Showing posts with label prison industrial complex. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prison industrial complex. Show all posts
10/27/11
Fourth Death in Villawood Immigration Detention Centre
RISE: Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees Media Release
In the early hours of the morning, on Wednesday 26th October 2011, RISE was given the tragic news that “S”, a 27 year old Sri Lankan Tamil refugee from Villawood Immigration Detention centre (IDC) in the suburbs of Sydney, killed himself after drinking poison.
This day marked 2 years and 24 days of S’s mandatory and indefinite incarceration in Australia’s Immigration detention network. It also marked “Deepavali” (The Festival of Light) that he, as a Hindu, wished to celebrate at his friend’s house. The day before Deepavali, S received the news that his application to visit his friend’s house with SERCO escorts had been rejected by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. SERCO officers had inspected the house sometime back and had indicated to his friend that they were satisfied with the layout of the house.
With limited access to legal and other welfare support services for asylum seekers and refugees this man was among many whose application for refugee status was rejected twice in Christmas island IDC after they arrived by boat to seek asylum. S was finally accepted in August 2011 as a refugee, after the long struggle to get through the days in a non-transparent, hostile immigration detention environment including witnessing 3 deaths of fellow detainees who committed suicide in the space of 3 months in Villawood IDC.
All 8 who protested on the roof with “S” were subsequently recognised as refugees, but now, just three have been released with a visa, while the rest are still being held indefinitely in detention. One of these detainees is undergoing treatment for tuberculosis after repeated requests for medical treatment for more than a year. All of these detained refugees, including S, applied for community detention.
At the time of his death, S was held in the “housing” area. This is the same area in which a family (including 3 children) from the boat the Oceanic Viking are being held. Like S, they too have been detained for more than 2 years. Refugees with adverse security assessments held in other parts of Villawood IDC were informed on 25th October 2011, that they would be transferred to the housing area. One of these men, refused to move, with the statement that this was nothing more than “housing arrest” and did nothing to solve the problem of being detained indefinitely without any offer of a durable solution in sight.
Throughout his time in detention, S had been quite active in asserting his rights and questioning the actions of SERCO and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship that had kept him arbitrarily detained and moved haphazardly about Villawood IDC, particularly in the last 12 months of his incarceration. These actions included S's detention in isolation as well as SERCO staff conveniently removing him and the family from the Oceanic Viking from their rooms when the Australian Human Rights Commission came to Villawood IDC to interview detainees in the "housing" area. This latter act was considerably suspect given that these two parties had been in detention much longer than the other detainees in the "housing" area.
Just after he got his refugee status, a RISE advocate took down some notes in the faint hope that S would have his visa and soon be able to access our settlement program. He had years of work experience in Welding (including Gas cutting and X-ray welding) and had worked in the construction industry. Sadly, S's hope to settle and start a new life in Australia will now never come to pass.
To quote a refugee from Villawood detention centre: “Detention in Australia is like tying a person’s hands and putting food in front of him, which he cannot eat; after some time he loses his appetite and he doesn’t feel like eating it anymore. That is how we feel about life after we have been in detention.”
--
Regards,
RISE Media Unit
Refugee Survivors and Ex-detainees
247 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, Victoria 3000.
Donate http://www.givenow.com.au/riserefugee
T:(03)9639 8623|M:0430 007 586|F:(03)9650 3689|Email:www.riserefugee.org/
8/19/11
George Jackson - 40 year commemoration
August 21st marks the 40th anniversary of the execution of George Lester Jackson. The Chicago- born Jackson would have celebrated his 70th birthday on September 23rd.
Jackson was a prisoner who became an author, a member of the Black Panther Party, and co-founder of the Black Guerrilla Family prison organization. He achieved global fame as one of the Soledad Brothers before being executed by prison guards in San Quentin Prison.
Based on an edited portion of Prisons on Fire by the Freedom Archives (2001) with video editing by Oriana Bolden.
8/17/11
Morgan Godfrey comments on Tuku Morgan
Same old tuku tarau he's just another authoritarian Maori 'leader' who hates being held accountable....to anybody. I'm Impressed with Morgan Godfery his comments about Tuku being bound to the ideology of privitisation showed more insight & intelligence than the Maori media hacks that interviewed him.
Check out Morgans blog Maui Street & a huge shout out to all the other Maori bloggers out their giving voice to the unheard our flaxroots.
More here about tuku selling out to private prison companies & facilitating the expansion of the prison industrial complex in Aotearoa.
Tainui supports privately managed prisons
Corporate Iwi: Doing business with human rights abusers
Iwi Capitalists provide brownwash for prison privitisation in NZ
The idea is that iwi, or groupings of iwi, or iwi-private joint ventures will invest in parts of the country's infrastructure, such as hospitals, schools, prisons and roads, through Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) with the government. This has become more of a reality because the National-led government has made it clear it is more amenable to this type of arrangement than the previous government.
TAINUI WANT CHANCE TO BE OWN GOALERS
Tainui chair Tukoroirangi Morgan says Tainui will put its hat into the ring to run private prisons.
Tuku Morgan says the government's announcement to allow private companies to run prisons will offer Maori opportunities to invest, manage and own infrustructural development.... See More
He says this is something Tainui believes is critical for long term sustainability and a matter he has personally taken up with prime minister John Key.
“At Waitangi I was part of the presentation to the Prime Minister including the deputy PM pushing the issue of public private developments. We think it is an intelligent approach by iwi to get involved in important infrastructural development,” Mr Morgan says
Tainui chair Tukoroirangi Morgan says Tainui will put its hat into the ring to run private prisons.
3/30/11
Tainui supports privately managed prisons
What a bunch of Maori $ellouts. Serco are serial human rights abusers. Clearly Tuku has no scruples or ethics going into business with dogs like Serco. This is NOT a gain for Maori, this is a money making opportunity for Serco & Tainui Inc. It ushers in the expansion of the prison industrial complex in Aotearoa.
Is it to much to ask Maori commentators & the Maori media need to stop being so sycophantic and start asking some hard questions and start giving some rigorous analysis like . I dont recall one article from a Maori journalist questioning the corporate iwi support for the privitisation of prisons, when the excesses and human rights abuses of the transnationals the want to go into joint partnership with is easy to find.
