United Kingdom	Australia
Europe	South Africa
Canada	Corporate Watch
United States

 

 

 

Salutary lessons from Texas

This summer, members of the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee will visit Texas as part of an inquiry into the public and private management of UK prisons. It is certainly the place to learn from. Interviewed in the May 1996 Texas Monthly magazine, Mr Andy Collins, the former head of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice who claims to have privatised more prisons than anyone said: "The public was absolutely hoodwinked into thinking that the only way the crime problem could ever be solved was prosecution and incarceration..."

Between April 1994 and January 1996 the number of prisons grew from 65 to 108 as Texas judges, juries and politicians were determined to send even the most non-violent criminals to prison. Even so, Texas now has 146,000 prison beds but only 129,000 prisoners. Eight new prisons have been built but remain closed. The state also unnecessarily built private facilities with thousands of beds for substance abuse treatment. Texas Monthly describes how prison companies which also operate in the UK and elsewhere were "paying hundreds of thousands of dollars" to lobbyists who, in turn, were "enriching the campaign coffers of politicians across the state..." and that...  "beneath this statewide fiasco lurks...an entire culture of loose money and looser ethics."

n Robert Draper: The Great Texas Prison Mess, the corruption surrounding the rapid development and privatisation of the Texas prison system, appears in the May 1996 issue of Texas Monthly. 

 

 

UNITED KINGDOM

 

Labour to halt new private prisons

        The Labour Party, if elected to government in 1997, will honour private prison contracts in place at the time but will halt any further prison privatisation. Speaking at the Prison Officers Association annual conference on 21 May 1996, Mr Jack Straw, the Shadow Home Secretary, said that he found it "morally unacceptable for the private sector to undertake the incarceration of those whom the state has decided need to be imprisoned...almost all people believe that this is one area where a free market does not exist."

 

Mr Straw’s remarks came just weeks after the government published a White Paper proposing to privately finance, design, build and run a further 12 prisons to come on stream at a rate of one or two a year from 2001-02 onwards, providing 9,600 new prisoner places. A further 3,000 places would also be provided by 2001-02 by building additional houseblocks at existing establishments, and by rebuilding and re-opening two existing prisons, making a total of 12,600 new places. This is in addition to the two private prisons currently being built, one about to be re-built and run privately and at least two others planned.

 

Deaths at Doncaster

An eighteen year old found hanging in his cell on 17 May 1996 is the seventh prisoner to die at HM Prison Doncaster, the UK's largest privately run prison. The prison opened in June 1994 and is run by Premier Prison Services Ltd, a joint venture between Wackenhut and Serco. Both the police and Premier Prisons are holding an inquiry into this latest death. According to official Prison Service statistics, between June 1994 and November 1995 there were 96 attempted suicides by prisoners at Doncaster, the worst figures of any prison in England and Wales for that period.

 

Prison Service contracts

As at 31 May 1996, the major Prison Service contracts in the UK were:

COMPANY	CONTRACT	£M
Group 4 Prison Services Ltd	Wolds prison Buckley Hall	30   33
Group 4/Tarmac	Fazakerley prison	500
Group 4 Court Services Ltd	Area 4 escort Area 6 escort Area 7 escort	47   69   41
Premier Prison Services Ltd	Doncaster prison Area 2 escort Area 5 escort	66   64   54
Securicor Custodial Services Ltd*	Bridgend prison Area 3 escort	500   96
UK Detention Services Ltd	Blakenhurst prison	57
Reliance Custodial Services Ltd	Area 1 escort	63

 

*  In partnership with Costain, Skanska, WS Atkins and Seifert. Bridgend and Fazakerley are approximate costs as

final contract prices have not been published.

 

Women in the front line

At least one third of the prisoner custody officers employed at the new 800 bed medium security private prison being built  at Bridgend, South Wales will be women. Securicor Custodial Services Ltd, one of the companies involved in the finance, design, build and manage contract claims that women will have a calming influence on the prisoners.  Women already comprise one third of the workforce on the firm's prisoner escort contract in London. Rates of pay - equal or otherwise - are a matter of commercial confidentiality.

