Mobilong Prison guards accused of sexual assault in explicit strip-searches, as official report raising ‘serious concerns’ is kept secret

A secret report reveals dozens of Mobilong prisoners allege they were sexually assaulted during invasive cavity searches – and one wants a formal police investigation.

Dozens of prisoners at Mobilong have allegedly been subjected to sexual assaults at the hands of prison guards conducting illegal and invasive cavity searches, a court has heard.

A report authored by the Official Visitor, an independent auditor of people in detention, raised “serious concerns” about the legality of the search but is being kept under wraps by the Corrections Department.

The Visitor attended Mobilong prison after receiving a complaint from at least one prisoner where they alleged invasive and unnecessary searches – including close examinations of prisoners’ genitalia – were being conducted without sufficient legal grounds.

After the report was completed, Corrections told the Visitor that particular kind of search would be stopped, but the District Court has heard that only weeks later more prisoners were allegedly searched in the same way.

At least one prisoner is understood to be planning to make a formal sexual assault complaint to police about the cavity searches, which caused him to lose 20kg after it resurrected memories of sexual abuse when he was a child.

During a bail hearing earlier this month, Yasmin McMahon, for the prisoner, told District Court Judge Liesl Kudelka that her client had been subjected to illegal cavity searches and would be making a complaint to police.

Mobilong Prison at Murray Bridge, where prisoners are alleged to have been sexually assaulted by prison guards conducting illegal cavity searches. Picture: Sam Wundke

The searches allegedly involved Corrections staff instructing prisoners to strip and forcing them to pull back their foreskins to show they were hiding no contraband.

Corrections can conduct such searches, but need reasonable suspicion and the approval of the department’s chief executive.

Ms McMahon said their “reasonable suspicion” was a report that a mobile phone had been passed between prisoners two weeks before the search in October last year.

“There is no way that could have been allowed because there was no reason to suspect that two weeks later my client would have an item in his possession or secreted in his foreskin,” she said.

“An investigation was conducted by the Official Visitor and as a consequence the department said they would cease these searches of people.

“However, I can indicate that after that advice was given, two or three weeks later the occupants of another unit had the same searches conducted,” Ms McMahon alleged in court.

Judge Kudelka initially gave prosecutors time to seek further instructions on the Official Visitor’s report, saying she was not making a finding on the legality of the search but that the report gave her “real concern” about the alleged searches.

The Advertiser has applied for a copy of the report but the Crown Solicitor’s Office, on behalf of Corrections, opposed its release – citing the confidentiality of prisoners despite large sections of the report being redacted.

A spokeswoman for Corrections said the department was working on ways to avoid invasive searches.

“DCS acknowledges that strip-searching can be an invasive process and must balance this with safety and security and the need to take a zero tolerance approach to the concealment of contraband in our prisons,” she said.

“Requests such as this may be made of prisoners as part of targeted search operations based on intelligence.

“DCS is currently trialling an X-ray body scanner at one of our high-security prisons and continues to progress initiatives to reduce strip-searching in prison as a means of detecting and locating contraband concealed on a person’s body.”

Last week the prisoner was released on bail.