See Also :
SERCO Sharples Corporate Kupapa
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 http://antonyloewenstein.com/tag/serco/
Serco Rap Sheet:
• Serco staff bullied & inappropriately used excessive violence to restrain a mentally ill 14yo boy, lead to his suicide -- the youngest UK death in custody, in a Serco-run detention... facility
• Serco staff refused to address pleas for medical assistance of a meningitis-affected prisoner for four days, dismissing it saying he was “at it” again and “he was probably suffering from the flu and was only looking for tablets”, despite knowing the potential consequences of this in light of his medical history (he had previously slipped into a coma previously from the illness prior to his prison term). Guards told him to take Panadol, their inaction and stalling resulted in his death. He had previously lodged a complaint about his lack of access to medical care for his condition in the Serco centre
• Kilmarnock, the only privatised prison run by Serco in Scotland, has a higher than the national average number of deaths in custody
• High levels of self-harm & suicide in Serco-run centres. Australia’s detention facilities have seen a fourfold increase in self-harm rates in the past year, coinciding with the awarding of Serco’s contract to run Australia’s facilities. Self-harm behaviour has “spread among adolescents” according to Dr. Louise Newman, head of the Detention Health Advisory Group
• People in Serco facilities in the UK are sleeping in toilets to deal with overcrowding, with a “worrying” deterioration in access to GPs and health care and increases in violence and self-harm, following an unannounced visit by independent UK chief inspector of prisons, Anne Owers
• ‘Squalid’ conditions with ‘institutional meanness’ with Serco denying detainees pillows and toilet seats – Owers
• Suicide attempt and subsequent death of asylum seeker detained at Serco-run UK Colbrook Immigration Reception Centre. This followed obfuscation from Serco staff & the denial of help for his ongoing mental illness, including the removal of his anti-depressants upon his arrival in detention during a high at risk time for his mental stability
• Similarities between desperate protests in Serco-run immigration centres and prisons in UK and Australia. In the past six months in Australia, we have seen recurring hunger strikes at Darwin and Villawood IDC, public protests involving self-harm at Villawood, and regular breakouts at Darwin IDC.
• A death in custody at Serco-run Curtin IDC due to unspecified ‘health condition’ after being found unconscious, unofficially reported to be a heart attack from a congenital past condition. This raises questions as to the provision of health care at Curtin – if staff were aware of his apparent condition, what measures were taken to prevent an incident like this occurring? If they were taken, why did they not prevent his death?
• The suicide of detainee at Villawood IDC followed Serco staff dismissing attempts from refugee advocates becoming involved in dissuading the detainee from the roof. This included a Serco staff member hanging up on a phone call from a concerned friend. The detainee jumped to his death a short time later. Following his death, Serco staff cancelled a previously planned memorial service for the deceased by detainees at midnight the morning of the service. No reason was given for this.
• The next day, a group of asylum seekers took to the roof while a hunger strike continued inside Villawood. After they publicly self-harmed and were denied water and food until their return to the ground a day and a half later, a second group of detainees took to the roof. A member of this group also self-harmed, slipping into unconsciousness. Following their return to the ground, their advocate has said Serco staff have punished their protest with separation detention.
• Allegations of sexual abuse of children at Serco-run Leonora Alternative Place of Detention, with Serco staff unable to prevent the alleged abuse occurring.
• Disturbing sexualisation of children in UK Serco immigration detention centres: “One parent spontaneously complained that he had found his daughter in the [UK Yarl’s Wood Immigration Detention] centre without any clothes on. His child explained that she had been encouraged to undress and play “sex games” instigated by another detained child. This father felt that there was inadequate supervision of the children within the center and after this incident he no longer allowed his children to play with the other children. Another mother spontaneously commented on the sexualized behavior of children within the center.”
• Illness outbreaks of viruses and skin-based diseases affecting children in overcrowded UK Serco immigration detention centres
• Serco combines violent prisoner populations with asylum seekers, resulting in “dangerous” environments (Owers) at UK immigration detention centres
• Violent force from Serco staff ‘high’ (Owers) at UK’s Colnbrook IDC
• Serco use separation detention for long periods to manage difficult detainees in UK immigration detention, including separating mothers from children
• Quality and quantity for meaningful education and training for detainees ‘insufficient’ (Owers) for long periods in UK immigration detention facilities
• Excessive control & violent restraints used by Serco staff at UK Yarl’s Wood IDC on women and children. Generally aggressive and rude temperament of staff disrespectful of detainee human dignity
• Yarl’s Wood IDC women detainees have taken Serco to the High Court in March 2010, questioning their inhumane treatment from guards. Some have stripped naked to protest “being treated like animals”
• On 8 February 2010, their peaceful protest was met by attacks from Serco staff and forced confinement in a locked corridor without access to water, food or medication
• Detainee allegations of ongoing racist abuse from Serco staff in UK IDCs
• Requests for medical assistance and welfare of children ignored, denied and/or substantially delayed by Serco staff at Yarl’s Wood IDC
• Meetings between government agencies and Serco to consider the implications for women and children’s welfare of prolonged detention focused on public relations management and potential counter-legal concerns, instead of ongoing independent accountability for detainee health and dignity
• Serco continues to refuse to be interviewed on its activities in running Australia’s immigration detention facilities. Why?
References:
A. Owers, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons, ‘COLNBROOK IMMIGRATION REMOVAL CENTRE – SIGNIFICANTLY LESS SAFE’, Press Release, November 2007, <http://www.justice.gov.uk/inspectorates/hmi-prisons/docs/colnbrook_pn-rps.pdf>
M. Wainwright, ‘Report into death of boy, 14, calls for reform of youth custody’, The Guardian, September 3, 2007, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/sep/03/ukcrime.prisonsandprobation/print>.
Associated Press, “New inquest ordered into teenage boy's death in custody”, The Guardian, 22 January 2009, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jan/22/youngpeople-deathsincustody/print>.
A. Lorek, K. Ehntholt, A. Nesbitt, E. Wey, C. Githinji, E. Rossor, R. Wickramasinghe, ‘The mental and physical health difficulties of children held within a British immigration detention center: A pilot study’, Child Abuse and Neglect, vol. 33, 2009, pp. 573-585 <http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/resources/documents/Campaigns/19432_full.pdf>
K. Smith, “Inmate’s pleas for aid overlooked four days before death”, The Sunday Herald (Scotland), July 20, 2008, <http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.2403695.0.inmates_pleas_for_aid_overlooked_four_days_before_death.php>S. Gaines, “Inmates sleep in toilets at overcrowded prison”, Sunday Guardian, July 22, 2008, <http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jul/22/doncaster.prison/print>Institute of Race Relations, “Kenny Peter's inquest points to asylum failures”, 5 October 2006, <http://www.irr.org.uk/2006/october/ha000013.html>E. Dugan, ‘Mothers detained in immigration centre hold 'naked' protest’, The Telegraph, April 11, 2008, <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/mothers-detained-in-immigration-centre-hold-naked-protest-807802.html>Y. Narushima, ‘Self-harm rates increase fourfold’, The Age, October 4, 2010, <http://www.theage.com.au/national/selfharm-rates-increase-fourfold-20101003-162r8.html>L. Marshall, ‘Detained refugee dies in Perth hospital’, 31 August 2010, Independent Media Centre Australia, <http://indymedia.org.au/2010/08/31/detainee-dies-at-curtin-detention-centre>
1/6/11
Capitalist Punishment:
Prison Privatization and Human Rights
edited by Andrew Coyle, Allison Campbell and Rodney Neufeld
Zed Books (2003), London,
ISBN: 1 84277 291 0
Reviewed by:ISBN: 1 84277 291 0
Jon Yorke
PhD Candidate
School of Law,University of Warwick
Jon.Yorke@warwick.ac.uk
1. Introduction
Capitalist Punishment: Prison Privatization and Human Rights is a response to the hegemonic practices, which have led to human rights violations caused by the prison privatisation industry. Indeed, this volume offers a timely circumspect dialogue on the debates surrounding the privatisation of prisons around the world. Currently the privatisation prison industry is under the spotlight, and after the events of 11 September 2001, the world is watching to see how effectively the industry will play its part in the incarceration of criminals in the 'war against terrorism'.
