US operator accused of ‘gross negligence’ wins $420m contract to manage Australia’s asylum processing on Nauru

Nauru is Australia’s sole offshore processing centre, after the detention centre on PNG’s Manus Island was ruled unlawful. Photograph: Rémi Chauvin/The Guardian

The controversial US private prisons operator running Australia’s offshore processing regime on Nauru has been handed a $420m Australian government contract to run ‘garrison and welfare’ on the island for three years, managing fewer than 70 people.

The Australian arm of Management and Training Corporation (MTC) was awarded the contract despite a string of scandals in the US.