Corrections officers are a “high chance” to walk off the job this week due to fears for their safety from overcrowded prisons, their union warned, while Corrections Minister Gerard Maley said he supports Corrections Commissioner Matthew Varley’s decision to enact “emergency measures” to move prisoners from Alice Springs to Darwin over the weekend despite the threat of industrial action.
Mr Varley issued an unusual press release at 8pm on Saturday night saying the Corrections Department was implementing the emergency measures to deal with “a rapid and continuing surge in prisoner numbers”, which included increasing Sector 10 of the Holtze Jail by 20 prisoners, while moving all the female prisoners from Alice Springs jail to Holtze until the new women’s facility in the soon-to-be repurposed but newly refurbished Alice Springs youth jail is ready in January.
Perhaps I am wrong, but this looks very much like the union expressing ALP outrage at being tossed so unceremoniously out of office. I interviewed all unions in 2021 and my impression was that their role was purely ideological and concern for members or the public was non-existent.
Yes. This is a difficult situation but it was created entirely by the ALP.
Lots of critics but nobody with a way to resolve the issue. Leaving prisons short staffed is not helping the rest of your team to be safe.
Stack em up 6 to a cell. Lock the door and feed them there
Let them out for an hour a day.
Prison guards are safe and it might just encourage the prisoners not to come back
They are the criminals not the victims
Another toll of “generational change” and an example of what happens when you permit ‘feelings’ to create policy. This sh!tshow will take time to clean up but at least we now have a government with the capacity to do so.