Rumour Has It!

I have heard from a number of sources that Peter, (the prisoner’s friend) Severins, Commissioner of NSW Corrective Services, is skating on thin ice.   It is most unlikely that his contract will be renewed if not terminated in the mean time.

It has become more increasingly obvious that his advice continues to embarrass the Minister for Corrective Services.   The nonsense that comes from within the Department to the Minister, and subsequently the Premier, is beyond comprehension and without any real substance or purpose.

Mr. Severins must believe that the “old school” Prison Officers of yesteryear, are prepared to sit back and allow that disgraceful episode from Ms. Lauren Oliver to pass us by.

Let me assure Mr. Severins and the Minister, that this is not the case.   They can both look forward to this continuing until a satisfactory result occurs in fact I can guarantee that shortly, there will be a concerted effort to obtain a satisfactory result in relation to Ms. Oliver and Mr. Severins.

This morning on Chanel 7, there was an article from a young Prison Officer desperately trying to obtain recognition from those very brave Prison Officers who, at the risk of their own peril, rescued some Prison Officers locked in a cell within 13 Wing in the Metropolitan Remand Centre at the Long Bay Prison Complex in 1986.   It was a highly volatile and dangerous riot situation that the rescuing officers confronted.

I am reliably informed that Mr. Severins shook his head and said, “That was in the past so we’re not interested in it now” (paraphrasing).

If it were a prisoner that had carried out these outstanding brave acts, there is no doubt in my mind that Mr. Severins would have rushed to ensure the prisoner was recognised for his bravery.

Mr. Severins is a disgrace and embarrassment to the Prison industry.   He does not have an original thought in his head.    All of the programs he has put into place were tried in the 1970s and 1980s, many of which were a failure during that period.

If Mr. Severins and the New South Wales Government listened to the people whom they represent and who pay their wages, they would find the people no longer want their prisoners mollycoddled and millions of dollars squandered on useless and unsuccessful programs that have little or no value.    What the people want now is for their prisoners to be treated humanely but not living in luxury, especially when many of their citizens who we often find have fought for this country, are homeless, struggling to survive.

This I believe

Peter T Egge

Jailbreak

​I received a short email from Wendy Lewis who tells me that her new book, "Jailbreak" has now  been released for sale.

I am most excited about the release of this book and very much looking forward to getting my hands on it and once I do, I will give you all a book review.

Peter Egge

Significant lapse in security

In the Sunday Telegraph, dated 4th September 2016, I am reliably informed that there was an article concerning the most significant lapse in security I have heard not involving a murder or an escape.


The article alleges that and Overseer took a convicted prisoner into the Central Industrial Prison's Armoury for the purposes of painting the Armoury.


The Central Industrial Prison was built between 1901 and 1909,   Since its completion there has never been a prisoner allowed to go anywhere near the armoury for sound, security reasons.


The prisoners now have first hand knowledge of the layout of the Armoury, where it is situated, and what it contains.


I am also led to believe that a Senior Assistant Superintendent has resigned over this incident.


In my day, it was the Superintendent who was responsible for what occurred in his Gaol, not a Senior Assistant Superintendent.


This incident has caused me major concerns over the recruitment and training of Prison Officers in recent years.   It is now time for another Royal Commission into the Department of Corrective Services.   It is currently failing the public.


My father-n-law, Colin McCarthy, had a very relevant saying, “Common sense is the yardstick by which I measure everything”.   It appears common sense has long been lacking in the New South Wales Department of Corrective Services.


This I believe.


Peter T. Egge

LIES BEGET LIES

When I was five years old, my father instilled in me the importance of always being truthful, and would use the following example as a means of illustrating his point. “If you tell one lie, you have to tell ten more to cover the first”.


What has happened within the Department of Corrective Services is actually the proof of my father's theory.   Director of Brush Farm Training Acadamy Lauren Oliver, the Director of Media & Communications Mr. Michael Duffy, and the Commission of Corrective Services Mr. Peter Severin have been telling one lie after another in an effort to cover up the calculated indiscretion and the disgraceful conduct on Ms. Oliver's part, when she quoted in the Sunday Telegraph dated 26th June 2016, “Those old fat white guys wouldn't last very long these days”.   She further stated, “That's the old culture, our staff is fighting so hard against that”.   And worst still she inferred that we, (the old Prison Officers), could not deescalate a situation and went on to state that modern guards have to be good communicators and be fit enough to respond to an emergency, inferring that we were not.


