Overcrowded prison system forces jailers to ‘stack’ inmates, some with mattresses on floors

THE government will cram an extra 742 prisoners into ­already overcrowded jails, as it seeks to deal with a record 12,300 prisoners in NSW.

A view of Baabda Court/Prison in Beirut, Lebanon, where authorities overcome overcrowding by building holding cells two floors beneath ground. Sally Faulkner, Tara Brown and other 60 Minutes crew were held in these cells when appearing in court.

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THE government will cram an extra 742 prisoners into ­already overcrowded jails, even putting three beds to a cell in some cases as it seeks to deal with a record 12,300 prisoners in NSW.

A Corrective Services document even suggests putting mattresses on cell floors.

The document detailing the stacking up of prisoners, ­obtained by the Opposition, gives a prison-by-prison breakdown — with 102 extra beds at Silverwater Correctional Centre, 36 at Kempsey and 24 at Nowra, mostly through triple beds in cells, plus a further 60 at John Morony Correctional Centre.

It also includes the conversion of Berrima and parts of Grafton jails from minimum to medium security, with an extra 45 prisoners added at Wellington, 57 at Grafton, 90 at Bathurst, 74 at Goulburn and 25 at Tamworth. At Goulburn, cells will go from single occupant to two occupants.

The document also details moves proposed by the department, but not yet approved by management, including “mattresses on floor” to get another 96 inmates into the South Coast Correctional Centre and the possible “conversion of ­industries area into secure ­inmate accommodation” to ­attempt to fit another 160 prisoners into Lithgow jail.

Opposition Corrections spokesman Guy Zangari said “jamming” three maximum ­security prisoners into one cell was “a recipe for disaster”.

A cell block at Silverwater prison such as this might take a mattress on the floor to accommodate a third prisoner.

“Violence is already escalating inside prison walls due to overcrowding,” he said.

“The sickening attack on an inmate recently highlighted the failures of the system under (Corrective Services Minister) David Elliott’s watch. “These are all stop-gap measures. The next stage is putting mattresses on the floor, which has also been considered by the department.

“Mr Elliott needs to explain how Goulburn Supermax is going to house up to double the number of inmates under this proposal approved by the government.”

Mr Elliott’s spokeswoman said the state government had delivered more than 2800 ­additional beds since March 2014 and was “progressing plans to build a new prison in Grafton and expand Parklea”.

“This working document shows Corrective Services is in constant discussion with the union about ways to increase short-term capacity while maintaining the safety and ­security of staff and inmates.”

The jail overcrowding crisis resulted from the O’Farrell government shutting prisons while bail laws were softened. Bail laws were later toughened up by Premier Mike Baird after a public outcry.