Contraband smuggled into Parklea Jail in hot dinners, former inmate claims
PRISON guards are smuggling illegal contraband such as mobile phones into a privately run Sydney prison during dinner meals, a former prison inmate claimed today.
NSW
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PRISON guards are smuggling illegal contraband such as mobile phones into a privately run Sydney prison during dinner meals, a former prison inmate claims.
Former inmate ‘John’ made allegations of widespread corruption about officers working at Parklea Correctional Centre in Sydney’s north-west on 2GB’s Ray Hadley radio show today.
“Stuff is smuggled in through the meals,” he said. “Every evening you get a hot meal. It’s a tray with a lid on it.
“For example a mobile phone will cost you anything from $1500 to $3000, which is paid by whoever outside.
“That’s deposited into a particular bank account at the direction of the guard.”
The guard, who worked at the prison during January this year, said he was able to make phone calls on contraband phones.
State Opposition Leader Luke Foley called for a parliamentary inquiry into the running of the scandal-wracked privately-run facility, saying he was “alarmed” at the allegations.
He said an external investigation would have the power to “compel witnesses”.
“That’s why I’ll be urging parliamentary colleagues this week to set up an Upper House inquiry into what’s really going on at Parklea Prison.
“I don’t have confidence in the bureaucracy investigating behind closed doors what’s going on there.
“A parliamentary inquiry with the capacity to compel witnesses and haul them in and answer some questions about that’s going on.
“When I hear about assaults on female prison officers at Parklea, when I hear about the amount of contraband flowing in, when I hear about gates being left open for 12 hours I’m alarmed.
“I’ll be acting in the parliament.”
In October, new managers were being flagged after the institution — then operated by GEO Group Australia — was rocked by a string of scandals, including one in which an inmate used a smuggled phone to film himself behind bars brandishing a weapon and drugs.
A former Bandido bikie sent the state’s prison system into meltdown when he managed to video himself with a knife, “slasher” razor and what he said was a bag of the drug ice on a mobile phone inside Parklea Correctional Centre.
He posted the shocking footage to YouTube in June, just weeks after he was released on parole.
In September, a prison officer was stabbed twice at the facility with only a name tag preventing a potentially fatal wound to his chest.
Corrections Minister David Elliott said he did not need a parliamentary inquiry into Parklea “to tell me these allegations need to be thoroughly investigated”.
“If prison officers are found to be dealing in contraband they need to be prepared for a stay of up to two years at a prison, this time inside a cell,” he said.