Berucht beveiligingsbedrijf G4S krijgt 300 miljoen pond om Britse dwangarbeiders aan te pakken

G4S, the giant private security contractor, is perhaps best known for making a total hash of the London 2012 Olympics, when its staff simply failed to turn up. It is also currently being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office for overcharging after claiming it had electronically tagged people who turned out to be dead. In 2010, Jimmy Mubenga died after being restrained by G4S guards during a deportation. G4S-run private prisons, meanwhile, were reported this week to be in chaos. This is just a brief glimpse of the firm’s long record of making megaprofits for grim failure across the world. And yet, and yet. G4S has just won a collection of contracts to deliver the £300 million “Help to Work” scheme, the Tories’ latest punitive programme for unemployed people. The security firm will be in charge of enforcing “community work placements” – in other words, unpaid workfare.

Tom Walker in Is there nothing G4S can do that will stop it getting government contracts? (Redpepper)