Serco loses £132.5m New Zealand prison contract

The latest development in the Serco scandal’s got the opposition crying foul over prison privatization. “They should be kicked out immediately”, he says.

“The attention now must go on Serco’s management of Wiri Prison”.

Logie says: “Unfortunately though the Minister and the Corrections department have both said they had no concerns about the management of Wiri which is astonishing given the rape and other credible concerns of assaults and under staffing”.

Serco will hand over control of the prison in March 2017.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said Serco’s record was “appalling” and it should not be allowed to continue to run Wiri or any prison in the county for that matter.

The Government has been bleeding politically over the failures stalking its Serco experiment and could not afford to let it fester.

“They should return Serco back into the public system”.

Serco said it expected the contract would not be renewed, adding that the prison had “fundamentally changed” since it started the contract.

The private prison operator’s $300 million contract at Mt Eden is ending in 2017 under an early-out clause, four years shy of its 10-year term.

“The reality is that when it comes to dealing with people who are sentenced or remanded in prison they do not fit a commercial model”.

The door has also been left open to Serco restoring its reputation through its management of Wiri prison, though the glowing reports it has received there so far will be viewed with skepticism given what we now know about Mt Eden.

“So why was incoming Corrections Minister Judith Collins allowed to launch this silly, myopically right-wing idea which was bound to fail?”

Staff at the prison have been informed of the decision this morning.

Were the problems at Mt Eden known about but brushed under the carpet?

He did not expect to see Serco re-win the contract due to its past performance. I made the decision to Step Infollowing serious allegations involving the safety of prisoners and staff and the emergence of “fight club” videos and the use of contraband.