NSW correctional officers: Prison officers caught behaving badly, most shocking scandals

These are the disgraced NSW corrective services officers whose behaviour over the past three years landed them before a court. Read the full list.

Prison officers are supposed to uphold the law, but what happens when they are the ones in the wrong?

From smuggling contraband to sexual misconduct, NSW corrective services has weathered its fair share of scandals.

Last year, NewsLocal reported nine corrective services employees were before the courts for alleged sexual assault and rape incidents inside NSW prisons, with a further three officers suspended over claims of assault.

And, following the sentencing of a former corrective services NSW officer for sexual offences, an independent review was launched last month at Bathurst and Kirkconnell correctional centres.

This review will investigate the conduct of staff at both centre, specifically looking into claims local management failed to adequately respond to complaints of sexual misconduct among prison staff.

Speaking to NewsLocal, a NSW corrective services spokesman said all allegations of misconduct are taken seriously and there is a zero-tolerance approach towards negative behaviour.

“Prior to being offered employment with corrective services NSW, applicants are obliged to declare any past offences or any association with known offenders,” the spokesman said.

“They undergo a stringent criminal history check to ensure all information provided is accurate.

“If a person declares a past offence, a thorough risk assessment is undertaken to determine whether they are suitable for employment.”

According to this spokesman, all custodial officers go through 10 weeks full-time training and receive further training on the job. Staff who work directly with inmates are also required to undergo training targeted towards maintaining strong professional boundaries.

If a correctional officer is believed to have acted improperly, their case is referred to the Professional Standards Branch and, if this claim involves allegations of criminality, it is sent to the Corrective Services Investigations Unit.

Here are some of the most egregious cases of prison officer misconduct in NSW.

Melissa Goodwin

Melissa Goodwin. Picture: Gaye Gerard.

In a handwritten love letter, a NSW prison officer warned a prisoner of the “risks” she was taking for him, adding “I hope I’m right this time”, court documents reveal.

Suspended officer Melissa Goodwin pleaded guilty to engaging in an “intimate relationship” with Silverwater Remand Centre inmate Corey London.

London alleged Goodwin performed oral sex on five separate occasions between November 2019 and April 2020 in a Silverwater storeroom.

She was also accused of “kissing, touching, flirting” and talking with London on the phone and via the prison intercom, the court heard.

But Goodwin told the court their relationship was never sexual but she caused a safety risk by sending him a “boyfriend-girlfriend” handwritten love letter.

In June 2021, Goodwin was convicted of engaging in an intimate relationship and slapped with a 12-month community corrections order.

Vaughan Hunt

Vaughan Vati Teleni Hunt. Picture: Bianca De Marchi.

A former prison officer told a court about the simple way he smuggled drugs, phones and steroids into jail — in his pockets.

On each of the 12 occasions when Vaughan Vati Teleni Hunt brought contraband into Long Bay Prison over three months in 2019, he entered work normally through the prison scanners with the contraband in his pockets, a court heard.

“(The scanners) went off a few times but the officer who was behind there just let me go,” Hunt told the court in evidence.

“They just wand me and then let me through,” he continued, referring to a handheld detection wand.

Hunt pleaded guilty to corruptly receiving benefit and dealing with the proceeds of crime, both charges relating to the $12,000 he received for the “bad work” he did for inmates.

He was fired when the charges first came to light, the court heard.

Katherine Asiminaris

Katherine Asiminaris.

A former prison guard broke down in tears when she was convicted of abusing an underage inmate who she formerly oversaw.

Padstow local, Katherine Asiminaris, was found guilty of three counts of having sexual intercourse with a person under 16 and under authority.

These crimes occurred when Asiminaris was a prison officer at the Reiby Youth Justice Centre in the last 1990s.

There was a big cell in Reiby known as “the granny flat”, which was where boys would sometimes stay just before their release or as a reward, the trial was told.

“One night, while the complainant was in the granny flat … just before he went to bed, the accused was locking him in his cell, they went into the room, into the bathroom, and they had sexual intercourse there,” crown prosecutor Lara Gallagher previously told the court.

After a retrial, Asiminaris was found guilty of the offences in August 2020. She was convicted and will be eligible for parole this June.

Roni Taualupe

Roni Taualupe.

A western Sydney man smuggled contraband into a correctional centre because he feared for his family’s safety, a court heard.

Lalor Park local Roni Taualupe pleaded guilty to smuggling a package he believed contained tobacco into Parklea Correctional Centre in April 2020.

However, when the package was intercepted police found other substances inside, including meth, heroin and prescription medication.

Police later stopped Taualupe in the jail’s carpark, where they found six rounds of ammunition in his glovebox.

For his role smuggling contraband, Taualupe was slapped with a 10-month intensive corrections order (ICO) in March 2021.

Vicki Greenhalgh

Vicki Greenhalgh.

A covert operation uncovered an inappropriate relationship between a NSW Corrective Services officer and a former inmate — the pair were caught out in a secret rendezvous at a hotel in the Hunter Region.

Vicki Greenhalgh — who was a service and programs officer — struck up a romantic relationship with inmate Robert Parry at St Heliers Corrective Centre in Muswellbrook.

Court documents revealed the relationship was discovered in June 2020 by a colleague of Greenhalgh’s, when Parry’s profile appeared in the ‘people you may know’ section on Facebook, after he was released from jail.

After the Corrective Services Investigation Unit (CSIU) learned Parry was set to spend a night with his girlfriend at the Rydges Hotel in Newcastle City later that month, they contacted the hotel to confirm a booking made under the then 52-year-old.

Investigators also got hold of CCTV footage, which revealed the couple had also arrived together.

Two months later, CSIU arrested Greenhalgh at her Muswellbrook home.

Greenhalgh pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual conduct compromising a sentence, while a charge of engaging in a relationship with an inmate causing safety risk, was eventually withdrawn. She was sentenced to a 12 month community corrections order (CCO) in February 2021.