Photograph: Ruth Hopkins
When private companies assume control over people’s lives and build their business on managing them, they carry a heightened responsibility to ensure that their operations are conducted with integrity and care.
This obligation is especially pressing for Allied Universal, the world’s largest private security company, which in 2021 acquired G4S, a firm already implicated in several serious human rights violations.
The Another Dead Prisoner project casts a stark light on conditions inside the G4S-run Mangaung Correctional Facility in South Africa. It was here that Danish citizen Peter Frederiksen lost his life in 2024. Multiple inmates have alleged that Frederiksen was subjected to violent treatment by staff, including electric shocks from the guard’s electrified shields. Claims that point to staff brutality as cause of his death.
In the spring of 2025, another inmate, Mpho Mkhumbeni, also died following allegations of excessive force. A post-mortem examination concluded that he succumbed to complications from pepper-spray exposure and blunt-force trauma. Although the prison has faced repeated accusations of inmate deaths over the years, Mkhumbeni’s case is the first to result in criminal charges against staff members.
Security for whom?
South Africa’s Department of Correctional Services have subsequently condemned G4S and its employees for attempting to conceal the killing, accusing them of defeating the ends of justice. Four guards now await sentencing. No managerial employees have been charged.
But since Allied Universal’s acquisition in 2021, G4S has been at the centre of several cases involving human rights violations. This includes Kenya, where private G4S security guards are employed by foreign multinational corporations Holchim and Del Monte, leaving a trail of murders and bloody assaults in local communities.
In the four years since the change of ownership, Allied Universal has failed to address the structural problems at G4S. With several documented incidents of violence, some resulting in death, G4S continues to operate using brutal and unethical methods.
When asked about the incidents Allied Universal has not responded to specific cases, but has replied as follows:
“Human rights violations are not tolerated. To the extent a concern is raised, it is investigated and appropriately handled.”
The investigation is still ongoing.