Criticism of G4S
describes itself as "the world's leading provider of security solutions" and provides security services for over 40 embassies around the world, works as stewards at football stadiums and runs over six British prisons, operates prisoner tagging schemes, assists within the Government Communications Headquarters in the United Kingdom, and provides administrative roles to the health and education sectors. The company operates as a subsidiary of an American security services provider Allied Universal since April 2021.
G4S's controversies became known to the wider public following their handling of security for the 2012 Summer Olympics, but controversy extends to the 1990s, before the company was founded in its present form by the merger of Group 4 with Securicor. However, the corporation insists that the level of substantiated complaints has been extremely low and they are of a minor nature.
Detention centres
The company received over 700 complaints from illegal immigrants held in G4S detention centres in the UK in 2010, including allegations of assault and racism. Three accounts of assault and two accounts of racial discrimination were upheld in relation to the company, although the majority of complaints against the company related to loss of property and lack of communication. Following release of an extremely critical report regarding a G4S-operated jail, the Labour party's shadow justice secretary said they would be inclined to take control of for-profit prisons if the industry competitors had not met deadlines imposed upon them. The response of Sadiq Khan, then Shadow Lord Chancellor and Shadow Justice Secretary, stressed the need for better contracting, to include liquidated damages provisions. The chief inspector of prisons, Nick Hardwick, recommended the crafting of a takeover contingency plan. "It's not delivering what the public should expect of the millions being paid to G4S to run it." Khan said, "I see no difference whether the underperformance is in the public, private or voluntary sector ... We shouldn't tolerate mediocrity in the running of our prisons." Khan continued: "We can't go on with scandal after scandal, where the public's money is being squandered and the quality of what's delivered isn't up to scratch. The government is too reliant on a cosy group of big companies. The public are rightly getting fed up to the back teeth of big companies making huge profits out of the taxpayer, which smacks to them of rewards for failure." Violence has increased at Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre and the private firm running it has no plans to improve stability.In September 2017, G4S suspended nine members of staff from an immigration removal centre near Gatwick Airport, following a BBC Panorama undercover investigation. The programme reported to have covert footage recorded at the centre showing officers "mocking, abusing and assaulting" people being held there.
2012 Olympics security preparations
G4S's conduct during the London 2012 Olympic Games was described as "totally chaotic" and "an utter farce" by former police officers, especially their recruitment campaign. Key issues cited were a lack of organisation, with many guards unaware of where they were supposed to be for the Olympic Games.G4S received a £284m contract to provide 13,700 guards for the Olympic Games, but amid concerns that there were staff shortages, the West Midlands Police Federation reported that its officers were being prepared to guard the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. Upon the deployment of 3,500 extra armed troops to guard Olympic venues, Home Secretary Theresa May denied that the organisation of the games amounted to a "shambles".
Israel and Palestine
G4S supplied security equipment, services and maintenance for use at Israeli prisons, checkpoints and settlements in the West Bank, including across the highly controversial Israeli West Bank barrier. In 2007, the Israeli subsidiary of G4S signed a contract with the Israeli Prison Authority to provide security systems for major Israeli prisons. In April 2012, G4S released a statement detailing its activities in Israel – the provision of maintenance for some electronic security systems at a prison, a police station and a small number of checkpoints in the West Bank. In June 2014, Desmond Tutu and others protested at G4S's involvement with Israeli prisons. They also penned an open letter to the security firm, calling for it to "end its complicity in Israel's abuse of child prisoners". A report prepared by Hugo Slim, a research fellow at University of Oxford, and commissioned by G4S stated that the company "had no causal or contributory role in human rights violations" and "there are clearly human rights failings in some parts of Israel's security system, but G4S's role is far removed from their immediate causes and impact."In 2015 G4S was targeted by the BDS movement in a campaign asking the United Nations to drop its contracts with the firm, and a number of trade unions have joined the boycott. In March 2016, the company revoked its contract with Israel, with G4S chief executive Ashley Almanza saying that the company expected to exit a number of businesses "in the next 12 to 24 months... including G4S Israel". This was claimed by the national committee of the Palestine-based BDS group as a result of an international campaign against Israel, with Mahmoud Nawajaa saying:
As the height of the international boycott of apartheid South Africa, BDS pressure is making some of the world's largest corporations realise that profiting from Israeli Apartheid and colonialism is bad for business. Investment fund managers are increasingly recognising that their fiduciary responsibility obliges them to divest from Israeli banks and companies that are implicated in Israel's serious human rights violations, such as G4S and HP, because of the high risk entailed. We are starting to notice a domino effect.
