Kudos for Serco-run prison

International government services provider Serco, a frequent target of privatisation critic Antony Loewenstein, has received a glowing report for its operation of the Acacia prison, Western Australia's only privately run prison:

In a report of his scheduled inspection tabled in State Parliament today, Inspector Neil Morgan said Acacia was delivering quality services, meeting high accountability standards and providing value for money to taxpayers.


He said Acacia's performance had clearly improved since it took over the running of the prison from AIMS five years ago, and it was at least equal to the best public sector prisons in WA and "in many respects it is superior".


Mr Morgan said Acacia's performance was all the more impressive given its capacity had jumped from 758 prisoners to 1000 since 2007.

But because this superior performance is contrary to Loewenstein's "privatised services are evil" scenario it's highly unlikely he'll mention it at his blog of doom.