Fix Risdon Prison staffing crisis or resign, corrections minister told
The state government will hold talks with prison union reps this week in a bid to find solutions to continuing staff shortages that are leading to lockdowns. LATEST >>
Tasmania
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- Tasmania’s prisons branded an ‘international scandal’
- Risdon Prison staff raise management concerns and work safety fears
THE state government will hold talks with the unions representing prison officers this week in a bid to find solutions to continuing staff shortages, Corrections Minister Elise Archer said.
Prison officers staged a two hour stopwork meeting on Monday after the assault of three officers in a short-staffed section of the prison.
A lack of staff has caused a series of problems at the prison, including excessive lockdowns, a high level of overtime and increased workers compensation claims.
During an inspection of construction work at the new 156-bed Southern Remand Centre at Risdon on Tuesday, Ms Archer said
But she could not put a timeline on when minimum standards could be met.
“I don’t shy away from the challenges that are that exists in our Tasmanian prison system,” she said.
“We are tackling those issues as fast as we can but nobody can say that we haven’t as a government invested in our prison service.
“I’ll be meeting with both unions involved tomorrow to put some strategies to them to help relieve some of the capacity pressures that we’re experiencing.”
Ms Archer said lockdowns at the prison were sometimes necessary because of security issues.
“The usage of lock downs is far more complicated than just saying it’s because of short staffing,” she said.
“We’re working towards providing the safest environment possible for our prisoners and our staff. I don’t take that lightly. And we are doing everything possible to address these issues.
A recent report by the Custodial Inspector noted that recruitment was barely keeping pace with staff attrition “with no contingency resources for unplanned leave and staff shortages”.
Labor’s shadow attorney general Ella Haddad said Risdon was “a pressure cooker ready to explode” because of staff shortages years in the making.
“The situation at Risdon prison is escalating daily.
“We’re now hearing multiple reports that since the assault on prison officers last week, the situation is going from bad to worse.
“There are rolling lockdowns that are now happening for sometimes 24 hours for days on end, it’s completely unacceptable that the prison has to go into lockdown as much as they have been.
Fix prison staffing crisis or resign, minister told - July 17
CORRECTIONS Minister Elise Archer should urgently address a staffing “crisis” at Risdon Prison or resign, a key union says.
In the wake of three correctional officers being hospitalised on Wednesday, correctional officers will hold a stopwork meeting at the prison on Monday at 1pm.
In a letter to Ms Archer, Community and Public Sector Union assistant secretary Tom Lynch said when the three correctional officers were assaulted at the prison, 54 staff should have been working but “they were 19 short of that”.
“While it is appalling three dedicated correctional officers were assaulted in the course of their work, we understand that it was sheer luck that more weren’t injured or that the injuries weren’t worse,” he said.
“Enough is enough.
“We have too few correctional officers.
“We have a training system that is incapable of recruiting and training sufficient new correctional officers to maintain numbers let alone increase them to staff new facilities.”
In the letter, Mr Lynch said the prison had a management culture that “blames, bullies and fails to support frontline staff resulting in high turnover”.
“You have a clear choice – take action to address the issues urgently or resign as minister and give the job to someone who is willing to act,” he wrote.
Ms Archer said the safety of staff, prisoners and the community was a top priority for the government.
“I thank our hard-working Tasmania Prison Service staff for the work they do under challenging circumstances,” she said.
“The government has invested significantly in our prison system and we are recruiting correctional officers at a rate never seen before, and we continue to recruit as fast as we can.
“We’ve employed more than 200 extra correctional officers in our prison system since 2016, including 79 in 2020 alone – despite Covid-19 – with at least two new recruitments planned this year and the first of those are already underway.”
Ms Archer said she recognised the pressures that existed at the prison and the challenges for staff and prisoners alike.
“We will continue to provide additional resources to support staff at our prison facilities to do this difficult job, and we remain absolutely committed to addressing the challenges within the prison service,” she said.
Mr Lynch said he was sick of hearing how much the government was spending on corrections when the staffing situation was getting worse.
“It’s a crisis and we need a solution because our prison system is failing,” he said.
“Things have got worse, not better, and it is impacting the health and safety of correctional officers every day and inmates’ education and rehabilitation.”
Mr Lynch said if urgent steps were not taken to address the crisis, the only option for correctional officers was to take action themselves to protect their health and safety.
Government defends resourcing of prisons
THE state government has defended its resourcing of Tasmania’s prison system, amid strong criticism linked to lockdowns and rising tension at Risdon Prison.
Three correctional officers were hospitalised and another was treated on site after two separate incidents involving inmates at the prison on Wednesday.
The alleged violence followed lockdowns at the Risdon Vale facility in the preceding days.
It prompted the United Workers Union to write to Premier Peter Gutwein to seek an urgent meeting about staff shortages.
Corrections Minister Elise Archer said any assault of a correctional officer was unacceptable.
“There is no excuse for any type of assault or violent behaviour, and several incidents in recent days have been appropriately referred to Tasmania Police where they will be properly investigated,’’ she said.
