ALLEGED CHILD ABUSE MATERIAL IN PRISONS YET ANOTHER FAILURE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

The WA Prison Officer’s Union (WAPOU) is calling for the Department of Justice to take urgent action over chronic understaffing issues after a career paedophile housed in Casuarina Prison was allegedly able to reoffend through the private use of a laptop while awaiting trial.

It is a legal requirement for prisoners to be able to access legal resources, generally through the use of a prison library with adequate supervision to ensure appropriate use of the resources.

However, chronic understaffing has forced the closure of prison libraries at Casuarina and Hakea, meaning that in order to meet the legal requirement, prisoners have been allowed to access laptops alone in their cells.

It was in these circumstances that the prisoner was allegedly able to access and distribute child abuse material.

WAPOU Secretary Andy Smith warned more incidents like this could occur if the Department of Justice does not act now.

“Whether prisoners are on remand, or serving their sentences, they are supposed to be in an environment where they cannot reoffend and the community is kept safe,” he said.

“Had there been adequate staffing numbers, the prisoner would have been able to use appropriate library facilities under the supervision of prison staff rather than being allowed unsupervised access to a laptop for hours at a time in the privacy of his cell.

“This alleged incident is disturbing and could have been avoidable if the Department of Justice had listened to our warnings about the impact of staff shortages and taken action sooner.

“If they continue to fail to listen to our warnings, we will continue to see reoffending in prisons along with other serious incidents such as assaults and deaths.”

MEDIA CONTACT: Amy Blom amy@regenstrategic.com.au
0431 685 372