Wackenhut subsidiary
G4S subsidiary Wackenhut, in September 2005, faced allegations of security lapses at seven military bases where it was contracted to provide services. The company claimed the accusations were false and promoted by a union seeking to enroll its employees.In March 2006, whistle-blowers employed at Wackenhut released information to the press revealing that the company cheated on an anti-terrorism drill at a US nuclear site. It also performed poorly on another drill at a separate location. The allegations claimed that Wackenhut systematically violated weapons inventory and handling policies and that managers showed new hires spots at the facilities where they could take naps and cut corners during patrols.
In July 2007, US Senator Bob Casey urged Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to re-examine federal plans involving Wackenhut and its operations at US nuclear facilities, public transit systems and the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. The Senator said the company was responsible for short-changing its employees.
In winter 2008, The New York Times reported that the Exelon Corporation would replace Wackenhut as an in-house security provider at ten US nuclear power plants. This followed the discovery of guards sleeping while on the clock.
On 24 January 2012, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported that a Wackenhut security guard slept while on the job at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and had also used an unauthorised mobile telephone while inside the high-security facility. Photographs of the incidents were distributed to the publication, as well as the lab, Wackenhut and the US Department of Energy, which oversees the plant's operations. The facility houses approximately half a ton of uranium-233, enough for nearly 250 improvised nuclear detonations. On 28 July 2012 the US Department of Energy's Y-12 National Security Complex, protected by a US subsidiary of G4S, was breached by three protesters, identified as Megan Rice, 82, Michael Walli, 63, and Greg Boertje-Obed, 57, who got as far as the outer wall of the uranium building and allegedly daubed it with slogans and splashed it with human blood. The three form the anti-nuclear weapons activist group Transform Now Plowshares, a part of the Plowshares Movement. Operations at the site were suspended following the breach after performance tests were conducted on the Wackenhut Services Inc. Oak Ridge guard force. During the tests, a federal inspector discovered copies of questions and answers for the test inside a guard force vehicle, resulting in the administrative reassignment of the new security director.
In 2012, the Kansas City Star reported that three protestors were found in a secure area at the Y-12 National Security Complex.
In 2013, G4S announced its intention to divest its US Government services business, citing difficulties faced by non-US business in accessing appropriate data.
Unacceptable use of force by UK Border Agency
In October 2012 the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Nick Hardwick published his inspection report into the G4S managed Cedars Pre-Departure Accommodation UK Border Agency. Whilst the majority of the report praised G4S and those working at the centre, noting that "Cedars is an exceptional facility and has many practices which should be replicated in other areas of detention", G4S were criticised for using "non-approved techniques" during one particular incident in which a pregnant woman's wheelchair was tipped up whilst her feet were held. The incident used "non-approved techniques" causing significant risk to the baby and was a "simply not acceptable" use of force. In response, G4S said its staff were trying to prevent injury and that the report also praised the staff for an "exceptional level of care."In October 2010, three G4S-guards restrained and held down 46-year-old Angolan deportee Jimmy Mubenga on departing British Airways flight 77, at Heathrow Airport. Security guards kept him restrained in his seat as he began shouting and seeking to resist his deportation. Later, the guards were accused of forcing Mubenga's head down as he sat, handcuffed from behind, for 36 minutes. The restraint technique said to be used is known as 'carpet karaoke' and is known to create a risk of asphyxia.
