PRISON officers at Cessnock Correctional Centre have walked off the job after a prisoner who bashed four of their colleagues went unpunished on Wednesday by a controversial Magistrate and is set to be released back into the community.
Prison officers at Bathurst Correctional Centre have also walked off the job, with officers at all of the state’s 36 prisons likely to follow in the next few hours.
This will leave local, district and supreme courts unable to function.
The prisoner bashed four prison officers earlier this year at the Cessnock Correctional Centre leaving them with sickening facial injuries.
All prison officers were hospitalised and two will never work again.
The prisoner was transferred to Goulburn High Risk Management Correctional Centre or ‘Supermax’ and isolated from other prisoners.
But on Wednesday, a Magistrate refused to add any time to the prisoner’s sentence meaning he can leave prison as early as Friday.
The 26-year-old prisoner has a history of violence. In 2023, he was arrested for bashing two men with a baseball bat in the Hunter region.
Prison officers in New South Wales are represented by the Public Service Association of NSW.
Public Service Association president, Nicole Jess, herself a sworn prison officer, says it beggars belief the prisoner has not been punished for the vicious assault on the four prison officers earlier this year.
“This tells the community it’s okay to bash prison officers, that you won’t be punished if you do and you’ll be able to return to the community,” Ms Jess said.
“In giving the prisoner a slap on the wrist, this Magistrate has delivered a slap in the face to every prison officer in this state who keep our community safe from those who’ve forfeited their right to walk among us.
“Prison officers are absolutely livid about this and expect immediate action from the Minns Government.”
Public Service Association general secretary, Stewart Little, says he can’t believe any Magistrate in the state would deliver such a misguided judgement.
“My phone has gone into meltdown. I’ve had prison officers ringing me all day absolutely incandescent with rage at the signal this Magistrate has sent to the community,” Mr Little said.
“The Attorney-General better get himself out of whatever meeting or media opportunity or announcement he’s currently engaged in and get this solved or else the state’s prison system is going to go into meltdown.”
Now they know how the rest of us feel when thugs are given bail and allowed back on the streets after committing heinous crimes. The Magistrate should be ashamed!