Capitalist Punishment is an introduction to the issues of how the industry infringes upon prisoners' human rights par excellence, and offers an inter-disciplinary overview of the issues. The aim of the book is to highlight not only a socio-political discourse on prison privatisation, but a legal one too. Hence, all people involved within the prison industry, both academically, and professionally, will benefit from the information presented.
Turning the pages, readers may be shocked by the pernicious human rights violations, which occur within privatised prisons. Shocked, perhaps, because most violations are not brought to the public's attention by the media; as they are shrouded within the confines of the panoptical prison. Furthermore, the reader will notice a limited number of privatisation companies cited by the different authors. This is because there are only a limited number of key corporations, which advance the industry. A reader will quickly become familiar with the two world leaders in prison privatisation - Corrections Corporations of America, and Wakenhut Corrections.
In essence, this book is about the dwindling of the state's monopoly on incarceration, and the effects of the subjugation of prisoners, under the watch of corporations. The corporations advise the governments that privatisation is the only viable option under a burgeoning prison population. But is privatisation the only rhetoric to be considered, with the incarceration of a prison populace? Coyle et al think not.
2. The Growth of the Privatisation of Prisons
The modern phenomenon of prison privatisation derives from the United States, and the first three chapters of the book reflect this. The proceeding chapters detail specific violations of human (and People's) rights within privatised prisons, both in the US and selected countries around the world. The United States is a melting-pot for the advancement of the privatization prisons ideology, and so the book primarily focuses on the situation in the US.
In the 1980s, and continuing today, the US criminal justice system adopted a hard-lined view with the sentencing of offenders. This 'get tough on crime approach' has led to zero-tolerance, 'three strikes legislation' and mandatory minimum sentences, which have overwhelmed the prison services. Such practices were instigated through neoliberal policies formulated by the Reagan Presidency, and to a certain extent, within the United Kingdom. What results is a politically 'claimed' fiscal deficiency, which leads the governments to look to the private industry to solve the problems of the burgeoning prison population.
In the first three chapters of the book this scene is set, with the authors describing the resultant, 'prison industrial complex'. The prison industrial complex is an industry created by severe sentencing policies and a sustained prison populace, which is then governed by private corporations. The public sector is removed by the neoliberal ideology of the free market. Hence economics determine prison governance, which is antipathetically set against the protection of prisoners' human rights. How is this allowed to happen? Chapters Four to 17, detail the reasons for this egregious praxis.
3. Human1 Rights Violations
This volume illustrates that the denial of human rights is endemic within privatised prisons. An intractable amount of deaths have occurred in private prisons, so too have rapes and other physical and mental torture. Medical care is restricted by the corporations, and inmates have died as a result of the guards refusing to allow the prisoners to see medical staff. Minorities are marginalised; racism is systemic; women are subjugated in many private prisons; and juveniles do not receive effective rehabilitation, resulting in a high recidivism rate. The human rights violations caused by the privatised industry is alarming.
Even with a growing body of legal decisions, condemning the practices of the privatised industry in the US, UK and Australia, privatised corporations still obtain contracts to govern prisons. The political and legal mechanism, which allows this status quo, is achieved by a practical immunity from democratic accountability. Katherine van Wormer illuminates in Chapter Nine:
…private prisons tend to distract public officials from responsibility for the way private prisons are run. Under privatization, the internal mechanisms of punishment are cloaked in a veil of secrecy. When a scandal occurs, journalists and other observers will focus on the performance, efficiency, and services of the private prison, rather than on public officials for allowing the conditions to persist. Accordingly, the government is conveniently let off the hook2.
The authors argue that the corporate structure of the prison industrial complex, allows politicians to separate themselves from responsibility when a private prison does not ensure the observance of human rights. Furthermore, the corporations themselves have enjoyed a substantial amount of immunity. In the landmark US Supreme Court decision in Correctional Services Corporation v Malesko, 122 SC 515 (2001) it was held that in the area of offering health care provisions, private corporations who run 'prisons under contract with the federal government are protected from suit for their constitutional violations3. Hence, there is a hegemonic rhetoric created, which drastically diminishes the accountability of the prison industrial complex for human rights violations.
Racial issues are at the forefront when considering the human rights violations. Chapter Eight deals with the arrested development of African Americans. Monique Morris talks about the 'legalized apartheid (segregation)'4within the history of American law, and she discusses the wider, social, ramifications and issues surrounding racism; firstly within society, then within the judicial sentencing structure and prison populations. In Chapter 10, Frank Smith discusses the engendered issues resulting in the violations of the human and cultural rights of the Native Americans. He offers a short, enlightened, discourse on the historical perspective of slavery and the repugnant US Supreme Court decision in Plessy v Fergeson, 163 US 537 (1896), which introduced the egregious 'separate but equal' doctrine. Plessy was overruled in the two Brown v Board of Education cases5.
Katherine van Wormer argues that women are treated unfairly and that there is a 'backlash against …women's creeping equality'6. Wormer states that the law is anti-feminist. Also, that through the 'war on drugs', women are singled-out because many will be given up by their junkie husbands. Furthermore, up to 40 percent of incarcerated women were for drug offences7. Indeed, Wormer acutely emphasis the plight of many incarcerated women. In Chapter 178, Amanda George reveals the harrowing experiences many women face within the Australian Metropolitan Women's Correctional Center.
In Chapter Seven, Mark Erik Hecht and Donna Habsha outline the privatisation of juvenile prisons, and the monitoring of juvenile prisons through international law9. The authors include a case study on Canada and the United Kingdom. It is argued that within the UK, juvenile crime rates have decreased, but the juvenile prison population has increased. A reason is suggested:
… numerous highly publicised acts of violence have distorted the reality of youth involved in crime and have led to intense public debate on the matter. Politicians have been driven to introduce harsher sentencing policies and legislation as a result of public pressure to 'get tough on crime'10.
The authors also highlight the failure of the Canadian adoption of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, stating that the juvenile human rights paradigm is thwarted by the practices of the privatisation industry.
4. Selling the US 'Prison Industrial Complex' to the world
One area that is briefly touched upon by this volume (and possibly should/could have been developed further), is the 'threat' of the US prison industrial complex being imposed on other countries. This is a serious point which Stephen Nathan investigates in Chapter 1611. He begins his chapter with a letter penning an earnest worldwide plea by Mr C L Siimane, the Director General of the Lesotho Prison Service. Mr Siimane wrote an open letter to the international criminal justice community asking for help, he begins his letter, 'We wish to inform you that we are under terrible pressure to have the entire Lesotho Prison Service privatized by Group 4 from the UK …' and he goes on to say, '… do anything in your power and means to frustrate the wishes and efforts of Group 4 and its proponents'12.