As you may already know, following these outrageous statements against those very honorable Prison Officers of yesteryear, the Department issued a communication blaming the reporter Jordan Baker, and denied that Ms. Oliver had used those terms.   They also indicated that Ms. Oliver was not put forward as a representative of the Department.


I have been informed recently that an ex Prison Officer made direct contact with the reporter, Jordan Baker, in regard to his reporting of this claim.  Jordan Baker categorically stated that the entire story had been authorised by Mr. Severin, the Commissioner of Corrective Services and the words quoted directly from Ms. Oliver were actually stated to Jordan no less than six or seven times.    In addition Ms. Oliver was put up to the reporter as being the representative of the Department.


I am also aware that an ex Officer has directly complained to the Minister's Office.   It seems that these famous three, Mr. Severin, Mr. Duffy and Ms. Oliver, have turned this situation into a “YES MINISTER”, liking it to the television series, either deliberately or negligently, misleading or lying to the Minister of Corrective Services, a Member of Parliament.  If deliberately, or misleading a Minister of the Crown is not an offense, it most certainly should be.


This whole matter could have been sorted out very simply and amicably  had Ms. Oliver given a simple statement, apologising for her in-discretion, and accepting full responsibility for her wrongful remarks.


These three high ranking officials, Mr. Severin, Mr. Duffy and Ms. Oliver, are blatant lairs.   They expect from their subordinate staff the highest of integrity, yet they are unable to reach credible standards themselves.


I call on the Minister of Corrective Services to dismiss these three, as their integrity is of a standard that he, the Minister, could have no faith or confidence in their ability to communicate truthfully with him when such an occasion arises.


This matter will not go away.  

This I believe

Peter T. Egge


I most cordially invite, Mr. Severin, Mr. Duffy and Ms. Oliver the right of reply, or indeed to offer their apology to those like me who were so hurt by the stinging, flippant, uneducated remarks and the lies that have followed.

Ken Horton RIP

I was saddened to hear of the loss of Ken Horton recently.


Ken started duties with the Department of Corrective Services shortly after I commenced, however he was about ten years older than me.   We had many conversations together, both involving our employment as well as our personal lives.   He was a great Prison Officer and was very well respected.    I have never heard a bad word spoken about Ken, most probably because he was an exceptionally nice man and a diligent officer.   I enjoyed his company and the time I spent working with him.  


He will be sadly missed by all those who knew him and I am sorry that I had not been in contact with him for many years.


Peter T. Egge

The Ananda Marga – Anderson, Alister and Dunn – Hilton Bombing

The Hilton bombing occurred on 13th February 1978.   It was the first Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting (CHOGRM).    The bomb was planted in a rubbish bin directly outside the main entrance to the Hilton Hotel in Sydney.   The bomb exploded when the bin was emptied into a garbage truck at 12.40 hours, killing two garbage collectors, Alec Carter and William Favell, a police officer Paul Birmistriw succumbed to his horrific injuries and died later, while 11 other people suffered serious injury.  There were 12 foreign leaders staying at the Hilton Hotel at the time of the explosion.


The Ananda Marga sect were targeted and blamed for this blatant act of terrorism and three of its members were arrested, namely Timothy Anderson, Ross Dunn and Paul Alister.   All three were convicted and sent to prison.   My understanding is they were later pardoned and received compensation for false imprisonment.

In this country, once pardoned, they are entitled to be considered innocent of the crimes they had been charged with.  It seems to me the evidence was deemed unreliable, yet the case is very similar to that of Lindy Chamberlain, she has been pardoned and exonerated of all crimes, therefore is entitled to the presumption of innocence, yet debate still remains today surrounding her innocence by a small minority of people who were so convinced of her guilt at the time of her trial, that they refuse to accept the court’s eventual finding, and so it is to some extent the same for Anderson, Dunn and Alister.

