South Australia's Public Service Union claims three prisoners have been violently assaulted by other inmates in the past week, with each incident requiring hospitalisation. Staffing changes and cost-cutting measures are being blamed for the rise in violence.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00The State's Public Service Association has described the latest attack which occurred
00:07just yesterday morning as very serious and it's now calling on the Department for Correctional
00:12Services to implement urgent changes.
00:15The union says that the victim of yesterday's attack was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital
00:19for a medical assessment and it says that this was the third serious assault involving
00:24a weapon here at Yatla Labor Prison in the past week.
00:28The other two separate incidents reportedly occurred on Wednesday and Thursday.
00:33The union claims that an increase in violence is a direct result of cost-cutting measures
00:37which have been implemented from 2019 onwards, which it says includes fewer regular searches
00:43of prisoners being carried out.
00:46The department says that it reported the alleged assault to SA Police yesterday and it's denied
00:52that this incident is a reflection of inadequate staffing or under-resourcing.
00:57The Corrections Minister, Emily Burke, has also refuted claims that fewer searches are
01:02occurring in the state's prison system, saying in fact there was a record number of searches
01:07conducted in the last financial year, but the union has now called on the department
01:12for an urgent meeting to discuss solutions, with of course staff safety the main concern.