 

Two more American corrections companies have entered the UK market through joint ventures with British firms. Esmor Correctional Services Inc. of New York has teamed up with construction group Keir, and the Bobby Ross Group of Texas with Tilbury Douglas. Both   expressed interest in the finance, design, build and manage contract for a new secure training centre for young people but the Home Office only invited Esmor-Keir  to bid along with three UK companies. In the US, Esmor regards itself as the leading juvenile/youth corrections company.

 

 

EUROPE  

 

CCA in Hungary and Germany

Industry leader Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) is currently marketing its services in Germany and Hungary, according to the company's most recent 10K report to the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington. In 1994 CCA formed an international alliance with Paris-based Sodexho with a view to expanding its operations outside of the USA, UK and Australia. Sodexho operates in over 60 countries and it is through this connection that the markets in Germany and Hungary are being explored. The 10K also mentions that, although research carried out by Sodexho indicates that interest in private sector corrections in nations other than the US is developing, CCA expects the growth of its domestic operations to "far outdistance international expansion in the next few years."

 

French system expands

New prisons with 4,180 new places are to be built in France. The type of management is yet to be finally decided but it is likely to  be based upon the system whereby  for the last five years, twenty five of the country's 183 prisons have had mixed management, with the state employing the custody officers and companies providing all other services, including construction.  The 25 prisons have been divided into four lots of five or six  and allocated to four groups of companies. The cost effectiveness and quality of services in each group of prisons have been compared to a prison where none of the services have been contracted out. So far, the cost differences have not proved significant but the overall performance of the companies is thought to be good enough for the government to extend mixed management to the new prisons.

Conflict in Nova Scotia

A coalition of community organisations in Nova Scotia is campaigning to prevent the provincial government from privatising the operation of corrections facilities.  The group is particularly concerned about the effects on women prisoners but concedes that the private sector can probably build and finance prisons effectively. In January 1996 the government invited tenders to develop a completely new corrections system, calling for prison 'reconfiguration' and a service delivery plan for appropriate institution and community-based offender programmes. Two bidders have been shortlisted - Esmor Correctional Services of the US and Atlantic Corrections Group, a joint venture of Canadian firms Bracknell Corp. and Lavalin with Management & Training Corp. of Utah.  The government, which is looking for cost savings, has confirmed that the successful contractor will finance, build and operate the prisons.

 

 

Cuts for Alberta

In 1993, the government of Alberta began considering the privatisation of correctional facilities in order to cut costs. In response, the Alberta Union of Public Employees (AUPE) ran a campaign in support of public correctional facilities and suggested that rather than privatising, the government should allow corrections employees the opportunity to find cost savings in the system. In June 1995 the government appointed a Justice Review Committee with representatives from each correctional facility and gave them a mandate to find 10 per cent savings. The Committee reported in February 1996 and the government has since accepted 54 of the 117 recommendations.  Although savings of 10 per cent have not been achieved, the government recently announced that it will not be proceeding with privatisation. According to the trade union, this decision was based on the weight of public opinion that had been mobilised against the idea.

 

 

USA

 

Washington DC transformed

The District of Columbia government is proposing to privatise three quarters of its corrections system over the next four years and close one complex at Lorton. Under the recently announced 'Transformation of District of Columbia Government` plan which seeks to eliminate or consolidate government agencies and reduce the total workforce by 25 per cent, the 3,500 Department of Corrections employees will be reduced to just 50 who will mainly be engaged in contract compliance work.  A key task in redesigning the District government was evaluating what businesses it should or should not be operating.

On 1 May 1996 Corrections Corporation of America announced it had entered negotiations to purchase an 868 bed medium security correctional treatment facility from the government and to contract with DC to manage it. "This facility, in the heart of the nation's capital, will give us the chance to showcase CCA's quality operations, particularly our Lifeline Theraputic Community program," said CCA chairman and CEO, Doctor Crants. "Likewise, it will give political leaders from all over the US a chance to examine first hand our contributions to the criminal justice system."  A spokesperson for the DC government told the Prison Reform Trust that an unsolicited bid from CCA had been received.

