Win for Prison Officers

We are pleased to announce after years of campaigning by WAPOU, prisoners who assaulted a Prison Officer and are suspected of having an infectious disease, will undergo mandatory testing.
 
The Prisons Amendment Bill 2020, passed Parliament yesterday and will remove the need for WA Prison Officers to wait three months to learn if they have been infected with a life-changing disease by requiring prisoners to be tested.
 
The infectious status of a prisoner can also now be disclosed to the officer affected, although they will be bound not to reveal that information to others.
 
To assist with the enforcement of these changes, the penalties for a prisoner failing to cooperate with providing a blood or bodily fluid sample have increased to $3,000 and/or six months’ extra jail time and/or separate confinement for 28 days.
 
The laws also cover incidents when a Prison Officer has been accidentally stuck by a needle with bodily fluids and other circumstances where a Prison Officer comes into contact with bodily fluids.
 
The provisions in the Bill have brought the protection offered to WA Prison Officers in line with WA police officers.