OPEN LETTER TO THE HONOURABLE
ROBERT BORSAK MLC, CHAIRMAN OF INQUIRY INTO PARKLEA CORRECTIONAL CENTRE
PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE NO 4 –
LEGAL AFFAIRS
The
Honourable Robert Borsak,
I
worked at Parklea Prison as a Senior Assistant Superintendent from January 1984
until June 1985. At that time Parklea
Prison was a Government run institution.
It was specifically designed for unit management. The staffing numbers were formulated for unit
management and the industries that were set up at the time.
In
relation to your Reference (a) Staffing
level: I bring to your notice that Parklea
Prison was opened in late 1983. Some
time following my departure from Parklea, the prison wings were redesigned and
the staffing reduced quite dramatically in an effort to cut costs. This never works. There have been two major riots at Parklea.
Reference (b) Inflow of contraband: Following the Royal Commission into New South
Wales Prisons in 1978 by Justice Nagle, the introduction of contact visits
opened the floodgates to the flow of contraband into maximum security
institutions. At such visits staffing
levels have always been at a minimum and continual surveillance is completely
impossible. Prior to the introduction of
contact visits in maximum security institutions, there was always a barrier
between the prisoner and the visitor, thus prohibiting the introduction of
contraband considerably. Contrary to
popular belief, I do not believe that most contraband is introduced into the
prisons by prison officers. By far the
majority of prison officers are true and honest people and are beyond
reproach. Being a prison officer is not
a job, but a way of life. I do concede
that on occasions an officer who is either naive or corrupt may have introduced
contraband into the prison, but the majority I believe comes through contact
visits as well as some being thrown over the walls concealed inside objects
such as tennis balls.
I
have a very strong view in relation to Reference
(e) Appropriateness of operation of private prisons: The New South Wales tax payers, through the
Australian Government, pay millions of dollars each year to the United Nations
to which Australia has been a proud and financial member since its
inception. I believe that private
prisons go against the United Nations charter.
The
following is an extract from the document entitled Standard Minimum Rules for
the Treatment of Prisoners and related recommendations of the Economic and
Social Council of the United Nations.
46 (1) The prison administration shall provide for
the careful selection of every grade of the personnel, since it is on their
integrity, humanity, professional capacity and personal suitability for the
work that the proper administration of the institutions depends.
(2) The prison administration shall constantly
seek to awaken and maintain in the minds of both the personnel and of the
public the conviction that this work is a social service of great importance,
and to this end all appropriate means of informing the public should be used.
(3) To secure the foregoing ends, personnel
shall be appointed on a full-time basis as professional prison officers and
have civil service status with security of tenure subject only to good conduct,
efficiency and physical fitness”.
My
research has shown that this document is still current and in use today. Please note there is no room in the above
document for casual employed prison officers. I am more than willing to supply more information
should you wish me to do so. You can
contact me by email at petertegge@gmail.com
I
am unable to comment on Reference (c),
(d) and (f).
This
I believe
Peter
T Egge
