Government awards prison contracts to G4S and Serco
KEN CLARKE, the justice secretary, yesterday said he had awarded contracts to run two prisons to security services firm G4S and had given one prison contract to outsourcing group Serco.
The Ministry of Justice gave no value for the deals, but said the outsourcing of the management of the three prisons would save £216m over the lifetime of the contracts.
G4S will manage the currently state-run Birmingham prison and the new Featherstone 2 prison, under construction in Wolverhampton.
Serco will continue running Doncaster prison in northeast England, where its management contract was due to expire.
The contracts for Birmingham and Doncaster will run from October, while the Featherstone contract will begin in April 2012.
The companies had been bidding for management contracts for five prisons under a process announced in 2009.
One of the prisons, Wellingborough, was removed from the competition as it needed extra financial investment.
The other, Buckley Hall near Manchester, will continue to be run by Britain’s HM Prison Service, the Ministry of Justice said.