 

North to Alaska

Corrections Group North (CGN), comprising Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, VECO International, which specialises in Arctic construction, and Allvest Inc, which already has a correctional services contract with Alaska, is proposing to finance, build and run a 624 bed prison in south Anchorage. The proposal coincides with a new Bill removing ambiguities about the state's authorisation to house prisoners in private facilities. The advertising agency marketing CGN's case argues that more prisons are unavoidable unless Alaskans are willing to commute sentences.  The Alaska State Employees Association and some residents are opposed to privatisation. If convinced of the concept, the state would have to put a contract out to tender.

 

 AUSTRALIA

Record proportions

By 1997 some 20 per cent of all prisoners in Australia will be held in private facilities, the highest proportion in the world. The state of Victoria, which will have three private prisons running by then, will have 1,400 prisoners or 47 per cent of its prisoner population held privately.

 

New South Wales says no

The state's Corrective Services minister has decided that a new prison at Silverwater will not be privatised. New South Wales already has one private prison, Junee Correctional Centre, which is the largest in Australia and is run by Australasian Correctional Management (Wackenhut). The February 1996 issue of Framed quotes the minister as  saying that the Junee experience showed that there were no real savings in private prisons.

 

Resisting privatisation

A Private Prisons Information Action Kit has been produced by the People's Justice Alliance as part of a broad-based community campaign opposed to privatisation of the criminal justice system.

n Available from: Peoples Justice Alliance, PO Box 1567, Collingwood 3066, Victoria, Australia.

 

 

SOUTH AFRICA

 

 

Private finance plans

South Africa’s Correctional Services minister is at an advanced stage in negotiating with private companies to build new prisons on a 20 year lease-back arrangement as part of the government’s plans to stop early release amnesties and cut chronic overcrowding. Factories would also be built alongside new and existing prisons for prisoners to work an eight  hour day, allowing them to earn money to pay towards their upkeep, provide for their families and compensate their victims. As yet there are no plans to have the prisons privately managed.

 

 

CORPORATE WATCH

 

Corrections Corporation of America

Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) was formed in 1983. It now has more contracts than any other company.  It finances, designs, builds and manages prisons and transports prisoners. Its largest shareholder is Sodexho SA, a French management services multinational which owns 17.1 per cent of the company.  As at 25 April 1996 CCA in its own right and through its subsidiaries and joint ventures had contracts to manage 31,357 beds in 48 facilities (37 in operation, 11 in development) in the US, Puerto Rico, Australia and the UK. The company's revenues grew from $95m in 1992 to $207m in fiscal 1995,  an annual compound growth of around 31 per cent. For the first quarter of 1996, operating margins on revenues were 17 per cent. CCA intends to continue acquiring prison management companies and facilities.

At 31 December 1995 CCA employed 5,543 full and part-time staff. Of these, only 38 non-security staff at Shelby Training Center in Memphis were members of a recognised trade union.

CCA owns CCA International Inc which also has two subsidiaries: CCA (France) Inc and CCA (UK) Ltd. In 1995 in the US, CCA acquired Transcor Inc, the country's largest prisoner transportation company; Concept Inc, the third largest private prison operator in the US with eight facilities and two wholly-owned subsidiaries, Mineral Wells RE Holding Corp and United-Concept Inc - these two own United-Concept Limited Partnership; Correction Management Affiliates Inc, Correctional Services Group Inc and Corrections Partners Inc (CPI). CPI had four existing US prison contracts and three more starting up. In Australia, CPI + Skilled Engineering + Multiplex Construction + BZW Australia were bidding for contracts as CorrPac Pty Ltd. In the UK, CPI was briefly involved with Wimpey + AMEC. CCA also owns Technical and Business Institute of America Inc.

 

n UK: CCA + John Mowlem + Sir Robert McAlpine = UK Detention Services (CCA owns one third).

 

nAustralia: CCA + Sodexho SA = Corrections Corporation of Australia (50 per cent owned). In 1995 CCA bought out Chubb Security Holdings and sold the 50 per cent interest to Sodexho. Corrections Corporation of Australia is also partners in Excor Investments Pty Ltd which, in June 1995, signed a contract with Victoria for a 125 bed womens prison.

 

n New Zealand: Corrections Corporation of New Zealand.

 

n Outside of the US, UK, Belgium and Australia, CCA has a joint venture with Sodexho SA (51/49 per cent in favour of CCA in English speaking countries or 49/51 per cent elsewhere).

 

Next - Wackenhut.