How many more breaches will it take for global governments to realise that Serco aren’t fit to run prisons, detention centres or the local chicken shop? (via the Guardian): The unlawful use of restraint was widespread in privately run child jails in Britain for at least a decade, a high court judge has ruled for…
Showing all posts tagged Serco
Australia pays millions to company that denies crayons to children
Fairfax reports on a company, Serco, whose primary aim is to punish refugees in its care: The private company that runs immigration detention has been forced to back off an arbitrary ban on children using crayons and coloured pencils in their rooms. Serco Group’s officers in Darwin had decided on the ban, even though crayons…
Why Australian government fears hearing, seeing and feeling the reality of asylum seekers
Despite the “best” efforts of the Australian government and Serco, refugees are treated with a combination of suspicion and punishment. Here’s a good piece in yesterday’s Australian by Paige Taylor which outlines the reality of the attitude towards the media by the political and bureaucratic establishment: The Department of Immigration and Citizenship objects to the…
Evidence from the horse’s mouth; Australian immigration loves to punish most vulnerable
Late last year I visited Christmas Island and Curtin detention centre in the Kimberley to investigate the role of British multinational Serco in controlling and managing asylum seekers. The picture was grim; isolation and long spells inside maximum security prisons are how we treat refugees fleeing persecution. This front page today in today’s Australian newspaper…
Privatisation rules; can’t live with them and can’t kill them
Yet more misery in Australia caused by a privatised detention centre. Another report that will certainly not cause the Federal government to find a way to ditch Serco for its continually poor performance and standards (via the Australian): A NSW coroner has slammed the immigration department and two private contractors for failing in their duty…
How post 9/11 world has helped corporations make a killing
Private prisons and detention centres are booming businesses (hello Serco). Crisis, real or otherwise, are exploited by corporations who come in to supposedly save the day (cut costs, increase efficiency etc). The reality, explained in this piece on Alternet about the US, is rather different: In a recently published report, “Banking on Bondage: Mass Incarceration…
Serco-run prison on isolated Australian island
My following investigation appeared in Crikey this week: It was a Saturday night community event and could have been in any small Australian town. A fund-raiser was being held for the Thai floods victims and proceedings began with local boys and girls playing short classical pieces on an electric piano. The room was colourful with…
What Australia is doing to refugees in the middle of the steamy desert
My following investigation appeared in Crikey this week: The drive from Broome in Western Australia to Derby, the town closest to the remote Curtin detention centre in the Kimberley, is two-and-a-half hours through endless, surprisingly green desert. Mobile phone reception soon dies after the journey begins and from there you see few people or cars…
Disaster capitalism photo collection
I’ve spent the last 3 weeks in Western Australia and Christmas Island researching a book and other projects on disaster capitalism (overseas travels planned in 2012). I investigated the role of Serco in remote detention centres, Woodside attempting to develop a multi-billion dollar gas hub in the Kimberley and a tropical paradise being used for…