Why such a desperate plea? The subject matter and detailed examples of this volume make it clear. Many human rights violations are caused by the privatised prison industry, and each government should beware of adopting such a repugnant capitalist model. Certainly, the US privatisation companies are of the view that they can 'make a significant impact on the global corrections market'13. Julie Berg, in Chapter 15, highlights the concerns with the development of the privatisation of prisons within South Africa. She is of the opinion that the modernised 'prison industrial complex' will not satisfactorily cope with the intricate cultural distinctions that exist the South Africa, and hence, Africa as a whole.
It also cannot be stated with any authority that the US model has worked in the UK, and the authors seem to suggest that this is why the industry is moving away from the developed world and focusing their claws on the emerging economies, as stated in chapter sixteen. Disturbingly, when the UK considered how to deal with its burgeoning prison population, the government only considered the rhetorical 'spin' from the US, and did not consider other country's models; such as the French, semi-private model. Hence the US corporations gained contracts within the UK, and brought with them their egregious practices. The author's collective message to the global criminal justice systems is 'stay public'.
5. Conclusion
The authors of the articles within Capitalist Punishment: Prison Privatization and Human Rights have produced a sound discourse urging governments to monitor and condemn the illegal practices of the prison privatisation industry, and also a sound portfolio warning prospective governments against blindly handing over their prisons to the corporations. The words of the corporations appear to bring bright futures, but governments should wait to hear both sides of the story. This volume brings the hitherto untold story of those who have suffered behind the panoptical protection of the privately owned prison walls.
Endnotes
1. Within the specific African, and other indigenous human rights rhetoric, 'people's' and 'cultural' rights are recognised. This volume details and argues such 'people's' and 'cultural' rights. See, Chapter Eight: Prison Privatization: The Arrested Development of African Americans, by Monique Morris; Chapter 10: Incarceration of Native Americans and Private Prisons, by Frank Smith; Chapter 11: The Use of Privatized Detention Centers for Asylum Seekers in Australia and the UK, by Bente Molenaar and Rodney Neufeld; Chapter 15: Prison Privatization Development in South Africa, by Julie Berg; and Chapter 16: Private Prisons: Emerging and Transformative Economies, by Stephen Nathan.
2. Chapter Nine: Prison Privatization and Women, by Katherine van Wormer, p 108.
3. Chapter Six: Private Prisons and Health Care: The HMO From Hell, by Alexander, E, p 67.
4.Chapter Eight, supra, note 1, p 87.
5.Brown v Board of Education 347 US 483 (1954) Brown 1, the Constitutional ruling; Brown v Board of Education 349 US 294 (1955) Brown 2, the implementation decision. These cases abolished segregation within schools.
6. Chapter Nine, supra, note 2, p 103.
7. As a legal intern for the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System, in 1996, I visited an Oklahoman women's correctional facility to interview the wife of an inmate on death row in Oklahoma. The woman was handed over to the police by her husband, for drug offences.
8. Chapter 17: Women Prisoners as Customers: Counting the Costs of the Privately Managed Metropolitan Women's Correctional Center: Australia, by Amanda George.
9. Chapter Seven: International Law and the Privatization of Juvenile Justice, by Mark Erik Hecht and Donna Habsha.
10. ibid, p 81.
11. Chapter 16: Private Prisons: Emerging and Transformative Economies, by Stephen Nathan.
12. ibid, p 189.
13. ibid, p 190.
2. Chapter Nine: Prison Privatization and Women, by Katherine van Wormer, p 108.
3. Chapter Six: Private Prisons and Health Care: The HMO From Hell, by Alexander, E, p 67.
4.Chapter Eight, supra, note 1, p 87.
5.Brown v Board of Education 347 US 483 (1954) Brown 1, the Constitutional ruling; Brown v Board of Education 349 US 294 (1955) Brown 2, the implementation decision. These cases abolished segregation within schools.
6. Chapter Nine, supra, note 2, p 103.
7. As a legal intern for the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System, in 1996, I visited an Oklahoman women's correctional facility to interview the wife of an inmate on death row in Oklahoma. The woman was handed over to the police by her husband, for drug offences.
8. Chapter 17: Women Prisoners as Customers: Counting the Costs of the Privately Managed Metropolitan Women's Correctional Center: Australia, by Amanda George.
9. Chapter Seven: International Law and the Privatization of Juvenile Justice, by Mark Erik Hecht and Donna Habsha.
10. ibid, p 81.
11. Chapter 16: Private Prisons: Emerging and Transformative Economies, by Stephen Nathan.
12. ibid, p 189.
13. ibid, p 190.
This is a book review published on 20 January 2004.
Citation: Yorke, J, 'Capitalist Punishment: Prison Privatization adn Human Rights' edited by Andrew Coyle, Allison Campbell and Rodney Neufeld, Book Review, Law, Social Justice & Global Development Journal (LGD) 2003 (2) 12/19/10
SERCO Sharples Corporate Kupapa
'Dr Sharples joked he was looking to accommodate his family in a secure unit outside a New Zealand prison so he could feed them each for $4.50 a day'
Sharples is paying off his mortgage on the backs of his cronies making money out of the incarceration/slave labour/misery of our people. Shame on him hope he chokes on it.
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 http://antonyloewenstein.com/tag/serco/
HOPE SERCO-TAINUI LINK-UP WILL LEAD TO PRISON REFORM
Maori Affairs and Associate Corrections minister Pita Sharples is counting on outsourcer Serco and its Maori partner to change the way prisons operate.
The British company, which runs a number of private prisons in Australia, has been picked to run the Auckland Central... Remand Prison at Mount Eden.
Dr Sharples says the prison system's focus on punishment and incarceration has created structural baggage, and left room for innovation.
“The whole idea of rehabilitating these people to put them out as productive members of society is not yet captured, and that’s what I want to see, and I’m hoping that Serco and I believe it’s Tainui they’re involved will do a good job and introduce meaningful programmes into the prison. That would be really great,” he says.
Dr Sharples wants to see more drug rehabilitation, Maori focused units, and other targeted programmes for prisoners
Serco Morgan Corporate Kupapa
'The concept appalled me then and still does. First grow the raw material, then put it in a can and look after it, I said. It was investing money in the belief that there was an endless supply of losers out there waiting to be processed. I...t was a depressing vision of the future, one with half the tribe and their mates in prison while the other half was being paid by the state to run it. Indeed the prosperity of the tribe would depend on a continuing - and hopefully expanding - supply of the raw material'. Of all the places Maori could invest their Treaty settlement and other money, this would have to be the most inappropriate. Ethical investment it is not.'
4/24/10
STOP THE THREE STRIKES LEGISLATION! PUBLIC MEETING
Wed, May 12th, 7.30pm, Trades Hall, 147 Great North
Road, AUCKLAND.
Chaired by Peter Williams QC.
Guest Speaker Rev Ron Givens. Ron is a prison chaplain from California and is the Political Director of UNION (United for No Injustice, Oppression orNeglect). UNION campaigns... against California’sthree strikes policy of minimum sentences similar to those proposed here byACT. Ron will talk about the horrendous situation in California’s jails and the serious injustices caused by the three strikes policy.
