[3] 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.
[7] 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".
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 2015 G4S was targeted by the BDS movement in a campaign asking the United Nations to drop its contracts with the firm,[14] and a number of trade unions have joined the boycott.
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.
[16] 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.
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.
[17] 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.
[18] 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.
[19] 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.
[20] 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.
[25] 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 (UKBA).
[34] In July 2012, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) 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.
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.
[32] One of the messages, referring to immigrants,[31] read: Fuck off and go home you free-loading, benefit-grabbing, kid-producing, violent, non-English-speaking, cock suckers and take those hairy-faced, sandal-wearing, bomb-making, goat-fucking, smelly rag head bastards with you.
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".
Allegations in the television programme included foul language and use of unnecessary force – such physical violence, overuse of restraint techniques (causing one teenager to have difficulties breathing) – on ten boys aged 14 to 17, as well as a cover-up involving members of staff by avoiding surveillance cameras in order not to be recorded, and purposefully misreporting incidents in order to avoid potential fines and punishment; for example, in one exchange, it was claimed some staff did not report "two or more trainees fighting" because it indicates they had "lost control of the centre", resulting in a potential fine.
[55][56][57] G4S-run Medway managers received performance-related pay awards in April 2016, despite the chief inspector of prisons saying weeks earlier that "managerial oversight failed to protect young people from harm at the jail".
In January, the BBC's Panorama programme showed an undercover reporter working as a guard at the Medway secure training centre (STC) in Kent.
When the prisons inspectorate carried out a snap inspection at Medway it found detainees reported staff had used insulting, aggressive or racist language toward them and felt unsafe in facility portions not covered by closed circuit TV.
Reviewers agreed to the legitimacy of evidence presented by Panorama showing "targeted bullying of vulnerable boys" by employees, and that "A larger group of staff must have been aware of unacceptable practice but did not challenge or report this behaviour."
Former Labour MP Sally Keeble has complained about G4S maltreatment in STCs for over ten years, stating: "This is people making personal profit out of tragedy.
The charges included extreme physical abuse, tampering with, falsification and destruction of records, intimidation of both subordinates and victims to prevent reporting of criminal activities, widespread smuggling of contraband and employee sex with youths.
Arrested also was Assistant Administrator Johnny Hart, who weighed 275 pounds, allegedly seized one already restrained teen from guards, threw him to the ground and "pummeled" him, necessitating the boy's hospitalization for numerous injuries.
[70] Under Florida state law, for him to work as an armed guard the company was required either to make a full psychiatric evaluation of Mateen, or to administer a "validated written psychological test".
[71] On 10 September 2016 the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services fined G4S $151,400 for providing inaccurate psychological testing information after it found the psychologist whose opinion was necessary to permit Mateen to carry a weapon was not practicing as a screener.
Prisoners said inadequate staffing, poor food and substandard medical care were behind the disturbance, as was being on "lockdown" in their cells all day as a major factor contributing to riot.
She said G4S would have to pay the costs of ten highly trained public sector Tornado elite teams dispatched to end the 12-hour riot at its Birmingham prison.
The Shadow justice secretary, the Labour party's Richard Burgon, wrote that there should be a moratorium on awarding such contracts in the future [79] The Independent, reviewing the corporation's history, asked how such privatization can continue.
[80] In November 2019, Norway's sovereign wealth fund banned all holdings in G4S because of the risk that it "contributes to or is responsible for serious or systematic human rights violations".