OZschwitz gulag: ICAC slams prison security

Subject: OZschwitz gulag: ICAC slams prison security Mon Aug 02, 2010 4:09 am

THE Independent Commission Against Corruption has slammed security standards in NSW prisons.

An ICAC report last week found senior corrections officer Sebastian Wade had supplied prisoners at John Morony Correctional Centre in Windsor with drugs and other contraband for up to $1000 for each delivery.

Corrective Services Commissioner Ron Woodham said there had been a ''total breakdown of procedures'' at Windsor. But the report extended its criticism to all the state's jails.

In the sixth ICAC investigation into contraband trafficking by prison officers, it found security measures were still ''seriously deficient''.

When asked by ICAC if it had been easy to smuggle in contraband, officer Wade said it was. Do you just bring it in, asked the commissioner, and ''no one checks?'' Officer Wade said yes.

Security at the corrections centres is notoriously lax. At Windsor, staff pass through a security checkpoint before reaching their lockers and changing into their work clothes.

Even if proper searches were conducted, staff would have plausible explanations for carrying contraband such as mobile phones.

Officer Wade claimed he had brought in goods to maintain a good relationship with some, so they would tell him what was going on.

A former prisoner who spoke to The Sun-Herald confirmed this sometimes happened, with prisoners ''returning the favour by giving the guards a heads-up'' on a serious incident involving inmates, including a ''full-on race war''.

The source said: ''To put it simply, it's not very hard to get anything inside. The drugs are shared with close friends. They're a release from the mundane experience of life inside. There is a black market where prices are bordering on the ridiculous, but people do pay.''

The source said guards searched inmates who had had visits from family and friends.

''That's why there's a strip search every time,'' he said, ''and they make you squat in case you decided to 'cheek' stuff.''

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OZschwitz gulag: ICAC slams prison security

OZschwitz gulag: ICAC slams prison security

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