Corrections Association President Alan Whitley has shared his frustration, contacting Sensible Sentencing Trust about the decision by a Huntly District Court judge to award just seven days of prison to an inmate found guilty of assaulting a prison officer.

Whitley told the Trust that “the seven days handed down for an assault by the judge is just a complete insult to all corrections staff, it just shows how little the judiciary cares about corrections officers.”

“My members are saying that they believe everything is geared to be in the favour of the prisoners.”

“It’s hard enough to get something in front of the court in the first place only to have a wet bus ticket handed down as a result," Whitley said.

“This sort of sentence highlights the lack of accountability there currently is, and ultimately the lack of respect the system has for corrections officers,” says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust.

“We need harsher penalties to act as a deterrent. This sort of slap on the wrist is meaningless and offers no protection to the officers at all who have seen a massive jump in assaults over the past few years."

“There is clearly something going wrong within the system when this type of sentence is handed down. It is evident that the Minister of Corrections Kelvin Davis needs to step in and conduct a review of the system and push for harsher penalties."

“The Trust backs a minimum mandatory six-month prison sentence for these assaults and is the only sentence that will act as a proper deterrent for these inmates."

“There needs to be a review of the internal disciplinary system as well as harsher sentences for inmates who assault staff," says Mr Ball.

“The Minister needs to show that this government backs our corrections officers.”
 

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