Wackenhut

Founded in 1954, in Coral Gables, Florida, by George Wackenhut and three partners (all former FBI agents), the company is now headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
In 2002 the company was purchased for $570 million by Danish corporation Group 4 Falck (now known as G4S). At the time of this purchase, the Wackenhut Corporation operated in 54 countries, had $2.8 billion in revenue, and its founder had control over more than 50% of its stock.
Although not an exhaustive list, the following are some of the notable services the company provides.

It has supplied complete police services at the Tampa Airport and pre-departure security at several other airports. Additionally, it supplies security for courthouses in Texas and Florida; armed patrols for the Miami Downtown Development Authority; guards to ride the Miami Metro Rail and the Tri-Rail from West Palm Beach to Dade County.
In addition to security, the company provides fire and rescue services for some clients, including the Kennedy Space Center.


Background
After early struggles (including a fistfight between George Wackenhut and one of his partners), Wackenhut took sole control of his company in 1958 then, naming it after himself.

Working throughout the day in his office, he sometimes continued nightly as a security guard. By 1964, he had contracts to guard the Kennedy Space Center and the U.S.The following year, he took his company public.
In the mid-60s, Florida Governor Claude Kirk commissioned the Wackenhut Corporation to help fight a "war on organized crime", awarding the company a $500,000 contract. The commission lasted about a year but led to more than 80 criminal indictments, including many for local politicians and government employees. Following the murder of a British tourist at a rest stop in 1993, Florida contracted with Wackenhut to provide security at all state rest stops.
Security services
Private prisons
Having expanding into providing food services for U.S.

prisons in the 1960s, Wackenhut in 1984 launched a subsidiary to design and manage jails and detention centers for the burgeoning private prison market. Although the corrections division was financially successful, critics claimed that the company's guards abused inmates in Florida, Texas, New Mexico, and Louisiana.
In 1999, Wackenhut was stripped from a $12-million-a-year contract in Texas and fined $625,000 for failing to live up to promises in the running of a state jail; moreover, several guards were indicted for having sex with female inmates. In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, five guards at a Wackenhut work-release facility were fired or punished for having sex with inmates. In April 1999 the state of Louisiana took over the running of Wackenhut's 15-month-old juvenile prison after the U.S.

Justice Department accused Wackenhut of subjecting its young inmates to "excessive abuse and neglect." In the same year a New Mexico legislative report called for a near-total revamp of prison operations, including two run by Wackenhut. U.S. journalist Gregory Palast commented on the case: "New Mexico's privately operated prisons are filled with America's impoverished, violent outcasts — and those are the guards." He catalogued lax background checks before hiring guards, which led to several alleged cases of guards physically and sexually abusing inmates.In the U.S., Wackenhut has appeared in the federal courts 62 times since 1999, largely resulting from prisoners' claims of human rights abuses. The company has been accused of trying to maximise profits in its private prisons at the expense of drug rehabilitation, counselling and literacy programs. In 1995 Wackenhut was investigated for diverting $700,000 intended for drug treatment programs at a Texas prison.
Wackenhut describes itself as no longer involved in the private prison industry in the US, stating that it abandoned the market due to low returns on investment, excessive government regulation, and negative publicity affecting its other, more profitable operations.

now runs former Wackenhut facilities in 14 states, as well as in South Africa and Australia. Some facilities, such as the Wackenhut Corrections Centers in New York, retain the Wackenhut name despite no longer having any open connection with the company.
Nuclear power plants
The Wackenhut Corporation also provides armed security services for many nuclear power plants.
Salem/Hope Creek Nuclear
Peach Bottom Nuclear
In September 2007, former employee Kerry Beal and Paul A.

Kennedy videotaped fellow security guards at the Peach Bottom Nuclear Generating Station sleeping while on duty. Beal had previously tried to notify supervisors at Wackenhut and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.Wackenhut was fired from its role guarding Peach Bottom and nine other nuclear plants.
Wackenhut and the CIA
Frequent rumors that his company was in the employ of the Central Intelligence Agency, particularly in the 1960s, were never substantiated, but Wackenhut, who was obsessive about high-tech security gadgets in his private life, did not discourage the suggestion. Kelley, former National Security Agency director Bobby Ray Inman, and former Defense secretary and deputy CIA director Frank Carlucci. On rare occasions, the company's clandestine work did land in the headlines. In 1991, a U.S.

House of Representatives committee investigated charges that a Wackenhut executive, working for a consortium of oil companies, illegally spied on a whistleblower, former independent oil executive Chuck Hamel, exposing environmental damage caused by the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The executive, who had also discussed trying to implicate a California congressman in his sting, resigned immediately after a meeting with George Wackenhut.
Accounting irregularities
In May 2008, an audit from Miami-Dade County found that Wackenhut had over billed the county for up to six million dollars over three years for non-existing security guards at Metrorail stations and along bus routes, and tried to cover this up using inaccurate and falsified records, including payment to officers for ghost posts. Indictments are now pending to be released soon and is expected to include high level County employees that processed these fraudulent invoices and allegedly through confidential sources close to the investigation stated, they all received kickbacks, some say to the tune of $100,000.

The company disputed the audit, but has fired/suspended at least 8 management employees as of 28 May 2008 on the metro Rail Contract including, investigating of the current contract manager of TWC who is a recently retired Miami-Dade Police captain now working for Wackenhut metro rail, Mr Dennis Shaw. It has been suggested to return police officers to replace the Wackenhut guards who are now there..Major Colon, and Mejor Mora were captains at the time of the allegations, they were since promoted to Majors.
Foreign countries
Australia
Among other facilities, Wackenhut subsidiary Australasian Correctional Management (ACM) operated the Woomera Immigration Reception and Processing Centre, which opened in 1999 and was closed in 2003 after allegations of widespread abuse of refugee claimants. In a documentary screened on Special Broadcasting Service in 2000, George Wackenhut welcomed Australia's immigrant detention policies, saying, "(Australia is) really starting to punish people, as they should have done all along."
Wackenhut UK
Wackenhut UK was not a direct branch of Wackenhut for many years until the late 1980s.

As the company's prime source of income was in the Middle East, the rest of the UK operations were run, by almost any account, at well below competence before Wackenhut gained 100% control in a takeover, Stories of mishaps became the stuff of legend in the industry. The Royal Borough of Kingston-Upon-Thames found that it could cut the cost of their city's insurance if they had all their premises insured with the same policy and had guards garrisoned at night to ensure there was no theft.