Serco recently won a West Australian government contract to manage a new, one-of-a-kind youth prison that will house 18 to 24-year-old male offenders from mid-2012.
According to the WA Government, the 80-bed Young Adults Facility is designed to assist young men to take responsibility of their offending behaviour in a safe and supportive environment
. Its population will be primarily Indigenous, and most inmates will be first or second time offenders. Young men make up the majority of WA’s prison population, with extremely high rates of recidivism. The facility was created by the Barnett Government in an attempt to reduce re-offending by early intervention.
There is significant concern from community groups, unions, and the Labor Opposition about the way the contract was acquired, and how the centre will be run given Serco’s notorious track record at Australia’s immigration detention centres — via redwolf.newsvine.com
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