Jail staff walk off the job, but ordered back to work Saturday

Public Service Association General Secretary Stewart Little said staff walked off in support of officers at Goulburn's Correctional Complex, who have suffered increased violence.

Mr Little said all officers supported the action, because "they know full well, next time it could be them on the receiving end [of an assault]," he said.

This week alone, an officer was hospitalised following an alleged violent assault, another officer was allegedly attacked with urine and faeces while on Sunday, two officers were also allegedly attacked, one requiring stitches.

He said a recent judge's decision to reverse Bassam Hamzy's 20-month sentence extension for bashing a Goulburn Supermax prison officer in 2017 has sent a clear message to offenders.

“As predicted earlier this week, reversing Bassam Hamzy’s extra jail time for attacking an officer has sent a dangerous message. Offenders have heard the signal loud and clear, and they now believe it's open season for bashing prison officers."

Shadow minister For Corrective Services, Guy Zangari said the situation was very concerning.

"If you've got assaults like that happening at Supermax, you've got to start worrying about what's going to happen in the run of the mill prisons across the state," he said.

Mr Zangari said he had been told the industrial action was state wide, in what he described as a major headache for the government, just two weeks out from the election.

While Friday's industrial action was the result of incidents within Supermax, officers working at Bathurst Jail are no strangers to violence, in January 2017 staff at Bathurst Correctional Complex contained a riot involving 76 inmates. The incident was sparked by an inmate who refused to leave a maximum security wing before another prisoner struck an officer on the head, several times.

Late Friday afternoon the Industrial Relations Commission ordered correctional officers to return to work on Saturday, saying the industrial action was unauthorised. 

A spokesperson for CSNSW said they look forward to productive discussions with staff and the unions to ensure the ongoing safety of staff saying "staff safety and security is the highest priority."

"The Public Service Association raised the issue of staff safety in Goulburn’s High Risk Management Correctional Centre with CSNSW senior management earlier this week and a meeting has been scheduled for Monday.

"We are concerned about a recent judgement in the District Court of Appeal and are actively seeking avenues of appeal.

"CSNSW considers any assault on staff as unacceptable and supports prosecutions of inmates who engage in this behaviour," they said.