Context

There has been increased involvement of private companies in correctional and immigration deprivation of liberty settings in a number of countries across the world. Yet the prevalence and range of private companies and the depth of their involvement in these settings, and the implications this has for human rights accountability, responsibility, and monitoring, as well as for the domestic detention environment, has been underexplored.

There has been a trajectory of increased privatisation in countries (such as the UK and South Africa) with the governments contracting out what would have been traditionally state-operated and owned services, to private entities. There are different outsourcing models including full outsourcing of a prison; outsourcing specific services (e.g. maintenance, health, food services, fencing, security, etc.) that are all relevant from a human rights perspective. Those providing these services include small and even charitable enterprises, as well as companies which have global reach (such as G4S, Geo Amey and Serco). Some of these (e.g., G4S) have signed up to the UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

In the UK, for instance, several thousand contracts have been awarded, not only in prisons and immigration detention centres but police custody; court cells; various forms of accommodation for children convicted of crimes; escort/transport between these different facilities; as well as holding cells and rooms at airports, ports and borders; and being accompanied on flights if individuals are extradited or deported. There are also other facilities where individuals may be deprived of their liberty when they have been diverted from the criminal justice system, such as drug rehabilitation centres.

Yet there are ongoing examples of facilities that were under private contract being taken back into state control and, in some instances, back in private contract again.

Taking South Africa and the UK as our starting point, they are parties to the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture (OPCAT), which requires that states designate or establish an independent National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) to monitor all places of detention to prevent torture and other ill-treatment. Both the UK and South Africa have NPMs composed of multiple bodies. Monitoring detention is challenging but privatisation adds further complications if the activities and contracts of private companies lack transparency and accountability.

At the regional and international level, the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT), the European Committee on Prevention of Torture (CPT) and Committee on the Prevention of Torture in Africa (CPTA) provide a further level of oversight. The CPT, in particular, has raised concerns with state delegations of responsibility of private companies and indeed, improvement in the practices of these private companies has been shown to follow when there has been significant oversight by international bodies. Yet, there are questions regarding to whom these supranational and national monitoring bodies should direct their recommendations and findings. While human rights responsibilities and those under treaties lie with the state, there are signs that states consider it necessary that these companies interact with these international bodies when states are reporting on the fulfilment of their international obligations.

The Project

This project is a collaboration between the University of Notre Dame, APCOF (South Africa), Omega Research Foundation, and the Human Rights Implementation Centre at the University of Bristol. It has an advisory team involving former members of private companies.

The project examines the implications privatisation has for those responsible for independent oversight and monitoring of these detention settings. Specifically, it will consider how monitoring bodies hold private providers accountable for the obligations the state has under international human rights law and standards and what lessons can be learnt from any additional monitoring tools employed by private companies.

Activities which are being carried out by the HRIC and its partners include:

• Students from the Human Rights Law Clinic are undertaking background research to see the extent of private sector involvement in prisons in England and Wales.
• The team made a Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on torture’s report on Current issues and good practices in prison management.
• In April 2024, APCOF and the University of Notre Dame will host an event in Cape Town, “Monitoring Privately Run Detention Centres. What we don’t know”.