Category: international affairs

US private prisons operator to be paid $790m to hold 100 people on Nauru in quiet expansion of contract

A sixteenfold increase in the original contract without public notification raises allegations of gross mismanagement and a process run out of controlGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA US private prisons operator will receive $157m a year to run Australias offshore processing regime in Nauru currently holding just over 100 people after the government quietly expanded its contract by more than $350m to three-quarters-of-a-billion dollars. The two-year extension without prior public notification, or scrutiny of the contract, has raised allegations of gross mismanagement and a process run out of control from parliamentarians and government integrity experts.