private prisons

LONDON: The British government seized control of a squalid contractor-run prison on Monday where inspectors said officers were locking themselves away as protection from prisoners, raising questions about its privatisation programme. The justice ministry was forced to take over HMP Birmingham from private security company G4S, following a damning inspection that reported "squalor, violence and the prevalence of drugs and looming lack of control". In a first since Britain began contracting the running of some prisons to…