4/2/10
Prison Industrial Complex
By Diego Hernandez Chapter 1: The US Prison Crises Chapter 2: Interviews with political prisoners Angela Davis, Mumia Abu Jamal, Assata Shakur Chapter 3: The War on Drugs and its effects on people of color. Chapter 4: Immigration Detention Centers and Latin@s in prison. Chapter 5: The Privatisation of Prisons for profit. Chapter 6: Women in Priso
3/19/10
Politricks / We Know who the killers are
A powerful film about deaths in police custody in the UK, featuring the poet Benjamin Zepheniah.
What Stephen Lawrence Has Taught Us
from "Too Black, Too Strong"
We know who the killers are,We have watched them strut before us
As proud as sick Mussolinis',
We have watched them strut before us
Compassionless and arrogant,
They paraded before us,
Like angels of death
Protected by the law.
It is now an open secret
Black people do not have
Chips on their shoulders,
They just have injustice on their backs
And justice on their minds,
And now we know that the road to liberty
Is as long as the road from slavery.
The death of Stephen Lawrence
Has taught us to love each other
And never to take the tedious task
Of waiting for a bus for granted.
Watching his parents watching the cover-up
Begs the question
What are the trading standards here?
Why are we paying for a police force
That will not work for us?
The death of Stephen Lawrence
Has taught us
That we cannot let the illusion of freedom
Endow us with a false sense of security as we walk the streets,
The whole world can now watch
The academics and the super cops
Struggling to define institutionalised racism
As we continue to die in custody
As we continue emptying our pockets on the pavements,
And we continue to ask ourselves
Why is it so official
That black people are so often killed
Without killers?
We are not talking about war or revenge
We are not talking about hypothetics or possibilities,
We are talking about where we are now
We are talking about how we live now
In dis state
Under dis flag, (God Save the Queen),
And God save all those black children who want to grow up
And God save all the brothers and sisters
Who like raving,
Because the death of Stephen Lawrence
Has taught us that racism is easy when
You have friends in high places.
And friends in high places
Have no use whatsoever
When they are not your friends.
Dear Mr Condon,
Pop out of Teletubby land,
And visit reality,
Come to an honest place
And get some advice from your neighbours,
Be enlightened by our community,
Neglect your well-paid ignorance
Because
We know who the killers are.
3/11/10
Imprisonment rate internationally indefensible
As the Government looks at measures to lock up more people for longer sentences, the Race Relations Commissioner is warning the current imprisonment rate for Maori is putting New Zealand in a bad light internationally.
In his annual report released today, Joris de Bres highlights 50 percent of prison inmates are Maori.
He says it's a long term pattern which was raised at last year's United Nations periodical review and by the Committee on the Elimination of racial Discrimination, and it's likely to feature again this month in another UN review of New Zealand's civil and political rights.
“What this report is recommending that we do have long term targets and set specific targets to reduce that rate of imprisonment. It’s absolutely unsustainable. It’s internationally indefensible and we really do have to come to grips with it. We cannot sustain this,” Mr de Bres says.
The economic recession has increased the disparities between Maori and pacific workers and others, with 30 percent of young Maori now unemployed.
Corporate Iwi: Doing business with human rights abusers
G4S, another private prison operator, was criticised by the W.A. Deaths in Custody Watch Committee over the death of prominent Aboriginal elder, Mr Ward. Mr Ward died in January 2008 after being transferred across the West Australian outback, from Laverton to Kalgoorlie, in a private prison van in temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius.
The Coronial Inquest was told temperatures in the back of the van would have been 47 degrees. Mr Ward had been arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. The Coronial Inquest was told the van’s air conditioning was not working and staff in charge of the 46-year-old did not check on him during the four-hour journey.
In their special report of the findings, the W.A. Deaths in Custody Watch Committee condemned the actions of those responsible for Mr Ward’s death. The report stated:
“Mr Ward’s death…cumulatively demonstrate the institutional failure and incapacity of the State and successive Ministers for Corrections to discharge their non-delegable duties of care and to ensure that the State’s contractor GSL/G4S complied with its contractual, statutory and human rights obligations and the failure to have procedures and practices in place to ensure that this occurred.
The findings of the State Coroner that the State and GSL/G4S contributed to Mr Ward’s death are the most serious findings a coroner is empowered to make. These findings further emphasise that the contracting out of prisoner transportation as practised in Western Australia in unsustainable.”
GSL/G4S has in Australia alone been found by coroners to have contributed to the death of at least six people in custody, including Mr Ward in less than nine years. It has also been subject to severely critical findings in relation to its operational compliance and duty of care capacity and for violations of the human rights of people in its care and custody. The demonstrated unfitness of GSL/G4S is further evidenced by the following events:
• 15 February 1994 – The findings of a North Humberside Coroners Jury inquiring into the death of Mr Ernest Hogg who died due to “lack of care” while being transported by Group 4 (now G4S) in May 1993.
• 26 April 2000 – State Coroner of Victoria finds Group 4 (G4S) contributed the hanging deaths of four men at their Port Phillip Prison through the failure to provide a safe environment.
• 2005 – Serious adverse duty of care and operational findings made by Knowledge Consulting Report into the transportation of five immigration detainees by GSL from the Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre to the Baxter Immigration Detention Centre on 17/18 September 2004.
• July 2006 – the Victorian Ombudsman and Office of Police Integrity issued a joint report, entitled Conditions for Persons in Custody, which included a review of prisoner transportation provided by GSL. The Report relevantly concluded that insufficient attention is given to the conditions under which prisoners are transported, often without basic amenities for long trips.
The report also referred to the findings of a 2005 report by the Victorian Corrections Inspectorate which had previously outlined deficiencies in prisoner transport provided by GSL in the areas of:
Incomplete staff refresher training, poor record keeping, no regular reviews or updating of emergency management procedures, little adherence to servicing and maintenance requirements for the vehicle fleet, high breakdown levels of electronic surveillance equipment in the vans compounded by poor quality vision, broken lights and “blind spots”, inoperative communications equipment which prevent prisoners from speaking with the driver and an inadequate emergency duress monitoring system.
• 4 December 2007 – The President of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission brought down serious and adverse findings of human rights violations against GSL in relation to the infliction of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and treatment that violates basic human dignity of detainees transported by GSL from the Maribyrnong Immigration Detention Centre to the Baxter Immigration Detention Centre on 17/18 September 2004.
• On 9 July 2007 Victorian Coroner Audrey Jamieson’s report on the inquest into the death in GSL custody of Ian Thomas Westcott found that the failure of GSL to maintain and comply with procedures to ensure the operability of intercom systems in place to ensure the safety and survival of prisoners effectively contributed to Mr Westcott’s death and that his death was preventable.
The West Australian Coroner’s report of Mr Ward’s death was damning and it recommended that there is an imperative public interest in the State to terminate the contract of GSL/G4S as soon as possible and not wait until the contract period ends in 2011.
The report concluded: “GSL/G4S has shown through its own conduct and especially in relation to prisoner and detainee transportation that it is incapable of discharging its most basic statutory, contractual, procedural, duty of care and human rights obligations owed to people in its care and custody as well as to the WA and broader public.”
