The Adelaide Remand Centre will remain a privately-run prison after the South Australian government brushed aside criticisms to renew the contract with Serco for five years.
Serco was contracted to run the Adelaide Remand Centre in 2019 by the previous Coalition government, on a contract running for seven years and worth $115 million.
Last week a report by progressive think tank the Mckell Institute found that the privatisation of Adelaide Remand Centre had “failed to deliver its intended outcomes” and that it should return to government control.
With this contract coming to an end later this year, there were hopes the Labor government would bring the centre back into public hands.
But just days after the report's release, the state government announced it had handed Serco a five-year extension on the contract, blaming the previous administration.
“Due to the terms negotiated by the former Liberal Marshall government, renewing the contract was the only option available at this time without subjecting taxpayers to additional financial burden,” a government statement said.
Minister for Correctional Services Michael Brown said it was “difficult to unwind without incurring significant cost to taxpayers”.
But the union representing prison workers and the state Greens rejected this reasoning, saying there was nothing stopping the government ending the contract with Serco.
Public Service Association (PSA) SA general secretary Charlotte Watson said the union was “calling bullshit” on the government’s statement.
“We’ve got the contract and there is no monetary penalty for finishing as agreed after seven years,” Watson said in a statement.
“The Minister claims there are ‘serious challenges’ in ending the contract and that taxpayers would have stumped up a lot of money to Serco – we think that’s bullshit.”
The decision to keep Adelaide Remand Centre private is a “betrayal”, she said.
“We’d expect a decision like this from a Liberal government, but from a Labor government with a commanding majority, it’s nothing short of a betrayal of their core values,” Watson said.
South Australian Greens Leader Robert Simms said the reasoning given for the decision was “absurd”.
“There’s no question that the Liberals’ privatisation has been a disaster for South Australia,” Simms said.
“But after four years in government, it’s not good enough for Labor to keep simply blaming the previous administration. They need to clean up the mess and take back control of this facility.”
The state government’s contract with Serco says that it be “may extend[ed]” by giving writing in notice at least 90 days before the end of the initial term. It does not mention any financial penalties for not extending the contract.
The McKell Institute report last week found the privatisation of the prison had led to “systemic problems” that impacted safety, and is a “case study in the risks associated with outsourcing the complex, high-risk public service”.
When the prison was first privatised, the then-government claimed it could save up to $8 million annually. But according to the state’s Auditor-General, the cost of incarcerating someone at the Adelaide Remand Centre is higher than many other prisons in the state.
“The privatisation of Adelaide Remand Centre has failed to deliver on its core objectives of improved efficiency, safety and value for money,” the report said.
“Instead, it has resulted in chronic understaffing, increased violence, operational failures, governance weaknesses and declining workforce conditions.”
While the South Australian government has moved to continue prison privatisation, many other states have turned away from the policy.
The Victorian government last year shut down the privately-run Port Phillip prison, the NSW government has brought the Junee and Parklea prisons back into public hands and Queensland now does not have any private prisons while Western Australia is down to one.
By the end of this year there will still be six privately-run prisons in the country: Fulham and Ravenhall in Victoria, Clarence in New South Wales, Mount Gambier and Adelaide Remand Centre in South Australia and Acacia in Western Australia.
The state government’s contract with Serco says that it be “may extend[ed]” by giving writing in notice at least 90 days before the end of the initial term. It does not mention any financial penalties for not extending the contract.
The McKell Institute report last week found the privatisation of the prison had led to “systemic problems” that impacted safety, and is a “case study in the risks associated with outsourcing the complex, high-risk public service”.
When the prison was first privatised, the then-government claimed it could save up to $8 million annually. But according to the state’s Auditor-General, the cost of incarcerating someone at the Adelaide Remand Centre is higher than many other prisons in the state.
“The privatisation of Adelaide Remand Centre has failed to deliver on its core objectives of improved efficiency, safety and value for money,” the report said.
“Instead, it has resulted in chronic understaffing, increased violence, operational failures, governance weaknesses and declining workforce conditions.”
While the South Australian government has moved to continue prison privatisation, many other states have turned away from the policy.
The Victorian government last year shut down the privately-run Port Phillip prison, the NSW government has brought the Junee and Parklea prisons back into public hands and Queensland now does not have any private prisons while Western Australia is down to one.
By the end of this year there will still be six privately-run prisons in the country: Fulham and Ravenhall in Victoria, Clarence in New South Wales, Mount Gambier and Adelaide Remand Centre in South Australia and Acacia in Western Australia.
