The Minister of Corrections Kelvin Davis has been ignoring the Corrections Association pleas to introduce harsher penalties for inmates who assault staff; the consequence has been a dramatic increase in assaults and a loss of confidence in the Minister, says Darroch Ball, co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust.

“It is clear that the Minister has been focussing solely on the rights, considerations, and benefits of the inmates and putting the corrections officers a distant second.”

“It is absurd that we still have officers being bashed and the inmates receiving pathetically weak sentences. When there are examples of sentences of just seven days being handed down for assault, there is something clearly going wrong.”

“There is little wonder that the prisoners' are showing no respect for the staff and don’t care about bashing them.”

“The Trust has consistently backed the Corrections Association’s call for mandatory minimum sentences to act as a true and effective deterrent.”

“These criminals are in prison because they are violent and dangerous. If we continue to treat them with kid-gloves we will continue to see the number of assaults rising," says Mr Ball.

“If inmates decide to assault staff they should have an automatic extra six months added to their sentence.”

“The Minister needs to start listening to the frontline staff who have to deal with these thugs every day. It is little wonder the Association and its members are losing confidence in the Minister when it is clear he is putting the prisoners' concerns ahead of the staff.”

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