Cessnock jail contraband crackdown: Visitors to face tough new screening measures

Inmates and visitors at Cessnock Correctional Complex will undergo full-body screening as face-to-face visitation resumes.

The NSW Government will spend $19m to stop the smuggling of contraband into the state’s prisons. Picture: Supplied/NSW Police.

Visitors to Cessnock Correctional Complex will face tough new screening measures as prisons crackdown on the smuggling of drugs and other contraband.

Hunter and Shortland jails, both located within the complex, will be among the first in the state to have new body scanners installed.

Inmates will be scanned following contact visits, and when first arriving at the maximum-security prison.

The screening of visitors to the complex will begin soon.

New body scanners have been installed for prisoners and visitors to Cessnock Correctional Complex. Picture: Supplied/Corrective Services NSW.

Counter Terrorism and Corrections Minister Anthony Roberts said $19m would be spent installing body scanners at prisons across the state.

The safe and secure operation of our prisons is an investment in community safety,” Mr Roberts said.

“Keeping inmates off drugs and on the path to rehabilitation is crucial to reducing reoffending rates.

“By significantly reducing the trafficking of contraband in prisons, we can create greater opportunities for detox programs and increase engagement in education and therapeutic programs, aimed at addressing offending behaviour.”

Corrections officers in July thwarted an alleged attempt to smuggle contraband over the walls of Cessnock Jail.

Corrective Services officers allegedly found a drone with drugs attached when they stopped and searched a vehicle near Cessnock Jail in July. Picture: Supplied/NSW Police.

Three people were charged after officers found a drone, string and a tennis ball that were allegedly to be used to drop a package containing illicit drugs, a mobile phone and cash into the prison.

A corrections officer pleaded guilty in 2018 to smuggling contraband into the complex, in an unrelated offence.

Beau David Martin said he felt pressured to deliver mobile phones, cigarettes and drugs to inmates.

He was sentenced to a 12-month intensive corrections order in July of that year.

In 2017, two inmates were investigated after $4000 worth of tobacco was found in a garbage bin in the jail’s visitor car park.

Two work-release inmates were allegedly caught retrieving the contraband from the bin.

A surveillance operation netted $4,500 worth of tobacco left in a bin outside Cessnock Jail in 2017.

COVID-19 had stemmed the supply of illicit drugs into Cessnock Jail.

A riot broke out in April, one month after in-person visits were stopped because of the pandemic.

Inmates allegedly started fires and threatened staff as they demanded opioid substitution therapy, to help manage withdrawals caused by the loss of the supply of illicit drugs.

More than 20 inmates were charged over the riot.

In-person visits resumed at Cessnock Jail this week.

Visits have been adjusted, with mandatory social distancing, temperature checks and personal protective equipment.

Corrective Services Commissioner Peter Severin said video visits made available during the pandemic would continue.