The West Australian Attorney-General Christian Porter ruled out terminating the contract of G4S.
GEO Group which will be in charge of Parklea prison is the second largest prison company in the USA and listed on the New York stock exchange. GEO Group also operates a migrant detention centre under contract to the USA government alongside the notorious Guantanamo Bay military facility in Cuba.
In Australia GEO Group runs the Junee Correctional Centre, the Fulham Correctional Centre in Victoria, and the Arthur Gorrie Remand and Reception Centre in Queensland.
GEO has been involved in a number of controversial incidents in American prisons. In 2001, a prison inmate at a GEO facility in New Mexico, Gregorio de la Rosa, was killed in dubious circumstances. In 2006 a civil jury found GEO liable for the death, and ordered the company to pay compensation of $47.5 million to the Mr de la Rosa’s family. Last year a grand jury indicted GEO Group to stand trial for the murder of de la Rosa, accusing guards of beating the prisoner to death with padlocks stuffed into socks.
GEO Group is also being sued in regard to an incident were seven prisoners were kept locked in a cold shower room for five hours wearing little or no clothing. In 2007, GEO Group also settled a lawsuit with the family of a woman who was allegedly raped and beaten after being locked in the same cellblock as male inmates. The woman committed suicide shortly after the incident.
GEO Group had its contract to house prisoners from Idaho at its Bill Clayton Detention Centre terminated in November 2008. The Idaho Department of Correction stated that GEO Group’s chronic understaffing of the facility put offenders safety at risk. An audit of the facility had also found that guards routinely falsified reports that they were checking on offenders, despite being away from their posts for hours at a time.
The Minister for Corrective Services stated that Parklea would have oversight from ICAC, the ombudsman, and a whole range of other organisations including the NSW Government’s official visitor program. Minister, we hold you to keep your word.
References: WA Deaths in Custody Watch Committee, The Ward Case and Lessons for the WA Government, September 2009; Public Service Association, Privatisation of Parklea, July 2009.
3/4/10
Iwi Capitalists provide brownwash for prison privitisation in NZ
Why are these 'Iwi leaders' so keen to go into business with a company that has a record of abusing the human rights of prisoners ?
10/2/09
Imprisoned People and Social Justice Forum Podcast Series
On Thursday the 10th of September 09, the Imprisoned People and Social Justice Forum was held at the Koori Heritage Trust down on King Street.
The forum was organised by the Decarceration Working Group, with support and collaboration from Flat Out, Sisters Inside, the Centre for the Human Rights of Imprisoned People and the Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention Legal Service.
The day aimed to facilitate discussions on systemic issues in imprisonment, strategies for decarceration and social justice for imprisoned men and women in Victoria, with input from national and international speakers including formerly imprisoned people.
3CRs Done by Law has uploaded recordings of the speeches as a special podcast series, where you can download and listen to some of the highlights of the day.
go HERE
The forum was organised by the Decarceration Working Group, with support and collaboration from Flat Out, Sisters Inside, the Centre for the Human Rights of Imprisoned People and the Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention Legal Service.
The day aimed to facilitate discussions on systemic issues in imprisonment, strategies for decarceration and social justice for imprisoned men and women in Victoria, with input from national and international speakers including formerly imprisoned people.
3CRs Done by Law has uploaded recordings of the speeches as a special podcast series, where you can download and listen to some of the highlights of the day.
go HERE
8/6/09
Imprisoned People and Social Justice Forum
The forum will bring together formerly imprisoned people and their family members, advocates, lawyers, activists and interested community members, to discuss and workshop effective measures and strategies for social justice for imprisoned people, and a reduction in rates of recidivism. The forum will have a strong focus on Indigenous women’s experiences of the
criminal justice system.
Speakers include Rachel Herzing, (Creative Interventions, USA), Cassandra Shaylor (Critical Resistance, USA), Kim Pate (Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies, Canada), Debbie Kilroy (Sisters Inside, QLD), Antoinette Braybrook (Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention Legal Service, VIC), Vicki Roach (human rights advocate and activist, VIC), and other men
and women with the lived experience of imprisonment.
Who Should Attend? Organisers of this forum are prioritising involvement from people most impacted by imprisonment and related issues; men and women who have been imprisoned or their family members, Indigenous people, culturally and linguistically diverse community members, consumers of the mental health system, and others.
About FVPLS Victoria, CHRIP and Flat Out: FVPLS Victoria was established in October 2002 to provide assistance to victims of family violence and sexual assault and to work with families and communities affected by violence. Flat Out has been in operation since 1988 and is a state wide
service that provides housing and re-integration support to women leaving prison. CHRIP is a project of Flat Out that aims to build the capacity of organisations that provide advocacy and support to prisoners, and establish a dedicated Prisoners’ Legal Service in Victoria.
Please find a flier and registration form attached, numbers are limited so
interested people should RSVP as soon as possible.
On the evening of the forum (Thursday 10th September) we will be holding a
celebration evening with a film screening, prisoner art show, and music.
More details to come.
7/17/09
Prisoner amnesty urged
MEDIA RELEASE 16 July 2009
Prison Reform Group of Western Australia
Attorney General Christian Porter should give consideration to a prisoner amnesty similar to
that proposed by New Zealand’s Chief Justice as a way to stem the rising prison population.
Dame Sian Elias, who’s had more than 40 years in the criminal justice field, recently told the
NZ Law Society that she accepts “retribution is a proper response for serious crime” but
that “all the evidence and informed opinions seem to point to the futility of believing that
the causes of crime can be addressed by penal policy and the criminal justice process…
Penal policy is largely irrelevant to reduction of crime and making our communities safest”.
Citing a cost of $100,000 a year for keeping an offender in prison versus $10.04 for
maintaining someone on a community based sentence (NZ figures) Dame Sian went on to
say that “reducing sentence levels would reduce the prison population, not only by cutting
the length of prison terms but also by bringing more sentences within the bounds set for
community-based sanctions, including home detention”.
Suggesting the use of “direct tools to manage the prison population”, Dame Sian noted that
“other countries use executive amnesties to send prisoners into the community early to
prevent overcrowding.
“If we are not prepared to relax the pressures to contain risk in the discretionary decisions
as to bail and parole, the only other immediate options may be to confront the length of
sentence (effecting an overall reduction in sentence)… and early release amnesty,’ Dame
Sian concluded.
This is a view endorsed strongly by WA’s Prison Reform Group, which today called on Mr
Porter to give consideration to an executive amnesty for all prisoners with less than six
months left to serve on their sentences and for all women currently held in the Boronia pre-
release facility.
“Such a move would release the immediate pressure on WA’s overcrowded prisons,” noted
Group spokesperson Rex Widerstrom. “It would free up places at Boronia for women
currently held at Bandyup, and at the various low-security prisons and prison farms for male
prisoners confined in high security at Casuarina, Hakea and similar facilities.
“While it is the government’s duty to do what it can to prevent crime, as Dame Sian notes
the length of sentences actually has little or no effect on community safety.
