HOW can it happen again?
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Just six weeks after inmate Stephen Jamieson’s daring escape from maximum security, another prisoner has managed to flee Goulburn Jail.
“This is a very serious incident that should not have happened,” Commissioner Severin said in August after Jamieson used bedsheets to scale an outer wall.
How does Mr Severin explain the latest escape?
The community has a right to full answers, including how Beau Wiles escaped the demountables area, the level of supervision and whether the minimum security classification was justified.
Corrective Services will have its work cut out. A review of Jamieson’s escape is already underway. Minister David Elliot has also pledged an examination of Wiles’ escape.
Authorities should release explanations now rather than withhold comment, as they are, until after the reviews’ completion.
It’s an age old trick to avoid immediate embarrassment.
If the escapes are a failure of resourcing, the community has a right to know. If he was incorrectly classified, we should know this too. And importantly, how was Wiles able to access a mobile phone in prison and make Facebook posts, no less?
Mayor Geoff Kettle is demanding answers and so he should. While he is a firm supporter of Corrective Services and Police, the community should not be put in danger.
In August, Jamieson could have done much more than steal a ute at Carrick. School children too were frightened by the subsequent lockdown while police searched for him.
While we don’t jump to conclusions on how Wiles escaped, a bigger picture is also at stake.
It’s no secret that Goulburn Jail is overcrowded and under staffed.
A Department of Justice report released in April stated that Goulburn Jail had a design capacity for 321 inmates. Yet the general prison was running at 399 prisoners.
The Goulburn X-Wing (MPU and Unit 5) was running at capacity, as was the High Risk Management Centre.
Some 260 custodial officers were employed to look after more than 550 prisoners.
“I would be comfortable in saying (Jamieson’s alleged escape) came down to a strained system,” Prison Officers Vocational Branch State Executive Chair, Steve McMahon told the Post in August. He noted there had been no real new investment in jails.
We understand Corrective Services is considering extensions to Goulburn Jail. That would be a welcome addition, but like the hospital makeover, it must be matched by adequate staffing.
These are larger scale issues but for now, in the interests of transparency and community safety, Corrective Services must release full details about the escapes.
