Sodexo Justice Services

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sodexo Justice services
IndustryPrison Service
Founded1993
FounderPierre Bellon
ParentSodexo

Sodexo Justice Services (formerly United Kingdom Detention Services and Kalyx), a subsidiary of Sodexo, is a private prison operator in the United Kingdom and in several other countries.[1] The company changed its name to Sodexo Justice Services in 2011.[2]

As of 2020, the company fully operated 5 prisons in the United Kingdom. It served 84 prisons in other countries with non-management services, including maintenance, food services, laundry, prisoner education and work training, gardening, and transportation. Of these prisons, 34 were in France, 33 were in the Netherlands, and 6 or fewer were in each of Australia, Belgium, Chile, Sweden, Slovenia, Italy, and Germany.[1]

In the U.K. Sodexo Justice Services provides services to the Ministry of Justice: particularly design, construction, management and financing of contracts for PFI prisons. In December 2008, it opened a new prison in West Lothian on behalf of the Scottish Prison Service.[3]

Deaths and abuse allegations[]

In August 2013, Sodexo Justice Services was criticised in an official report for subjecting a female prisoner to "cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment", which "appears to amount to torture" at HMP Bronzefield in Ashford, Surrey, UK. The woman was kept segregated from other prisoners in an "unkempt and squalid" prison cell for more than five years.[4]

In October 2016, a video of naked Sodexo prisoners pretending to be dogs was found, prompting an investigation into the violence and humiliation by Sodexo.[5]

Sodexo managed facility HMP Northumberland was featured in BBC Panorama 13.2.17, highlighting serious mismanagement issues related to widespread illegal substance abuse.[6]

Soon after, Sodexo managed facility HMP Forest Bank was alleged to be having a 'spice' epidemic in an article in the Manchester Evening News: "The devastated sister of a prisoner found dead in his cell says inmates are being regularly carried out of their cells high on Spice."[7]

In December 2018, Sodexo was accused of neglect and systemic failures resulting in the death of female prisoner Natasha Chin.[8] Members of INQUEST have pointed to previous neglect-related deaths at the same prison and have suggested that no decisive actions have been taken to act in prevention of additional future deaths.[9]

In February 2019, Sodexo was criticized by the United Kingdom Ministry of Justice for failing to prevent repeated and systemic breaches of the human rights of inmates at the Sodexo-operated HMP Peterborough. This stemmed from a series of illegal strip-searches of prisoners at the jail in 2017, including one inmate who was menstruating and another who was transitioning from female to male. Justice Julian Knowles described the illegal procedures as "humiliating and embarrassing."[10]

In October 2019, a woman gave birth alone in her cell at HMP Bronzefield. The baby died at the prison. Surrey police said in a statement: “The death is currently being treated as unexplained and an investigation is continuing to establish the full circumstances of what happened.” The case raised serious questions about how the woman came to be unsupervised and without medical support during her labour and birth, and about the conditions at the privately run prison.[11] Four women have died at Bronzefield since July 2016.[12]

Prisons managed[]

Name Location Opened Capacity Security class
HMP Bronzefield Surrey 2004 527 Adult Female/Juvenile
HMP Forest Bank City of Salford 2000 1460 Adult Male/Category B
HMP Peterborough Peterborough 2005 840 (480 male, 360 female) Category B/Adults & Young Offenders
HMP Addiewell West Lothian, Scotland 2008 700 to 800 depending on contract Adult Male Maximum Security
HMP Northumberland Northumberland, England 2011 (managed by Sodexo since 2013) 1348 Adult Male/Category C

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Justice Business". Sodexo USA. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
  2. ^ meta.author. "Sodexo renames prison business Sodexo Justice Services". catererandhotelkeeper.co.uk. {{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  3. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-09-09. Retrieved 2013-11-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ Saul, Heather (21 August 2013). "'Cruel, inhumane and degrading': Female prisoner kept segregated in 'squalid' cell for five years". The Independent (UK). Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  5. ^ "Special report: Is this a prison in crisis?". 27 August 2018.
  6. ^ "Undercover Panorama report reveals prison chaos". BBC News. 13 February 2017.
  7. ^ "Spice epidemic so bad in prison 'inmates are being carried out on stretchers'". 15 February 2017.
  8. ^ "Woman died from neglect in private UK prison, inquest rules". 14 December 2018.
  9. ^ Coles, Deborah. "Failing healthcare in jails is killing female prisoners". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  10. ^ "HMP Peterborough inmates were illegally strip-searched". BBC News. 22 February 2019.
  11. ^ Prison and Probation Ombudsman report, September 2021
  12. ^ The Guardian, 4 October 2019 baby dies in uk prison after inmate gives birth alone in cell
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