Serco misbehaving and avoiding responsibility (as usual)

When a British multinational is being paid hundreds of millions by the Australian government to imprison asylum seekers, some kind of responsibility should be expected. Alas, these two examples below show that the company is either outsourcing key tasks to a volunteer company or involved in abuses in remote detention centres. One: When it was…

Serco at centre of British youth death

What privatisation gets you: An inquest jury has blamed unlawful restraint methods for contributing to the youngest death in custody in Britain for more than a century and concluded there had been a serious system failure at the detention centre. A rehearing ordered by the appeal court found today that the manhandling of 14-year-old Adam…

Serco doesn’t really work for the people

Wonderful editorial in the Northern Territory News: The Federal Government’s attempt to gag journalists reporting on asylum seekers in the Territory is contemptible – and laughable. Contemptible because it is undemocratic; laughable because it won’t work. Canberra has told the NT News it broke the law by speaking to an asylum seeker. It also said…

Say after me; Serco isn’t that hard to spell

The issue of Australia’s immigration detention centres is routinely misreported/ignored by corporate media. British multinational Serco runs all the country’s centres – not that you’d know that by reading most media reporting – and here’s just a few latest examples of where this information routinely lies (ie. a black hole): One: Hundreds of asylum seekers…

The unholy alliance between the Australian government, Serco and Scientology

The shambles that is Australia’s immigration policy. Little transparency, people’s lives are simply something to be managed. By whom? Once again multinational Serco, with a record of abuses across the world, is running the show: A charity that recruits volunteers to run recreational activities at detention centres is on the brink of deregistration for failing…

Serco, we’re watching you

Because Serco’s record remains deeply troubling, it’s no wonder the Australian government continues giving the company millions of dollars. Hello, media? A second inquest into the death of the youngest person to die in custody begins today after a high court battle. Adam Rickwood was just 14 when he died in August 2004. He was…

British tax dollars going to the Serco beast

Sigh: 684 payments from government totalling …£169,479,414 (showing 10 largest, see all) …£3,982,623 from NOMS on 2010-09-20 (details) …£3,931,259 from NOMS on 2010-08-12 (details) …£3,770,493 from NOMS on 2010-06-18 (details) …£3,754,305 from NOMS on 2010-07-20 (details) …£3,680,296 from NOMS on 2010-06-04 (details) …£3,493,239 from DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION on 2010-05-13 (details) …£3,453,153 from Department for Work…

How hard is it to discuss Serco and refugee policy?

The corporate media is hopeless. Here’s a feature in today’s Australian newspaper about Christmas Island, the increasing crisis of refugees being overcrowded and residents getting upset over it all. But there’s no mention at all of Serco, the British multinational running the place, a firm integral to the institution. Not good enough: An Amnesty International…

Watch Serco like hawks or face troubles in future

As more and more Western governments use the services of Serco – the British multinational with an unhealthy hold on prisons and detention centres – it’s worth remembering the gross human rights abuses under its watch. I just received this release: PRESS RELEASE: SERCO officers in Yarl’s Wood IRC, violent, racist, sexist & vindictive On…

Resist the Serco beast before it’s too late

The Serco infection moves to New Zealand, yet more unaccountable prisons sold as increasing “efficiency”: The Department of Corrections today announced that global service provision company Serco has been selected to manage Mt Eden/Auckland Central Remand Prison (ACRP) from next year. Finance, Systems and Infrastructure General Manager John Bole says that it is Government policy…

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