Police and paramedics were called when Mubenga lost consciousness. The aircraft, which had been due to lift off, then returned to the terminal. Mubenga was pronounced dead later that evening at Hillingdon hospital. Passengers reported hearing cries of "I can't breathe", "don't do this" and "they are trying to kill me". Scotland Yard's homicide unit began an investigation after the death became categorised as "unexplained". Three private security guards, contracted to escort deportees for the Home Office, were released on bail, after having been interviewed about the incident.
In February 2011, The Guardian reported that G4S guards in the United Kingdom had been repeatedly warned about the use of potentially lethal force on detainees and asylum seekers. Confidential informants and several employees released the information to reporters after G4S's practices allegedly led to the death of Jimmy Mubenga. An internal document urged management to "meet this problem head on before the worst happens" and that G4S was "playing Russian roulette with detainees' lives." The following autumn, prison inspectors released a report that condemned G4S guards for mistreatment of detainees. On deportation flights the inspectors witnessed G4S guards verbally harassing and intimidating
detainees with offensive and racist language and using inappropriate restraint.
In July 2012, the Crown Prosecution Service announced its conclusion that there was "insufficient evidence to bring any charges for Mr Mubenga's death" against G4S or any of its former employees.
On 9 July 2013 an inquest jury, in a nine-to-one decision, found that Mubenga's death was caused by the G4S guards "using unreasonable force", that one or more of the guards had pushed or held him down "in an unlawful manner" and that the guards "would have known that they would have caused Mr Mubenga harm in their actions, if not serious harm". The CPS subsequently announced that it was reconsidering its decision not to bring criminal charges and in November 2014 the trial of three G4S guards on charges of manslaughter began. Colin Kaler, 51, from Bedfordshire, Terrence Hughes, 53, from Hampshire, and Stuart Tribelnig, 38, from Surrey all denied the charges against them.
In an unprecedented move, part of the seating within a Boeing 777 aircraft was constructed inside the Old Bailey courtroom to demonstrate to the jury the circumstances in which the death occurred. On 17 November 2014, the jurors were offered the chance to recreate the conditions experienced by Mubenga during his time on board the aeroplane. Six participated, taking turns to be restrained in exactly the same seat position that Mubenga had occupied and wearing the same type of handcuffs. In addition, a small number of the jurors took turns to view the scene by kneeling in a seat in the row immediately in front and leaning over to watch. This posture had been adopted by one of the three guards. The public gallery and dock were cleared while the jury took part in these recreations of the scene.'On 16 December 2014, after a six-week trial, the jury found the defendants not guilty. After the verdict was declared, Mr Mubenga's wife Adrienne said:
On 16 December, after the verdict, newspapers reported that racist text messages known to be on two of the defendants' phones had been kept from the jury. On 17 December newspapers and websites published more information about the 'extreme racist' texts found on the mobile phones of the defendants. The text messages had been concealed from the jury, the judge refusing to allow the jury to hear them because they did not have 'any real relevance' to the trial, he ruled. One of the messages, referring to immigrants, read:
The jury had not been told about the texts as defence lawyers argued that "hearing about the racist material would 'release an unpredictable cloud of prejudice' in the jury, preventing a fair trial". Nor were they told of the earlier inquest coroner's concerns about the possibility of racist treatment from G4S employees towards detainees and deportees or the inquest's 'unlawful killing' verdict – sufficient omissions to destroy a criminal case against them according to a barrister quoted by the website.
A spokesman for the UK's Home Office said: "Our policy has always been that restraint during removals should only be used as a last resort. Our new bespoke training package for aircraft removals, approved in June this year, will better equip our staff with practical tools to minimise the need for restraint and ensure that only the most appropriate techniques are used".
The circumstances surrounding Mubenga's death led 41 campaign groups to call for an enquiry into G4S's suitability to run an equality helpline.