The community will not tolerate any reduction in security at Goulburn Correctional Centre.
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This point must not be lost amid the current benchmarking process and the drive to meet a budget. Corrective Services has at least committed to a risk assessment on whether cutting a night watch tower shift and implementing new technology will lessen security at the complex.
This should be an honest assessment, not geared to any outcome, but have community and officer safety as its start and end point.
We’re prepared to keep an open mind until we know more but the reality is that Goulburn people are unlikely to be told of the measures implemented due to security.
It’s notable that, as Prison Officers Vocational Branch vice-chairman Jason Charlton conceded, night tower watches have been abolished in many other NSW prisons. For some reason Goulburn has managed to retain theirs.
Importantly, it was not operational in 2015 when an inmate Steven Jamieson was being held in a segregation cell in maximum security. He was able to cut through a metal gate and then famously use bed sheets to scale a perimeter wall and escape. He was on the loose for almost 12 hours before police caught him.
One month later, another inmate, Beau Wiles, escaped from minimum security into a waiting car and was on the run for 32 hours before police capture. Yet another escape occurred in 2013.
We well remember the alarm this sparked in the community, particularly when Jamieson stole a district landowner’s car to get away.
The then mayor, Geoff Kettle, sought assurances from Corrective Services.
The council should again be kept in the loop of any major security changes so at least our representatives can be assured of citizens’ safety.
Corrective Services is combating far more sophisticated attempts to breach security. It’s surely not surprising that it is investigating technology to detect drones and such. We are told by reliable sources that drones have been detected around the jail on about 10 occasions in the past few years. Some 15 mobile phones have also been lobbed over prison walls. In the absence of cameras in some yards, visual detection is essential.
It’s a matter of striking the best security mix but one thing’s for sure, it cannot be compromised in any way.