Australasian Correctional Management

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Australasian Correctional Management (ACM) was a private company owned by Wackenhut, a subsidiary of multinational security giant Group 4 Securicor. From 1998 until 2003 ACM was responsible for running at least six refugee detention centres in Australia. ACM also ran the Auckland Central Remand Prison (ACRP)^[1] in New Zealand from its opening in July 2000 until control reverted to the Public Prisons Service in July 2005 due to the passing of the Corrections Bill 2005 ^[2].

ACM attracted strong criticism from the Australian left for alleged abuses of refugees detained in its facilities^[3]. This climaxed with the massive Easter 2002 protest at the Woomera Immigration Reception and Processing Centre. This became part of the inspiration for the video game Escape From Woomera.

Perhaps in part due to bad publicity over the refugee centres ACM handed over the running of the Australian detention centres to its parent company Group 4 Falck (now Group 4 Securicor) in 2003. It also changed the name of its New Zealand wing to Global Expertise in Outsourcing NZ ltd (GEO) while it was still running ACRP. The GEO Group Australia is still running prisons such as the Metropolitan Remand Centre in Victoria.