Corrections Victoria must continue to address workplace culture and human rights according to a new report from the Victorian Ombudsman.
Tabling her Report on investigations into the use of force at the Metropolitan Remand Centre and the Melbourne Assessment Prison, Ombudsman Deborah Glass said her Report collated and highlighted issues identified by eight investigations which suggested serious recurring issues.
“Despite the best efforts of Corrections Victoria to address systemic cultural and workplace issues, not enough is being done to identify and act on patterns of poor prison officer behaviour and improve performance management processes,” Ms Glass said.
“This is exacerbated by a culture of silence that exists within prisons.”
She said her Office substantiated four of the eight cases, but all showed concerning behaviour or poor decision making by officers.
The Ombudsman said that the evidence of her investigations – in the context of previous reports, reviews, and the overall data – illustrated the “persistent and endemic nature” of the problems, despite the best efforts of Corrections Victoria to address them.
“Even where allegations were not substantiated, we found officers used force on people with acquired brain injuries and other vulnerabilities, because the prison environment had created a situation where it became necessary,” Ms Glass said.
“Allegations of abuse are usually hard to investigate, and harder to substantiate,” she said.
“Prisoners told us that incidents were not reported for fear of making the situation worse, fear of reprisal, fear of not being believed or that no action would be taken, so it is impossible to capture the true extent of the use of force.”
Ms Glass said that as part of her investigation, Corrections Victoria indicated it had increased the use of body worn cameras and CCTV, and that its recruitment was focused on finding candidates with the appropriate attitude and capabilities.
She made 12 recommendations aimed at improving compliance with body worn camera activation requirements, CCTV coverage, and recruitment and training processes.
The Ombudsman’s 95-page Report can be accessed at this PS News link.
