7:47 am in Uncategorized by WhyIHateCCA
Very quickly, I just wanted to call attention to a riot that took place in a GEO-Group operated jail in Australia, which has experienced
many of the same
troubles in privatizing prisons that we have. Some of the younger prisoners in the jail have taken officials hostage,
revolting over conditions at the facility. 30 prisoners are involved in the crisis, which apparently
could have been prevented had GEO not cut back on costs for maintenance
and staff. In fact, conditions are so dismal at this jail that the prisoners rioted, in part, in order to
try to get new toothbrushes. For Christ’s sake, GEO, you can’t give them toothbrushes? That would dig too deep into your bottom line? Maybe some of your CEO’s
millions of dollars in annual compensation could have gone to providing these poor kids with a shred of decent treatment. Oh no, I guess all that money is needed for you to live in absurd luxury and purchase
multi-million dollar homes.
Tags: australia, executive compensation, GEO Group, prison-industrial complex, private prisons, privatization, riots
9:43 am in Uncategorized by WhyIHateCCA
The
riots and hunger strikes I reported on last week were only part of the ongoing struggle asylum seekers in Australia have been engaged in for months, if not years, challenging their confinement in private, for-profit detention centers.
The hunger strike at Northern Immigration Detention Center continues, as prisoners have now climbed onto the roof of the facility to stage their protest. More prisoners have joined the strike since it began, with 20 prisoners now staked out on the roof, starving themselves.
Meanwhile, juveniles from Kuwait, Iraq, and Iran being housed at the Broadmeadows detention center have acted out in desperation, not having access to case managers for months on end. They have sewn their lips together in protest, and posted the pictures on facebook to try to draw attention to their struggle.
Tags: abuse, australia, hunger strike, immigrants, immigration, immigration detention, private prisons, privatization, riots
8:36 am in Uncategorized by WhyIHateCCA
Australia has experienced all sorts of problems with its private prisons in the past, similar to the US’s experience. But this week has brought a new slew of issues to the forefront. Private prisons in Australia are used primarily to house immigration detainees.
At the Christmas Island Immigration Detention Center, prisoners have been rioting and burning the facility for at least 3 days. Frustrated with the government dragging its feet on whether or not to grant asylum, the immigrants have been fighting with the prison and police for days. Over at the North Point Correctional Centre, prisoners have begun burning various parts of the facility. As one of the Christmas Island asylum seekers said, “They have been here a long time and got rejected without reason…They can’t stay in detention like animals waiting, waiting with no justice.” The situation is so bad that guards with just 2 weeks of training have been called in, and many asylum seekers are being placed in solitary confinement, which opens up a whole new can of worms that for the sake of brevity I’ll only mention that once.
Inspired by their brethren at Christmas Island, mainland asylum seekers have begun to protest the conditions of their confinement as well, launching a hunger strike at the Cape York AFB. The facility is operating at almost 200 percent capacity, as immigrants in Australia, like in the US, remain incarcerated in a sort of legal limbo. The plight of these prisoners has caught the attention of the Human Rights Alliance, who is calling on the UN to step in and require UN monitors to be placed at some of the private prisons to monitor conditions. Because “Human courtesies, peoples’ rights and their very dignity were disregarded. Asylum Seekers distressed were screaming not only for themselves however out of care for each other. Some distressed guards were appalled at the sheer inhumanity by the actions of the AFP (Australian Police Force) and other guards.”
Tags: abuse, australia, hunger strike, immigrants, immigration detention, private prisons, privatization, riots, UN, violence