I do not hide the fact that I did not like them, they were always agitating for something, vegetarian meals and supplements, including a variety of nuts and other special vegetarian foods and green tea.  One of their principles and commitments to the sect was that they were vegetarian.  There was always an ample supply of vegetables on the food barrow, they just needn’t have taken the meat, after all they were in prison for goodness sake.   There are pensioners who have worked hard all their lives who could not afford to live in luxury like these prisoners were beginning to.

On one occasion Anderson, Dunn and Alister were housed in 13 Wing in the Metropolitan Remand Centre, at the Long Bay Prison complex. On the “D” watch (14.00 to 22.00 hours), were two very experienced officers Sandie Storie and John Royce, both of whom I knew and had a lot of respect for.   Around 18.00 hours Mr Royce received information the prisoners on the middle landing were going to refuse to go to their cells at lock in time (21.30 hours).   Mr Royce informed Principal Prison Officer Mr Dyson of the pending trouble in the wing.

Mr Dyson instructed Mr Royce of the procedure he was to carry out.  

Should the prisoners refuse to go to their cells at lock in time, Mr Storie was to issue a direct order to the prisoners to go to their cells.

If they refused Mr Storie’s direct order, he (Mr Royce) was to issue a direct order to the prisoners to go to their cells.

Should the prisoners refuse both officers’ direct orders, Mr Dyson was to be notified immediately.

The prisoners refused the direct orders from Mr. Storie and Mr. Royce.

To find out what happens next in this tense standoff, read my book “Cutting the Bars – Volume 3”, page 70.

NO APOLOGY AS YET FROM MS. OLIVER

My understanding is that the Department of Corrective Services was inundated with complaints about the news article in the Daily Telegraph dated 26th June 2016, as outlined in my previous blog, titled:

“DIRECTOR LAUREN OLIVER - A disgrace to her uniform and dishonourable conduct towards the memory of thousands of hard working, honest prison officers from yesteryear.

The Director of Media and Communications, Mr. Michael Duffy, issued a limited apology the following day to those Officers who had complained.   To the best of my knowledge, this limited apology was not published in the Daily Telegraph.

The apology reads:
There has been criticism by staff of a feature story in yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph about Corrective Services NSW. I apologise to everyone who was offended by the way this turned out.
The article was intended to focus on training and recruits, to assist with our recruitment program. The journalist interviewed some recruits and Lauren Oliver, the Director of the Brush Farm Academy.

Ms Oliver gave an interview that was entirely positive about the staff of CSNSW and the work they do. Her use of the terms “old fat white guys” and “old culture” was in response to the use of similar terms by the journalist, in a question about stereotypes of custodial officers seen in films and on television.

The newspaper decided to turn some of Ms Oliver’s general comments into a major part of the story, and to run a large picture of her. We had no control over those decisions. Newspapers do not show articles to subjects before publication.

We did not present Ms Oliver as a spokesperson for custodial corrections, and she did not agree to do the interview on that basis.

Dealing with the media always involves an element of unpredictability. In this case I got it wrong.

Michael Duffy
Director, Media & Communications

I appreciate the fact that Mr Duffy has accepted responsibility and has apologised, however he is not the person who quoted those hurtful and inaccurate aspersions towards Prison Officers from the past.

I am still waiting for an apology from the person who was quoted, and that is clearly Ms. Lauren Oliver.   She cannot escape the responsibility of her remarks.   She must apologise unequivocally to those many honest, hard working and responsible Prison Officers from yesteryear.

If Ms. Oliver is unable to find it in her heart to accept responsibility for those words that she is quoted as saying, (please read my previous blog), she should resign her position as Director of Brush Farm Prison Officer Training Academy.

In lieu of her apology or resignation, I call on the Commissioner of Corrective Services Mr. Peter Severins, to take extreme disciplinary action against her for her insulting and discriminatory remarks.

I am aware that the Department of Corrective Services Media Section have full knowledge of my blogs.   This matter will not go away and I will keep all my readers up to date with any progress or lack thereof through this web page.

This I believe.

Peter T. Egge