Jail covering up threats to guards, inquiry told

ONE of Queensland’s most violent jails is doctoring reports to cover up threats to guards, a prison corruption inquiry has heard.

The Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre in Brisbane’s southwest

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ONE of Queensland’s most violent jails is doctoring reports to cover up threats to guards, a prison corruption inquiry has heard.

The explosive claims, aired at the Crime and Corruption Commission’s Taskforce Flaxton hearing, revolve around the privately run Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre.

United Voice’s Damien Davie said senior staff at the correctional centre were preparing reports that left out “major parts” of prison clashes.

In one instance he inspected footage of prisoners threatening guards with boiling water.

“When I’ve gone and looked at the official reports they don’t reflect the actual incident that occurred, it plays down the incident,” he said today.

The lawyer for GEO, which runs Arthur Gorrie, said providing the union with the footage was inconsistent with a cover up.

“ I wouldn’t agree with that, I’d say there’s a level of arrogance within their actions,” Mr Davie responded.

The Courier Mail previously revealed concerns about an Arthur Gorrie “boys’ club” who bash inmates and abuse their power — claims rejected by GEO.

Overcrowding and understaffing and their link to prison violence has been a persistent theme during the hearing.

Despite a capacity for just 7031 inmates the prison system is currently housing 8768 prisoners.

At Arthur Gorrie — the state’s largest jail with more than 1000 inmates — a 28 per cent jump in the population coincided with a 500 per cent spike in serious assaults among prisoners from 2013-17.

Corrective Services chief inspector Samay Zhouand said the explosion in the prison population was adding “never before experienced” pressures on the system.

This included a greater risk of corruption.

“All of it increases the likelihood that staff will find themselves in those difficult situations,” he said.

Prisoners Legal Service director Peter Lyons said he was deeply concerned about “entrenched levels of violence” in the system.

He said inmates were complaining of assaults being orchestrated by guards and inmates in areas of prisons where CCTV was not installed.

At yesterday’s hearing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service said attacks on transgender inmates were particularly severe.

In one instance a trans prisoner warned guards she was being threatened.

The inmate was later bashed while the guards watched on, the inquiry heard.

The hearings before CCC boss Alan MacSporran continue tomorrow in Brisbane.