Two hundred officers at the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre in Silverwater were placed on leave as “close contacts” to Covid-19 cases at a single time during the height of the Delta wave — sparking the need for executive staff to fill their shoes.
NSW Government documents, obtained following an order for papers by Labor MLC and Shadow Corrections spokeswoman Tara Moriarty, revealed executive officers at the remand centre “provided backfill due to staff shortages” around September 20 as cases across the state reached 1700.
A briefing into the MRRC by Justice Health reviewed the movement of officers at the facility, with restriction around meal breaks, daily testing of officers and the testing of inmates leaving the facility.
“200 staff at MRRC off,” the briefing notes read. “Executive staff “man-posting” over the weekend due to staff shortage.
“Smaller centres will need to be closed and staff redirected to MRRC over the coming weeks.”
A Corrective Services NSW spokeswoman confirmed as many as 200 officers were on leave for a brief period at the height of the pandemic.
“In order to replace officers who were isolating because they had been identified and assessed to be close contacts of confirmed Covid-19 positive cases,” the spokeswoman said.
Meanwhile, in a September 14 briefing, a Justice Health chaired meeting warned of statewide issues, telling representatives “both CSNSW and the (Justice Health) Network cannot sustain the number of staff currently off”.
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The revelation regarding the number of officers placed on leave comes as it can also be revealed indigenous elders and aunties were brought in to correctional centres to “speak with patients” about increasing vaccination rates.
A September 27 Justice Health report confirmed the introduction of elders into facilities was to boost “Aboriginal population vaccination numbers”.
The documents also revealed elders “attended Youth Justice centres to discuss Covid” on September 17.
However, NewsLocal understands the decision by Corrective Services and Justice Health to allow Aboriginal elders, “who are recognised to have greater health risks in relation to contracting Covid-19”, was criticised by staff.
A source said staff at one NSW correctional centre refused to allow for “vulnerable elders” to be let into facilities due to the heightened risk.
Shadow Corrections spokeswoman Tara Moriarty said the management of the Covid outbreak lead to “concerning staff shortages and put many Officers at risk, with up to 200 on leave at one point”.
“CSNSW Officers have a tough enough job as it is, they shouldn’t have been in this situation,” she said. How is it possible, that over 18 months into this pandemic, the NSW Government and CSNSW were so unprepared?”
Justice Health was contacted for comment.
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