Kevin Corcoran sacked as Corrective Services Commissioner
The termination comes a week after the damning Astill Inquiry findings.
NSW
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Benched Corrective Services Commissioner Kevin Corcoran has been sacked, four months after he was told to go on leave following his evidence to an inquiry into prison guard rapist Wayne Astill.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal that Department of Communities and Justice Secretary Michael Tidball terminated Mr Corcoran’s employment on a “without cause” basis on Wednesday.
The termination comes a week after a damning inquiry found Astill, who was last year sentenced to a maximum 23 years in prison after being convicted of more than 30 charges, should never have been employed as a corrections officer.
Corrections Minister Anoulack Chanthivong said he had been informed Mr Corcoran is “no longer” the commissioner, which he agreed “is the right path forward” following the Astill inquiry.
“The NSW Government is committed to rebuilding trust and confidence in our Corrective Services system in the wake of Justice McClellan’s troubling findings,” Mr Chanthivong said.
Mr Corcoran had been employed at a “Band 3” Deputy Secretary level, commanding a salary of between $360,000 to just over $500,000.
Public service rules allowed his employment to be terminated by the secretary without reason. However, he is set to walk away with a generous severance package under the rules.
It is understood that Acting Corrective Services Commissioner Leon Taylor will continue in his role until a permanent replacement is found.
Giving evidence to the Astill inquiry last year, Mr Corcoran said that Astill’s employment was “a huge failure”. Mr Corcoran said if Astill’s record at the NSW Police Force was known he would “never have been employed”.
Mr Corcoran was the assistant commissioner at the time of Astill’s offending. The Telegraph does not suggest wrongdoing on Mr Corcoran’s part.
Mr Tidball announced the sacking in an email to staff.
“Kevin Corcoran will be leaving his role as Commissioner of Corrective Services NSW, effective today,” the email said.
Mr Tidball described the period of the Astill inquiry as an “extremely challenging time for Corrective Services”.
Astill was last year sentenced to a maximum 23 years in prison after being convicted of more than 30 charges, including aggravated sexual assault and indecent assault while working at the northwestern Sydney corrections centre.
The probe into Astill’s offending was last year upgraded to a Special Commission of Inquiry, which gives the highest levels of investigative powers available in NSW.
The inquiry probed whether any Corrective Services employee had “knowledge or reasonable suspicion” of Astill’s offending, and – if so – what action was taken.
It also investigated what systems of supervision and oversight applied to Astill, the procedures by which inmates or staff could raise complaints about misconduct, and whether any matters arising from the inquiry should be referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption or the NSW Police Force for further investigation.
Counsel Assisting the inquiry listed a number of “proposed recommendations” in closing submissions last year.
They include that security cameras at the Dillwynia Correctional Centre be upgraded as an “urgent priority,” and ensuring that records of disciplinary processes are kept on an employee’s personnel file that can be accessed within Corrective Services and the Department of Communities and Justice. Counsel Assisting also proposed that the inquiry recommend that, in urban areas, prison officers in an “intimate relationship” with each other should not be able to work in the same prison.
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