equity share interest in the companies
respectively. Under the detention centre contract for Forest Bank, UKDS
received £7.98 million. UKDS also received £632,250 from Harmondsworth
Detention Services Ltd for liquidated damages arising from the delay in
completing the construction of the facility.
n Securicor Custodial
Services Ltd delivered a £5 million dividend for its shareholders for the year
ended
During the year
the average weekly number of people employed (including directors) was 55
office and management and 1,441 operational. Directors received a total of
£602,273 including pension contributions and benefits in kind. The highest paid
director earned £136,631. The company is ultimately owned by Securicor plc. Securicor
Custodial Services Ltd owns 40 per cent of the shares of Bridgend Custodial
Services Ltd, the operator of Parc prison.
More on the acquisition
Group 4 Falck
will sell its 57 per cent stake in Wackenhut
Corrections Corporation within the next six months as long as the price is
right (see PPRI # 47). On
In the
On
Behavioural measures were
suggested in order to address any possible adverse effects on competition in
the provision of custodial and transport services. Measures to be put in place
might include: a public demonstration of the independence of, and the
competition between, Premier and the remainder of Group 4 in bidding for
contracts and the provision of written undertakings which will guarantee Group
4's disposal of assets to meet public interest concerns.
The commission noted that it
had not yet reached any conclusions on the matter, in particular, as to whether
Group 4's acquisition of Wackenhut operates, or might
be expected to operate, against the public interest.