2007-03-24 20:01:59 -

WASHINGTON, March 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.K.'s biggest security firm Group 4 Securicor -- and parent company of the U.S. government's largest supplier of private guards, Wackenhut -- has been caught letting killers, rapists and terror suspects go unchecked in a scandal that extends beyond the U.K. and into U.S. juvenile detention centers.

G4S-run facilities in the U.S. have experienced multiple lost inmates from maximum security detention centers including one where the facility's rate is twice the U.S. national rate; sexual misconduct including multiple instances of G4S youth care workers

engaging in sexual misconduct with inmates; inmate abuse linked to inadequate training and low pay.

"We're not surprised by Group 4 Securicor's shoddy work recently exposed in the U.K. because we find similar scandals wherever G4S operates including where it interacts with youth here in America." said Bill Ragen, Security Director of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), North America's largest security officers' union.

G4S runs the following juvenile detention facilities in the U.S.; Alexander Juvenile Correctional Facility, Alexander, AR; Avon Park Youth Academy, Avon Park, FL; Cypress Creek Juvenile Offender Correctional Center, Lecanto, FL; Hastings Youth Academy, Hasting, FL; Okeechobee Juvenile Offender Correctional Facility, Okeechobee, FL; Polk Juvenile Correctional Facility, Polk City, FL; Sago Palm Academy, Pahokee, FL; Davidson County Juvenile Detention Center, Nashville, TN.

G4S's U.S. subsidiary Wackenhut is facing a U.S. House of Representatives investigation into allegations of racism, discrimination and poor practices. Wackenhut has had multiple problems securing sensitive U.S. military sites.

For more information, visit http://www.eyeonwackenhut.com/.

Source: SEIU