“While lockdowns are a necessary and unavoidable part of our prison system, prison management continues to explore a variety of other strategies to minimise their likelihood.”
Ms Archer said the government had employed more than 200 extra correctional officers in the prison system since 2016, including 79 last year.
She said two new recruitments were planned this year, with the first already underway.
But the union accused the government of cutbacks, and blamed the alleged violence as being the result of recent lockdowns.
Prisoners Legal Service chair Greg Barns said lockdowns created an unsafe environment for prisoners and staff.
Meanwhile, Labor justice spokeswoman Ella Haddad said the recent incidents showed the situation at Risdon was escalating.
A report last month by the state’s Custodial Inspector found the high incidence of lockdowns in Tasmania’s prison system was a breach of state law and basic human rights standards and put staff and inmates at risk.
Multiple workers at Risdon Prison hospitalised after lockdown
A RISDON Prison officer allegedly bitten by an inmate was among several corrections workers hospitalised after two separate incidents at the prison on Wednesday, says a union.
The United Workers Union has blamed recent extended lockdowns for the violence, and wrote to Premier Peter Gutwein on Thursday to seek an urgent meeting on the issue.
The union’s Tasmanian correctional delegate Phil Pregnell called on the state government to “end the cutbacks and neglect” to enable correctional officers to do their jobs.
“When you fail correctional officers, you fail inmates and the community,’’ he said.
“The buck stops with the Premier and I call on him to meet with us urgently to discuss how we can address the problems.”
A justice department spokesman confirmed there were two separate incidents at the prison on Wednesday, with three correctional staff taken to hospital for assessment, with one more assessed onsite.
“The Tasmania Prison Service can confirm that these incidents have been referred to Tasmania Police for further investigation,’’ he said.
“It would be inappropriate to comment further while this investigation is underway.”
Mr Pregnell said union members were angry that their health and safety was being put at risk.
Prisoners Legal Service chair Greg Barns SC said he was not surprised there had been incidents of violence at the prison and also blamed lockdowns.
“There is no doubt that lockdowns create a very unsafe environment for prisoners and for staff,” he said.
“We’re certainly aware of increasing tensions and justifiable anger on the part of prisoners because of lockdowns.
“The government is presiding over this mess and it needs to fix it because the harm to workers and prisoners is getting more severe and the level of unrest at the prison is increasing.”
Labor’s justice and corrections spokeswoman Ella Haddad said the latest issue at the prison was “extremely concerning”.
“This is yet another example of how the situation at Risdon is escalating every day,’’ she said.
“It’s continuing to be extremely dangerous for staff and inmates.
“We know that some of the reasons for escalating tensions at the prison are these rolling lockdowns that have only continued to get worse since that most recent report.”
That report last month by the state’s Custodial Inspector found the high incidence of lockdowns in Tasmania’s prison system was a breach of state law and basic human rights standards and put staff and inmates at risk.
Days long lockdown at Risdon Prison sparks concerns
SOME inmates at Risdon Prison had been locked in their cells and not let out between last Thursday and Monday, just weeks after a damning report on the practice, it has been claimed.
Prison Action Reform chair Greg Barns said multiple prisoners had reported the lockdown.
But the claim was denied by a Department of Justice spokesman, who said: “Every prisoner within the Risdon Prison Complex has had time out of their cell over the past few days.”
Mr Barns said prisoners could have time cut from their sentences if the lockdowns continue.
“The government needs to reconsider refusing to allow time to be taken off the sentence of individuals who are subject to these lockdowns,” he said.
“There should be one day off for every day of lockdowns, they are intolerable and they are serious breaches of human rights.”
A report last month by the state’s Custodial Inspector found the high incidence of lockdowns in Tasmania’s prison system is a breach of state law and basic human rights standards and put staff and inmates at risk,
Tasmanian prisoners spend less time outside their cells than prisoners anywhere else in the country — an average of two hours less a day.
Richard Connock’s report tabled in state parliament on Thursday recorded 399 lockdowns in maximum security in December 2020 alone — mostly associated with staff shortages.
Acting Premier Jeremy Rockliff said the government had increased staffing in prisons and lockdowns were an unfortunate fact of life.
“When it comes to resourcing our prison service, my understanding is that we’ve increased resources quite considerably since 2016 and even more recently, in actual fact,” he said.
“Of course, we have to provide a very safe environment within our prison — that means that lockdowns are sometimes necessary.
“We have increased resources enormously into our prison service and I know it’s been needed. We want to ensure that the health and safety of people who work within our prison system and the prisoners themselves, of course, have the highest possible safety and care.”
But Labor’s Bastian Seidel said the situation was unacceptable.
“It’s very clear that very basic human rights have been denied to prisoners.
“That’s something we’ve pointed out repeatedly over the months … it’s something we should all expect basic human rights, even when you are a prisoner in a prison.
“That hasn’t happened, that’s why there are concerns and nobody should be surprised about that.”
Teen kept in cell with no mattress, but conditions improving: report
A teenage prisoner was kept in a cell without a mattress or any personal items under an unsanctioned “hostile management regime” at the Risdon Prison Complex, a report has found.
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