All of NSW’s 36 prisons were in lockdown on Thursday night after 5000 prison officers walked off the job in disgust over a court decision that saw an inmate avoid additional jail time for a brutal attack on four guards.
The situation is being described as “catastrophic”, with some facilities now operating with just six staff members looking after hundreds of prisoners.
The industrial action was sparked by an unprovoked attack at Cessnock Correctional Centre that left four prison officers hospitalised with fractured eye sockets, cheekbones and broken noses. Two of the officers will never work again.
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Inmate Cameron Welsh, 26, was handed a community-based order by a magistrate and won’t serve any additional jail time for the bashing. Welsh now remains at Goulburn Correctional Centre, the state’s most secure prison.
Two of the four bashed officers will never work again. Credit: 7NEWS “He could be released into the community tomorrow as a result of this decision,” officials warned, though the Commission of Corrections will be filing an urgent submission opposing the release.
The 48-hour strike has affected every public facility in the state, with inmates locked in their cells and serious concerns raised for prisoners at risk of self-harm.
“This is a slap in the face to them,” union representatives said of the court decision. “This problem is not going to get any better. The government has to act on this.”
The decision not to sentence the offender to any additional prison time has been described as a ‘slap in the face’ to the injured prison officers. Credit: 7NEWS The government responded that “an independent judicial decision of a local court is not the basis for a statewide industrial strike.”
With grave concerns the action would bring the entire court system to a halt, preventing local, district and Supreme Courts from operating, the state government sought an urgent order to stop the strike through the Industrial Relations Commission.
In a last-minute decision on Thursday evening, all corrective officers have been ordered back to work, with the union recommending staff return by 6am Friday.