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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-09-18 Daily Xml
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Prison Security

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD (14:40): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Correctional Services about staff safety in prisons.

Leave granted.

The Hon. D.G.E. HOOD: It has been revealed recently by a number of sources that there are serious security concerns at Port Augusta Prison in particular, with whistleblowers revealing that CCTV blind spots in the Saltbush Unit mean that up to 120 prisoners can move through common areas, including kitchens, lounges and showers, without any camera coverage at all. Staff had warned that this leaves them vulnerable, with assaults among inmates going unnoticed and creating 'our word against theirs' scenarios.

The report also highlights that convicted violent offenders have been placed in conditions that appear inconsistent with their risk profile, raising further concerns about prisoner management and staff safety. The Public Service Association has stated that their repeated warnings about safety and security breaches have been ignored or downplayed. My questions to the minister are:

1. Can the minister confirm whether there are, in fact, CCTV blackspots in the Saltbush Unit at Port Augusta Prison and, if so, where they are and provide some detail on that?

2. How many assaults between inmates and against staff have actually been recorded in the Saltbush Unit in the past 12 months, and how many of these occurred in areas without the CCTV coverage?

3. Is it true that high-risk offenders such as convicted murderer Barry Fyfe have been housed in Saltbush under lower security conditions despite a history of violence and, if so, why is that the case?

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (Minister for Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Autism, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (14:42): I thank the honourable member for his question. As I have mentioned before in this chamber, maintaining a safe and secure prison system is a priority for our government and the Department for Correctional Services. The Port Augusta Prison is one of our high-security prisons, and I am advised prisoners are moved into various divisions based on their regimes and approved placement plans, which are regularly reviewed.

I am advised that across Saltbush Unit more than a dozen cameras provide around-the-clock CCTV surveillance. I won't go into the exact locations of cameras for operational reasons, which I am sure the honourable member can appreciate, but I am advised their deployment is informed by a range of security considerations. Our government has invested $6.8 million in the state budget to implement security enhancements across our prisons to increase the safety of staff, prisoners and the broader community and reduce contraband entering the prison.

I am advised DCS is conducting more searches across the prison system and has seized a record amount of contraband because of this. I am advised more than 104,000 searches were conducted in 2023-24. I am advised that is a 14 per cent increase on the previous year and a 35 per cent increase compared to the last year of the former Liberal government.

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