Difference between revisions of "UK Detention Services"

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[[UK Detention Services]] Ltd (UKDS) was set up in 1987 as a joint venture between the [[Corrections Corporation of America]] (CCA), and the construction firms Sir Robert McAlpine and Sons Ltd and John Mowlem & Co. Both [[Sir Robert McAlpine]] and [[Mowlem]] were regular corporate donors to the Conservative party. UKDS has run prisons and immigration detention centres in Britain.<ref>Stephen Nathan, Prison Privatization in the United Kingdom, Capitalist Punishment, Zed Books, 2003, p164</ref>  
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[[UK Detention Services]] Ltd (UKDS) was set up in 1987 as a joint venture between the [[Corrections Corporation of America]] (CCA), and the construction firms Sir Robert McAlpine and Sons Ltd and John Mowlem & Co. Both Sir [[Robert McAlpine]] and [[Mowlem]] were regular corporate donors to the [[Conservative Party]]. UKDS has run prisons and immigration detention centres in Britain.<ref>Stephen Nathan, ''Prison Privatization in the United Kingdom, Capitalist Punishment'', Zed Books, 2003, p164</ref>  
 
 
  
 
==Lobbying history==
 
==Lobbying history==
  
In 1986, the parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee examined prisons in England and Wales, and made a trip to the US. The Committee visited two jails there run by CCA. This experience spurred the Committee to recommend that “the Home Office should, as an experiment, enable private sector companies to tender for the construction and management of custodial institutions.”<ref>Stephen Nathan, Prison Privatization in the United Kingdom, Capitalist Punishment, Zed Books, 2003, p163</ref>  
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In 1986, the parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee examined prisons in England and Wales, and made a trip to the US. The Committee visited two jails there run by CCA. This experience spurred the Committee to recommend that “the Home Office should, as an experiment, enable private sector companies to tender for the construction and management of custodial institutions.”<ref>Stephen Nathan, ''Prison Privatization in the United Kingdom, Capitalist Punishment'', Zed Books, 2003, p163</ref>  
 
 
  
UKDS lobbied the British government to privatise prisons, signing a memorandum in January 1988 agreeing to “promote the design, financing, construction and management by private contractors of prisons and remand facilities in the United Kingdom”.<ref>Stephen Nathan, Prison Privatization in the United Kingdom, Capitalist Punishment, Zed Books, 2003, p164</ref>  
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UKDS lobbied the British government to privatise prisons, signing a memorandum in January 1988 agreeing to “promote the design, financing, construction and management by private contractors of prisons and remand facilities in the United Kingdom”.<ref>Stephen Nathan, ''Prison Privatization in the United Kingdom, Capitalist Punishment'', Zed Books, 2003, p164</ref>  
  
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==Sodexho takeover and re-branding==
  
==Sodexho takeover==
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[[Image:CCA-UKDS-Sodexho-Kalyx-diagram-powerbase.png|1000px|center|thumb|'''UK Detention Services, mergers and acquisitions, by Corporate Watch''']]
  
In 1996, CCA took total ownership of UKDS, and immediately sold a 50% share to French multi-national [[Sodexho]]. In September 2000, Sodexho bought CCA's share of UKDS.<ref>Stephen Nathan, Prison Privatization in the United Kingdom, Capitalist Punishment, Zed Books, 2003, p167</ref>  
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In 1996, CCA took total ownership of UKDS, and immediately sold a 50% share to French multi-national [[Sodexho]]. In September 2000, Sodexho bought CCA's share of UKDS.<ref>Stephen Nathan, Prison Privatization in the United Kingdom, Capitalist Punishment, Zed Books, 2003, p167</ref> Sodexho renamed UKDS as [[Kalyx]] in 2006. The company said: “Kalyx is derived from the botanical term calyx, which is the whorl of leaves, or sepals, forming the protective covering of a flower bud. It is a symbolic representation of protection and care and it can also be associated with growth of the individual and strength – all attributes for which we are known and respected.” <ref>Prison Privatisation in Scotland, Scottish Consortium on Crime and Criminal Justice, December 2006, p4</ref>
  
 
==Harmondsworth immigration detention centre==
 
==Harmondsworth immigration detention centre==

Latest revision as of 14:25, 25 November 2015

UK Detention Services Ltd (UKDS) was set up in 1987 as a joint venture between the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), and the construction firms Sir Robert McAlpine and Sons Ltd and John Mowlem & Co. Both Sir Robert McAlpine and Mowlem were regular corporate donors to the Conservative Party. UKDS has run prisons and immigration detention centres in Britain.[1]

Lobbying history

In 1986, the parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee examined prisons in England and Wales, and made a trip to the US. The Committee visited two jails there run by CCA. This experience spurred the Committee to recommend that “the Home Office should, as an experiment, enable private sector companies to tender for the construction and management of custodial institutions.”[2]

UKDS lobbied the British government to privatise prisons, signing a memorandum in January 1988 agreeing to “promote the design, financing, construction and management by private contractors of prisons and remand facilities in the United Kingdom”.[3]

Sodexho takeover and re-branding

UK Detention Services, mergers and acquisitions, by Corporate Watch

In 1996, CCA took total ownership of UKDS, and immediately sold a 50% share to French multi-national Sodexho. In September 2000, Sodexho bought CCA's share of UKDS.[4] Sodexho renamed UKDS as Kalyx in 2006. The company said: “Kalyx is derived from the botanical term calyx, which is the whorl of leaves, or sepals, forming the protective covering of a flower bud. It is a symbolic representation of protection and care and it can also be associated with growth of the individual and strength – all attributes for which we are known and respected.” [5]

Harmondsworth immigration detention centre

UKDS was awarded an eight year contract to run Harmondsworth IRC in 2000, and commenced operating the detention centre in September 2001.[6]

Notes

  1. Stephen Nathan, Prison Privatization in the United Kingdom, Capitalist Punishment, Zed Books, 2003, p164
  2. Stephen Nathan, Prison Privatization in the United Kingdom, Capitalist Punishment, Zed Books, 2003, p163
  3. Stephen Nathan, Prison Privatization in the United Kingdom, Capitalist Punishment, Zed Books, 2003, p164
  4. Stephen Nathan, Prison Privatization in the United Kingdom, Capitalist Punishment, Zed Books, 2003, p167
  5. Prison Privatisation in Scotland, Scottish Consortium on Crime and Criminal Justice, December 2006, p4
  6. 'Memorandum submitted by UK Detention Services', Parliamentary Select Committee on Home Affairs, January 2003