Prison Officer lucky to escape with minor injuries after serious attack at Albany Regional Prison

A Prison Officer was lucky to escape with minor injuries after a serious attack by a prisoner at Albany Regional Prison.

The Prison Officer was in the kitchen yesterday (Thursday) when the prisoner sneaked into the area, after earlier being stood down from his duties as a kitchen hand.

The prisoner armed himself with a stainless steel pole and lunged at the Prison Officer, who was able to fend him off with a chair.

WA Prison Officers’ Union Secretary John Welch said the officer was very lucky to escape serious injury.

“This was a frenzied attack which could have been far more serious if the officer hadn’t been able to get a chair between himself and the prisoner,” he said.

“Luckily, the officer was able to escape with only scratches, but he was very shaken by the ferocity of the attack during which the prisoner smashed up the kitchen.”

Mr Welch said Albany prison was short staffed yesterday, and had 11 fewer officers than it needed to operate the prison safely.

“To add to the pressure, the prison population at Albany has increased to around 395, which is at least 140 prisoners over what it’s designed to hold,” he said.

“When you have continued overcrowding, it leads to more violent incidents like this happening.”

Mr Welch said the attack was an example of why Prison Officers deserved a pay increase higher than the government’s newly announced salary policy, which caps pay rises at 1.5% a year.

“This attack is a reminder that Prison Officers put themselves in harm’s way every day, and they deserve to be compensated for that, not forced into an agreement that in real terms will deliver them a pay cut.”