“So against Mr Porter’s desire to be seen to take a vote-winning stance as ‘tough on law ‘n’
order’ must be balanced the huge social costs of being unable to build hospitals and schools
whilst the money is spent on more prisons.
“Many governments have provided amnesty at the lower end of the security scale without
incurring some sort of ‘rising tide of crime’ on their streets,” Mr Widerstrom noted. “We’re
not talking about releasing violent criminals who’ve done little or no rehabilitative work in
prison. We’re focusing the call for an amnesty on low security prisoners with exemplary
behaviour records whilst in prison, with six months or less to serve.
“The Attorney General clearly likes to be perceived as taking a tough stance on crime.
Tough it may be, but it’s clearly not effective” (see figures below).
ENDS
The March quarter 2009 national average daily imprisonment rate was 167 prisoners per
100,000 adult population. Western Australia reported a rate of 241 per 100,000 adults. And
that figure is rising, not falling, despite the present government’s stance.
Western Australia First Thursday July 2009 First Thursday July 2008
Total in prison 4419 3780
Sentenced 3711 2998
Remand 689 761
Aboriginal & TSI 1787 (40.4%) 1551
Women 341 275
Total in Juvenile Detention 144 166
Sentenced 84 79
Un-sentenced 60 87
Aboriginal & TSI 112 (77.8%) 125 (75.3%)
Young Indigenous 104 males 8 females
Young non-Indigenous 29 males 3 females
Contact: Rex Widerstrom 0400 133 854
or: Dr Brian Steels 0419 907 016
Link to original story (including a downloadable copy of Dame Sian’s speech):
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10584828
Prison Reform Group of Western Australia
Attorney General Christian Porter should give consideration to a prisoner amnesty similar to
that proposed by New Zealand’s Chief Justice as a way to stem the rising prison population.
Dame Sian Elias, who’s had more than 40 years in the criminal justice field, recently told the
NZ Law Society that she accepts “retribution is a proper response for serious crime” but
that “all the evidence and informed opinions seem to point to the futility of believing that
the causes of crime can be addressed by penal policy and the criminal justice process…
Penal policy is largely irrelevant to reduction of crime and making our communities safest”.
Citing a cost of $100,000 a year for keeping an offender in prison versus $10.04 for
maintaining someone on a community based sentence (NZ figures) Dame Sian went on to
say that “reducing sentence levels would reduce the prison population, not only by cutting
the length of prison terms but also by bringing more sentences within the bounds set for
community-based sanctions, including home detention”.
Suggesting the use of “direct tools to manage the prison population”, Dame Sian noted that
“other countries use executive amnesties to send prisoners into the community early to
prevent overcrowding.
“If we are not prepared to relax the pressures to contain risk in the discretionary decisions
as to bail and parole, the only other immediate options may be to confront the length of
sentence (effecting an overall reduction in sentence)… and early release amnesty,’ Dame
Sian concluded.
This is a view endorsed strongly by WA’s Prison Reform Group, which today called on Mr
Porter to give consideration to an executive amnesty for all prisoners with less than six
months left to serve on their sentences and for all women currently held in the Boronia pre-
release facility.
“Such a move would release the immediate pressure on WA’s overcrowded prisons,” noted
Group spokesperson Rex Widerstrom. “It would free up places at Boronia for women
currently held at Bandyup, and at the various low-security prisons and prison farms for male
prisoners confined in high security at Casuarina, Hakea and similar facilities.
“While it is the government’s duty to do what it can to prevent crime, as Dame Sian notes
the length of sentences actually has little or no effect on community safety.
“So against Mr Porter’s desire to be seen to take a vote-winning stance as ‘tough on law ‘n’
order’ must be balanced the huge social costs of being unable to build hospitals and schools
whilst the money is spent on more prisons.
“Many governments have provided amnesty at the lower end of the security scale without
incurring some sort of ‘rising tide of crime’ on their streets,” Mr Widerstrom noted. “We’re
not talking about releasing violent criminals who’ve done little or no rehabilitative work in
prison. We’re focusing the call for an amnesty on low security prisoners with exemplary
behaviour records whilst in prison, with six months or less to serve.
“The Attorney General clearly likes to be perceived as taking a tough stance on crime.
Tough it may be, but it’s clearly not effective” (see figures below).
ENDS
The March quarter 2009 national average daily imprisonment rate was 167 prisoners per
100,000 adult population. Western Australia reported a rate of 241 per 100,000 adults. And
that figure is rising, not falling, despite the present government’s stance.
Western Australia First Thursday July 2009 First Thursday July 2008
Total in prison 4419 3780
Sentenced 3711 2998
Remand 689 761
Aboriginal & TSI 1787 (40.4%) 1551
Women 341 275
Total in Juvenile Detention 144 166
Sentenced 84 79
Un-sentenced 60 87
Aboriginal & TSI 112 (77.8%) 125 (75.3%)
Young Indigenous 104 males 8 females
Young non-Indigenous 29 males 3 females
Contact: Rex Widerstrom 0400 133 854
or: Dr Brian Steels 0419 907 016
Link to original story (including a downloadable copy of Dame Sian’s speech):
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/
6/2/09
Black ban called on private prison companies
Media Release
“Justice Action has notified the five multinational private prison companies tendering for Parklea Prison that it is calling for a black ban on all products manufactured in the prison if they are to be given control. They can forget about getting profit from slave labour” said JA spokesperson Brett Collins.
“The Australian offices of GEO, SERCO, GS4, SODEXO, and Management and Training Corporation have been faxed and emailed a letter warning them that regardless of the Report of the Legislative Council Inquiry due this Friday, they will get total opposition from the community” said JA Coordinator Michael Poynder.
“Of the 453 submissions before the Inquiry, only eleven, including the multinationals and the failed Commissioner support privatisation. All the major organizations, and those within the prisons - the officers, teachers, nurses and prisoners agree that imprisoning citizens is a core government responsibility inappropriate for a profit centre. We want less crime and less imprisonment. The Rees Government has lost its direction and authority” said Mr Collins.
“The companies’ lack of morality is clear. Not only is it a breach of ILO Convention 29 against slavery, recent reports show that the judiciary is undermined taking bribes to fill cells. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/13judge.html?_r=2&ref=us. The leading company GEO ex Wackenhut, has just been fined $42.5 million for allowing and covering up an horrific and gruesome death of a man due for release” said Mr Poynder.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/Prison_company_to_pay_425_million_in_beating_death.html
“These companies only understand the effect on their bottom lines as the students’ campaign in the US with Sodexho showed. They will limp back out of here with their tails between their legs. They were stopped at Cessnock and haven’t yet understood no” declared Mr Collins.http://www.oberlin.edu/stupub/ocreview/archives/2000.04.21/news/sodhexo.html http://www.geocities.com/bsplat/
comments: Brett Collins 0438 705003
Michael Poynder 0401 371077
JUSTICE ACTION
Trades Hall, Suite 204, 4 Goulburn St, Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
PO Box 386, Broadway NSW 2007 Australia
T 612 9283 0123 | F 612 9283 0112
E ja@justiceaction.org.au
http://www.justiceaction.org.au
“Justice Action has notified the five multinational private prison companies tendering for Parklea Prison that it is calling for a black ban on all products manufactured in the prison if they are to be given control. They can forget about getting profit from slave labour” said JA spokesperson Brett Collins.
