Group 4 Securicor

Asylum and racism
Campsfield House is the UK's largest immigrant detention center, holding around 200 detainees (more than 80% of whom are asylum seekers). The detainees are held without charge, time limit, or proper access to legal representation. The center operates like a high security prison for people coming to the UK seeking political asylum. Both activists and government officials have criticized the detention center repeatedly , both in principle, and for the way Group 4 is managing it.

Official reports on Campsfield in 1995 and 1998, by two different inspectors, found fear, boredom, and stress among the inmates. In 1994 rioting broke out in Campsfield during which six prisoners escaped. In May 1995, following consultation with the Home Office, Group 4 set up the UK’s first "private riot squads" to deal with future disorder at immigration detention centers.

In August 1997 the conditions of Campsfield erupted into a riot after detainees thought that an inmates was being strangled by a Group 4 employee. According to critics, the ensuing trial collapsed because of the lies of the Group 4 guards. Campsfield is due to close soon. The whole debacle is covered in Corporate Watch Issue 8. www.corporatewatch.org.uk/magazine/issue8/cw8g4.html In February 2002 a fire that broke out at the Yarls Wood Detention center in Bedfordshire destroyed half of the newly built center, causing around £35 million in damages. Group 4 had ignored the fire brigade's very strong warning that a sprinkler system should be installed before the center was opened. Group 4 blamed inmates but the cause could be established, at least in part because the Home Office deported many, if not all, of the witnesses who could have testified on the accused behalf. There have been many associated reports of staff brutality and allegations that guards prevented detainees from fleeing the fire. Group 4 refused liability for the fire and demanded that the Home Office (the taxpayer) foot the bill.

With Wackenhut, Group 4 further increased its market share of immigration-related services. Wackenhut runs the Tinsley House detention center at Gatwick Airport and Dungavel detention center in Lanarkshire, through its subsidiary Premier Detention Services. Wackenhut also holds the contract to transport immigration detainees between centers and refugees to dispersed housing, and is planning to build a secure transit camp at Great Gransden in Cambridgeshire. In 2002, 40 people imprisoned in Dungavel immigration detention center held a day of non-compliance to protest conditions in the center; two inmates have committed suicide. There are also complaints about inadequate medical care and the fact that children as young as six months old are held at the center.

Group 4 has also been accused of discrimination against job applicants. Harbhajan Birdi’s job application was at first rejected. When he resubmitted an identical application changing his name and nationality to John Smith, British, he was shortlisted for interview. Birdi accused Group 4 of racism. An Industrial tribunal later upheld his racial discrimination claims. Group 4 agreed to an out-of-court settlement.

The above is by no means a comprehensive overview of Group 4 Falck’s worldwide involvement in practices surrounding racism and asylum issues. In Belgium, for example, Group 4 Securitas searches for immigrants hidden in lorries bound for England.

Outsourcing Education

The outsourced education market is worth more than £2.5bn.30 Group 4 Falck is mostly cashing in on the privatization of education through Ensign, a joint venture with Tribal Group. Tribal group provides support services and training to the education sector. It owns SfE, an online education provider that covers around 70% of secondary schools, and provides online training to some 20,000 teachers.

Ensign bids for contracts to intervene in poorly performing local authorities. Ensign withdrew its bid for a contract in Waltham Forest after it was alleged to have offered to pay two consultants working for PPI £5,000 if the bid was successful. PPI is owned by Tribal and provided management support to Waltham Forest.

When Henry Pitman of Tribal Group was asked about the suitability of its partner in Ensign, he told the Financial Times that its experience with young offenders would be useful. “They have a lot of experience in dealing with difficult pupils” (Financial Times, 16/5/01).

In education, Group 4 won a £12 million contract in 1996 to administer the inspection of up to 20,000 nursery schools and playgroups participating in the then Conservative government’s controversial nursery voucher scheme. The NUT and teachers groups were skeptical about Group 4’s suitability. Group 4 Managed Services now does the annual inspection of and reporting on educational provision at more than 8,000 nurseries on behalf of Ofsted.

Group 4 Falck had a £12 million PFI contract with Wiltshire County Council to build and operate a secondary school in Chippenham, including support services such as catering and sports facilities, and extensions to two other secondary schools.

Prisons and prisoner transport
Group 4 Falck runs three prisons in the UK on behalf of the Prison Service: HM Prison Wolds in East Yorkshire, HM Prison Altcourse in Liverpool, and HM Prison Rye Hill on the Warwickshire/Northamptonshire border. It also runs two juvenile prisons: Medway Centre and Onley. In 1999 Group 4 Falck's prison and escort services earned £86m a year. When Group 4 became the first company to take on private prison escort in the UK, it lost seven prisoners in one week.

Juvenile Prisons (The Medway Centre and Onley) Britain’s first child prison (12-17 year olds), The Medway Centre, is run by Rebound ECD (Education Care and Discipline), a subsidiary of Group 4 Falck. Rebound also runs a child prison (12-14 year olds) at Onley, Northamptonshire.

A report on the Medway Center, published in 1999 by the Social Service Inspectorate (SSI), found that in up to 150 incidents per month, staff were using unauthorized methods to restrain the inmates. The unauthorized neck and wrist locks used by the staff are against medical advice and the center's own rules. Social services has also criticized Medway Centre for using excessive force when trying to contain a riot.

The special education programs were reported to have "simply failed," and it was concluded that the center was more likely to strengthen criminal behavior than to lessen it. A fine of £68,000 was imposed at Medway for failure of service and £ 638,000 was withheld for services not provided at Medway and Wolds.

HM Prison Lectors (Liverpool): The Altcourse prison in Fazakerley, built under the PFI, recovered all its costs within two years for the Group 4 Securitas and Tarmac Construction lead consortium, and will provide 23 years of profit from running the prison. The huge profitability is largely owing to a refinancing deal that increased the expected return on capital from 13% to 39%. The high profits are not reflected in the level of services. The company has received £28,000 in fines for failure of service at Altcourse.

HM Prison Buckley Hall: The prison Buckley Hall was returned to the public sector after five years of management by Group 4. The reason was said to be that the prison service bid was more cost effective and provided higher standards of safety and security. In the early days of Group 4 running the prison, the company was criticized by the Prison Reform Trust for staff shortages and inexperience. Group 4 managers form Buckley Hall were offered new jobs at the child prison at Onley.

Prisoner Transport: In May 1993 drunk prisoner, Ernest Hogg, choked on his own vomit while in the care of Group 4 Court Services. Hogg lay unconscious and unnoticed in the back of a prison van for several hours before he died. The Home Office suspended the operating certificates for six Group 4 staff who were later found guilty of “lack of care."