from Crikey ….

In this special edition of Crikey, we publish a 2010 training manual produced by British-owned multinational Serco, the company contracted to run Australia's detention centres. The manual contains explicit instructions on how to "fight" asylum seekers.
One of the attractions of outsourcing for governments is that it is not merely functions that can be outsourced, but responsibility as well. Outsourcing magically renders problems of ethics and issues of accountability mere contractual niceties, enabling any concerns about how privatised functions are carried out to be deflected into internal processes -- invariably "commercial-in-confidence" -- between government and contractor.

Serco’s training manual, complete with detailed instruction on the infliction of pain and carefully-split gender roles for staff, appears to be based on techniques for maintaining control inside prisons. The Department of Immigration likes to say that detention centres are not prisons, or places of punishment, but Serco’s manual clearly establishes exactly such a framework.

A prison-style training manual produced by the company contracted to run Australia's detention centres contains explicit instructions on how to "hit" and "strike" asylum seekers.

The 400 page, illustrated 2010 and 2009 Serco induction training documents, obtained by Crikey, shows how prison staff are trained to kick, punch and jab their fingers into detainee limbs and "pressure points" to render them motionless.

Serco, who has a $1 billion contract with the Gillard Government to run nine asylum outposts, has repeatedly fought the release of similar documents, claiming other versions are not in the "public interest" and could cause commotion inside lockups.

The "control and restraint" techniques included in the 2009 training course manual recommends the use of "pain"  to defend, subdue and  control asylum seekers through straight punches, palm heel strikes, side angle kicks, front thrust kicks and knee strikes.

"Subdue the subject using reasonable force so that he/she is no longer in the assailant category", it explains.

"If justified, necessary force is to be used to bring the subject to cooperative subjective status whereupon they respond favourably to verbalisation."

Under a section headed "principles in controlling Resistive Behaviour", guards are told to cause pain, stun, distract, unbalance and use "striking technique" to cause "motor dysfunction".

Guards are told to target specific "pressure points" in the manner of riot squad police to squeeze nerves as " a valuable subject control option".

"They enhance your ability, to compel compliance from unco-operative subjects," it explains.  The "expected effect" is "medium to high level pain".

In one instance, guards are taught to attack detainees' jugulars to cause them to fall over.

In another, they are told to employ a "downward kick" to the "lower shin" to cause "high level of pain and mental stunning" lasting up to seven seconds.

Batons are a useful weapon for guards to cause "medium to high tensity [sic] pain" and "forearm muscle cramping". "Strikes should be delivered by a hammer fist," it says.

Underpinning the kicking and punching and baton instructions is "two forms of strikes". The "cutting strike" using a baton, "impacts" the detainee, "continuing through in one fluid motion...this could be equated to following through when swinging a bat".

The Fluid Shock Wave principle is employed to "...generate optimum fluid shock with a hand, baton or knee".

The language in the document appears to have been inspired by a prison manual. This morning, Fairfax Media reported that the Immigration Department had developed its policy on media access by consulting the United States' rules for Guantanamo Bay. Serco subcontracts some of its security personnel to Indian-owned security behemoth MSS. It is not known whether the training manual has since been updated.

Elsewhere, the document reveals Serco uses "discipline" to encourage guards to think of asylum seekers as children.

The undertaking of a "Detention Discipline" interview "appears to be very similar to the one that many parents adopt in responding to the actions of a son or daughter who appears to have behaved unacceptably," it explains.

The use of force should apparently only be undertaken by male guards, who are encouraged "to be tough, strong, in the lead, in control and not back down and give as good as you get, show no weakness, win if you can, never mind the cost."

Women, by contrast, should be "gentle, follow, be compassionate, put others before herself, to share, not to argue and not to get angry."

Other sections ban direct comment to the media without official approval, "designer stubble", and ask pertinent questions like "what is fire?"

Staff are banned from engaging in "partisan political activities that could cast doubt on their neutrality and impartiality in acting in a professional capacity."

A previous section detailing the "seven methods of intervention" says a "fight option" should only be employed as a "last resort".

A recent parliamentary inquiry into Australia’s detention laws was told that many guards only required nightclub bouncer-level training.

Last year, the official Serco contract, obtained by New Matilda under freedom of information laws, said guards could be hired with no training and could "obtain a Certificate Level II in Security Operations within six months of commencement".

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is expected to read key sections of the training manual to parliament this afternoon.

She told Crikey this morning that the guide teaches guards to treat "vulnerable people as if they are prisoners, when they have broken no laws and are asserting their international right to seek asylum."

“There is nothing in this training manual to suggest anybody working on the ground in our detention centres have the skills necessary to deal with the specific needs of asylum seekers.

"All it does is teach how to use force. Serco officers themselves have told the Immigration Detention Centre inquiry and their union that they are ill-equipped to deal with mental health issues and suicide prevention training.

"The company and immigration department continue to brush those concerns aside, but this training manual proves those concerns are absolutely valid.”

There are currently about 4783 asylum seekers in detention across Australia as at the end of January.

Department of Immigration and Citizenship spokesperson Sandi Logan issued the following statement: "The department did not approve Serco's training manual; this is a matter for Serco. However when conducting the immigration detention tender, DIAC carefully assessed the capabilities, experience and culture of the bidding companies."

When asked whether the Department would "intervene to stop sanctioned attacks on asylum seekers", Logan said the question was "not substantiated by evidence".

A spokesperson for Immigration Minister Chris Bowen declined to comment.

Serco has been contacted for comment and we will post its response when we receive it.