“The Australian offices of GEO, SERCO, GS4, SODEXO, and Management and Training Corporation have been faxed and emailed a letter warning them that regardless of the Report of the Legislative Council Inquiry due this Friday, they will get total opposition from the community” said JA Coordinator Michael Poynder.
“Of the 453 submissions before the Inquiry, only eleven, including the multinationals and the failed Commissioner support privatisation. All the major organizations, and those within the prisons - the officers, teachers, nurses and prisoners agree that imprisoning citizens is a core government responsibility inappropriate for a profit centre. We want less crime and less imprisonment. The Rees Government has lost its direction and authority” said Mr Collins.
“The companies’ lack of morality is clear. Not only is it a breach of ILO Convention 29 against slavery, recent reports show that the judiciary is undermined taking bribes to fill cells. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/us/13judge.html?_r=2&ref=us. The leading company GEO ex Wackenhut, has just been fined $42.5 million for allowing and covering up an horrific and gruesome death of a man due for release” said Mr Poynder.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/Prison_company_to_pay_425_million_in_beating_death.html
“These companies only understand the effect on their bottom lines as the students’ campaign in the US with Sodexho showed. They will limp back out of here with their tails between their legs. They were stopped at Cessnock and haven’t yet understood no” declared Mr Collins.http://www.oberlin.edu/stupub/ocreview/archives/2000.04.21/news/sodhexo.html http://www.geocities.com/bsplat/
comments: Brett Collins 0438 705003
Michael Poynder 0401 371077
JUSTICE ACTION
Trades Hall, Suite 204, 4 Goulburn St, Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
PO Box 386, Broadway NSW 2007 Australia
T 612 9283 0123 | F 612 9283 0112
E ja@justiceaction.org.au
http://www.justiceaction.org.au
5/24/09
Concluding observations of the Committee against Torture NEW ZEALAND
Protection of minorities from torture and ill-treatment
5. While taking note of the Maori Strategic Plan developed by the Department of Corrections, as well as the various initiatives undertaken by the Ministry of Justice to reduce Maori offending, the Committee is alarmed at the disproportionately high number of Maoris and Pacific Islands people incarcerated, in particular women who, according to information available to the Committee represent 60% of the female prison population. The Committee is further concerned at the over-representation of Maoris at all levels of the criminal justice process, as well as at the insufficient safeguards in place to protect the rights of minorities from discrimination and marginalization, which put them at a higher risk of torture and ill-treatment. (art.2)
The Committee recalls that the protection of certain minorities or marginalized individuals or populations especially at risk of torture is a part of the obligation of the State party to prevent torture and ill-treatment. In this regard, the State party should take further measures including legal, administrative and judicial measures, to reduce the over-representation of Maoris and Pacific Islands people in prison, in particular women. The State party should also provide adequate training to the judiciary and law enforcement personnel that takes into account the obligation to protect minorities, and integrates a gender perspective. Also, the State party should undertake an in-depth research on the root causes of this phenomenon in order to put in place adequate safeguards to ensure full protection of minorities from discrimination and marginalization, which put them at a higher risk of torture and ill-treatment.
Use of taser weapons
16. While taking note of the assurances by the State party whereby tasers are only to be used by trained and certified staff and only when the officer has an honest belief that the subject is capable of carrying out the threat posed and that the use of the taser is warranted, the Committee is deeply concerned about the introduction of these weapons in the New Zealand police. The Committee is concerned that the use of these weapons causes severe pain constituting a form of torture, and that in some cases it may even cause death. In addition, the Committee is concerned at reports whereby during the trial period tasers were predominantly used on Maoris and youths. (arts. 2 and 16)
The State party should consider relinquishing the use of electric taser weapons, the impact of which on the physical and mental state of targeted persons would appear to violate articles 2 and 16 of the Convention.
2/19/09
Critical Resistance Beyond the Prison Industrial Complex, Part 1 Visions of Freedom
Visions of Freedom by Neal Morrison and Luana Plunkett and the Critical Resistance Production Collective.This program is an emotional and inspiring look at a growing movement of activists, artists and intellectuals who are mobilizing against the against the prison industrial complex. This tape highlights scenes from the historical Critical Resistance Conference held in Berkeley, California in September, 1998. With Angela Davis, Fred Ho, and others. Filled with music, art, poetry and words from today's leading critical minds, this tape reveals the passion and conviction of those who wish to end the lockdown. This movie is part of the collection: Deep Dish TV
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MELISSA FYFE
February 7, 2010...
THE state government is poised to award a multimillion-dollar prison contract to a private company whose human rights record has been called into question.
The Sunday Age can reveal that private prison contractor G4S Australia & New Zealand is the preferred tenderer to take over the Melbourne Custody Centre, a city-based facility that each year processes 11,000 people through cells under the Magistrates Court.
The private security firm was last year named in a damning West Australian Coroner's report, which found it had contributed to the ''wholly unnecessary and avoidable death'' of a 46-year-old Aboriginal man in its custody in January 2008.
The company's record in Victoria is also marked by a coroner's finding last year that it contributed to the 2005 death of Ian Westcott, who died of an asthma attack in the G4S-run Port Phillip prison. A note found near his body read: ''Asthma attack. Buzzed for help. No response.''
In 2000, a coroner found the company had failed to provide a safe environment at Port Phillip when four men hanged themselves in 1997.
A 2006 report by the Victorian Ombudsman and the Office of Police Integrity found inadequacies in the way prisoners were transported, with insufficient attention paid to their conditions, including ''basic amenities for long trips''.
Charandev Singh, a spokesman for the Centre for the Human Rights of Imprisoned People, said the decision to give G4S preferred tenderer status was shocking.
''The company's lethal record, combined with the circumstances of the horrific death of [the Aboriginal elder], appears to have been totally negated by the Brumby government and Victoria Police in their intention to award a further lucrative contract to this company.''
The Melbourne Custody Centre tender is a sensitive issue for the state government, which was last year criticised by prisoner advocates for renewing G4S's prisoner transport contract despite the WA Coroner's finding.
The two companies shortlisted for the Melbourne Custody Centre - G4S and GEO Group Australia - both have blemished records in the eyes of human rights advocates.
GEO Group Australia is the existing contractor and has been criticised by the Ombudsman several times for using excessive force on prisoners - most recently in August 2008.
GEO, which has run the 30-cell facility for almost 11 years, was recently dropped from the shortlist when the government named G4S as preferred tenderer.
Both firms are subsidiaries of multinational outfits specialising in security systems and correctional and detention facilities.
The contract for management of the custody centre - which serves the court system but also operates as a holding facility for drug and alcohol-affected people - is yet to be signed with G4S, but is believed to be with Corrections Minister Bob Cameron.
A G4s spokesman said he could not comment while the tender was still going. A spokesman for Mr Cameron said he was also unable to comment.
Source: http://www.theage.com.au/n