Thursday, 9 March 2023

Corrections system

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (19:25): (101) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Corrections and regards yesterday’s disturbing Herald Sun report on multiple violent incidents this week at the maximum-security Barwon Prison, including assaults which caused hospitalisation. These have been serious attacks, with officers suffering head injuries and requiring immediate hospital treatment. On Monday this week four were injured when violence broke out in the prison’s Grevillea unit, while Saturday saw three separate assaults on officers.

On the first day of this Parliament I asked the minister about the increased number of emergency management days awarded to prisoners. The suggestion is that more days have been awarded to deal with staffing shortages. The minister’s reply seems to deny this. He wrote:

A certain level of staffing is essential and if available staff numbers fall below the requirement on a particular day the prison must prioritise fundamental operations to maintain prison security and provide for prisoners’ basic needs. This may impact prisoner’s ability to move as freely as they routinely would but not result in a lockdown. Other times a lockdown may be required restricting a person to their accommodation.

The Community and Public Sector Union have blamed this recent upsurge in violence on staff shortages, leading to prisoner lockdowns and in turn to greater anger, hostility and dangerous attacks. Union spokesman Julian Kennelly said to the Herald Sun the prisoners are:

… becoming more and more hostile because of the extended cell hours. More and more cell hours leads to extra angst …

The system seems to be in crisis. The statistics suggest so. The Herald Sun’s sources suggest so also. The union spokesman confirmed it, and tragically the violent assaults on hardworking and dedicated prison officers merely trying to do their jobs show it beyond doubt.

The action I seek, Minister, is a full breakdown of the statistics surrounding this issue, which will demonstrate conclusively whether there is a link between emergency management days, staff shortages and attacks on corrections services workers. I am asking for the number of emergency management days awarded to inmates in Barwon Prison this year, and in the same period, how many assaults have been recorded on prison staff, how many days to date this year Barwon Prison has operated at below planned staffing levels and how many shifts have gone unfilled.