Northern prison faces a shortage of correctional officers, says union

News

Sep 1

Sharon Webb

If the State Government continues its current ineffectual correctional officer recruiting policy it will never have enough people to run a high-security northern prison, says a union official.

Deputy secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union Tom Lynch also said the government needs to stop ‘shoving a prison down the throats of a community that doesn’t want it’.

He maintained a northern prison would need 200-250 officers, but he didn’t know how the government could supply them.

‘This prison’s not a small outpost, it’s a big undertaking,’ he said. ‘I can’t see how they would ever be able to recruit enough diverse, experienced officers.

‘How do you bring in a group of 200? You can’t run a high security prison with new recruits.’

Mr Lynch also said correctional officers would not work in a community that didn’t want a prison.

‘Prison officers won’t want to live in a community that doesn’t want them to be there.

‘The government needs to stop shoving a prison down Westbury’s throat. If they don’t want it, find somewhere else for it.’

After a month where Risdon prisoners were locked down often, four injured officers went to hospital and Corrections ran a national recruiting campaign, Mr Lynch said the prison system has never had an effective recruiting system.

Following the May fires in prison cells and July assaults where officers were bitten, punched and kicked by prisoners, unions representing officers had talks with Corrections Minister Elise Archer.

Ms Archer said, ‘These talks were constructive with a number of suggestions and matters raised that we are committed to addressing, including in relation to recruitment, staff safety and supports, and training.

‘We also discussed a number of other pathways to encourage people towards a career in corrections, and I look forward to hearing back from the unions so we can progress these further. These solutions will need flexibility and collaboration, and I urge the unions to keep engaging with us on these.’

But Mr Lynch, whose union represents two thirds of the state’s prison officers, said, ‘That was a whole bunch of words and we’re looking for a whole bunch of action.’

Since 2015 half of correctional officer recruits have left: resigned, broken down or retired, Mr Lynch said.

He said there are two reasons for the shortage of prison officers and the prison system’s inability to keep them.

First, the government has been loud about its law and order agenda, locking up more people and giving longer sentence, but not employing more officers.

Second, because of understaffing, officers are fatigued, break down, become sick and have high workers compensation claim levels, therefore even fewer are on duty and under more stress.

‘Expectations around inmates have changed. Society wants to rehabilitate people who won’t end up in the prison system again.

‘The government says it wants to do this but never employs enough correctional officers, allied health professionals, case workers and trainers.’

Ms Archer said, ‘While we have invested significantly in our prison system, with more than 200 extra correctional officers since 2016, including 79 in 2020 alone, we know more needs to be done and we are committed to doing it.

‘In addition to the two new recruit training courses planned this year, we will be embarking on an intensive recruitment drive nationally, targeting experienced correctional officers.’

But Mr Lynch is not convinced. ‘There’s never been an effective recruitment system. The process for getting appropriate people to train is poor.

‘The government wanted 30 recruits in the training school. It got 16.

‘In March 2022 they’ll be opening a 140-bed remand prison at Risdon needing 40 more staff. They’re training 16 now so we don’t know where they’ll get the rest from.’

Diary: One month at Risdon Prison

28 June -

Community and Public Sector Union: Survey of officers at Risdon’s Ron Barwick Prison says they have ‘significant concerns’ about working conditions. There’s a ‘shockingly high’ number of workers comp claims.

Ian Thomas, director of prisons: We will continue to work collaboratively with all parties towards a suitable resolution.

14 July -

Greg Barns, Prison Action Reform chair: Some prisoners were in their cells continuously between 8 and 12 July.

Justice department spokesperson: Every Risdon prisoner has had time out of their cell over the past few days.

15 July -

United Workers Union: Shocking assaults hospitalised four correctional officers overnight: bitten, punched and kicked. The government must stop budget cutbacks causing short-staffing that risks the safety and lives of staff and inmates in the prisons service.

Tasmania Prison Service: The incident was ‘initiated by a non-compliant prisoner’. It has been referred to Tasmania Police for further investigation.

18 July -

Tom Lynch, CPSU secretary:

Elise Archer must ‘fix the prison crisis or resign’. It was sheer luck that more prison officers weren’t injured or injuries worse. We have too few correctional officers.

Elise Archer, Minister for Corrections:

We are recruiting prison officers at a rate never seen before – 200 extra since 2016.

19 July -

Community and Public Sector Union: The two hour stop-work today comes after the assault of prison officers in a short-staffed section of the prison. This happened because of excessive lock downs, high overtime levels and high workers comp claims.

Elise Archer: Today’s stop-work action was about the unions playing politics. We are recruiting Correctional Officers as fast as we can. Suggestions that prisoners have been locked down for multiple days in a row are untrue.

21 July -

Elise Archer: Talks with unions were constructive with a number of matters raised that we are committed to addressing: recruitment, staff safety and supports, and training.

22 July -

Ella Haddad, Labor shadow corrections minister: Risdon Prison is ‘a pressure cooker ready to explode’. There are rolling 24 hour lock downs day after day.

Elise Archer: Lock downs are necessary for ‘security reasons’, not caused by staff shortages.

2 August -

Ella Haddad: Risdon’s 10-bed rehab unit is being used as ‘overflow space’.

Elise Archer: Drug support is being delivered individually while alcohol and drug treatment facilities are being expanded from 10 to 34 places.

4 August -

Ella Haddad: Archer is ‘in hiding’ as serious concerns for the prison grow by the day. The Corrections Minister needs to get out from behind her desk and acknowledge the important concerns of prison staff who have been pushed to breaking point.

What the custodial inspector says about Risdon

Over the years custodial inspector Richard Connock’s annual reports about Risdon Prison have been consistently critical.

Some of his recent findings are shown at here:

Tasmanian prisoners spend less time out of their cells – on average two hours less a day than in other states.
In December 2020 there were 399 lock downs in maximum security, mostly because of staff shortages.
The high number of prisoner lock downs place staff and prisoners at risk. They breach state law and basic human rights.
Recruitment of prison officers is barely keeping pace with staff attrition, with no contingency resources for unplanned leave and staff shortages.
Nearly a third of prisoners said they had developed a problem with illicit or prescribed drugs at Risdon Prison.

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