The private prison operator now in charge of Australia’s offshore processing regime on Nauru will be paid more than three-quarters of a million dollars every day to provide “garrison and welfare services” for a little over 100 people.
The US-based Management and Training Corporation (MTC) – a company previously accused in US courts of “gross negligence” and “egregious” security failures – has been awarded a contract for $47.3m covering just 62 days of work on the Pacific island. The latest government figures show 111 refugees and asylum seekers are now on Nauru as part of Australia’s offshore regime.
MTC will be paid $425,000 for each person it keeps on the island over the next two months. It was a controversial choice to take over the Nauru contract, which has previously attracted parliamentary scrutiny over its tenaciously high running costs, despite a dramatically reduced cohort of refugees and asylum seekers held on the island.
The previous contract holder, Canstruct International, won a series of cascading, uncompetitive contract tenders from 2017, with the total cost exceeding $1.82bn over five years. During Canstruct’s tenure, the cost of running the Nauru offshore regime remained consistent at between $35m and $40m a month, even when the number of people within the system fell by more than 90% from more than 1,100 people to just over 100.
MTC has previously been accused of “gross negligence” and “egregious” security failures in the US that allegedly led to the gang-rape of a woman in detention, the murder of two retirees by escaped prisoners, and the months-long solitary confinement of a US citizen wrongfully held in immigration detention. The company remains before the courts over its allegedly unlawful detention of a US citizen for more than 14 months – the vast majority in solitary confinement – and paid more than $8m (US$5m) to settle a bribery case filed by the state of Mississippi.
Government sources have confirmed the scope of work required under MTC’s new contract is significantly reduced from previous iterations, including a reduction in welfare services for refugees in the community. The number of staff on the island has also been reduced dramatically. The Guardian understands Canstruct submitted a bid for the new tender – at a significantly reduced figure – but the government chose MTC’s more expensive bid.
