Serco - The biggest uk company you have never heard of

[Magda Hassan]

Revealing the reality of privatised Serco "care" in Australia

Back in late 2011, jour*nal*ist Paul Far*rell and yours truly re*leased in New Matilda, via Free*dom of In*for*ma*tion, the se*cret con*tract be*tween the Aus*tralian gov*ern*ment and Serco with the de*tails of im*pris*on*ing asy*lum seek*ers in Aus*tralia. It showed the lack of train*ing re*quired by Serco staff when work*ing around vul*ner*a*ble refugees. Both par*ties im*posed a regime that re*minded one of a max*i*mum se*cu*rity prison. When I vis*ited Christ*mas Is*land and Curtin de*ten*tion cen*tres last year I saw ev*i*dence of this men*tal*ity in prac*tice.Now Crikey has re*leased an*other doc*u*ment that also paints Serco in a ter*ri*ble light:

A prison-style train*ing man*ual pro*duced by the com*pany con*tracted to run Aus*tralia's de*ten*tion cen*tres con*tains ex*plicit in*struc*tions on how to "hit" and "strike" asy*lum seek*ers.The 400-page, il*lus*trated 2010 and 2009 Serco in*duc*tion train*ing doc*u*ments, ob*tained by Crikey, shows how prison staff are trained to kick, punch and jab their fin*gers into de*tainee limbs and "pres*sure points" to ren*der them mo*tion*less.Serco, which has a $1 bil*lion con*tract with the Gillard gov*ern*ment to run nine asy*lum out*posts, has re*peat*edly fought the re*lease of sim*i*lar doc*u*ments, claim*ing other ver*sions are not in the "pub*lic in*ter*est" and could cause com*mo*tion in*side lock*ups. (Read the full man*ual here).The "con*trol and re*straint" tech*niques in*cluded in the 2009 train*ing course man*ual rec*om*mends the use of "pain" to de*fend, sub*due and con*trol asy*lum seek*ers through straight punches, palm heel strikes, side angle kicks, front thrust kicks and knee strikes."Sub*due the sub*ject using rea*son*able force so that he/she is no longer in the as*sailant cat*e*gory," it ex*plains."If jus*ti*fied, nec*es*sary force is to be used to bring the sub*ject to co*op*er*a*tive sub*jec*tive sta*tus where*upon they re*spond favourably to ver*bal*i*sa*tion."Under a sec*tion headed "prin*ci*ples in con*trol*ling Re*sis*tive Be*hav*iour", guards are told to cause pain, stun, dis*tract, un*bal*ance and use "strik*ing tech*nique" to cause "motor dys*func*tion".Guards are told to tar*get spe*cific "pres*sure points" in the man*ner of riot squad po*lice to squeeze nerves as " a valu*able sub*ject con*trol op*tion"."They en*hance your abil*ity, to com*pel com*pli*ance from unco-op*er*a*tive sub*jects," it ex*plains. The "ex*pected ef*fect" is "medium to high level pain".In one in*stance, guards, re*ferred to by the gov*ern*ment and Serco as "Client Ser*vices Of*fi*cers", are taught to at*tack de*tainees' jugu*lars to cause them to fall over.In an*other, they are told to em*ploy a "down*ward kick" to the "lower shin" to cause "high level of pain and men*tal stun*ning" last*ing up to seven sec*onds.Ba*tons are a use*ful weapon for guards to cause "medium to high ten*sity [sic] pain" and "fore*arm mus*cle cramp*ing". "Strikes should be de*liv*ered by a ham*mer fist," it says.Un*der*pin*ning the kick*ing and punch*ing and baton in*struc*tions is "two forms of strikes". The "cut*ting strike" using a baton, "im*pacts" the de*tainee, "con*tin*u*ing through in one fluid mo*tion … this could be equated to fol*low*ing through when swing*ing a bat".The Fluid Shock Wave prin*ci*ple is em*ployed to "…gen*er*ate op*ti*mum fluid shock with a hand, baton or knee".

Of course the Fed*eral Labor gov*ern*ment is em*bar*rassed that its dirty lit*tle se*cret is out and sim*ply claims things have changed:

A 2010 Serco train*ing man*ual de*tail*ing the force to be used by staff on hos*tile de*tainees is no longer rel*e*vant be*cause it has been su*per*seded by other man*u*als, Min*is*ter for Im*mi*gra*tion and Cit*i*zen*ship Chris Bowen says.The man*ual which was yes*ter*day leaked on*line by Crikey had chap*ters that ex*plic*itly out*lined how staff could use pain as a means of re*strain*ing and con*trol*ling ag*gres*sive de*tainees, in*clud*ing the in*flic*tion of straight punches, palm heel strikes, side angle kicks, front thrust kicks and knee strikes.Mr Bowen said the man*ual was no longer in use "and does not re*flect very clear guide*lines agreed to by Serco and the De*part*ment of Im*mi*gra*tion on en*gage*ment with peo*ple in de*ten*tion fa*cil*i*ties"."I am ad*vised that the 2010 man*ual con*tained er*rors and has been su*per*seded by other man*u*als, most re*cently the 2012 train*ing guide," he said."Any use of force or re*straint in any de*ten*tion en*vi*ron*ment is used strictly as a last re*sort."The the*ory be*hind the strikes was to "cre*ate tem*po*rary motor dys*func*tion" and "tem*po*rary mus*cle im*pair*ment" through the "fluid shock wave" that gets sent around de*tainees' bod*ies, but only leaves bruis*ing, the man*ual ex*plained.It also sug*gested that to "gen*er*ate op*ti*mal fluid shock with a hand or baton" it was best to put a per*son's whole body weight be*hind the strike.Mr Bowen said Serco staff in im*mi*gra*tion de*ten*tion fa*cil*i*ties did not carry weapons and the man*ual con*tained er*rors.But a spokesman for Serco re*vealed that ba*tons were pre*sent at the de*ten*tion fa*cil*i*ties and could be used de*fen*sively by "a very lim*ited num*ber of spe*cially trained staff, along with other per*sonal pro*tec*tive equip*ment".

Today Crikey fol*lows up the story and shows that se*crecy is how this gov*ern*ment op*er*ates and Serco is happy to as*sist:

Im*mi*gra*tion Min*is*ter Chris Bowen re*sponded to Crikey's pub*li*ca*tion of the 2009 and 2010 Serco train*ing man*ual call*ing the man*ual "out-dated" and "no-longer in use". Yet Bowen, the Im*mi*gra*tion De*part*ment and Serco have re*fused to de*tail how the British-owned multi*na*tional has al*tered or up*dated it.A spokesper*son for Bowen told Crikey this morn*ing the Min*is*ter would not be "dis*cussing fur*ther the con*tents of the cur*rent man*ual for mat*ters of op*er*a*tional se*cu*rity".When asked how many Serco guards trained in com*bat tech*niques to hit, strike and jab asy*lum seek*ers re*main em*ployed in the de*ten*tion sys*tem, a Serco spokesper*son re*sponded that "staff re*ceive re*fresher train*ing at least an*nu*ally, based on the most re*cent train*ing ma*te*ri*als".Serco didn't ex*plain what has been al*tered or up*dated in its in*duc*tion doc*u*ments, de*spite De*part*ment spokesper*son Sandi Logan as*sert*ing there has been "at least four it*er*a*tions" of the Serco train*ing man*ual since 2009-10, in*clud*ing a 2012 ver*sion.

http://antonyloewenstein.com/2012/03/15/...australia/